Everything stopped. Again. Tom looked up from his work to see the world perfectly frozen. A deafening silence roared in his ears. His eyes welled with tears, just like they did the last time, just like they had every time after the first. Already the loneliness was washing over him.
How long would it last?
He never knew.
Tom had no idea how long the first time had lasted. After the third, he had started recording how long it took him to grow an inch of beard, and now thought in those terms.
Last time had lasted three inches.
Three long inches of silence. Isolation. Stillness. Maddening stillness.
His greatest fear is that this time it may never end.
Tom walked home, weaving through the frozen crowds. A light rain had started falling, and he left a tunnel in it as he walked. He'd walk this way many times over the next couple of inches.
He found it as he crossed the main square.
Another passage in the rain. It went off south, towards the warehouse district.
Tom wasn't alone.
He ran through the tunnel, following it as it wound past cars and pedestrians.
His heart was thumping fit to burst. His lungs screamed in his chest as he sprinted.
He wasn't alone!
How long would it last?
He never knew.
Tom had no idea how long the first time had lasted. After the third, he had started recording how long it took him to grow an inch of beard, and now thought in those terms.
Last time had lasted three inches.
Three long inches of silence. Isolation. Stillness. Maddening stillness.
His greatest fear is that this time it may never end.
Tom walked home, weaving through the frozen crowds. A light rain had started falling, and he left a tunnel in it as he walked. He'd walk this way many times over the next couple of inches.
He found it as he crossed the main square.
Another passage in the rain. It went off south, towards the warehouse district.
Tom wasn't alone.
He ran through the tunnel, following it as it wound past cars and pedestrians.
His heart was thumping fit to burst. His lungs screamed in his chest as he sprinted.
He wasn't alone!
This is pretty rad. I look forward to further installments.
ReplyDelete:likes this
ReplyDeleteThank you. I have no idea what to do with it next.
ReplyDeleteIts a game idea I've had knocking around my head for some ten years.
there's a film springs to mind .. I want to say
ReplyDelete"Dark City" .. but I may be mistaken
Very nice. I love the repetition of measuring time in inches.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the positive feedback. It's very encouraging.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking if I could go anywhere else with this, and if it should go anywhere else.
My answer to both has been 'yes'.
I had originally envisaged it as a set up for a table top RPG game (and had even tried it once in a Mage: the Ascension prelude), so, by definition, I have to expect it to go somewhere. I guess I just expected the players to drive the action somewhat, and i'd riff off them.
Anyways, I have an idea, and will polish it a bit more, in my head.
Maybe those three years of studying creative writing will get used after all...