Part VII:
19 July 1973
Kharis will say he freed me from my tomb forty years ago. He'll tell you he liberated me from my prison there and enlisted me in a noble fight against an evil enemy. I seem to be the only one in this paltry organisation however, to understand that we are all breaking our curses to roam around outside playing shoot up with these undead whose moral allegiance should not concern us. We have no part vanquishing evil or good, we are only supposed to guard the tombs of the Pharaohs we sinned against. At this moment, however, what Kharis says is the only law we may accept.
I was the world's first doctor, architect and engineer. I am called Chancellor of the King of Egypt, Doctor, First in line after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman, High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor, and Maker of Vases in Chief. People stopped using that title after the first day because it was too long to say. I told them to make the time. They wouldn't listen. Later generations praised my name and held me among the immortals. Was it wrong that I considered myself one? I earned my praise. Somehow Kharis has put me on the low end of his Court, though I have outlived him by 1500 years. I predict his ignorance shall undue him someday.
Kharis had this weird obsession with trivial parts of our culture. He placed high esteem on Tutankhamun Hekaiunushema, mostly out his legendary Cursing ability and believed he could use his power to wiggle around his own doom. What Kharis doesn't understand is that he is bound to his fate to Ananka and only the willing and genuine forgiveness of a Priest may let him off. He has also confided with Nesmayun some other curse that I am not aware of.
As soon as Kharis discovered that Tutankhamun would tour Europe, he knew he had to get on board. He sent Prem, this murderous, mindless servant to the Soviet Union two months ago to sneak on board and learn what he could, disguised as part of the exhibit. Leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, Prem has sent us word that he made it on board and is now following the Caravan around Europe. He is communicating with Kharis through locusts, vile insects.
28 November 1978
Prem has stayed with Tutankhamen throughout Europe and America. Finally Kharis has instructed him to spill a large amount of Tana Leaves in Northern Idaho. It bids us to travel there. I cornered Nesyamun to find out why.
"You understand the evil of the Frankensteins?" He blithely began.
"They are not foe. We have conflict with them but that does not make them foe. Why suddenly this journey, what does Kharis want in Idaho that we cannot obtain here?" Nesyamun looked away. I gripped him against the corridor. "Lest I remind you of my own power, my Curse's strength is only behind Kharis himself for I sinned greatly and with great avarice. Tell me!" Nesyamun whimpered and relented.
"Kharis is bound to spill the remaining blood of the Family Schnelppvort. He failed to destroy he who entered Ananka's tomb."
"Why are the Frankensteins involved?" I gripped his neck with my Ankh Staff. Life was the only threat I could give him now.
"The murderer of he who entered his tomb was a Frankenstein! The same who I let go in Leeds many ages ago."
"You started this feud, Nesyamun? Your pride has cost many lives." I let him go and he scoffed.
"I know this, Imhotep. The time for my retribution will follow. For now, as Kharis is our King we obey his will."
"He is no King."
04 April 1980
We have made it to Smelterville, Idaho. Prem spilled the leaves near a cave up the road and through the mountains. The rain is cold here and the trees boast a coat of green throughout branches that cover their entire stems. Strange foliage here be. Kharis has finally divulged his full plan here, somehow I doubt that Nesyaum and I were the only ones to know of his Curse prior. The Frankenstein has informed him that Schnelppvort will be here. It is time to search the homes and hills.
We discovered a Schnelppvort a few weeks later. Nefrina, a comparatively young girl we enrolled in the local High School to snoop out leads found him through volunteering at some charity. He was in a home the mortals use to keep those who are about to pass on.
Kharis, Nesyamun and I entered his room. He was very old, white hair, wrinkly skin almost looked like our own. He was attached to a machine that could give him air to breathe. I had forgotten how vulnerable mortals were. Kharis leaned in to him.
"Norman Schnelppvort. Do you remember who I am?" His gray eyes fixed themselves on Kharis.
"I...I believe so. I thought you were a dream. A terrible nightmare I had a lifetime ago."
"You old bastard. Do you know that was 85 years ago? you were just a child. So close to Asar's Grasp but to succumb to me."
"You're...you're going to kill an old man? Why would you do that?"
"He has a right to know why this doom is met, Kharis," I said. With indignant patience Kharis drew close to Norman's face.
"You are the last part of a Curse I lay on your father. When I claim your soul, your bloodline will end and after 85 years of waiting I may return to Ananka." The old man sighed and wheeled his chair to this machine that was connected to his oxygen tank. His hand trembled as he reached for a cord attached to wall.
"That...is a very cute story, creature," He let out a deep breath. "But you shall not claim me today. Not till my son is dead will your Curse be lifted," Norman stared directly at Kharis. "And tho I cannot kill such a monster...he will find a way. Good bye." Norman pulled the cord and slumped over as his machine turned off. Kharis panicked.
Some other mortals wearing white robes rushed in and stopped when they found us. Prem, lurking in a broom closet outside emerged and quickly snapped their necks.
