Thursday, January 6, 2011

Flash Fiction: "Come Here, Ted"

All---

If you haven't yet, please be sure to check out Marilyn Meredith's great guest post yesterday on the power of persistence, and if you have read anything I've written, please check out this post that was posted shortly before Marilyn's, in which I explore some of the philosophy that plays into my writing.

Otherwise, I was going to post something else today, but I felt compelled to write this story instead.  It's flash fiction, written in one setting and unedited except for spell-check.  Forgive any errors, and I hope you enjoy it or at least get something out of it.

"Come Here Ted"
(c) C. N. Nevets, 2010


Two years.  No, make that six years.  Maybe longer, now that I think about it.  Hell, I know there was a time it wasn't like this, but I'll be damned if I can pinpoint when it was.

I remember when the fire was only up to my knees.  I can't remember a time it was just on feet.  It's been six months since I've been able to get out of bed.  It's all over my chest.

Fire.

It's not even proper fire.  It's just burning.  A slow sizzle, eating away at my flesh.  Creeping up my body.  Consuming me slowly enough that it crystallizes my bones and caramelizes my flesh.

So hot, though.

But no one knows what's causing it.  Nothing will stop it.  No salve will soothe it, no icepack will cool it, no dressing will protect it.

Hell, they lopped off my legs to stop it from spreading, and even that didn't work.

There hasn't been a time I haven't hated it.  There's no getting used to slowly burning alive.  But it wasn't always this hard to take.

But about a year ago, I lost my house.  I couldn't work anymore.  No way to support myself.   Uncle Chet let me move into his place.  He even let me have his room.  He didn't sleep there anymore.  Ever since Aunt Amber left him he just falls asleep watching TV in the living room.

Uncle Chet was always a different sort than me.  Had a mirror above his bed.  I thought it was weird when I first moved in.  Couldn't stand it.

Truth be told, though, the longer I lay in bed, not able to get up and about and see folks, I started talking to myself in the mirror.  I not only got used to the mirror being up there, but I grew to like it.  It was a comfort to me.

Only, there was something weird.

I didn't notice it for a long time.  When I did, I thought it was a defect or a trick of the lights or even a trick of my own memory and self-perception.

Somehow, looking in the mirror, I always seemed to look a little different.

One day, I found out it was more than that.  One day I couldn't put any clothes on.  I couldn't even put the fire-proof layer on that I always wore underneath.  Hurt too much.  So I just lay there on an asbestos sheet, naked as the day I was born, and I looked up in the mirror.

And I didn't see my own charred body.

I saw my body,as it would look without the fire.

I shook my head and slapped my face and pinched my arm and nothing made it change.  I slept on it.  It didn't change.  Nothing changed it, at all.  The reflection was a match, except that it wasn't slowly burning to death.

At first that felt like a shot in the arm.

Then it felt like I was being teased.

The last thing I wanted was to be so thoroughly reminded of what I could never be.  It wasn't a perfect me.  I wasn't flawless.  But I wasn't burning.  I wasn't being destroyed, bit by bit, day by day.

I ached to be like that.

I wanted nothing more than to become the me I could see in the mirror.  For a few weeks I tried everything I could think of to make it happen, but it didn't seem to matter.  At the end of the few weeks, it was the same.

Me, on the bed, burning.

And looking at myself, free.

For the past two days, the reflection has had something else different.  A sign.  A sign that says, “Come here, Ted.”

I want to jump into the mirror and smash my head into it.  I'll either come here, Ted, by doing that, or I'll just end this nonsense.

But my body can't stand up anymore, let along jump.  I can't come here, Ted – not by jumping, not by climbing, not be anything that involves moving.  All I can do is soak in this eternal moment.

Me, on the burning.

And looking at myself, free.


.Nevets.

11 comments:

  1. First, I like the idea of "Flash Fiction." It seems like a good exercise. I could use some exercise (in every sense of the word!).
    The story itself. It raised a lot of questions, but I guess that's the point of this right? Not to let all the information out; not to wrap it up. I like the idea of the mirror on the ceiling. It grew to become very interesting when the Character started to see himself as whole. And THAT idea, I like. Everyone can relate to that, I think. We all have our infections, the flames that eat us away slowly and I'm sure everyone finds something that looks like them without the trouble (for lack of a better word).
    Great share. I'm going to stew on the "Flash" idea for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well written. I loved the story idea, although I didn't really get what the burning was...

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Scott - Glad you liked it, and yes that wasn't intended to be a neatly packaged piece. I love writing one-sitting flash. The writing isn't always as perfect and literary as I'd like, but in some ways I think it's the writing form at which I most excel.

    @Misha - Me either, at least not exactly. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shades of The Portrait of Dorian Grey. With fire. Very spooky, Nevets!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like the writing in this story, and the idea.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice one, Nevets. We don't always see the truth of things, we don't often WANT to see the truth of things even when they are staring us in the face.

