Oneshots

[Diz]

Multumesc pentru comentarii. Sunt oricand bine venite, mai ales ca n-am mai scris de ceva timp, and I think I'm getting rusty. I'm glad you like it, that's what matters.

Wunderbar, am luat cartile, urmeaza sa le citesc. Multumesc pentru recomandare :D

Here's more.

The Line

“What are you looking at?”

“I can’t recall getting here…did I walk here? Or did I float?” he looked around him and tried to recognize the scenery.

“You were always here…I mean…since 5 years ago…you only moved a couple of steps. Your turn is getting near.” the woman next to him gave him a rather radiant smile that, compared to the grim looks around them, made her seem like she was actually enjoying this.

“I seem to have…fallen asleep. It’s all a daze, I can’t even remember you.” his eyes drifted off in search of something familiar. They passed over an old man looking rather peculiar with his large robe and washed out eyes. His mouth seemed stitched with red string, contrasting violently with his black lips. “What’s his problem?”

“He kept complaining that the line’s too long and that he needed to get there first. His wife is waiting for him on the other side” the woman let her eyes gaze in the direction of the old man. “They don’t like people complaining too much, so they set up a system after dealing with him. People are scared of this place, you know, so if someone complains or comes up with a plan of escape, they send us a couple of rows back…that quieted everyone down. This place has no back doors” she explained with a blatant gesture of the hand towards the pillars. “They did however advanced him in line…he’s been here for over 10 years so... he started withering away. I don’t think he’ll last long.” her voice dropped and she shifted from one leg to another. “This usually happens here you know…I’m not far away from his situation either.” she lifted her shirt to show him the black lines that formed on her stomach and on her back. “I hope my turn comes soon, I don’t want to know what happens to those that don’t make it in time.”

He stood silent for a couple of minutes, demanding his brain to assimilate the new information. After some more seconds he decided that it was time to speak again, but his body thought otherwise. It seemed that the question at hand was improper so his mind stipulated change. “Who are you?” he imposed his will over his own mind.

“I think that names are not relevant here. I mean, I told you my name 5 times before, you always seem to forget everything after you wake up.” she smiled and brushed a mutineer hair strand out of her eyes.

“You told me all this before?”

“Oh yes, yes I did, 5 times actually, 6 if you count this one, but the old man is rather new. He’s only been in that spot for the last 5 months…he doesn’t speak much these days…I can see him occasionally trying to tear off the stitches, but they always grow back on, so he gave up. I pity him, really…he must be lonely. From time to time, he gives way to tears, but I guess he realized that crying doesn’t mean much here, so he gave that up too.”

They advanced a couple of steps as the crowd moved forward and then stopped. He peered above the heads before him and saw a massive wooden door. It was closing slowly with a humble creak for a door its size.

“How come I forgot you? And everything you told me? You seem to know a lot about this place.” he asked as he was turning back to her, just in time to see her shirt go back down.

“I don’t know actually. I think it’s their way to make us forget any lies we may think of along the way, some sort of security system.” she scratched the tip of her nose and smiled at him. Raising her hands above her head, she stretched with a loud sigh. “Getting kind of crammed in here, isn’t it?”

“Did you ever fall asleep?”

“No… I never thought of a lie to get me out of this, so there was no need. That’s why I remember everything from the day I came here till now.” she stopped and looked at her shoes before continuing. “It’s been 15 years, can you imagine?”

“No…I can’t…”

“The first time I came here I was scared and didn’t know what would happen to me.” she gestured around and brushed some stray strands off her face again. It was quite pleasant to see how the black contrasted with the white of her face and sometimes, when it felt courageous, even with the blue of her eyes. “She talked me out of my fear of this place and made me smile the first time. I grew quite attached to her.” the woman looked nowhere in particular, but rather seemed lost in thought and memories.

“Is she still here?” he advanced when he saw that someone moved again. “The line is moving faster.” this was more of an observation to himself than an actual line per say.

