Twittories - Short Stories Written In Twitter » Twittory #1 - The Darkness Inside

Twittory #1 - The Darkness Inside

“I have this rule,” she said, colder than the dark side of the moon. “We only talk using public channels from now on.”

Julian bolted up knocking his seat over, fists tightly clenched. “You can’t be serious! We’re being closely monitored as it is!” She, the Cold One, who will remain nameless due to the ongoing conflict with the overlords, stared at J with ice daggers as eyes. Her history with Julian spanned years, to their time in Majorca, through Europe and Asia, then to here at the gates of hell.

“Ahh! I don’t like this new avatar of yours”, Julian said, “you were so much hotter before! Can’t we roll back a few versions?” “Like hell,” she said. “I don’t want you thinking that there’s more than there is.” Privately, she cringed, hating the lies. He sighed, wondering why she was making such a big deal. “OK, can’t we just agree to disagree, at least until it’s done?”

She thought for a while. Disagree? No she would not have it. Why could he not see her metamorphosis? She poured another gin. I’ll play his game, and once we’ve conquered the overlords, i’ll unveil the real me - stripped from this avatar facade. Until then… She raised her glass in a gesture as scripted as it was joyless. Would it be enough? “To truth,” she said. They drank, a smile creeping across her face as she watched Julian empty his glass, the little umbrella resting upon his cheek.

“So where do we go from here?” Julian asked her. “I don’t like leaving things just hanging. I need to know how we stand and what happens now.” He was as tactless as she was cold. “Perhaps,” she said, “I do this on my own.” His obsession had gone far enough. “At least the poison in his drink will be be fast acting” she reassured herself. It was not the first time she had killed a man. Julian gulped his drink and collapsed into the sofa, numb. He felt the poison. The bitch! All he had left were his watery eyes. How? How did she know he was an overlord?! His system rapidly deteriorating, visions of the last few weeks raced in his mind.

Jennifer wept. She could feel agent Julian’s life force depleting rapidly and cried out, “Send in the medibots now, she’s done something lethal to Julian.”

But what Jennifer did not know was that Julian was already packing medibots galore. And his medibots had already begun to fight back! …briefly. <5% charge! He cursed that tiny docking station. A bland, colourless overlord life flashed before him. But whose?

Jennifer watched anxiously as Julian began to stir, muttering incoherently as he fought through the fog clouding his mind. “Don’t make me kill you twice! Don’t look for me, don’t speak my name…ever”. Into the fog of his mind she dissolves.

Dark shapes began to lunge at him through the fog. Unable to make sense of it all, he focused on the one thing that was clear; beyond the shapes he saw a light. Brilliant, almost ultra-violet. It grew. And then, silhouetted against it, the figure of a man emerged with dark eyes and a wicked grin singing an age old song. Julian recognized it from his childhood, but couldn’t place it. The melody weaved through the air around his fading consciousness, slowing down, everything becoming still. That man … who? Memories.

The mouth. Julian’s mind filled with an obscene close-up of the mouth, blistered lips and stained teeth. He begged. Tell me.

“Soon..” whispered the figure, twisted mouth turning upwards into a toothy rictus that caused his entire face to distort. In an instant it was gone. Darkness fell once again. Julian stood there unable to get the menacing image out of his mind. The disconnect launched a mutinous war of vertigo; demanding the conflicting realities to reconcile sensibly. Jennifer went to leave the room, certain that she would never see Julian alive again. As she descended the stairs she heard the…

Savanna sighed and put down the book. Spy novels always captured her imagination, but the mundane realities of life were calling. She whistled to herself as she headed down the stairs, eager to see what the day had in store for her. While she might not be a famous spy, she lived a life filled with suspense and danger. She was scheduled to go back to 1992 this afternoon and she still needed her shots

She stepped into her office and picked up the photo from her desk, softly, lovingly tracing her thumb over John’s face. His image stirred memories of a better time, when they were young and free. A time when her twin shared everything with her. But that was a lifetime ago. “Stop dreaming” she told herself. “This is the way of things. Its not some story written for fun.” For now she has to go 17 years back in time, a time she isn’t looking forward to, but for humanity, she has to re-live the pain. Pushing today’s self into a corner of her mind, Savanna allowed that dark, awful past to engulf her.

