The Razors Edge

The Razors Edge:

Story by Funwriter


The razor seemed sharp enough and the task was easy enough, but the temperature of the bath water was just too damn cold. The overweight little man mumbled, I just can’t do anything right.

Martin was tired and his soul was tired too. He had ridden the ride and had his fill.

He set down his watch and a few other personal items next to the bath tub and walked over to the mirror. The rings under his eyes were there and so was the stubble of a tiresome day. Exertion was the least of his worries as he added hot water to the tub. This day just keeps getting worse, he thought.

His wife had left him for another man a few years back and his promotion had fallen through, leaving him in the same no-where position he'd been in for over a decade. The apartment was dingy. She hadn’t really left him, but more like thrown him out, keeping the comfortable home he purchased for her on their wedding day fifteen years ago.

He felt the water, noting it was just about right and began to undress. He had been fit once, lean, with a full head of thick black hair. Now, all he saw was a middle aged bureaucrat, pale with a paunch and going bald in all the wrong places.

He’d heard this was the most painless method and hoped it was true. While placing the new razor blade next to his personal things, he took off his white underwear noticing the small holes with a grin. No more laundry, he thought with a smile. He climbed into the tub and laid back, letting the warm water take away his anguish and prepare him for what he had to do. After a few minutes he reached over and grabbed the new blade, pulling the thick cardboard safety cover off. Strange, the silver blade felt so light and insignificant.

Leaving his arm underwater he moved the blade across his wrist. He thought, almost painless and smiled. Moving the blade to his other hand he did the same, seeing for the first time the water clouding crimson, he could taste a bit of copper in his mouth, nostrils flaring.

Letting the blade fall to the bottom of the bath, Martin laid back again and closed his eyes, feeling worry drift away with responsibility not far behind.

Martin thought to himself, thank god he'd had no children. He felt warmth envelop him and bliss settle deep into his soul.

He saw it: a warm white light, so bright and yet painless. Martin had heard of this but was surprised at his own consciousness. He no longer needed to open his eyes to see, he saw all now through his soul.

He felt himself moving away from his body and was looking down, seeing the husk of his former self in a dark red pool, surprised that he had once resided in there.

Being pulled away faster now, he began to notice something new creeping into his thoughts, surprise.

The world below was getting smaller. He could do nothing to stop its progress, he had a fish eye view as he had seen on TV, when watching footage from the space shuttle. He could make out the continents. Feeling very warm all over, as if being pushed into a furnace. Ethereal though he was, it was becoming uncomfortable.

It all stopped for a moment and he was in the vacuum. Stars brighter than ever before, surrounding him, then with a rush he was whisked away, blinding traces and colors all around him and something new creeped into his consciousness, fear.

Flung through space, light and dark colors, his soul changing form painfully, recklessly squeezed through holes in space.

The feel of being touched, memories of his wife, friends, mother and father. All things most valuable at once being torn from him, agonizing his soul, ripping away all that he was. He began to fight, knowing that he could not win. His soul screaming as it was shattered into micro shards, sentient no longer.


*

The being pulled its long thin appendage from the softly lit key that was decorated with a human form. It telepathically sent a message to the command center that the reprogramming could begin. Another one lost and so early in the experiment, these humans were simply too frail.

Floating away from the control panel, one could but marvel at the endless rows of softly lit keys and the endless life forms they represented.

Sunday, another work day

All,

it's Sunday and I am at it again, I am here at the bank working away. I have submitted more stories to diverse sites and magazines with hopes of a couple being picked up.

I wish I had more time to write, I do most of my writing late at night after putting the kids to bed and spending some quality time with my wife. I start at around 11:30 pm and try and keep at it till 01:00am. I do get up early (06:00) and get off to work early in the week.

So, sorry that I have been neglecting the blog a bit.

I hope to try and post a few photos soon and will do my best to keep it toned down (none of me) :-)

Again, thanks for visiting and feel free to drop your comments.

Getting back to work.

FW

All in a days work

All in a days work. I followed wondering if she noticed me; she was a beauty and knew it. Her hair so black and legs long and thin, she had a perky walk and clutched her purse nervously like it contained something valuable. As she went down the escalator towards the ground floor I could see the perfect part in her hair.

I moved faster now picking up speed, she slowed to look at some woollen scarves though winter was months away. The exit was in plain site and I was still walking not to raise any attention but picking up speed nonetheless.

Two meters away, I leaned forward and hit the needed tempo for the job. Shoulder and elbow an arrow I caught her hard and snatched with all my might, her wind gone and no sound as she fell. With blood humming in my ears I was passing through the exit a blur to entering customers.

I moved it under my jacket, bringing the pace back to normal, safe zone within sight.

The alley was cramped and dark but I could still see the contents.

