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6/26/2010 10:52:24   
Jadugarr
Member

The Man with the Handgun Shoots John in the Face and Reporters Indiciate that the Time of Death Was Around Three O'Clock--A Short.



-Man with the handgun-
Listen to me, John.

-John-
I can write—

-Man with the handgun-
You’re not listening to me, John. Listening isn’t within your skillsets. But I need you—I need you to listen to me now, John.

-John-
I could make you infamous.

-Man with the handgun-
Are you here with me? Do you see two people in this room, John?

-John-
You and me.

-Man with the handgun-
And who do I look like, John?

-John-
A mutual friend.

-Man with the handgun-
Perceptive. And yourself?

-John-
The guy waking up in a bed tomorrow morning.

-Man with the handgun-
That’s a theory. Fortunately, I’m shooting you in the head. I’m not much a zombie person, John.

-John-
I’ll give you anything.

-Man with the handgun-
I don’t have taste. Do you really want to bribe a man without taste, John?

-John-
I don’t want to die. I can’t—you— can’t happen.

-Man with the handgun-
Want to hear a joke?

John looks up to the man with the handgun. His eyes are flushed to the deep red of his cheeks.

-Man with the handgun-
They’re probably going to announce you having died right now. At this very moment. Three O’clock, John. It is Three O’clock, and technically, you’re already dead.

-John-
I don’t want to die.

-Man with the handgun-
Okay, fine. I’ll write them a note. No need to get pissy about it, John.

-John-
I got so many goddamn things I need to say.

-Man with the handgun-
Want to talk it out, pal? Sure, I’m the man with the handgun, but who said you can’t befriend your executioner?

-John-
Why? Any of this—why?

-Man with the handgun-
Psychologically, why? Metaphysical reasoning, John? Or, literally, are you curious as to why I’m about to puncture through your skull with a .44 Remington Magnum cartridge and then double-check the wall pattern?

John’s eyes roll back into his head as he bites loosely onto the tip of his tongue

-Man with the handgun-
I apologize, John, that was a little grim. I don’t intend your discomfort.

-John-
What the hell did I do wrong?

-Man with the handgun-
Ever walk on your neighbors grass? Step on somebody’s shoes? Intentionally?

John blankly returns a stare.

-Man with the handgun-
You good with it being one of those?

John screams.

-Man with the handgun-
You’re looking too far into things, John.

-John-
Stop—stop saying—stop saying my name.

-Man with the handgun-
Since I’m the man with the handgun, I’d say that’s quite the proposal, John. But I’m afraid I can’t be accepting. That’s your name. That is a man’s name.

-John-
I’ll give you anything.

-Man with the handgun-
The class is on page eight, John.

-John-
I want to—I need see my wife again.

-Man with the handgun-
Tell her you love her? Give her a kiss?

-John-
I love my wife more than anything.

-Man with the handgun-
Does she love you?

-John-
Of course.

-Man with the handgun-
Oh, good, she knows it. I was beginning to think I’d have to leave her a note as well.

-John-
Please, I need something. Just anything.

-Man with the handgun-
Come on, John. I can understand you’re currently in a psychologically backwards state, but, please, try speaking with a bit more rationale. This isn’t about you. It isn’t about your wife.

-John-
Whatever you—

-Man with the handgun-
No, it isn’t about me, John. You’re reading too far into things.

-John-
Why?

-Man with the handgun-
You can’t understand because you’re thinking just a little too hard.

-John-
Why!

-Man with the handgun-
I’m the man with the handgun and you’re the man I’m going to shoot with it. It’s simple. It’s mathematics, John. You just need to be a little more self-aware. You need a little perspective. You may only be able to see me, but I can see us both. Our mutual friend.

-John-
Stop—just, please.

-Man with the handgun-
Do you know what you have, John? You have a name. Because that’s all you have, that’s who you are. There’s nothing more to it.

-John-
God.

-Man with the handgun-
Our time’s up.

-John-
I died at Three o’clock.

-Man with the handgun-
You haven’t been listening to me, John. You're a bad listener. I told you, I’d write you a note.

John closes his eyes.

-Man with the handgun-
Oh.

-John-
What?

-Man with the handgun-
My pen’s out of ink.


< Message edited by Jadugarr -- 7/2/2010 15:55:01 >
DF MQ  Post #: 1
6/30/2010 15:24:37   
Jadugarr
Member

Some Creepy Chap Writes a Letter


To whomever it may concern,

I’m fairly certain that the information disclosed within this letter shall spark some of your interest; however, I want to assure you that I am not simply a harlequin summoned to amuse you with petty gags. The knowledge I posses has been devouring me from the inside for quite some time.

