Prose

Another random excerpt...though this is the whole story...in one excerpt...

The black space marker blinks in silence, as he stares at the screen. His mind is running in so many directions, and yet going nowhere: both at the same time. He thinks, and thinks some more, but still comes up with a blank, white page, and a silently blinking space marker. The dream of writing something worth reading takes a nosedive and crashes into the whiteness on the screen. Thoughts of failure mix with attempts to discover a breakthrough in the search for a writable work, creating a bigger gap in his mind. Suddenly he realizes what is happening to him. The blank mind, the white page, the blinking space marker…these are all symptoms of a writer's nightmare! The one things that writer's fear…writer's block!

Summer '07

Stories in the Night's Darkness: Down the hall, into the night...

I walk down the hallway, turning off the lights as I get halfway down. The second half of the journey I make in the almost complete darkness. There is light yet from the adjoining hallway where I need to go. I get there in one piece (not that I expect otherwise) and make my way to the light switch in that hallway: again it sits in the middle. Next to the light switch are the double glass doors that I look out of as I pass. The darkness I create with the flip of the switch is lit by the security light outside streaming through the glass. I open the double metal doors that are now in front of me ending the second hallway. One more hallway to traverse and I will arrive at my room. I need sleep. Six hours is not nearly enough, though it is worth it seeing as I get to talk to my best friend every night. Making my way through the door, I stand at the end of the hallway, and gaze down it. My room sits about three quarters of the way down. The light switch is next to me on the wall. I put my hand to it and push it down. The lights go out and I now stand once again in almost complete darkness. I begin to make my way slowly down the dark passage, passing the other rooms that occupy the hallway. I stop. Gazing down at the other end of the hallway, I spy something unusual. Could it be a person? It appears to be so, the dark silhouette is illuminated by the security light outside the doors at the far end; the windows in the metal doors, the windows that only sit at the top half let in just enough light to enlighten the dark figure's contour. I think it’s a man: he wears a hat (like the type worn by Indiana Jones). I know because I can see it within his darkened outline. He just stands there, watching me slowly tread on the cold tile floors of this hall. I glance away from him for a second, looking into one of the dark rooms beside mine. As I reach for the door handle to my room (I get to it within seconds of when I began down the way), I peek back toward the man’s silhouette, and find yet another surprise. Where the man had stood, he is now gone, and in his place stands a small girl. Her head barely illuminated by the moonlight through the windows, and yet she is there - I can see her shadowy figure. She too just stands watching me silently. I debate with myself briefly about whether or not I should go speak to her, but sleep comes back to mind, and I slowly turn the handle of my room’s door. I slide the door open, and take one last glance to the end of the hall, where I see nothing but an empty space in front of closed doors. I smile to myself, wondering if the two figures were really ever there. I decide they were not, close the door, and climb into my bed. ‘Good night,’ I whisper to the darkness. ‘Good night,’ the darkness whispers back, ‘we’ll see you tomorrow.’

(note: the above story, though it seems random, is actually all true, except for the "darkness" replying. This actually happened to me almost every night when I was working down in North Carolina in the summer of 2007).

Stories in the Night’s Darkness: Hide and Seek with the Noises

The conversation being ended, I put the phone back on the receiver, closed the current windows on my screen, and shut down my computer. I was tired, and anxiously awaiting the softness of my pillow, the warmth of the blankets, the silence of the swiftly passing night. Making my way down the connected hallways, I finally get to the room. Placing my hand on the doorknob, I give it a turn – but am stopped by a noise from behind me. I turn, and look through the room across from my room, into the adjoining room beyond – the gymnasium (the building I was in used to be a school, and was transformed into a Bible curriculum company that used the gym for a warehouse). All was dark in these rooms. Using my imagination, though using it involuntarily, I suddenly believed that maybe someone has broke in to kill me (or something crazy like that). Ducking into my room – this I did quietly so as not to wake up my dad who had already been sleeping for a few hours – I located the aluminum bat in the corner behind the door, and my dad’s mag light on the dresser. Creeping across the hall, and through the room that sat there, I stealthily slipped into the gymnasium. The layout of the room, massive shelves that reached almost to the tall ceiling packed with heavy boxes, would give perfect cover for an intruder. Also, the balcony above my head would provide hiding places as well, as it was littered with boxes and things. Turning on the mag light, I began my search. I started with the main floor, planning to move to the balcony next. Small noises echoed around me, some obviously from outside, and others from somewhere in between – I couldn’t tell if they were outside, or in the room with me. Feeling the imminency of an attacker, I kept focus on the revelations of the flashlights beam. Peering through the gaps between boxes, and in between the shelves themselves, I could not find anything that looked like a person. There was no intruder on the main floor - that I was now sure of. Presently at the back of the room, farthest from the balcony, I turned and looked back towards it. Imagination kept spinning as the small noises continued to echo in my mind, and in the gym. Silently walking to one of the two staircases leading to the veranda (one sat at either end), I kept my eyes at the top as I ascended. My mind raced as I reached the top looking into the piles of boxes and books and miscellaneous materials. Almost done with my search of the balcony, I was about to give up, when I was halted by a terrible discovery. A door, which sat at the back wall of the balcony, was open. That would not have been unusual except that the door was always closed. I had been up on this balcony before (during the day), and that door was shut each time. I hesitated, sensing the danger that I was now facing. What if there was someone in there, what would I do? This question flooded my mind unceasingly as I inched toward the open door. Reaching it, I debated once more before going inside the doorway. Taking a silent deep breath, I poked my head inside the opening. Plunging the flashlight in, I scanned the small room that the door normally concealed. Suddenly, I made another discovery – the room was empty. Sighing with relief, I made my way back down the stairs to the gym’s main floor. I made one last sweep of the room with my light before turning to head to bed. I concluded that the noises I heard came from pesky critters on the gymnasium roof. However, if there was an intruder in the building, I wouldn’t be finding them tonight.

(yes, this is another true story...random, but true nonetheless...nights were interesting in that school turned Bible curriculum distribution company).