    I'm glad you resisted the temptation to spell it out - makes it stronger.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh please spell it out, Nevets! I think I'm probably being very stupid (or maybe you'd like to help, Michael?)

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Frances (#1) - Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

    @G'Eagle - Thanks so much!

    @Michael - I'm glad you appreciated it. I agree that it's stronger this way.

    @Frances (#2) - I might spell it out later, but I'd love to let the other readers talk about it first. :)

    So chime in, everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Nevets! Just wanted to let you know that I borrowed the "Flash Fiction" idea. I don't know if you picked it up from somewhere (I'm still learning my way around blog community) but I attributed the idea to you. Here's the post: Flashy
    Thanks for the idea! I see how doing this on the regular could help.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Scott - That's great! I'm glad I put the idea in your mind. A lot of folks use "flash fiction" to refer to anything that's ultra-short (e.g., under 1K words). When I learned about it in writing class, it was this sort of thing. An early exercise we had was to just write a list of a few dozen titles. Then, later, we took those titles as prompts for flash fiction.

    There's a great blog that features daily prompts for flash writing: http://flashyfiction.blogspot.com. I would encourage you to check it out. They have a huge variety of prompts, and the folks over there are great. Before I started focusing on my book, I was a regular over there. Some of the folks from FlashyFiction have become among my best writing friends in the blogosphere.