"What now?" Nesyamun asked. Kharis composed himself.
"Nothing has changed. The bloodline lives on regardless. Although that soul would have been a nice offering to Ananka in the afterlife. We must find the son. He shall come here. Soon on account of his Father's death. We must only wait."
27 September 1982
I am not aware of when Otto first came back to Smelterville. I only know I found him first as he was stalking a group of Frankensteins. We were monitoring their activity since they arrived a few years ago, continuing to grow their numbers among the local dead. I neglected to inform Kharis but it was clear from spying Henry Frankenstein he had no idea where Schnelppvort lay. He sought to find him as much as Kharis did. I stopped Otto in the woods after he spoke to a young mortal female and a younger Frankenstein. They ran off and he was about to jump the group in a clearing wielding solely a pistol.
"This is not prudent," I informed him.
"What are you?" He stammered as I crept from the darkness.
"Among the company who seeks you, Schnelppvort, I am the best ally you will receive. I am Imhotep, Chancellor of the King of Egypt, Doctor, First in line after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman, High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor, and Maker of Vases in Chief."
"What the hell?"
"You must be more careful. These things will kill you. Our master, Kharis also wishes you dead. You are in popular company."
"The Mummy, Kharis? Why would you tell me this? Are you to kill me now?" He raised his pistol to my face.
"I cannot kill you. Only may Kharis. Only he may break his curse through your murder and the cease of your bloodline."
"Curse?"
"He failed to kill your Grandfather after he entered his tomb. The Undead are bound to their duty."
"That's not true. Kharis murdered my Grandfather."
"That doesn't make a whole lot of sense," I moved closer to him. "Henry Frankenstein killed Albert Schnelppvort. If Kharis had killed him 85 years ago we could have all gone back to rest."
He looked down at the ground as if this news truly struck him deeply. I forgot what it was like to know death. "Would you now take me to him?"
"No. This is Kharis' curse and it has gone on long enough. I believe you may play a role in ending these times and bringing us all peace. I have a place in secret come and we may-"
"Are you going to say something like 'end Lowcountry?'"
"Yeah."
"Can I say it?"
I sighed. "Fine."
"Come on then, let's end this Lowcountry!"
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Lowcountry VI: The Silent Path of Victor Frankenstein
Part VI:
24 December 1974
He's held Schnelppvort here for months. Henry promised to him that he'd let him free, but I didn't expect him to remain among the living through that first night. That was of course before Henry found out who he was. He was indeed the blood of Albert Schnelppvort, a random mortal Henry had killed only to find out was very important to the Mummy Kharis. Henry couldn't fully understand why but he knew enough to keep the second Schnelppvort around.
Christmas Eve. I had forgotten such a holiday existed. Awakening in this body is strange. Sometimes it feels like a memory I lost long ago. Having Otto around reminds me more of mortal life. He told us about a dream he had once. I have never dreamed or I don't believe I have. He described his dream as like a thought he couldn't control while he slept. Frankensteins do not dream, but I think it is like a memory. Christmas with Otto was like a memory of something long ago though I know I have never had one.
Otto was a good sport, I guess. He was never comfortable our prisoner, but he could find fun in his terrible circumstances. He told us this was time for family. Henry always said we were all family together but everyone had attachments to particular people. I personally was attached to Elizabeth who I held near the electric lamps. We forbade Otto to make fire tho he insisted. If he were to master it he could surely intimidate us all into escaping. Henry never had a true bride like I was with Elizabeth. As sorrowful as I could be, she put up with me. I knew Elsa liked him, I mean, she was attracted to the power, she was the kind of girl who really played into his scheming. He shunned her though. He almost preferred to be in the dark alone.
Christmas morning Henry drilled Otto. He already knew his family was important but was through catering to the prisoner's wishes for a nice holiday. He locked Otto in the Cellar with him and myself and tried to find out everything he could.
"Did you know I knew your grandfather, Otto?" He began slowly.
"I know my grandfather used to live in Bran. That he hunted your kind," said Otto.
"Where do you live now? Where has your family been hiding?"
"I won't tell you that."
"We will learn now or later. Keep in mind that we have eternity here. Is this really the place you'd like to die? Not tomorrow, not next month but decades from now? Tell us where you've been hiding."
"Listen pal, my grandpa died while on a hunt of you guys when my dad was a kid. He has never told me more than that. I'm not trusting you assholes."
"Are you aware that your grandfather also hunted Mummies?"
"What is it with you and Mummies? This is bullshit, what the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"More than you could know," I chimed in.
"Quiet, Victor!" Henry screamed and slapped Otto. "Lest you forget we ask the questions!"
"Calm down, Henry," I set his hand down. He glared at me, I turned to him: "I know what you're getting at, let me help."
"Since when are you a help? Go wail at the wind and coddle your whore."
"I will get what you want from him. If not I'll leave and you can continue your way." Henry turned his back on me and paced in the corner. "Otto-" He looked up at me.
