Wednesday, August 8, 2012

I Wrote Another Short Story!

I love the show The Twilight Zone.  Little slices of things that were always just a bit askew.  I think I loved them for the same reason that I love short stories.  You can shorthand a lot of stuff and just dive right into to a character in a strange situation.

This story is my attempt at paying homage to that great series.  I've had this idea for a long time about a man waking up, and realizing that the sky above him was not the sky that he was familiar with.  I thought that would be a very disorienting way to wake up.  I sort of forced myself to give this man a story.

Again, let me know what you think.

Unfamiliar Sky

Dan Burke woke, flat on his back in the grass, staring up at an unfamiliar sky.  Stargazing was a hobby of his, and the constellations overhead were definitely in the wrong positions.  He took quick stock of his various body parts, and judged that he was uninjured, if a little damp from lying in the wet grass.  He lifted his head, slowly, and looked around.  He recognized the softball field immediately.  His company's team had taken second place in the city tournament last year, and he played second base.  He stood.

I'm only a mile or so from home.  That's good, he thought.  But why are the stars wrong?  And, why am I in the softball field?

The field lights were off, but the first traces of light were coming over the horizon, and Dan could tell that his car wasn't in the small parking lot.  He checked his pockets and discovered that he had his keys and wallet.

I don't feel hung over.  How did I get out here?

Slowly, Dan headed toward the break in the fence near the dugout.  Leaving the field, he started toward home.  Even though he knew where he was, he was disoriented from waking out in the open, and felt shaken by the strange sky.

Someone was running toward him on the street.  His heartbeat quickened, and he tensed.  He had a moment’s indecision whether or not to run away.  Instead, he chose to continue ahead, ready to spring out of the way if needed.  As the person got closer, he could hear rhythmic, heavy breathing.  Morning jogger, Dan thought, and felt a little silly for his apprehension.  Sure enough, the jogger passed him by with barely a glance.

As the sky brightened overhead, erasing the errant constellations, Dan’s nerves calmed considerably.  He turned onto his street, and saw his car, parked in the driveway.  He arrived at his house and pulled his keys out of his pocket.  He slid his house key into the lock and turned it over.  Or, rather, he tried to.  While it slid home easily enough, it refused to turn.  He tried again.  Nothing.  He checked that he was using the correct key.  Yes, it was definitely his house key.  Knowing that it wouldn’t work, Dan tried once more.  Still nothing.  His unease was creeping back up, now mixed with frustration.

The door opened.

“Dan?  Where have you been?”  It was Paige, his wife, a concerned look on her face.

“I, uh, I was just out for a walk.  I, um, woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep.  Thought I’d go get some air”, he lied.

“Dan, I was really worried.  You could have left a note or something”.  She kissed him as she stepped back to let him in.  “I’m glad you’re home, anyway.  Want some coffee?”

“Oh, yes.  Very much yes”.  He followed Paige into the kitchen.  “I think something’s wrong with the lock.  Or my key.”

“Really?  We can try my key later.  See what’s wrong with it”.  She busied herself with the coffee maker.

Dan sat at the kitchen table and watched her make coffee.  She had always had a great figure and, dressed as she was, in her robe, hair still damp from the shower, Dan found her to be incredibly sexy.  He was forming the words to tell her so, when she approached him, steaming mugs of coffee in hand.

“Here you go, sweetie”, she said as she flashed him her disarming smile, the one that made the corners of her sparkling hazel eyes turn down.

Dan’s heart began pounding again.  Paige had the most stunning hazel eyes.  They flashed green when she was angry.  He had spent hours of his life, staring into them.

Paige’s eyes, as she handed him his coffee, were a flat, milk chocolate brown.

Dan started, pushing away and upsetting his chair in the process.  He fell hard to the floor.  His mug shattered, spattering him with hot coffee.

“Dan!  What the hell?”, Paige yelled at him.  Her eyes did not flash green.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!”

Her face softened and she leaned down toward him.  “Dan, what’s wrong?  Are you OK?”

“I SAID ‘GET AWAY FROM ME!’”.  Dan kicked the upset chair at Paige, knocking her feet out from under her. She sprawled over the chair and crashed to the floor.  Dan scrambled to his feet and ran awkwardly for the front door.  Throwing it open, he almost ran into Ed, his next door neighbor.

“Hey, Dan.  Is everything OK?  I heard shouting”.  Ed glanced past Dan, into the house.

“Huh?  Oh, uh, yeah.  No, everything’s fine”.  Dan made a feeble attempt at a smile.  Ed returned the smile, revealing a set of teeth, all pointed, like a shark’s.

“Ed!  Help!”, Paige screamed from kitchen.  Ed’s shark grin widened. 

Dan screamed and punched Ed square in the nose.  Ed staggered back for a moment, then rushed forwards, grabbing Dan by the shirt and slamming him backwards into the wall, knocking the wind from his lungs.  Paige came around the corner, limping, fixing her disheveled robe.  Tears ran down her cheeks.

“Dan, why?”, Paige asked, leveling her brown eyes at him.

“Your…your eyes”, Dan whispered.

“What about my eyes, Dan?” 

Paige sighed, lowering her head.  When she looked back up at him, her damp eyes were hazel, favoring green, as they always had been.  Dan gaped at her, then glanced at Ed, with his smashed nose, blood pouring down his face, and then back into his wife’s beautiful hazel eyes.

Dan fainted.

*********************************************** 

Dan Burke woke, flat on his back, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling.  All white, with metal grates covering the recessed lights.  He took quick stock of his various body parts, and judged that he was uninjured, but he couldn’t move his arms.  He lifted his head, slowly, and looked around.  He took in the padded walls and straitjacket. 

Dan lowered his head and closed his eyes, hoping to awake somewhere else.





In my head, the confrontation between Dan and Paige was much more violent.  Then, I thought that, between this story and the last, some of you might think that I had a real problem with women.  That's not the case at all, but I figured that maybe toning it down would be better for the story anyway. 

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