Needles. De-con. It is time.

Images of Buenos Aires starting flowing back to her, in La Boca - a slum neighbourhood coloured by Italian immigrants that settled there. Boca Juniors football matches, with their inevitable evening riots, held a special meaning to Savanna, she found it hurtful to remember. Snogging Maradona. Well it seemed like “Diego”, kissed like she’d imagine Diego would kiss. Even wore the kit. But, it was the result of that kiss, well many kisses, that hurt the most. There was no way they’d let her stay to raise her son, it had damn near killed her trying. She instinctively raised her hand and gingerly touched the still sensitive scar. She could again feel the bitter blade as it pierced her skin and ripped her life apart. Her memory burned with the image of sensual nueva canción nights, tango clubs, and moonlight serenades forever vanished as she lay assaulted, breathing faint sighs as the blood ran away like an ungrateful child. Now that was replaced with coolant. They rebuilt her, made her faster, stronger.

She was faster, stronger, but not human. She longed to feel the beat of her own heart. Most of all she longed for her lost son. In sudden agony, the sound of…Kenny ROGERS filled her mind. The mission was lost…Zune technology. She needed a reset. FAST. Internal mechanisms began making adjustments. Muscle relaxants, serotonin. What to calm her mind? Focus…her son, where had they taken him? At that precise moment, in the nanosecond in which machine usurped her human reality, she awakened in frightening revelation. She last had contact with Billy at their usual meeting place, a honky tonk club infamous for its ties to the Alamo. She didn’t know why but she sensed Billy was nearby. A familiar sound echoed in her ear. It was their song. “Our time is running out…” crooned Matt Bellamy. It was a code, a game they’d played once. She knew where to find him now.

A mother’s instinct is always correct. Billy would be found, not in the club, but at the place that meant the most to them both. Time ticks. The conviction of finally seeing her son, was all it took to give her the strength she needed to recover and move as fast as she could. Knowing she’d be heading into darkness, she grabbed the flares that had saved her more than once. Rushing out, she left the packet behind purposefully, knowing its contents were no longer useful to her. Consciously, she choose her path, her life depended on it. It would be only moments until she would arrive at “their” place. Would Billy be waiting? Was it a dream? Darkness overcame her. The sky spun, the Milky Way sharpened as the narrator introduced “The Nine Planets” Seemed odd to be watching a planetarium show until she realized some sort of change was happening from nanobots in her internal fluid modifying her vision. Blurry and hazy, her mind’s image sharpened until it was seared into her emotion-reactors. He was there and she had to move right now or he would leave knowing a slight amount of satisfaction in his decision to abandon her when she needed him most. Yes, she needed him more than had been necessary the last time. She wouldn’t let him break the connection. Reaching out she took hold of his hand.

She stepped out into the night, its darkness robed her with anonymity, her invisible protection from the masses. The night air was suddenly lit by a blinding light as a nuclear explosion went off in the distance, throwing her to the ground. She glanced towards the sky in an effort to figure out its origin, but the light from the explosion was too intense. Everything was quiet and still for a second before the shock and horror reached the populace of what just happened. In the distance there were screams. Warm blood trickled from her forehead, her hands and knees stung… her hands, empty - where was Billy? She looked around, but Billy was no where to be seen. Slowly she stood and leaned against the wall. The light had faded slightly

Forewarned, Billy had slipped from Savanna’s grasp. As he entered the bunker under the planatarium,he gasped, “Dad! She’s here”. his father’s face grew white and his expressionless face searched for emotion. “Well, this day has finally come.” He heaved a sigh. “It had to happen at some point.”

The boy’s father was Lou Reed. That shit. Savanna had never forgiven him for Metal Machine Music. She threw a Zune at him, programmed to self-destruct on impact or at the end of track one of MMM depending which came first. “It’s over Lou”, she cackled.

But it wasn’t over. The nuclear explosion had somehow revitalized the aging rocker. He was impervious to Zune technology! Savannah stared with disbelief as her former lover morphed before her. With horror she recognised his new form. Ricky Martin. She couldn’t believe it… It couldn’t be true! Time was ticking and she knew there were only three hours left before the nano-bots in her blood stream would regenerate another body for her then she would enter her present life, and John would again be lost in her past. She slowly awoke from that nightmare of 17 years ago, back to elsewhere, Daniel stood silently in front of the Apple store, frozen with indecision. Silently she willed him to make the right choice. Get it wrong and They might rip reality apart again. Daniel sighed and turned toward Savannah with fresh tears in his eyes. “What should I do next? Where should we go now? I feel completely lost right now.”