"What's up, chief? You're not going to suddenly let me out, are you?"
"I must decline your command. You have never met a Mummy, have you?"
"No."
"There is a Mummy by the name of Kharis who has on numerous interactions with us taken greater and greater interest in your family's name. We want to know where you lived so we can stop him in case he ever made it there and tried to hurt your family."
"I don't have a family. Wife divorced. Daughter is...no longer here. My father's the only one left, he's stuck in a retirement home, barely breathing. Whatever your Mummy wants is not with them, it's me. So give it to me straight. What'd he do with my grandpa?"
I looked at Henry who paused to stare at Otto, then myself. "Kharis murdered your grandfather, Otto."
"Right," He looked down with a kind of swarthy anger. "So you're saying we have the same enemy. You got a plan?"
"We find out where you live, that's where they want to be, we can get them on that turf and rid the world of their evil forever. Until that moment, it is in our best interest to keep you alive."
"As a bargaining chip only," Henry said.
"Smelterville," said Otto. "Smelterville, Idaho. Small town in the Northwest U.S. Let's jump the bastards there." Henry left. I followed him up to his room. Elsa was waiting there.
"Rrraagghh..." she said.
"Shut up, Elsa," said Henry. He began pursing through some documents and old books. "Victor, we have some research to do." He was slugging around like a man possessed. "I want to find out everything about Mummies. We are making a trip to Egypt as soon as we are able."
07 November 1975
We made it down to Kharis' tomb in Egypt after extensive research, probing many ancient local libraries under cover of darkness. Henry rarely slept that year, staying up late reading all he could about the Egyptian Undead. He even managed to acquire this wooden Ankh that he would often fondle while reading these ancient manuscripts. He wouldn't let anyone near him. He even missed the ceremony we made up for Elizabeth and I's wedding in July.
Keeping Otto in the care of Hans and Margaret, it turned that we need not find the tomb to find Kharis. His guards found us and brought us to him before we arrived close. He had built his forces up since last we saw him, there were maybe a dozen of them huddled around the Sarcophaguses.
"I would curse you, but you are already dead, Frankenstein," mocked Kharis. "Now, it is time to send you to your oblivion." Kharis approached as the walls shuddered.
"Schnelppvort!" Henry said calmly. Kharis froze. "OTTO Schnelppvort. You ever hear of him?"
"How do you know that name?" said Kharis.
"He lies in my Castle as we speak." Kharis glared. "Alive. For the moment if all goes well today."
"What do you want for him?"
"You've been following Tut around my lands - get the hell out."
"That will no longer be a problem. Deliver Schnelppvort."
"Done. I will tell you where he will be. Smelterville, Idaho. In America."
"When he will be? When will he be there?" Kharis did not enjoy playing around. Henry clearly did. All of Kharis' immortal power meant nothing now. Perhaps, I think, that Henry finally saw himself in an advantageous position in this war.
"That depends on how fast you and your little brigade here can make it there. I'll give you Schnelppvort, I have no attachment to the mortal, but you're not getting off the Earth without a fight from us."
"What do you know of leaving this World? You do not know the Curses of the Old Religion!"
"That's your problem, Kharis, you never think anyone else knows as much as you do! A Mummy's curse is unbreakable is it not? Bound to both the Cursed and Cursor? You have not fulfilled your duty."
"We do not move fast but we have our means, Frankenstein. You will know when we arrive in your Idaho."
"How?"
"You will know when you know. Now I grow weary of your sight. Be gone of this place." With that Kharis blew us away in a sandstorm and the tomb shut behind us.
"What a miserable place," said Henry.
"Are we keeping Otto until that moment comes?" I asked him. "It could be years. Why not let him go now?"
"I am not letting those Mummies get the jump on him without us being prepared. No, we shall mount the assault on Idaho, not be taken with our pants down."
25 December 1978
Otto has escaped. He lured us into a sense of complacency during Christmas. Henry will never let us celebrate again. While Otto is now fending for himself among our woods and wolves, Henry is furious, worried that he die before his true nature is revealed to us.
A month ago we suffered a swarm of locusts. The insects travel fast. They spelled a message on our wall, the Mummy Prem had reached Smelterville and the rest were gathering. Over the next years as they all made their journeys, Henry's final fight would commence. His plan was to protect Otto, now it is out of our hands but he won't accept that. Schnelppvort will be on his own fighting back to his home.
I wish I had a God to pray to, but there is no God I have yet found in Lowcountry.
24 December 1974
He's held Schnelppvort here for months. Henry promised to him that he'd let him free, but I didn't expect him to remain among the living through that first night. That was of course before Henry found out who he was. He was indeed the blood of Albert Schnelppvort, a random mortal Henry had killed only to find out was very important to the Mummy Kharis. Henry couldn't fully understand why but he knew enough to keep the second Schnelppvort around.
