#blogbattle – Page 10 – Carrie Ann Alexis

#BlogBattle is a weekly short story challenge using a single word for inspiration. Hosted by Rachael Ritchey.

The Rhythm of Life

Sebastian entered the kitchen finding his mom making dinner. “Hi Bass, how was school?”

“Fine.” He says with little emotion.

Sebastian walks into his room, drops his backpack on the floor and begins to change his clothes. He mutters to himself, “Fine…Ha…school sucks. I’m sick of always being on high alert, constantly looking over my shoulder so I don’t fall victim to a stupid prank, and the name-calling is just stupid. Those morons don’t realize how I could destroy them. I could easily hack into their precious social media accounts; I could embarrass them so bad their kids would blush. Eh…They’re not worth the trouble, I have three more years of this BS, some days I just don’t know if I can take it another day, I don’t see how things will ever change. Whatever.”

Deflated, he flops down on his bed and grabs the new sci-fi book he’s been reading. He only gets through a couple of pages before he drifts off to sleep.

It is then that they appear, out of nowhere. Aramis looks around at his surroundings. Clothes are everywhere; there’s not one clean surface in the room. Pop cans, candy wrappers, shoes, socks, all cover the floor, disgusted he asks, “Why are we here on this godforsaken planet again?”

Athos calmly replies by pointing to Sebastian sleeping, “Him.”

Perfectly on cue, Sebastian rustles, snores, frantically scratches his nose, then stills.

“Lovely.” Aramis flatly replies. “No really, what is our mission Athos?”

“Sebastian here is very special, he has intelligence that is paramount to the future of his people, he just doesn’t know it yet. He is being harassed from other humans in his institution of learning, and he is very discouraged, to the point of giving up. We cannot allow him to do that. He must use his knowledge for good and not evil. He must be aware of his greater purpose, so that it takes over his being, where nothing can deter him to move forward. Where he can drown out the noise that tries to distract him. He will become like us. But we must move expeditiously before the cosmic rain storm hits, and awakens him.” Athos responds.

Confused yet trying to impress his superiors with facts, Porthos says, “How will it disturb him? Earth is constantly hit by cosmic rain, which is just dust particles, for the last 30,000 years…without notice.”

“Not today. We’re here, it will be different…he’ll hear it. Ugh, you’re such a fledgling, you have so much to learn.” Aramis says shaking his head in frustration.

Athos replies calmly yet sternly, “Yes, that is why he is here, the only way to learn is through experience, let us begin.”

The rain is steadily falling now, sounding more like pebbles than raindrops hitting the window, getting louder and louder. Sebastian slowly wakes up. He sees the three men dressed alike wearing some sort of green and black uniform. He rubs his eyes, and groggily says, “Sup?”

Athos whispers to the others, “He’s awake, I’ll handle this.”

Louder and with more enthusiasm he addresses Sebastian, “Greetings and Salutations Sebastian, please do not be alarmed, we are here to help you.”

“Whoa…this is trippy, you didn’t actually say that…I’m not actually saying this, but yet we’re communicating.” Sebastian says a little disconcerted not sure if he is fully awake.

“That is correct, it is thought transference, or telepathy. This is Porthos and Aramis” as he extends an arm gesturing to each individual. “I am Athos, I am a cosmic soothsayer, I can foresee the future in any galaxy. I am here to show you a glimpse of your future.”

“A soothsayer.” Sebastian’s says, his voice flat.

“Yes.”

“Like a psychic.” Sebastian questions for understanding.

Athos tilts his head back and forth trying to reconcile the ambiguity of the term is his head, but simply says, “Yes.”

“A clairvoyant?”

“Yes.” Athos replies impatiently wondering when this questioning will end, but indulges Sebastian so that his curiosity is satisfied.

“Like…the oracle?” Sebastian says with a little more excitement, like he just realized the answer to a million-dollar question.

“Yes.” Athos replies more confidently, sensing that Sebastian relates to this. He has been called worse.