“No, I wouldn’t be here talking to you if she was, now would I? She grew cold and black.” she wasn’t looking at him…maybe he brought out something that should have been left undisturbed in her. Some things are better left as they are, people need to remember that. “You were the same as me when you first got here. I guess I’m lucky they advanced me in line, now I get to stay with you.” her smile was back, but now, it was of a lower intensity. “She told me I have her smile though…that’s why I keep smiling a lot. To remember her, just in case I actually fall asleep…I guess I’ll really miss her after I go in there…you too.”

“What happens beyond the doors?” he moved again, this time almost slipping and falling to his knees. There was someone at his feet, someone looking a bit like being dead.

“No, don’t touch it, it’s not your job anyway.” she grabbed him by the hand as he was leaning towards the body.

“What do you mean?”

“They disappear eventually, you shouldn’t bother too much with them, just watch out not to trip over them” she jumped over it and headed forward with the crowd. He, however, stood still and watched the body. It was black and its skin was cracked. “Seems like a cruel way to go…no?” she turned towards him, gesturing for him to come next to her.

“Is this what will happen to you too?” he asked with a quiver of his lips.

“Oh gosh, I hope not! You see, that’s why I’m kind of in a hurry to get there. You should think that way too. I don’t really know how this works here, but after some time, you get like that…”

“What exactly is….that?” he asked wanting more than just a look at a dead body.

“If I knew I would have told you by now, which means I don’t. But it doesn’t look nice now does it?” she straighten her back and looked at him with wide eyes. “Oh look!” she pointed to her left. “The old man”.

Indeed, he was right next to them, but they didn’t actually see him until now. The crowd shifted again, or they just brought him back, for something he did. “He was ahead of us, what happened?”

“I guess they don’t want him there…after his complaints” she lowered her voice a little and then added “He won’t make it…”

“But…you said he has someone on the other side, waiting for him…” he looked stunned.

“What makes you think that one life would make a difference to them? Look at this place; it’s crawling with people just waiting to get in. You can call it a natural filter, or something close to it. No one says it’s humane, but I’d rather have someone else go black and cold so that I can advance.” she explained her logic to him with the platitude of an old woman knitting on her chair.

He didn’t quite know what kept him silent. He frowned and lowered his eyes to his shoes to contemplate on what she just said. “Don’t sulk, you know you’d choose that too.” she grabbed him by the chin and made him look at her. “It’s sad, but that’s how the world goes. Some die in order for others to survive”. Gazing at the old man, he nodded slowly and took a few steps forward. Their eyes caught sight of each other for a couple of seconds and he realized that the old man knew it too. He won’t get on the other side. His cheeks were cracked and almost all his face turned to black. The only thing that was vibrant off him was the red string. His eyes were watery but there were no tears flowing, they wouldn’t impress anyone anyway.

“Stop looking at him, you can’t change anything.” she made him look the other way, towards the imposing doors. The woman shifted her shirt again and gave a sigh. “Why aren’t they moving faster?” she asked with a frown.

“When do these things appear?” he became interested of his own fate right now, realizing that he too, had been there for a while now.

“They don’t have an exact time. It depends on the person I guess. The young ones seem to get them later than the old ones. I find that normal…oh we’re moving again.” she clapped her hands and advanced, dragging him along. He noticed that the black marks appeared on her hands and throat too. She didn’t have much time left…it must be frightening for her to know that, but at the same time, it was for everybody. He was curious to know what exactly happened to those who died, but he didn’t want to experience it on her. She was the only person there that was actually smiling. Somehow, that made him feel better. Everyone there was gloomy and they all kept to themselves. She was different…she shouldn’t even be there, in the line with them.

“We’ll get there soon, don’t worry.” he tried to assure her even though they both knew that it was more to assure himself than her. She was right. Humans were selfish, because all he cared about was the fact that if she died, he’d be alone and become like everyone around him. Leisure was no more an option when it came to being alone in there. You started having thoughts, thinking of lies to escape your fate, so you ended up sleeping and not remembering anything you thought about. If you slept, you stood still while the others advanced. “Why did you stay behind with me?”