Christmas Eve. I had forgotten such a holiday existed. Awakening in this body is strange. Sometimes it feels like a memory I lost long ago. Having Otto around reminds me more of mortal life. He told us about a dream he had once. I have never dreamed or I don't believe I have. He described his dream as like a thought he couldn't control while he slept. Frankensteins do not dream, but I think it is like a memory. Christmas with Otto was like a memory of something long ago though I know I have never had one.
Otto was a good sport, I guess. He was never comfortable our prisoner, but he could find fun in his terrible circumstances. He told us this was time for family. Henry always said we were all family together but everyone had attachments to particular people. I personally was attached to Elizabeth who I held near the electric lamps. We forbade Otto to make fire tho he insisted. If he were to master it he could surely intimidate us all into escaping. Henry never had a true bride like I was with Elizabeth. As sorrowful as I could be, she put up with me. I knew Elsa liked him, I mean, she was attracted to the power, she was the kind of girl who really played into his scheming. He shunned her though. He almost preferred to be in the dark alone.
Christmas morning Henry drilled Otto. He already knew his family was important but was through catering to the prisoner's wishes for a nice holiday. He locked Otto in the Cellar with him and myself and tried to find out everything he could.
"Did you know I knew your grandfather, Otto?" He began slowly.
"I know my grandfather used to live in Bran. That he hunted your kind," said Otto.
"Where do you live now? Where has your family been hiding?"
"I won't tell you that."
"We will learn now or later. Keep in mind that we have eternity here. Is this really the place you'd like to die? Not tomorrow, not next month but decades from now? Tell us where you've been hiding."
"Listen pal, my grandpa died while on a hunt of you guys when my dad was a kid. He has never told me more than that. I'm not trusting you assholes."
"Are you aware that your grandfather also hunted Mummies?"
"What is it with you and Mummies? This is bullshit, what the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"More than you could know," I chimed in.
"Quiet, Victor!" Henry screamed and slapped Otto. "Lest you forget we ask the questions!"
"Calm down, Henry," I set his hand down. He glared at me, I turned to him: "I know what you're getting at, let me help."
"Since when are you a help? Go wail at the wind and coddle your whore."
"I will get what you want from him. If not I'll leave and you can continue your way." Henry turned his back on me and paced in the corner. "Otto-" He looked up at me.
"What's up, chief? You're not going to suddenly let me out, are you?"
"I must decline your command. You have never met a Mummy, have you?"
"No."
"There is a Mummy by the name of Kharis who has on numerous interactions with us taken greater and greater interest in your family's name. We want to know where you lived so we can stop him in case he ever made it there and tried to hurt your family."
"I don't have a family. Wife divorced. Daughter is...no longer here. My father's the only one left, he's stuck in a retirement home, barely breathing. Whatever your Mummy wants is not with them, it's me. So give it to me straight. What'd he do with my grandpa?"
I looked at Henry who paused to stare at Otto, then myself. "Kharis murdered your grandfather, Otto."
"Right," He looked down with a kind of swarthy anger. "So you're saying we have the same enemy. You got a plan?"
"We find out where you live, that's where they want to be, we can get them on that turf and rid the world of their evil forever. Until that moment, it is in our best interest to keep you alive."
"As a bargaining chip only," Henry said.
"Smelterville," said Otto. "Smelterville, Idaho. Small town in the Northwest U.S. Let's jump the bastards there." Henry left. I followed him up to his room. Elsa was waiting there.
"Rrraagghh..." she said.
"Shut up, Elsa," said Henry. He began pursing through some documents and old books. "Victor, we have some research to do." He was slugging around like a man possessed. "I want to find out everything about Mummies. We are making a trip to Egypt as soon as we are able."
07 November 1975
We made it down to Kharis' tomb in Egypt after extensive research, probing many ancient local libraries under cover of darkness. Henry rarely slept that year, staying up late reading all he could about the Egyptian Undead. He even managed to acquire this wooden Ankh that he would often fondle while reading these ancient manuscripts. He wouldn't let anyone near him. He even missed the ceremony we made up for Elizabeth and I's wedding in July.
Keeping Otto in the care of Hans and Margaret, it turned that we need not find the tomb to find Kharis. His guards found us and brought us to him before we arrived close. He had built his forces up since last we saw him, there were maybe a dozen of them huddled around the Sarcophaguses.
"I would curse you, but you are already dead, Frankenstein," mocked Kharis. "Now, it is time to send you to your oblivion." Kharis approached as the walls shuddered.
"Schnelppvort!" Henry said calmly. Kharis froze. "OTTO Schnelppvort. You ever hear of him?"
"How do you know that name?" said Kharis.
"He lies in my Castle as we speak." Kharis glared. "Alive. For the moment if all goes well today."
"What do you want for him?"
"You've been following Tut around my lands - get the hell out."
"That will no longer be a problem. Deliver Schnelppvort."
"Done. I will tell you where he will be. Smelterville, Idaho. In America."
"When he will be? When will he be there?" Kharis did not enjoy playing around. Henry clearly did. All of Kharis' immortal power meant nothing now. Perhaps, I think, that Henry finally saw himself in an advantageous position in this war.