    ReplyDelete

Label Cloud

#DarkAndTwisted (5) a razor wrapped in silk (2) about me (5) absolute (1) acceptance (1) accountability (1) advice (54) aesop (2) agents (2) agony (1) aikido (6) alaska (2) alcohol (1) alex mackenzie (1) aliya whiteley (1) allegory (1) allergies (1) alone (1) amaretto (1) ambulance (17) anchors (1) andy dick (1) angel lost (1) anthology (4) anthony pacheco (1) anthropology (4) applesauce (1) approach (1) appropriateness (1) arashi (1) archaeology (1) archaeololgy (3) argyle (1) art (1) audio (3) author (11) award (1) background (1) bacon (2) bar (1) battlestar galactica (1) bbs (1) beauty (1) ben folds (1) bhangra (1) bioarchaeology (1) biography (2) birthday (1) blog tour (1) blogfest (9) blogging (5) blogosphere (2) blogsclusive (14) blurb (1) bones (2) book (4) boring (1) born to fly (1) boss (1) boundaries (1) braai (1) bravery (2) bridge flag (1) brutal (1) business (3) c + c music factory (1) c n nevets (108) c s lewis (1) cabin (1) cafepress (6) cantaloupe (1) career (2) cat (1) challenge (2) character (11) cheesy (1) cherry republic (1) christmas (4) chuck palahniuk (2) chumbawumba (1) cinderella (2) cinders (4) clarissa draper (2) classification (3) clive cussler (1) commentary (4) community (1) compelling (1) complete (1) confidence (4) conflict (1) conformity (1) confusion (1) congress (1) conspiracy (1) contest (31) conversation (1) cooking (1) cottage (1) courage (5) craft (4) creation (2) creep (2) crime (1) crime writing (36) criminal (2) criticism (2) critiques (2) crow (1) culture (2) cussler (1) cutting (1) dark (11) davin malasarn (3) death (1) deb markanton (4) deborah swift (1) deduction (1) definition (2) description (2) destruction (1) development (3) dialectic (1) dialogue (1) direction (1) discussion (2) dog of the north (2) domey malasarn (5) dr. who (1) drama (3) dramatic (1) dream (1) drugs (1) edit (2) editors (4) emotion (1) ems (8) emt (3) endings (1) ennui and malaise (4) entry (1) epiphany (1) escher (2) essay (2) ethics (3) everyday (1) evil (3) excerpt (3) exercise (1) existentialish (4) existianlism (2) experience (3) experimental (1) fables (1) facebook (3) failure (1) fairy tale (2) fallibility (1) fantasia (1) fantasy (2) fear (5) feedback (3) fiction (26) fit (1) flas (1) flash (22) flash fiction (8) flight (1) flying knee (1) food (2) forensic anthropology (3) forensics (5) frances garrood (2) frustration (1) fun (2) fwiww (1) game (1) gary corby (3) gawain (1) genre (29) germ (1) ghost (3) gideon (1) gift (4) give away (2) golden eagle (1) government (1) growing up (1) grumbling (3) gsa (1) guest post (13) hair metal (1) harry potter (1) health (4) heavy metal (1) hegel (6) help (3) historical fiction (3) history (3) holiday (1) home (3) hopeless (2) horror (3) hot dish (1) houseboat (2) humans (1) humor (1) idea (2) imagination (2) impressionism (1) indiana jones (2) induction (1) influences (1) information (5) insight (1) inspiration (2) intentionality (1) international (2) internet radio (1) interview (2) introduction (2) investigation (1) iticism (1) jabberwocky (1) jack higgins (2) japan (4) jc martin (1) jeffrey deaver (1) jennifer hillier (7) jon jones (1) journal (1) jpop (2) jurisdiction (1) jurisprudence (5) justice (1) justification (1) kanjani8 (1) kansai oniisan (5) kathy reichs (1) knowing (2) koontz (1) kung fu (1) law (5) learning (1) legacy (1) lies (2) life (8) light (1) limits (1) linear (2) lines (2) lite (1) literary (3) literary fiction (10) literary lab (4) literature (3) loren eaton (3) louis lamour (1) love (1) lt host (1) ludlum (1) lydia kang (1) lyrics (1) mandarin chinese (3) marilyn meredith (3) marketing (5) marriage (1) martial arts (3) marxism (1) mascota (1) meaning (1) melons (1) memories (2) mentoring (1) mercury rising (1) meta (1) michael crichton (1) michael malone (1) michelle davidson argyle (9) minnows (1) misha (1) mma (2) monday moment (1) monty python (1) mood (1) moplo (1) morality (4) motion (1) motivation (2) motive for murder (1) mr. saggy (1) mug (1) murder (5) muse (1) music (2) mutilation (1) myster (1) mystery (5) mystery men (1) narrative (1) neanderthal (1) neo-orthodox (1) nevetsize (15) nevetsosophy (1) news (38) nick diaz (1) non-linear (1) nonsense (1) northern michigan (1) nostalgia (3) not subtle (1) notes from underground (3) nothing changes (1) nothing happens (1) novel (9) novella (1) obfuscation (1) obsession (1) octopus (1) oetzi (1) on call (1) one point (2) oops (1) opinion (1) original (2) osaka (2) outline (3) p g wodehouse (1) pain (1) pancakes (1) paradox (3) paranormal (1) passion (1) perceval (1) persistence (1) person (1) personal (66) phil loring (1) philosophy (9) piano (1) pictures (1) pie (1) pink floyd (3) place (1) plot (5) plug (1) podcast (3) poetry (1) police (3) politics (2) poll (1) pomo (1) post modern (1) potential (1) pouland ann dvorjak (1) pov (6) power (1) practice (2) pre-writing (3) precision (1) pretty (1) priorities (2) prize (13) process (8) production (1) progress (3) projects (3) promotion (9) prompt (2) pscyhology (7) psychological suspense (27) public defender (1) publication (24) puffin (1) pun (1) querying (2) question (8) r n morris (5) rachel in the oc (1) rachel thompson (1) radio (1) rambling (2) random (3) rant (2) reader (4) readi (1) reading (10) real stakes (10) realism (2) reasoning (1) recommendations (1) redemption (1) rejection (6) relationship (1) release (2) religion (1) request (3) research (1) response (1) results (1) review (6) revision (2) riddles (1) rights (1) rj clarken (1) rj ellory (5) romance (3) rose (4) rules (2) russia (1) rusty nail (1) ryan david jahn (6) ryne douglas pearson (2) sample (2) scifi (1) scotch (1) scotland (1) scott bailey (1) scottish (1) second person (1) selfhelp (4) serial killer (1) serial murderers (1) setting (1) seuss (1) shirt (2) short (1) short story (28) shush (1) sisko (1) skills (1) skulls (1) sleepy (1) slice of life (1) smoke (1) smugness (1) smurfs (1) social (3) solitude (11) solomon matthews (1) soundtrack (1) specialization (1) speculative fiction (1) spiral (3) spirit (1) sports (1) star trek (3) stephen king (1) steven seagal (1) store (1) stories for sendai (9) story (42) strengths (1) structure (6) struggle (29) stuff (2) style (27) sublimation (19) submission (11) suffering (1) suicide (2) summer ross (2) surrealism (1) suspense (6) sweet (1) sword stained with royal blood (2) synonyms (1) system (1) tactless tuesday (10) taekwondo (1) takoyaki (1) taphonomy (1) tara maya (2) taste (1) tater tots (1) tea time with serial killers (2) teaser (3) technique (7) ted kennedy (1) teddy bear (1) teen (2) teilhard (1) telling (2) terminal instar (5) tesol (1) the dirty dozen (1) the girl with the dragon tattoo (1) the life of brian (1) the muppet show (1) the wild grass (1) theme (3) theory (1) therapy (2) thinking (2) threat (1) thriller (5) tim stretton (4) timeline (1) tips (20) tone (3) top gun (1) top ten (1) topic (1) trailer (6) transformation (1) translation (1) travel (1) tribute (1) trivia (1) trolls (1) twisted (3) twitter (5) ufc (1) update (26) uzziel (1) vacation (1) veggie tales (1) video (1) violence (2) vogon (1) voice (11) volunteer (1) vomit (1) vonda mcintyre (1) walgreens (2) website (2) western (2) whatif (1) whining (2) william faulkner (1) winner (2) wip (6) wisdom (3) word choice (2) writing (174) wu xia (1) ya (1) yamashita tomohisa (1) yin and yang (1) yuan chengzhi (1) zhao peng (1) zoe winters (1) zora neal hurston (1)