By submission:

1. “I have this rule,” she said, colder than the dark side of the moon. “We only talk using public channels from now on.” (@cameronreilly)
2. Julian bolted up knocking his seat over, fists tightly clenched. “You can’t be serious! We’re being closely monitored as it is!” (@dekrazee1)
3. She, the Cold One, who will remain nameless due to the ongoing conflict with the overlords, stared at J with ice daggers as eyes (@jodiem)
4. Her history with Julian spanned years, to their time in Majorica, through Europe and Asia, then to here at the gates of hell (@duncanriley)
5. “Ahh! I don’t like this new avatar of yours”, Julian said, “you were so much hotter before! Can’t we roll back a few versions?” (@m1k3y)
6. “Like hell,” she said. “I don’t want you thinking that there’s more than there is.” Privately, she cringed, hating the lies. (@velvetsarah)
7. (@grumpywookie) He sighed, wondering why she was making such a big deal. “OK, can’t we just agree to disagree, at least until it’s done?”
8. (@fifikins) She thought for a while. Disagree? No she would not have it. Why could he not see her metamorphosis? She poured another gin.
9. (@renelemerle) I’ll play his game, and once we’ve conquered the overlords, i’ll unveil the real me - stripped from this avatar facade.
10. (@ceezedby) Until then… She raised her glass in a gesture as scripted as it was joyless. Would it be enough? “To truth,” she said.
11. (@j_stirk) They drank, a smile creeping across her face as she watched Julian empty his glass, the little umbrella resting upon his cheek.
12. (@noodlez) “So where do we go from here?” Julian asked her. “I don’t like leaving things just hanging. I need to know how we stand and what happens now.”
13. (@iankath) - moved to #141
14. (@Bronwen) He was as tactless as she was cold. “Perhaps,” she said, “I do this on my own.” His obsession had gone far enough.
15. (@andrewsayer) “At least the poison in his drink will be fast acting” she reassured herself. It was not the first time she had killed a man
16. (@notaphysicist) Julian gulped his drink and collapsed into the sofa, numb. He felt the poison. The bitch! All he had left were his watery eyes.
17. (@hugosharp) How? How did she know he was an overlord?! His system rapidly deteriorating, visions of the last few weeks raced in his mind.
18. (@fang) Jennifer wept.
19. (@abuttigieg) (bumped)
20. (@glemak) She could feel agent Julian’s life force depleting rapidly and cried out, “Send in the medibots now, she’s done something lethal to Julian.”
21. (@ssharwood) But what Jennifer did not know was that Julian was already packing medibots galore. And his medibots had already begun to fight back!
22. (@bigyahu) …briefly. <5% charge! He cursed that tiny docking station. A bland, colourless overlord life flashed before him. But whose?
23. (@miriamparkinson) Jennifer watched anxiously as Julian began to stir, muttering incoherently as he fought through the fog clouding his mind.
24. (@livinggently)”Don’t make me kill you twice! Don’t look for me, don’t speak my name…ever”. Into the fog of his mind she dissolves.
25. (@warwraith) Dark shapes began to lunge at him through the fog. Unable to make sense of it all, he focused on the one thing that was clear;
26. (@andrewbarnett) beyond the shapes he saw a light. Brilliant, almost ultra-violet. It grew. And then, silhouetted against it, the figure of a man
27. (@sollitaire) emerged with dark eyes and a wicked grin singing an age old song. Julian recognized it from his childhood, but couldn’t place it. The melody
28. (@pureCaffeine) weaved through the air around his fading consciousness, slowing down, everything becoming still. That man … who? Memories.
29. (@grasuth) The mouth. Julian’s mind filled with an obscene close-up of the mouth, blistered lips and stained teeth. He begged. Tell me.
30. (@MarinaMartin) (*bumped)
31. (@Thommo) “Soon..” whispered the figure, twisted mouth turning upwards into a toothy rictus that caused his entire face to distort.
32. (@KarrieLyne) In an instant it was gone. Darkness fell once again. Julian stood there unable to get the menacing image out of his mind.
33. (@jstanden) The disconnect launched a mutinous war of vertigo; demanding the conflicting realities to reconcile sensibly.