"That depends on how fast you and your little brigade here can make it there. I'll give you Schnelppvort, I have no attachment to the mortal, but you're not getting off the Earth without a fight from us."
"What do you know of leaving this World? You do not know the Curses of the Old Religion!"
"That's your problem, Kharis, you never think anyone else knows as much as you do! A Mummy's curse is unbreakable is it not? Bound to both the Cursed and Cursor? You have not fulfilled your duty."
"We do not move fast but we have our means, Frankenstein. You will know when we arrive in your Idaho."
"How?"
"You will know when you know. Now I grow weary of your sight. Be gone of this place." With that Kharis blew us away in a sandstorm and the tomb shut behind us.
"What a miserable place," said Henry.
"Are we keeping Otto until that moment comes?" I asked him. "It could be years. Why not let him go now?"
"I am not letting those Mummies get the jump on him without us being prepared. No, we shall mount the assault on Idaho, not be taken with our pants down."
25 December 1978
Otto has escaped. He lured us into a sense of complacency during Christmas. Henry will never let us celebrate again. While Otto is now fending for himself among our woods and wolves, Henry is furious, worried that he die before his true nature is revealed to us.
A month ago we suffered a swarm of locusts. The insects travel fast. They spelled a message on our wall, the Mummy Prem had reached Smelterville and the rest were gathering. Over the next years as they all made their journeys, Henry's final fight would commence. His plan was to protect Otto, now it is out of our hands but he won't accept that. Schnelppvort will be on his own fighting back to his home.
I wish I had a God to pray to, but there is no God I have yet found in Lowcountry.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Lowcountry V: The Curses of Kharis of Ananka
Part V:
30 June 1056 BCE
I used to know what Love was. I've only loved once. She was a goddess. A princess, daughter of the Pharaoh. Her hair flowed past her shoulders like the Nile, and her skin was as brown and smooth as the silt in its shores. She could command a room with a glance, quiet it with a whisper. So young.
I was a celibate priest in the Pharaoh's court. None held more sway or influence to a higher power. I damned myself though, couldn't control the urges. I forced myself on Princess Ananka when she would not give herself to me willingly. I thought she would give in, be as passionate as I was, she kept struggling and started to scream, I hit her. She fell down and I hit her again. I didn't know how hard, she started to run, I pounced and threw her on on her on to the edge of a stone block, she hit her neck and it snapped. The guards entered and saw what I had done.
I had raped and murdered the Princess. I suffered for my sins. They mummified me alive and cursed me to guard her tomb for eternity as a penance that will never be fulfilled, forever barren from the afterlife. I am never allowed to reunite with my Ananka.
02 February 1895
I did not meet another soul for nearly three millennia. Apparently during a wave of discovery at the turn of the mortals' Century mark many tombs of our people were desecrated by the West. This is how I met a reincarnation of my beloved, Amina Schnelppvort.
Amina was Ananka reborn truly. She had long hair, silky skin, a powerful presence. She came to me with her husband and a group of Archaeologists from England. I heard them digging for days before they found the entrance to the tomb. Had they not known I was here? They should have prepared. Albert told me that was why they had hired him in the first place. You see, when I met my first mortal I also heard of the Frankensteins.
Albert and Amina hailed from a village in Romania named Bran. Apparently they had a nasty issue with the Undead up there, creatures rising from the grave with great strength and little intellect, terrorizing the people. Albert had done well hunting and dispatching the beasts so a group of English seeking to unearth possibly cursed Egyptian tombs brought on he and his family in case the worst happened.
The worst happened. I killed all of the Englishmen easily. They even brought a Priest of the Old Religion named Yousef. His knowledge was too modern though, he could not control me, even with Tea of the Tana Leaves. Mummies are strictly bound to their Curses and to the Scent of Tana Leaves. It commands us to that location but this poor sap thought he could control me when I got there. I ripped his head off.
I approached Albert and Amina when I stopped at her beauty. If I yet drew breath it would have vanished. I placed her aside and grabbed her man's throat, ready to tear it out. He stammered and tried to make a deal.
"What do you want from us?" the mortal said.
"You have nothing to give me." I informed him.
"Money? Power? Riches, every man has something he needs or wants - name your price, man! Anything!" I put him down. I looked at Amina. I knew she wasn't Ananka. She would be pleasant, but could never be an immortal.
"Peace." I told Albert. "My only desire is to rest. To be with my love, Ananka. I require the forgiveness of a priest." I glared at him. "A True Egyptian of the Old Religion. I doubt you can grant me that. Pharaoh Mummies may rest, only those of the highest sins against the gods are cursed to remain in this world."
"But there are priests who walk again! Back in England there was a Mummy in Leeds named Nesyamun! He is what scared the Archaeologists."
"Nesyamun of Menmaatre Setpenptah, the Court of Ramesses XI, serving under Amenhotep, Priest of Amun Son of Ramessesnakht?"