“I didn’t, I dragged you along.” she answered naively.

“Isn’t that against the rules?”

“Of course it is, I had to be careful not to be seen, but I couldn’t afford leaving you there nor leaving you behind…” she gestured to the back of the line, “…you’d be thousand of rows back if I didn’t do it.”

“I guess I have to thank you then.” he grabbed her by the hand and caressed the back of her palm. There were black marks there too, expanding, threatening to take over her body sooner than planned. “I can’t remember what I thought about that put me to sleep…”

“You’d better not think about it, I had a hell of a time trying to drag you, I don’t want to do it again. Whatever you were planning to lie about, leave it be, fate is the same no matter how you try to avoid it.” for the first time, her tone became cold and threatening. She was looking more rigid and her eyes had a different spark in them.

“I can’t remember what I did and how I got here…” he rested his forehead on his palm as he was trying to remember, but something almost made him jump from his spot. He extended his arm and looked at the shining black marks on it.

“I know for sure I was killed, but you never told me what you did. Must be something bad if you fell asleep 5 times already.” she presumed and took another step forward. The old man tried to say something but the strings on his lips tighten, not letting him speak. “Poor man.” she said pithily, “He just wanted to be with his wife, but now he’s at the end of the line.” as she spoke, the light in his eyes faded and was covered with cracked black. He fell, firstly to his knees, as he tried to reach one of them with a begging look, and then collapsed on the ground…cold and black. “Another body for them to toil with.” she said sternly and looked the other way.

He realized that watching this old man brought up a slight fear in him, a different one from the creaking black that started to take over his body. “I don’t have anyone on the other side…” he said with a blank look towards the body.

“I don’t either, my parents are still alive.”

“How…exactly were you killed?” curiosity got the better of him at this point.

“I was walking home one night from a party, I can’t remember exactly whose it was, but…anyway I was walking home and someone attacked me. It happened too fast for me to comprehend what was going on, but it seemed that the person had a knife. I remember being pushed against a wall and blood dripping on my clothes, and then I ended up here.” she looked at her hands.

“I shouldn’t have asked, I’m sorry.”

“Oh no apologies necessary, what’s done is done. I have nothing against talking about it now.” she massaged her wrist and looked at the doors. “They’re opening again; maybe it won’t take that long now.”

He tried not to look directly at her because then he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from staring at the black creaks that started appearing on her face. “We’ll make it.” he reassured himself.




“No, I can’t remember anything sorry.” he said looking at the man beside him. He had a rather peculiar look that was given to him by the scar that covered half his face. He too, was almost all covered in black.

“I don’t recall seeing you here, I think they advanced you.”

“That’s a spiteful scar…how did you get it?”

“Ah this? I was attacked and when I tried to fight him off, he gave me this. Apparently he wasn’t really pleased that he didn’t manage to kill me so he came back and finished the job properly this time. I’m just glad my wife and daughter escaped.”

“He?...you remember the man?”

“Ah, no, I just remember it was a man. I don’t have many memories of my life since I came here, don’t know why, but I only think about getting through to the doors still alive.” the scared man touched his cheek. “How long have you been here?”

“She said something about 5 years, although I seemed to have slept through them.”

“You must have something serious to atone for then, but take my word, lies never work here. They know when you lie.”

“I can’t remember what I wanted to lie about, if I did, it’d take something off my mind.” he said looking at the extended black marks on his own arms. He still looked better than the scared man next to him though. He had more time to get to the door than he did.

“Who was she? You mentioned her a while back too.”

“I don’t know exactly, a woman, the first one I met when I came here. She stood by my side until she…became black.”

“Ah I see…that usually happens around here to people that stay too long…but it’s not our fault that the line advances so slowly.” the scared man drummed his fingers on his crossed arms.