How very unusual- so much information I have to tell you, yet I have no idea as to where I shall begin; so what use am I, a man without words? If change is so constant, why does it not affect myself? I stay so damn invisible.

Yes, that is what pushed me into this state of many laments; myself in the path of the sun’s illumination, I cast a shadow. This should be proof enough of my existence; yet, if this letter never makes it’s way to you, who will ever know? No- this is not about me. This is about my shadow, and how it led me to take the life of a woman.

There I stood, cradled in the warmth of the sun, staring down at the silhouette upon pavement in which my shadow was plastered. Between thumb and forefinger twirled a plastic-wrapped candy-cane with twisted colors of rose and jade. My sweet little treat.

Like all men, my eyes wander; my mind dreams. I spot a woman with her hand tied around the wrist of a girl no older than the age of seven. I would, soon after, come to know her name: Beatrice LeDore. Her name appeared in the papers last week, she made the front page- at the cost of her precious life.

Oh, when I first saw the woman, I saw the embodiment of beauty, like what all men see when they look upon a woman who steals their breath away. I am like all other men, you see. I breathe, I bleed, I dream. Yet no one takes notice- like I am their little secret they will subdue in the back of their mind. Erased. Gone.

Invisible.

It was because I saw my shadow, I saw the woman. Because I saw the woman, I saw the child who followed in her steps. It was because I saw the impressionable innocent that I watched the mother with more care.

You see, a moment of visual satisfaction can be misleading; because I was so satisfied with the appearances I gawked over, I decided to spend a bit more of my time gawking. However, sir, it did not take long before I realized that the woman might end up being the very cause for her own daughter’s bereavement. No, she cannot take away her daughter’s life anymore.

She had diamond earrings, they hung gracefully from her pretty face; a diamond necklace, it strangled her with splendor; she had a cell-phone- which should have been engraved with diamonds because she most definitely had the money to do so.
Oh, yes, the most important factor almost slipped my mind: she did not have a wedding ring. She had not been wedded, no spouse. No man to watch over a child so young while the mother was at work. So I got closer.

The girl who dragged behind had a very lovely voice- she just so happened to exchange it with me for a small conversation at my request. She stared at the candy-cane twirling in my hand.

“Oh, what is your mother yelling about?” I would come to ask her.

She would respond, “She’s got to go somewhere, and I can’t come.”

Poor girl. Her mother was, most probably, very neglectful of her child’s needs. Another question presented itself, and I desired to hear this girl’s tale, “Why can’t you go with her?” I asked.

“Woork,” she replied, “And there’s no one to watch me at home, so now she has to yell at people.”

How the guilelessness of children never ceases to amaze me. A person. She bit her lower lip as she intently watched my fingers rattle the candy-cane about.

“I’m gunna’ have to stay home alone, [and] have fun,” she smiled weakly at me; her fright seeping through her lips like the saliva glossing them over.

Now, I may be no mathematician, but I am a rational man who is able to add up a few simple figures. That child was up to planning acts that wouldn’t play out in her favor. My knowing of archetypes leads me to believe that the innocents are oblivious to the images of life that are not as literal as what is scene through their eyes.

I have never taken it upon myself to vanquish an entity from this world for the benefit of another being. Justice shall come to everyone, and we cannot change destiny’s star variable. Maybe I was just simply a pawn- a mindless marionette dangling at the strings of the puppet master (No, it cannot be).

Either way, I felt so very compelled to end the life of a pretty lady. Smear her blood across the brick wall hiding in seclusion in the blackest part of the alleyway. So cold and damp your flesh would freeze over and you’d close your eyes in attempt to imagine yourself out of the surreality.

Oh, that girl must have painted her eyes red as her tears ran endlessly down her cheeks. The news must have ceased time itself; slowed down the revolution of her diminutive world.

How disturbed will the girl become? Perfectly pampered for seven years within her kingdom of glass till I threw the stone that shattered it all. She’s now a walking infection- her distraught perspective on life bleeding out onto the others whom she walks side-by-side. Corrupting.

She’ll only find slumber in her own fatigue drawn out by tears.

The man who did not matter stepped onto a pretty butterfly; he lazily withdrew from the path drawn out for him- tainted the ground with his footprints and destroyed the future.

What am I? Watch me stand proudly, striking a pose of integrity; thinking these strings tied about my limbs are being tugged on by a force omnipotent- impossible. I am all alone.

An invisible man.

Come outside- out of your station. I want you to find me, Mr. Police. Look out into the congested streets for this man. Between his thumb and forefinger twirls a plastic-wrapped candy-cane with twisted colors of rose and jade. My sweet little treat.


Sincerely,




The Invisible Man

< Message edited by Jadugarr -- 7/2/2010 15:54:39 >
DF MQ  Post #: 2
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