"Uhhh...uh yeah! That guy. I can bring you to him, you'll be forgiven in exchange for the lives of me and my family."
"Agreed," I could not let my temporary fixation on Amina separate me from my true love, Ananka. "But I shall not wait until you go all the way to England and back, fetch him and we will fix Tana Leaves at a good half-way point to shorten his Journey."
"Bucharest is near my home, I know the area, we will be able to be discreet there. Are you sure you can leave your tomb?"
"Meh, shouldn't be a problem."
I held on to his Amina and son, Norman while he journeyed back to England on he Archaeologist's vessel. Meanwhile we made it up to Bucharest ourselves. I lay at the meeting spot with the Tana Leaves, but only Nesyamun and another awakened Mummy, Djedptahiufankh of Shoshenq arrived.
"Where is the mortal?"
"We were jumped by the creatures. They said they would take revenge on he who wronged them," Nesyamun informed me.
"Where are they now?" We crossed a few streets and attacked out attackers. They were slovenly creatures, messy hair, tattered clothing and a horrible stench.
"Where is Albert Schnelppvort?" I asked, Amina and Norman cowering behind me. The tallest one aimed a rifle at my chest and fired. He would learn better. I took hold of one of them and ripped him apart. These things who had no fear of our kind would also learn fear as well. "Where is Schnelppvort?!"
"That bastard is dead!" The gangly one mouthed. "I strangled him myself!" He could not possibly comprehend what he had done. "Now you die!" He threw some water in my face, distracting me enough with the thought of gross smelling bandages to escape. Nesyamun came to my aid.
"Where is the boy? WHERE IS THE BOY?!" Nesyamun and Djedptahiufankh looked around, they had lost them. Amina and Norman also escaped in the confusion.
"What did you want with the mortals?" Nesyamun asked. He was not to blame. This...this Frankenstein was. "Do you still seek forgiveness?"
"It doesn't matter anymore, Old Priest. Schnelppvort entered my tomb. He is cursed by me. Because he died from another's hand my curse is unfulfilled. I must now destroy all his remaining blood. My debt with Ananka for now is moot."
"Surely-" Nesyamun began
"We will destroy that family! And these Frankensteins! Gather who we can. We shall begin with the tomb next to me, it's time we unearth Nesperennub of Usermaetre-Setepenre, I heard those guys come in after the first three hundred years, what a racket. We start with him, he'll show us more. You two, remember any other cursed Mummies. We build our army today. Let we enter into Lowcountry."
30 June 1056 BCE
I used to know what Love was. I've only loved once. She was a goddess. A princess, daughter of the Pharaoh. Her hair flowed past her shoulders like the Nile, and her skin was as brown and smooth as the silt in its shores. She could command a room with a glance, quiet it with a whisper. So young.
I was a celibate priest in the Pharaoh's court. None held more sway or influence to a higher power. I damned myself though, couldn't control the urges. I forced myself on Princess Ananka when she would not give herself to me willingly. I thought she would give in, be as passionate as I was, she kept struggling and started to scream, I hit her. She fell down and I hit her again. I didn't know how hard, she started to run, I pounced and threw her on on her on to the edge of a stone block, she hit her neck and it snapped. The guards entered and saw what I had done.
I had raped and murdered the Princess. I suffered for my sins. They mummified me alive and cursed me to guard her tomb for eternity as a penance that will never be fulfilled, forever barren from the afterlife. I am never allowed to reunite with my Ananka.
02 February 1895
I did not meet another soul for nearly three millennia. Apparently during a wave of discovery at the turn of the mortals' Century mark many tombs of our people were desecrated by the West. This is how I met a reincarnation of my beloved, Amina Schnelppvort.
Amina was Ananka reborn truly. She had long hair, silky skin, a powerful presence. She came to me with her husband and a group of Archaeologists from England. I heard them digging for days before they found the entrance to the tomb. Had they not known I was here? They should have prepared. Albert told me that was why they had hired him in the first place. You see, when I met my first mortal I also heard of the Frankensteins.
Albert and Amina hailed from a village in Romania named Bran. Apparently they had a nasty issue with the Undead up there, creatures rising from the grave with great strength and little intellect, terrorizing the people. Albert had done well hunting and dispatching the beasts so a group of English seeking to unearth possibly cursed Egyptian tombs brought on he and his family in case the worst happened.
The worst happened. I killed all of the Englishmen easily. They even brought a Priest of the Old Religion named Yousef. His knowledge was too modern though, he could not control me, even with Tea of the Tana Leaves. Mummies are strictly bound to their Curses and to the Scent of Tana Leaves. It commands us to that location but this poor sap thought he could control me when I got there. I ripped his head off.
I approached Albert and Amina when I stopped at her beauty. If I yet drew breath it would have vanished. I placed her aside and grabbed her man's throat, ready to tear it out. He stammered and tried to make a deal.
"What do you want from us?" the mortal said.
"You have nothing to give me." I informed him.