Sebastian says, “Cool.” Completely accepting this whole situation. “So dude, what’s with the green and black uniforms.”

Looking down at his clothes and a little confused, Athos replies, “We scanned the earth for the most superior human exhibiting expertise in making other humans feel happy and content. What we found is that the…” he pauses, looks down and leans his ear towards Aramis prompting him to share their secret with only him.

“The barista, sir,” Aramis replies quietly under his breath.

“Yes, the barista…had the highest levels, so we fashioned ourselves to emulate them, in order to not draw attention to ourselves.” Athos responds.

With his eyes wide with excitement Sebastian says, “Cool! So you’re shape-shifters.”

Aramis looks at him and just gives him a nod confirming his observation. Sebastian eager to see what will happen next says, “So what do I have to do?”

“You don’t have to do anything.” Aramis replies.

“OK…but wait.” Sebastian pauses and closes his eyes, like he’s trying to hear something. “What’s with the music? It’s like I hear it but I don’t. It’s more like I feel it. It resonates from each of you with your own unique rhythm, but yet I hear, or feel them separately. I feel calm, peaceful even hopeful.”

“Yes Sebastian, it is our natural vibration frequency that resonates from our inner being, it is who we are, it is the energy that helps us be who we are meant to be. Humans have it too, but it takes them years to tap into it and learn to utilize it properly. We are here to speed up the process in you, so that you will have it too. Think of it as…the soundtrack to your life.” Athos replies with a smile.

“Ok then…do your thing.” Sebastian says without any hesitation.

They move towards him and Athos reassures him, “You will not feel anything, or remember any of this. When we are done your natural vibration frequency will empower you to stand against anything or anyone who tries to discourage you to move towards your future. Just relax.” Slowly, their individual vibration frequency becomes louder as it begins to beat in unison, as Sebastian is lulled to sleep.

A flash of lightening fills Sebastian’s room followed by a loud clap of thunder which startles him to full consciousness as he bolts upright in bed. He looks around, trying to get his eyes to focus. He smells food, and realizes he is hungry. He gets up from his bed, the book he was reading drops to the floor, and a white card falls out from between the pages. He looks down at the blank piece of paper, and bends down to pick it up. When his fingers come in contact with the edge of it, something slowly appears like when you turn on your phone. Illuminated in blue letters, the card reads:

ATHOS
a.k.a. The Oracle

Cosmic Soothsayer

He drops the card on the bed like a hot potato, and it goes blank again. He rubs his hand down his face and looks at it again and says, “Nah…it had to be a dream.”

As he leaves the room, he faintly hears music, or at least he thinks he does. He turns to see if he left the TV on, but he didn’t. He shrugs his shoulders and heads towards the kitchen feeling well rested and…empowered.

#BlogBattle is a weekly short story challenge using a single word for inspiration. Hosted by Rachael Ritchey.

I have been wanting to do some fictional writing for some time now, this was the nudge that I needed. After reading the entries for a couple of weeks now, I am throwing my hat in the ring and joining in. (yikes!!)

Picture This

It’s almost six o’clock on a Friday night. Everyone else has already left. As I put the last couple of files in the file drawer in the corner of the office, the light turns off. Startled, I say, “Hey, I’m still in here.”

“I’m, sorry, I didn’t think anyone was still here.” Quickly the light goes back on.

He enters the room with barely a smile on his face, I don’t think I have ever seen him actually smile. It’s Ryan, he’s from our other office up north. He was here for the week working on this project. We’ve worked on other projects before. He’s very focused and serious, tall, sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Usually not my type but I must say he intrigues me, there’s just something about him that seems…familiar.

“Oh, Hi Ryan, I was just finishing up, I didn’t think anyone else was here,” a little embarrassed that I’m still here on a Friday night.

“I was on my way out, and saw the light on. Well…good night Sara.” He turns to leave, but then he stops and slowly turns back, “Would you like to get something to eat?”

Shocked, yet more excited than I should be, I casually say, “Sure.”