“Only a couple of more rows to go, hang in there.” he said not really thinking about the current situation. He was thinking about that girl. He missed her, that was true, he missed her smile, just as he predicted he would. People there never smiled.

“I know I’m not going to make it, it’s better to give up hope than have something crush it for you.”

“That’s not the right attitude to have about life.”

“What life?” the man asked looking at him with wide eyes. “Because, if this is life too, I’m better off black and cold.”

He didn’t know what to say. Indeed, the man was right, this was no life, but he couldn’t make a comparison to being black and cold…he wasn’t sure he actually wanted to either. They kept moving in silence for a while, as the man repeatedly checked his marks. The door was getting closer but that didn’t trigger in him any signs of relaxation. Yes, he was beginning to get covered up in black marks too and yes, he did want to get out of that line, but what was behind that door made him rethink the situation. For some reason, he was scared to pass the border and go in. He looked to his left to ask if the feeling wasn’t only his, but the scared man was gone.

“He didn’t make it…” he said to himself and lowered his head. Just one more person in front of him and then, it was his turn. Several feelings took over him at once. He was happy to get out of there still alive, he was scared to go in, anxious to see what was behind the door, sad that the others didn’t make it with him and penitent that he ended up there in the first place. Taking one step forward, he came into a large room, heavily decorated with wooden and golden figures that stood out threatening to launch themselves at him the moment he said something wrong. An imposing lion was carved into the left wall, his mane gently sculptured by a master’s hand, teeth and claws sharp as daggers, eyes watching him everywhere he moved. On the opposite wall, drinking valiantly from a dew pond, there stood a lamb, half the lions’ size but with the same majestic touch to its sculpted curls. His eyes were closed and his tongue barely touched the water, making small circles that extended until they faded away. Wolfs were chasing sheep on the ceiling, among trees and lakes with mountains that could be seen far in the background. The floor was covered with sculpted grass on the sides, and one paved path in the middle leading to a single chair. The whole animal kingdom was shown there, in small wooden details, from the minute creatures that lived among the sculpted grass, to the birds that flew lackadaisical above them.

“Step forward.” a voice commanded him and, almost instantly, he found himself obeying. His feet carried him to the chair, where he stood still awaiting what was next to happen. There was no other person in the room but him. However, the voice sounded human. “How did you get here?” the voice spoke again.

“I was shot.”

“For what reason?”

“I was running from the police. They came to arrest me.” he said passively.

“What did you do to get arrested?”

“I killed three persons. A young girl, a family man and an old man. When they came I got scared and ran.”

“Did you have any reasons to kill them?”

“No…I just wanted to see how their blood looked like, I didn’t take their money or any possessing.”

“Do you regret your actions?”

“I…don’t know…I wasn’t even aware that I remembered what I did to end up here” he looked at his black arms. “Why did you make me forget everything if I was going to remember it in here anyway?”

“People chose their own fate by choosing to lie or not.”

“But the old man, he just wanted to be with his wife!”

“You are not here to question us, but rather you are here to atone for your actions.” the lion started waving his tail as he spoke.

“I didn’t want to put them through this…” he spoke looking around him.

“Yet you did.” this time, it was the lamb who addressed him, raising his head from the dew pond and looking straight at him with plain black eyes. “Your sins, although regretted, can not be forgiven human. Your soul cannot be saved.”

His limbs became numb and he noticed that he couldn’t speak. Gazing at his hands, he took note of the creaked black that covered them fully. Even his vision started getting blurry. For some reason he felt light, like there was no more gravity pinning him down. “Farewell.” there was one last sound before he collapsed on the ground. He wasn’t really sure what was happening to him, just that reality started fading away, replaced by a void. He couldn’t think, although he wanted to understand what was happening to him. All this took only but a moment and then there was nothing left….nothing but a pile of ashes that were swept away by the lion’s tail into the sculpted grass.

And then….the next person stepped in.