Pocketing the credits and feeling my pulse pick up I saw it shiny and small. It was light to the touch, I slipped it in and the images came in a wash, children and men, her story, her soul.

My legs shaky as I move out the other side of the alley, feeling saturated. A shake of the head and her life’s images drift away, I can’t help but grin..

____________

Faster than thought

Faster Than Thought

A SciFi short by Christopher S. Silva


The communicator grew cold in my grip. My ship was lost. The escape pod had been my last resort. The only way to destroy the alien was to deploy the ship's self-destruct mechanism.

No easy decision. Piloting the good ship Tesca had been my honor. Losing her was more than I could bear. But it had to be done.

I record the circumstances for posterity.

The alien was a monster: we had emerged near a pale blue dot of a planet with a bright yellow sun. I'd beamed to the surface to take some core samples. At first, it was a pleasant experience: cool, alien atmosphere, blue skies and strange mountain ranges white-tipped with di-hydrogen oxide. Beautiful and frightening.

I finished sampling and sent them via halo back to Tesca. I was next.

When the particle shift came — dizzying and numbing as usual — a dark figure, low and fast, skidded into the field with me.

The shift continued and I landed in dock with a slap. Beaming is always a tad painful.

I almost lost balance as I reformed. The alien scurried between my legs — a graceful blur of speed and agility — and disappeared, moving freely into my ship.

I raised a communicator alarm and ran as fast as I could to quarantine the area.

But I was too late. Sensor readings in the dock indicated no life forms. It had escaped.

My communicator shrilled. Eaan screamed about a monster. There. So fast. It was on the move. I headed for the globe, knowing Eaan would be switching the autosync. She must have sighted the beast there.

The globe was its usual blue and soft hue and, sadly, empty. Eaan was gone.

The beast let out a high-pitched sound behind me. That's when I dove into the escape pod and hit the charger. My existence flashed before my eyes, and I prayed to Those Who Know that the beast had not followed me into the pod.

Safe. I scanned the immediate area. The nearest planet had a reddish, dusty surface. Within moments, the pod settled itself on the planet, and began beaming a distress signal. I'd be rescued soon enough.

I retrieved the communicator, and Eaan came to screen, mumbling about the self destruct. Not long to go.

When it happened, I would lose my beloved, but the alien would never invade our world.

I watched the screen, waiting for it. Eann looked ready to fight the alien. It stood nearby, small and multi-colored, with oval eyes, two pointy ears, and four legs. Behind it trailed a fifth appendage that swayed back and fourth.

Eaan moved to strike it down with one of her danglers, but I feared she was too slow. The alien roared a, "Meoww", but Eaan's dangler began stroking the alien's fur, and the beast released a sound like none I have ever heard before: "Puurrrrrr — "

— A single flash. The communicator went dead.


I sat for moment, the pod feeling small and I alone. After sending the distress signal, I climbed into the Cryo-bin and hit the button — delivering darkness and dreams.

Back in action

All,

Sorry for not posting yesterday, just really busy here at the job and at home.

Funny thing happened last night. I worked about 11-12 hours and was coming home late, I guess it was about 19:30, and noticed a huge pile of wood in our shared driveway. This pile was just gigantic and had obviously been dumped in the middle of the drive by a large dump truck.

I parked and went in to tell my wife and discuss my plan. We have a nice wood stove and I thought this a golden opportunity to get some free wood from the neighbor; I mean, hey it is a shared driveway and all.

We normally order wood in mid to late November so I was sure it was for the folks next-door. So, I was in the house telling my wife, "Hey I think I'll grab a couple of pieces of wood and we'll have a cozy fire for when the kids are in bed, we can relax and watch some TV together".

Susi, my wife, just smiled and with the same insider whisper I had used said “Chris, please be sure to get the wood stacked behind our house tonight, before the neighbors get angry with us.” With a grin she walked away.

Arrggh, so here I am in my business suit and it is around 8pm. I have been up since 06:30 and working since 07:30 and I have to move a chord of wood 30 meters from the front to the back of the house.

Well you can imagine my reaction.

I changed my clothes and started moving the damn wood!

:-)

FW

Modern day super hero

I just tossed this one out, have fun.

FW

Modern Day Super Hero


It'd been another hard day, I was shattered. I rescued a treed cat, stopped a plane from crashing and lifted an electric pole off a car; saving the three children in the backseat. Yeah, a hard day indeed.

The life of a super hero is not an easy one, with modern litigation and lawsuits flying around more than I do.

Once, I had a fortune; mostly gifts from rescued victims and such. Now, I was living in a two room on the lower east side and could barely make rent.