34. (@charlieperry) Jennifer went to leave the room, certain that she would never see Julian alive again. As she descended the stairs she heard the
35. (@artywah) Savanna sighed and put down the book. Spy novels always captured her imagination, but the mundane realities of life were calling
36. (@bck) She whistled to herself as she headed down the stairs, eager to see what the day had in store for her. While she might not be a famous spy, she
37. (@trula) lived a life filled with suspense and danger. She was scheduled to go back to 1992 this afternoon and she still needed her shots
38. (@pixel8ted) She stepped into her office and picked up the photo from her desk, softly, lovingly tracing her thumb over John’s face.
39. (@eskimo_sparky) His image stirred memories of a better time, when they were young and free. A time when her twin shared everything with her.
40. @KenShima) But that was a lifetime ago. “Stop dreaming” she told herself. “This is the way of things. Its not some story written for fun.”
41. Ajay Ranipeta @funkycoda For now she has to go 17 years back in time, a time she isn’t looking forward to, but for humanity, she has to re-live the pain.
42. Matthew Hall @aDB Pushing today’s self into a corner of her mind, Savanna allowed that dark, awful past to engulf her. Needles. De-con. It is time
43. Elias Bizannes @liako Images of Buenos Airies starting flowing back to her, in La Boca - a slum neighbourhood coloured by Italian imigrants that settled there.
44. (@extremo) Boca Juniors football matches, with their inevitable evening riots, held a special meaning to Savanna, she found it hurtful to remember.
45. Tony Goodson @tgtips Snogging Maradona. Well it seemed like “Diego”, kissed like she’d imagine Diego would kiss. Even wore the kit. But,
46. Luis (@lu_lu) it was the result of that kiss, well many kisses, that hurt the most. There was no way they’d let her stay to raise her son, it
47. Catherine @cybner had damn near killed her trying. She instinctively raised her hand and gingerly touched the still sensitive scar.
48. John Johnston @jjprojects She could again feel the bitter blade as it pierced her skin and ripped her life apart. Her memory burned with the image of
49. Francis Shepherd @shepherdfx sensual nueva canción nights, tango clubs, and moonlight serenades forever vanished as she lay assaulted, breathing faint sighs
50. Lachlan Hibbert-Wells @Warlach as the blood ran away like an ungrateful child. Now that was replaced with coolant. They rebuilt her, made her faster, stronger.
51. Liz davis @lizbdavis She was faster, stronger, but not human. She longed to feel the beat of her own heart. Most of all she longed for her lost son.
52. Harriet Wakelam @hwakelam in sudden agony, the sound of…Kenny ROGERS filled her mind. The mission was lost …Zune technology.she needed a reset.FAST.
53. Carla Echevarria @heravarice (bumped)
54. Colby Palmer @colbyworld Internal mechanisms began making adjustments. Muscle relaxants, serotonin. What to calm her mind? Focus…her son, where had they taken him?
55. Alec Couros @courosa At that precise moment, in the nanosecond in which machine usurped her human reality, she awakened in frightening revelation.
56. Brian C. Smith @briancsmith She last had contact with Billy at their usual meeting place, a honky tonk club infamous for its ties to the Alamo.
57. Dean Shareski @shareski She didn’t know why but she sensed Billy was nearby. A familiar sound echoed in her ear. It was their song.
58. Penelope Millar @peneli “Our time is running out…” crooned Matt Bellamy. It was a code, a game they’d played once. She knew where to find him now.
59. Judith Epcke @jepcke A mother’s instinct is always correct. Billy would be found, not in the club, but at the place that meant the most to them both. Time ticks.
60. Silvia Tolisano @langwitches The conviction of finally seeing her son, was all it took to give her the strength she needed to recover and move as fast as she could.
61. Jeanette Johnson @johnsoj2 Knowing she’d be heading into darkness, she grabbed the flares that had saved her more than once. Rushing out, she left the packet behind
62. Linda Nitsche @lnitsche purposefully, knowing its contents were no longer useful to her. Consciously, she choose her path, her life depended on it.