“I know of this great little diner we can go to.” As he leads the way out of the office.

Our conversation is easy. We have a lot of things in common, we like the same kind of movies, the same kind of music, and we both play tennis. He isn’t as serious as I thought, and I was correct in thinking I’ve never seen him smile. He has a killer smile, dimples and all. I would have definitely remembered it.

I ask, “Do you have any siblings? I’m the youngest with two older brothers, and an older sister.”

“Ah…the baby in the family,” with that teasing half smile of his. “I’m the oldest with a sister and younger brother.”

“Ah…the serious first born, the one that does everything right.” I tease back.

“Well someone had to keep my younger brother in line, he was always getting into trouble.” He shakes his head at the memory. “It’s funny, we were just talking about some of the things he used to do. I had forgotten about most of them, but he reminded me of one of the vacations our family took. We usually went to the Indiana Dunes, my Aunt has a house there, so we would spend the week with her. My brother and I spent all day on the beach. One time we were walking around just laughing, he was always joking around. We walked past some beach towels all spread out, which is normal, people leave them when they would swim. But he sees a camera sticking out from under a book. He gets the bright idea, to take my picture, and he does. Returns the camera to it’s hiding spot, grabs my arm and we take off running down the beach. It happened so fast, I had no time to stop him. I still can’t believe he did that.”

I am picturing the scene in my head as he is telling this story. But then, I see it in my mind’s eye, the picture of the blonde kid with the blue eyes. It can’t be. As awareness dawns on my face, he just looks at me and says, “What?”

I don’t want to say anything until I’m sure, so I play it off, shake my head and just say, “Believe it or not my family spent vacations at Indiana Dunes too. I can not imagine your brother doing that, that is just too funny!”

“Yeah, he was always fun like that. I can’t believe you vacationed there as well. We have a lot of things in common.” He pauses for a moment, finishes off his Coke then says, “I’ve really enjoyed your company, Sara. I was wondering if you would like to play tennis tomorrow. We’ve been cooped up in the office all week, I’ve been dying to get out and enjoy the nice weather.”

“I’ve enjoyed your company too. I haven’t played in awhile, but it sounds like a great idea, it was a long week.” I say, trying to appear nonchalant.

“Great, I’ll pick you up around 10.” He says.

We leave the diner and he walks me to my car, “Well, I guess now it’s good night, Sara.”

Flashing me that killer smile and for a moment I think I see something in his eyes, but then it’s gone. It’s probably just my wishful thinking that he might kiss me, I silently berate myself to get a grip and calmly reply, “I guess so, thanks for dinner Ryan, I had fun. See you tomorrow.”

When I get home, I find the photo album on my bookshelf. I open it, and start looking through the pictures, I turn the page and there it is. With my hand raised to my mouth I can’t help but smile, there’s no mistaking those dimples. I shut the album and get ready for bed.

The next morning, Ryan shows up a little early, I invite him in. The photo album is still sitting on the coffee table where I left it last night. “Let me get my stuff, take a look at that” as I point to the photo album, and leave the room saying, “It’s one of our vacations at Indiana Dunes, maybe you’ll recognize some of the, uh, landscape.”

When I walk back in the room, he looks up, holding back a smile and says flatly, “The landscape. Really Sara?” as he points to a picture in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Did you know when I told you the story last night?”

“I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure, I had forgotten about it, and haven’t looked at these pictures in years. But when you were telling me the story, that picture did come to mind.” Still not believing this is happening.

“What are the chances?” he said incredulously.

“I know! We could never figure out who took the picture, it was my camera. My sister used to tease me about it, telling me that you were, I mean the boy in the picture, was my future husband,” hoping I wouldn’t scare him off.

Laughing he says, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” He takes my hand as we walk out the door and says, “Today…I’m up for a tennis game, we’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings, we’ll leave that up to fate, it’s worked pretty well so far.”

I hold on to his hand and can’t help but think today, I have a date with destiny.