The first lawsuit was painful and I’ll never forget it. I pulled a small luxury yacht out of a raging hurricane just off the Keys. Basically, saving the passengers. The yacht was slightly damaged in the process but what the hell; the folks walked away, right! But NOOO, that just wasn’t good enough for ole Miss Steinmann. She convinced her lawyer, the jury and the judge, that they would have made it out of the storm just fine. And that I was to blame for the damage done to her three million dollar boat.

I didn’t even have representation then. Oh, how naive I was. I walked in and expected them to thank me for being so great and helpful. Certainly, another key to the city was warranted. What I got instead was slapped with an injunction, and had to pay for the repairs and due stress caused to the Steinmann’s and their passengers. Which, I must say, did not get involved. Oh, that hurt, it really hurt.

I still do it though. I get up every morning and try my damnedest to help someone. Many of my closest friends say. “Harald”, that’s my name by the way, “why the hell do you do it?” “You’re a Super Hero, you could do anything you want”. “Why don’t you just walk into a bank and take what you need and fly off to some place and live happily ever after?” The answer is so simple; I am, and always will be a Super Hero, and have sworn to and will abide by the code.

So here I am, rubbing myself down with Ben-Gay and stitching my costume. I’ll get to bed early and wake at dawn with one task in mind. Helping the human race.

I am a bit more careful nowadays and keep my acts of goodness focused on large disasters, ones that my lawyer approves of of course.

Yes, I keep a mobile next to my heart with my lawyers number on the speed dial, for I am the modern day super hero.

It's Wednesday

Well, I have been getting a few hits and just want to say thanks for visiting.

I have noticed that most of you seem a bit shy and are not making any comments. Please feel free to do so, I don't bite.

Have a good one and write something.

FW

Fear, a very short story

I wrote this late one night a couple of months ago, it was 02:00 - 03:00 am and I couldn't sleep. Hope you all like it.

The water rippled as if hit by a pebble. Just an insect I guess. I had been hiding in hope they would give up but every now and then I would hear them and their Asian banter. I was feeling weak but must hold out. My eyes heavy and hunger pains slipping away, I was sure they would never find me here.

When they attacked, they hit us hard, our grazing-fire had done its job but they just kept on coming. I clicked one after the other, letting the claymore’s do the deed and still they came. Unstoppable and fearless they were, and finally, I had no choice.

The mud in my foxhole made it hard, but I scrambled out in a blur and headed toward our Objective Rally Point. "Shit", I heard them again, "oh god they had us surrounded"!

The marsh had a bad smell, but I welcomed its concealment.

At first I breathed through a reed but now I was simply too tired. Thirst had left with the hunger. Sleep was inevitable, maybe tomorrow I will sneak away to the rear, darkness.

***
The sound of the chopper was deafening but Lieutenant Wilder asked again almost screaming, “What in the hell happened to private Page?” “Sir, we looked for him for days, Sir, I just think he lost it, ya know, did you see him just jump out of his foxhole for no reason and run off like that!” “I aint never seen nothing like it Sir, never, he just let out a roar and ran like the wind into the bush!"

The lieutenant shrugged saddened and yelled in the mike attached to his helmet, “MIA, yep that’s right, you heard me, Missing In Action!”

Prepping for the next issue of Flash Fiction Magazine

Well, I am busy at work again. This is Sunday here in good ole Germany, and I am working hard and have been all day.

My team is doing some major network upgrades here at the bank and we are all putting in a lot of hours. The upgrades revolve around upgrading our network from 100 Mbit to 1.0 Gbit.. The work is going well but we are all tired from a long week and yesterdays work.

I will try and post more stories and or poems today and get this site looking good. Please be patient with the changes and work, I am doing my best with the time I have.

One of my stories is being published in 9 days, and I'll be sure to give everyone the link.

I have another story being published this month in another magazine and hopefully a contract for a serial, cross your fingers.

Feel free to comment.

regards,

FW

Something shiny

A short story by Christopher Silva

Something Shiny


He picked it up, it glimmered oddly and he knew right away he’d found something cool. It was light, metallic and seemed to change colors continuously. The thing had an odd feel, like a dolphin’s skin, unexpected and very foreign.

A closer examination proved to be useless; his young imagination running wild, he thought this thing is definitely alien or maybe a part of a new spaceship from one of our government’s secret projects. Pocketing the object the teen moved quickly to catch his bus and get to his classes.

Coming home he tossed the backpack on the ground next to the door and moved up the stairs. The thing he’d found forgotten. He listened to some music, modern grunge, and started his home work for the next day.

*
Sharon was doing laundry again; it seemed to her that her life revolved around this task. While prepping the clothes for the machine she found something strange and wondrous in her son’s jeans. She held it for a moment, kind of weighing it, thinking it had a strange feel to it, nothing she could put her finger on, just different. She carefully put it in her pocket and made a mental note not to discuss this with her husband, he would never understand.

