Friday 8 March 2013

Out, Brief Candle


http://rochellewisofffields.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/s6001144.jpg

Image by Jennifer Pendergast


Out, Brief Candle



“What will happen, you know, after the switch...?”

“That’s out of my area Mrs Grey. That’s religion... or philosophy.”

Click



First was the light. Blinding, bright, remote, high above me.

I shivered and shuffled forward, feet numb and clumsy.

Spiral stairs, and a cold steel handrail.

I paused, bare toes hovering above the first step.

I glanced behind. A blank emulsioned wall had replaced the darkness. No door, no window, stippled and clean.

Up then.

My feet slapped the concrete risers, a human metronome echoing off the curving walls.

The top landing revealed a small door.

“Come in my Boy.”



100 words

@nickjohns999



This story was written for a prompt from Rochelle Wisoff-Fields' Friday Fictioneers - but is a follow on from last week's story 'Grey's Elegy' written for Angela Goff's Visual Dare

18 comments:

  1. Loved the intro dialogue, and I would equally love to hear what occurs on the other side of that door!

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    1. Thanks, Despite it being a follow-on (something I very rarely do), I wanted to try to make it stand alone if readers had not looked up the previous story - especially as it is on another site. I'll see if any of next week's prompts suggest anything related.

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  2. Sandra used my adjective, intriguing. The climb into the light and the darkness lost behind a wall is full of mystery.

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    1. Hi Kim
      Thanks for popping in and taking time to comment!

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  3. Good job, Nick. I liked the human metronome comparison and your title.

    Made it to the end of another row of stories and it's time for a time out. Hope your weekend is wonderful.

    janet

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    1. Hi Janet
      Thanks for your comment. There are quite a range of tales this week, I'm still working through them.

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  4. this one really worked for me. I could see it as I read.

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  5. Dear Nick,

    A mystery shroeded in an enigma.

    We'll all find out the answer sooner of later.

    Aloha,

    Doug

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    Replies
    1. Hi Doug
      I guess many of us imagine the light, as it is better than thinking about the darkness.

      ...all this and a Churchill quote too!

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  6. mysterious... intriguing.. thoroughly enjoyable read :)

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  7. We'll all know the answer someday, won't we. Meanwhile...a nice read. Thanks, Nick.
    shalom,
    Rochelle

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  8. Your enclosed tale opens a lot of questions, Nick. I wonder what's throughthat door...

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jen!
      I've been thinking about the answer to that question today during a long drive through the featureless wilderness that is Lincolnshire!

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