"Money? Power? Riches, every man has something he needs or wants - name your price, man! Anything!" I put him down. I looked at Amina. I knew she wasn't Ananka. She would be pleasant, but could never be an immortal.
"Peace." I told Albert. "My only desire is to rest. To be with my love, Ananka. I require the forgiveness of a priest." I glared at him. "A True Egyptian of the Old Religion. I doubt you can grant me that. Pharaoh Mummies may rest, only those of the highest sins against the gods are cursed to remain in this world."
"But there are priests who walk again! Back in England there was a Mummy in Leeds named Nesyamun! He is what scared the Archaeologists."
"Nesyamun of Menmaatre Setpenptah, the Court of Ramesses XI, serving under Amenhotep, Priest of Amun Son of Ramessesnakht?"
"Uhhh...uh yeah! That guy. I can bring you to him, you'll be forgiven in exchange for the lives of me and my family."
"Agreed," I could not let my temporary fixation on Amina separate me from my true love, Ananka. "But I shall not wait until you go all the way to England and back, fetch him and we will fix Tana Leaves at a good half-way point to shorten his Journey."
"Bucharest is near my home, I know the area, we will be able to be discreet there. Are you sure you can leave your tomb?"
"Meh, shouldn't be a problem."
I held on to his Amina and son, Norman while he journeyed back to England on he Archaeologist's vessel. Meanwhile we made it up to Bucharest ourselves. I lay at the meeting spot with the Tana Leaves, but only Nesyamun and another awakened Mummy, Djedptahiufankh of Shoshenq arrived.
"Where is the mortal?"
"We were jumped by the creatures. They said they would take revenge on he who wronged them," Nesyamun informed me.
"Where are they now?" We crossed a few streets and attacked out attackers. They were slovenly creatures, messy hair, tattered clothing and a horrible stench.
"Where is Albert Schnelppvort?" I asked, Amina and Norman cowering behind me. The tallest one aimed a rifle at my chest and fired. He would learn better. I took hold of one of them and ripped him apart. These things who had no fear of our kind would also learn fear as well. "Where is Schnelppvort?!"
"That bastard is dead!" The gangly one mouthed. "I strangled him myself!" He could not possibly comprehend what he had done. "Now you die!" He threw some water in my face, distracting me enough with the thought of gross smelling bandages to escape. Nesyamun came to my aid.
"Where is the boy? WHERE IS THE BOY?!" Nesyamun and Djedptahiufankh looked around, they had lost them. Amina and Norman also escaped in the confusion.
"What did you want with the mortals?" Nesyamun asked. He was not to blame. This...this Frankenstein was. "Do you still seek forgiveness?"
"It doesn't matter anymore, Old Priest. Schnelppvort entered my tomb. He is cursed by me. Because he died from another's hand my curse is unfulfilled. I must now destroy all his remaining blood. My debt with Ananka for now is moot."
"Surely-" Nesyamun began
"We will destroy that family! And these Frankensteins! Gather who we can. We shall begin with the tomb next to me, it's time we unearth Nesperennub of Usermaetre-Setepenre, I heard those guys come in after the first three hundred years, what a racket. We start with him, he'll show us more. You two, remember any other cursed Mummies. We build our army today. Let we enter into Lowcountry."
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Lowcountry IV: The Transformation of Randy Snarfle
Part IV
29 September 1982
What the hell is that bitch doing? I thought we had something between us. I'm just screwed over again. How is she this stupid.
I asked her to homecoming this weekend, she said yes but I knew something was messed up with her. She wasn't enthused at all, I mean, why wouldn't she want to go out with the football team's kicker who can bench 80% of his body weight? That's right. 80%. I'm the man! She's so dumb here!
She's avoided me all week. She goes from swooning and chatting between classes to complete avoidance. I see her from across the cafeteria, walk over to her table and by the time I get there she's gone. I mean, hell I could have any chick in this school I wanted but I deserve a damn explanation. Don't leave me hanging baby.
So I'm stalking her, right, followed her after school and saw this car almost hit her in the parking lot. Some idiot nerdy kid walked in front of it though, got smeared up pretty bad but saved Traci. She's swooning over this cat, now. A few days later they're inseparable. Wherever he goes, she's following. It's bullshit. This cat is real gangly, no body mass at all. What's the point even? Then I found out what this thing was.
Frankenstein.
He's a damn Frankenstein. Abomination. Living horror. She's looking over her back constantly, but she don't know I'm still watching her. They were by the football field after practice yesterday, thought they'd avoid me I guess. Not likely, Traci. I hid under some gardening equipment under the bleachers and saw them talking. Actually I think only she was talking. He seemed to just stare listlessly and moan occasionally. She finally left - and kissed him. Kissed him on the cheek. Don't leave me dangling, baby. Don't do that.
She walked away and he just stood there, leaning in the wind. I snuck up from behind and pushed him to the ground. Now, from time to time my temper gets the best of me - as I kicked the shit out of him and stomped his chest I just kept screaming.
"Who the fuck you think you are?! You stay away from my girl!"
