Coming January 2022...

 

Vision of the Blind ★ Payton Smith

I

Four years passed since the accident that took my sight, never to return it. I lost my job, my wife, and most of my old friends, sure the money is nice, but only when I have others to share it with. 

Mr. Hudson, or George as I preferred to call him, is my butler that I hired a while back and one of the few I can trust anymore, although now we are better friends than a master and his servant. The walls of my mansion are enormous or at least so I am told, but I do know that the halls stretch on for what feels like an eternity. Silence filled the building most of the time. 

I hate silence because it stalks me when I am alone. A few times a month a group of my friends stop by and we converse of the world today.

A while back, I used to throw big parties like those of Mr. Gatsby for all my neighbors and anyone who needed a place to socialize, but that stopped a few months ago. George told me that he overheard a group from our last party talking about how a few of the rooms were “eerie”, and some even muttered that I was a crazy blind man intending to murder all the party guests, utter nonsense.

It was this rumor, however, that ended the parties. 

Something Got Out ⋆ Jarce ArtThor

 

Keith thought the fire was only in his lungs, but when he came to, he saw that it was everywhere. Dense tendrils of smoke hung from the roof of the fuselage, undulating grey curtains rippled in the wind. 

His eyes burned. 

Tears streamed from them but did nothing to negate the sting. He tried to see deeper, but he couldn’t. He tried to breathe but he could only heave. Finding the release to his safety belt, he disentangled himself from the seat. 

He spilled into the narrow aisle, listlessly. A part of him wanted to languish there, go to sleep and die, but another part needed to find refuge from this hell. He choked on a brutal cough and glanced up. 

The warring flames caught the silhouette of the passenger seats before him, and they looked like looming tombstones. It would be his grave if he did not get out, and fast. 

Everyday For A Month: Day 24

"I never get what I want," Nina huffed. "Instead, I have to watch her get everything, day after day." 

'Take it back', said the voices from the wall. 'Retrieve everything she has taken from you.'

"I will." Nina said to the walls.

Nina set out to take back her husband, who had left her for Mary. With help from the walls, she snuck, connived, plotted and blackmailed until, finally, Todd came home.

Then Nina decided she wanted Mary's laugh too, because that's what Todd had said he liked best about Mary. He'd said this once at a party when he didn't think Nina was listening, but she'd heard him. So she took Mary's perfect laugh with a spell and a few drops of blood. 

The walls told her how.

Next to go was Mary's hair. Nina loved Mary's hair and wished it was her own. One night, when Mary was asleep, she shaved it off and took the perfect locks for herself. Leaving Mary bald and ugly gave Nina great pleasure. 

Nina still hated Mary.

No matter what she did, Mary always seemed to get the best out of every situation. 

Now, all Nina has are the walls. 

Todd put her in a room guarded by people in white and now all Nina has are the walls. They still whisper and tell her things. But now, they mostly laugh at her.

'So easily tricked' they say. 'So confused and angry' they say. They read the placard on the other side of Nina's locked door. The voices in the wall read the name to her over and over and and over: Nina Mary Anderson. 

** Note**

(I really don't care for this 'story' if you can even call it that, but for better or worse, it's what I wrote for day 24... = )

♡

Everyday For A Month: Day 19

I always used to tell myself... odd things. 

Like, make weird predictions. 

For example, I’d be rooting through my wallet, find a $2 bill, and in my head, I’d say something like, "you're going to spend that $2 at a gas station in Montauk" or, "2 years from now, the t-shirt that guy was wearing at the bus stop is going to be important to you". 

Just ramblings. 

Weirdo thoughts. 

Things that didn't make any sense.

They never came true. 

Until yesterday, when I said to myself, "you're going to regret meeting Sarah. This is going to be the worst thing that ever happened to you."

The voice that said those words inside my head was mine, but it didn’t sound like me. It sounded more sure. More absolute. 

In short, the little warning stuck with me.

Why would I even say something like that about a woman who was quickly becoming the girl of my dreams? I mean, it wasn’t like I’d meant to say it; it was more like mental word vomit that just popped into my head. 

Unfortunately once it did, I couldn’t make it go away.

Sarah picked at her salad across the table from me. 

“Dylan, are you okay?”

I nodded and looked around the busy restaurant.