Christopher Sisk's Stories

Only Months Ago

2008-02-18T17:06:45Z

I removed the last things that remind me of you today. The last things I will, that is. I left one piece of you in view. The word you gave me our first Christmas together, after you squealed at the card I had bought you and the note I had written on it. You gave me your love. “All of it,” you said. Four letters cast in silver on a cloth covered base that now sit forever on my bookshelf like an old mystery with half the pages missing. The ending never revealed.

You left so happy and never came back, except to use my shower and leave my house soaked in your lovely scent that Monday morning. You leave me in constant thought. Our reruns have become my daily routine and tear shedding, my nightly.

We aren’t the people we were even then, only months ago. I know that. Only months ago, you weren’t so cruel. Only months ago, you would call me after work to complain about your day and I would sit and enjoy the complaining. Only months ago, you said you loved me … and then … I guess something happened.

Such Expectations

2008-02-18T16:41:31Z

That’s twice she’s done it to me now. Disappeared without a word, without a trace. She always leaves right in the middle, when things are going well. This time, she left on a Saturday morning, headed out for work and I never heard back. I tried to call but got no answer and she never called back. I messaged her and received the same null reply.

When I tried to approach her, she just stared at me, murmuring bits of phrases about things she couldn’t do and things she didn’t know. Her eyes, so beautiful and deep, now glazed over as if seeing at a ghost. I regret my frustrations overtaking me now. I regret ever trying to get an answer at all.

What happened? Will it happen to me again? Did it cause the others to cheat and leave me too? Like a parent whose child suddenly goes missing, I yearn for some kind of closure. Some explanation that can make me laugh all these strange feelings away. I know it’s futile though. I’m playing verbal catch with a brick wall.

We start off with such expectations don’t we?

Unanswered Questions

2008-02-17T23:16:50Z

A few drops of water trickled over the edge and off the casket. The sprinklers a few feet away had been on for a couple of minutes now. Max didn’t seem to mind. His eyes were set on the mahogany shell resting in the earth before him.

A fairly large cedar tree behind him was casting a sharp shadow across the left edge of the casket. Max shot a glance down to his wrist then returned his gaze to the sunbathed casket below. He’d been there for two hours. The funeral had been over for one and he knew the work men were getting tired of waiting. He knelt down, scooped up a handful of earth and clutched it as hard as he could while looking across the full length of the casket.

“Why?” His voice was scratchy and the words barely left his mouth, though his eyes watered a bit. “Why didn’t you…?”

He clutched the dirt even harder in his hand, as if trying to squeeze the rest of the words from it. When nothing came out, he raised his hand and released the first grains of dirt that would cover his mother forever.

A Tough Decision

2008-02-17T10:24:52Z

Baufer flipped through the final pages of the report one last time before turning back to the first page and gazing at the portrait that took up a fourth of the page. To the right of the picture, in bold writing was the name: Gordon Graves

“You’re sure this is the right person?” ... not so much to confirm the choice as forcing himself to change his mind about what he was about to issue as a direct high command. “You do realize you’re asking me to destroy a friend’s life and career, right?”

Baufer looked up at the strange man standing before him clad in dark Order robes. He had a thin gold collar fixed around his neck that Baufer could barely see through a break in the hood.

The man leaned closer to Baufer and said as if reminding him, “For the greater good, Baufer.” He then turned and vanished.

Baufer slammed the command folder shut and stared at the title: OR-CLE S7-OP IN SECTOR 37

He took a deep breath, whispered, “Forgive me my old friend,” and with sweaty fingers, signed the approval.

Burgs and Dogs

2008-02-11T07:58:21Z

“Who’s cooking tonight?” The youth’s thin face waited anxiously for a reply.

An older man settled casually into a rustic leather armchair looked up from his daily and into his son’s eyes, then replied, “I am. Throwin’ some burgs and dogs on the grill.”

The lanky boy shot off through the door, yelling down the hallway, “Dad’s cooking burgs and dogs on the grill.”

Grinning, the father returned to his daily, scanning the headlines for anything of interest. Sliding his finger across the contents, a brief animation brought him to the next page where a small story, buried on 13M, caught his attention.

CARRIERS RETURN DESOLATE
5 class-B carriers returning from a routine
resupply mission on Triton were found
completely empty upon inspection by the
Mars 2 station. The carriers crew and cargo
were both missing. Computer checks
reveal the carriers to have been re-
programmed for an automated route into
the Sun.

“Better make it good,” he said to himself, “It’ll probably be our last.”

Six Word Memoirs

2008-02-11T03:22:58Z

I saw that post on the 37signals SvN blog and thought it was interesting. Then I see this challenge. I’ll enter a few that come directly to mind.

ENTRIES

Four in the morning. Can’t sleep.

Heaven is just a hug away.

There’s no question. Reason trumps faith.

He Never Liked It When She Cried

2008-02-10T05:48:09Z

“What happened to us?” He asked with trepidation.

She spoke no words, but the look of fear and pity on her face said it all. It was over. He began to wonder whether or not she would have said anything at all or just disappeared like the last time.