Later that night, when everyone was in bed asleep, Sharon quietly climbed out of bed and headed to her sewing room. This was her private domain, she pulled out the luminescent thing she'd found in her son's jeans. The object felt heavier than before. She felt warm all over as if it exuded a certain heat. The glow took her, and she shivered and smiled. She felt good; maybe better than she had in years. Sharon knew exactly what she was supposed to do; she got up and moved with a purpose.

Entering the kitchen she turned the knobs on the gas stove and quickly walked over to a drawer where she methodically pulled out some matches. Exiting the back door, Sharon gingerly grabbed the lighting fluid for the new barbecue she had purchased her husband for his birthday last summer, she felt so good, just like walking on air.

She opened the bottle, stuffing in a piece of oily rag her husband had left laying next to the BBQ. Sharon entered and closed the back door behind her and headed through the house to the front door. She opened the front door humming an old Frank Sinatra tune lighting the rag at the same time. The rag lit with a POOF and her hand was slightly burned, she didn’t even notice,and tossed the package towards the kitchen. Closing the door softly, she walked down the steps and moved to the side walk and sat down feeling truly satisfied.

*
Sgt. Benson arrived on the scene and was shocked, the house was burnt to the ground and the woman in custody was the mother; she also seemed to be the arson. Sgt. Benson thought to herself, she had seen a lot of things in her career, but this one takes the cake.

While putting the woman in the squad car Sgt. Benson saw something shiny fall out of the woman’s pocket. She bent down and picked it up and thought the thing had an odd feel to it. She made a mental note not to enter it into the log or the woman’s personals pouch later, the others would never understand.

Sgt. Benson left the precinct with a smile on her face, she felt good, better than she had in years. Humming an old Frank Sinatra tune, she knew exactly where she was going and what she had to do.


"Start spreadin' the news, da da tada da."

Faster than thought

The communicator felt cold in my grip as I realized the ship was lost. The escape pod was the only option left. The thing had to be stopped and the only way was using the self destruct mechanism.

She was mine as long as I can remember, and piloting her through vacum was an honor, losing her was almost more than I could bear, but it had to be done.

The thing that got on board was a monster; we had landed on a pale blue dot in a strange system with a bright yellow sun. I beamed in to take some core samples and was surprised by the pleasing alien atmosphere, blue skies and strange mountain ranges white tipped with a white crystalline material that looked beautiful and frightening.

I finished and sent the sample via halo to the ship with the details of the planet and took out the communicator, it changed to green and I waited for the particle shift when it came at me, a dark figure, low and fast, a blur of speed and agility.

The shift continued and I landed in dock with a slap, beaming always a bit painful but necessary.
I lost balance and let out a shrill sound I didn’t know I could make. The monster had shifted with the beam and it scurried with a loping grace at such a speed, then it was gone, moving freely in my ship!

I sent the alarm and ran as fast as I could to lock down and quarantine the area. The reading in the dock said no life forms, it had escaped.

My communicator was going off and Eaan was shrilling about the monster and I knew it was on the move. I headed for the globe, the ships cockpit, knowing Eaan would be switching the autosync on and must have sighted the beast there.

The globe was its usual blue soft hue and sadly empty. I heard the beast let out a sound behind me, Meow! I dove into the only escape pod and hit the charger, my existence flashing before my eyes! I prayed to Those Who Know, that the beast had not made it into the pod.

The nearest planet was large and red and coming up fast. I did a quick scan and the only life form in the pod was my own.

The pod settled on the big red planet and the distress signal slotted, they would come soon and retrieve me.

I pulled out the communicator and it blued with Eaan coming to screen, she was mumbling and I felt sad and pity for her. The self destruct would go soon and the beast would be destroyed. I would loose my beloved Eaan but the mission could continue and the beast would never hit our world.

Strange, the screen, Eaan and the beast looking ready to fight, it was small and multi coloured with oval eyes and two pointy ears, its form was softl and lithe with four appendages it used to move about. Behind it trailed a fifth appendage that swayed back and fourth.

Eaan moved to strike it down with one of her danglers, she seemed to be moving to slow, I heard its roar Meow! Her dangler was on it now strangely stroking it and the beast was letting out a sound like none I have ever heard before..puurrrrrr,….. Then the flash and the communicator went dead.

I sat for moment, the pod feeling small and I alone. The hue came on and it was command, they were on they’re way.

Saddened, I climbed into the Cryo-bin and hit the button, darkness and dreams.

First day

Hi all, and thanks for visiting. This is the first day, and I hope to get this thing up and running so all of you who want to read what I am writing will have a one-stop location for all of my work, thoughts and more.

I hope you all enjoy this Blog and please give me any feedback or critic to make it better for you to enjoy.


So, here we go and enjoy.


Regards,

Funwriter