63. Carey Gilcher @TheGilch This path was bound to be one that would alter her fate forever, and without the packet, even less predictable.
64. Charlene Chausis @cchausis It would be only moments until she would arrive at “their” place. Would Billy be waiting? Was it a dream? Darkness overcame her.
65. Anne Van Meter @whynot88 The sky spun, the Milky Way sharpened as the narrator introduced “The Nine Planets” Seemed odd to be watching a planetarium show
66. Derrall Garrison @derrallg until she realized some sort of change was happening from nanobots in her internal fluid modifying her vision.
67. Ginger Lewman @GingerTPLC Blurry and hazy, her mind’s image sharpened until it was seared into her emotion-reactors. He was there and she had to move right now or he
68. Scott Meech @smeech would leave knowing a slight amount of satisfaction in his decision to abandon her when she needed him most. Yes, she needed him more than
69. Christine Parfitt @ChrisParfitt had been necessary the last time. She wouldn’t let him break the connection. Reaching out she took hold of his hand
70. CityWitch @citywitch (bumped)
71. Chris Saad @ChrisSaad (bumped)
72. David Novakovic @dpn She stepped out into the night, its darkness robed her with anonymity, her invisible protection from the masses. The night air
73. Kate Raynes-Goldie @oceanpark was suddenly lit by a blinding light as a nuclear explosion went off in the distance, throwing her to the ground
74. Ben Novakovic @bmn She glanced towards the sky in an effort to figure out its origin, but the light from the explosion was too intense.
75. Vanessa Stacy @GoldCoastGirl Everything was quiet and still for a second before the shock and horror reached the populace of what just happened.
76. Melissah @melissah (bumped)
77. Kate @waxlyrical In the distance there were screams. Warm blood trickled from her forehead, her hands and knees stung… her hands, empty - where was Billy?
78. Mike @sizemore She looked around, but Billy was no where to be seen. Slowly she stood and leaned against the wall. The light had faded slightly
79. Kathryn @sirexkat Forewarned, Billy had slipped from Savanna’s grasp. As he entered the bunker under the planatarium,he gasped, “Dad! She’s here”.
80. Tyler Willis @tylerwillis his father’s face grew white and his expressionless face searched for emotion. “Well, this day has finally come.”
81. Langley @langley (bumped)
82. Andreas Wagner @anwag (bumped)
83. Peter @thewavingcat He heaved a sigh. “It had to happen at some point.”
84. Richard MacManus @rww The boy’s father was Lou Reed. That shit. Savanna had never forgiven him for Metal Machine Music. She threw a Zune at him.
85. Dominic Campbell @dominiccampbell programmed to self-destruct on impact, or at the end of track one of MMM depending which came first. “It’s over Lou”, she cackled.
86. MG @parislemon But it wasn’t over. The nuclear explosion had somehow revitalized the aging rocker. He was impervious to Zune technology!
87. Lauren Vargas @vargasl (bumped)
88. Liz@BZBSavannah stared with disbelief as her former lover morphed before her. With horror she recognised his new form. Ricky Martin.
89. Amy Tucker @tastelikecrazy (bumped)
90. Andrea Vascellari @vascellari She couldn’t believe it… It couldn’t be true! Time was ticking and she knew there were only three hours left before
91. Tony @rexyinc the nano-bots in her blood stream would regenerate another body for her then she would
92. Demetri @demetri enter her present life, and John would again be lost in her past. She slowly awoke from that nightmare of 17 years ago, back to
93. Jack @jackhodgson elsewhere, daniel stood silently in front of the apple store, frozen with indecision.
94. Scott @xrodgers (bumped)
95. Tim @timd (bumped)
96. LindaH @lindiop Silently she willed him to make the right choice. Get it wrong and They might rip reality apart again. Daniel sighed and turned
97. Basti Hirsch @cervus (bumped)
98. Robert Armstrong @ninety7 (bumped)
99. Amie Gillingham @gillie toward Savannah with fresh tears in his eyes. “What should I do next? Where should we go now? I feel completely lost right now.”

Twittories - Short Stories Written In Twitter » Twittory #1 - The Darkness Inside