A look of fear and pity. At least this gave him some kind closure. He didn’t want it to be over, but he didn’t know if he could keep going on. Not like this.

The people who care the most in this world are usually the ones who feel the most pain. Her heart had too many security guards keeping watch against harmful intruders. No locks or combinations. Just moments of heaven before one of them plants a gun in your face.

In the end, he just sat up from her bed, brushed a strand of hair away from her bright, puppy eyes that continued to stare up at him with a mixture of pity and fear.

He looked deep into her and said, “I love you,” then walked out the door.

He wondered if she cried afterwards. He hoped not. He never liked it when she cried.

Only Two More to Go

2008-02-08T04:36:16Z

“It’s beautiful.” Nema looked out over the landscape bathed in light then thrown into darkness again. Over and over, the rocky moon was teased with brief moments of daylight streaming from a spinning pulsar giving the entire surface of the planet an eerie animated feel. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Just watch your tekmeter, sweets.” A squat Elgeon growled at her from her left. “You see stripes, you get back inside that lander. Got it?”

Nema shook her head, slightly annoyed that a clumsy Elgeon like Megrag didn’t think she could take care of herself. She reluctantly glanced down to her tekmeter. No lines, though Megrag snickered before trotting off towards the edge of the plateau.

“So… exactly how many of these have you found already, Megrag?”

The short creature caught eyes with her for a brief moment. “Four,” he growled, then disappeared over the edge.

“Four.” Nema repeated to herself then, with a bit of a grin, “Only two more to go. And if I’m lucky, you’ll lead me straight to those too.”

Everything Went White

2008-02-05T01:29:48Z

“Just one turn?” Drake asked from the floor.

The being in front of him nodded reassuringly. “Once inside and the key inserted, a single turn will activate the device.” The gold collar around it’s neck shown brilliantly in the well-lit room. It glistened so much that it dawned on Drake just how much in contrast it was with the horrific plans they were now setting into motion.

Drake sat crouched on the floor, staring at the worn out materials of his boots. His gaze shifted from his boots to the small silver key in his hand. The thought of that ‘one turn’ made the insides of his stomach twist into a sharp pain. How had it come to this?

A salty mixture of tears and sweat coalesced in Drake’s mouth. He raised his head to the sky, wiping the tears away. “Dear Gods,” the words barely left his lips. “Let them forgive me. All of them.”

He knew he couldn’t hesitate for even a moment. In one fell swoop, Drake jabbed the key into the slot and gave it ‘one turn’ until he heard a click – and everything went white.

So I Ran

2008-02-04T10:39:51Z

Damn brains, I thought. You just can’t trust ‘em anymore.

So I ran. I ran as fast as I could straight into the thick of it. Two hours. That’s all I had to get there and get them to safety. Oh, God, if they so much as touched my family.

The dust seemed to get thicker with every huff of my breath. Each sloshing step grew louder as my feet pounded against the vast and increasingly wet landscape of dust, rain and debris. I must’ve passed by a hundred or so familiar things on the way; A piece of what looked like the arm of a sofa, ran over the tail end of a pickup and jumped over dozens of tree limbs. My God, I thought. Just how far did the blast reach? How many were probably dead because of my mistake? One million, maybe two?

I checked my watch. One and a half hours. I could still make it.

Damn brains, I thought. You just can’t trust ‘em anymore.

A Moment to Fear It

2008-02-04T06:28:57Z

Petra had just cracked a smile when a tiny blip accompanied by a tiny hope-crushing bleeping noise appeared on her scanner. She gave herself a moment to fear it, then accepted it. She flipped down her tactical visor and powered down her bird.

“Lights out!” Petra heard Darv in her helmet. “Slide back and watch the freighter.”

“I’m way ahead of you, slacker.” Petra smiled to herself noticing her companion’s bird power down and slip out of sight. The tiny blip had split into three tiny blips, each getting closer. “What do you think? Deron scouts?”

There was no reply.

“Darv?” Petra checked her comm. stats and then Darv’s vitals. He was definitely alive and out here somewhere. Why would he go silent? She looked down at the freighter, probably clueless to what’s going on around them. Scanners on those things aren’t worth the materials they’re constructed with. “One more call out,” she said to herself, looking down at the three blips that were still getting closer, “then I’m going in for a visual.”

Till the Last Star Fades

2008-02-03T09:05:23Z

“Hello? ... Pet? ... Anyone home? ... Petra?”

“Huh?” Petra shook her head and refocused her gaze on the glistening black emptiness ahead. “Sorry, Darv, I must’ve dazed out for a minute.”

“Yeah, you started drifting too,” her companion teased back. “Let’s just get this med-freighter to sector seven-alpha then you can daze away till the last star fades.”

The mere mention of their mission gave Petra a little sick feeling in her gut. No problem, she thought. Two starbirds to escort an unarmed med-freighter through three Deronian sectors.

“Remind me again why we took this job.” Darv joked into his helmet mic.

Petra shifted her wing lift to bring her bird side by side with Darvs. To her left she could see the smooth curves of the modified extank enclosures Darv had installed on their birds only a yarin ago. “You have something better to be doing, Darvus, than earning ten each?”

“Not dying?”