"Rrraaghh!!"
"Shut the fuck up!" I picked him up and slammed him against the side of the stadium. Then I looked into his eyes. They were glassy and gray, his skin green, easily bruised and cold to touch. His hair was slimy, black and sticky. "What are you?"
He raised his sweaty palms and gripped my arms, with surprising strength he threw he off him. Out of the darkness around him emerged some of his clan. They were creatures of Darkness. They threw me around.
"You think it's fun beatin' up some one different?" This really lopey one yelled at me as he socked me with an impossibly long arm.
"Fucking living!" This girl smacked me in the back with a nasty green backhand. I turned to look at her. Her eyes were different colors, a long stitching scar across the middle of her face.
"What the hell happened to your face?" I said as I lay on the ground. She started laughing.
"Shut the hell up, Margaret." The long one said.
"What?" Margaret was suddenly friendly. "He just don't know what we are. I don't blame him."
"He'll know. He'll know when Father's through with him. Say - let me just kill him now, I promise not to mangle the parts, we can take him whole!"
"You haven't had a whole kill since Fred. Sorry Fred." Margaret looked at Traci's crush. I knew your name now, you bastard. "You tear up to much, take too many limbs off and organs out, you need to just get a good clean strangle, like this - " Margaret reached her cold green hands towards my throat. I swatted them away but the other one grabbed my arms, felt like he was going to rip them off. Fred intervened.
"Maarrghhh..." He struggled up and started to grab my arm.
"No!" The male holding me was furious, he grabbed Fred's arm and ripped it off. Margaret gasped.
"Schneider! We do not do that to our own kind!" He had a look of rage in his eye, but Margaret slapped him. He did not retaliate. I would not have taken that from a bitch. While they were distracted I scrambled off and hid behind a tree. They seemed to look around in vain in the darkness, moaning and screaming at each other. They finally sauntered off into the woods.
As the shock wore off I realized what they were. The scars, the green skin, the bolts in their neck, tattered clothing. I couldn't believe it to be true, but we had a whole nest of Frankensteins right here in Smelterville, Idaho. There was only one way to be sure, though.
I stalked them through the woods to this old shack on the far side of the mountains. No one had been over here in years. There must have been twenty or so huddled in his little shack as I peaked through the window. There was one of them taller than the rest, who seemed to scream and beat Schneider after Margaret explained something to him, probably what he did to Fred. He then threw the arm out the window and took a fresh pink one out of a cooler, sewed it back on. No doubt anymore, we had Frankensteins. This was just like when my sister got lice last year. We need fire.
Suddenly something grabbed my shoulder, some bony, dusty hand. I turned around and something was trying to bite me. I punched its face and it fell to the ground with a thud, the Frankensteins inside picked their heads up. It scrambled off into the woods, I followed it, then pounced on it, rolling down a hill near a creek. As I landed on top it started freaking out about its bandages near water. To my surprise it was a chick.
"What the hell are you, now?"
"My name is Nefrina of the Lagids, unhand me, mortal!"
"You're a fucking Mummy...aren't you? Why'd you try to bite me?"
"To turn you into...one of us...our foe badly outnumbers us."
"Is that...is that a thing, if you are bit by a Mummy you become a Mummy? That doesn't sound right..."
"It's not widely known. We are mostly too slow. I mean, it didn't work with you."
"I guess not. Who is your foe?"
"Frankenstein!" I unhanded her and stood up. She panted and crawled to an upright position.
"You're fighting the Frankensteins?"
"Yes. We have for centuries. One on one we are the stronger, but they are increasing their numbers, increasing technology, we are desperate."
"You Mummies, you have like mystical shit, right? Like, magic and shit?"
"Yeah. You can place curses, fly on sand kind of, control little squirmy buggies."
"I want in."
"What?"
"Bite me. I volunteer. I'll kill Fred and the rest of his kind then Traci will be mine."
"Can I be your girlfriend?"
"What? No."
"Okay, okay, I just thought I'd try...I don't meet that many guys. I mean Nesperennub always hits on me but he's sooo old and -"
"Shut up! Bite me!" Nefrina stood up and lurched into my neck. I could feel the dust filling my veins, the bandages growing and wrapping around my skin. The power of thousands of years of cursed power cursing through my fingers. I opened my eyes and I was no longer Randy. I was Randy the Mummy! Nefrina smiled.
"Welcome to Lowcountry."
29 September 1982
What the hell is that bitch doing? I thought we had something between us. I'm just screwed over again. How is she this stupid.
I asked her to homecoming this weekend, she said yes but I knew something was messed up with her. She wasn't enthused at all, I mean, why wouldn't she want to go out with the football team's kicker who can bench 80% of his body weight? That's right. 80%. I'm the man! She's so dumb here!
She's avoided me all week. She goes from swooning and chatting between classes to complete avoidance. I see her from across the cafeteria, walk over to her table and by the time I get there she's gone. I mean, hell I could have any chick in this school I wanted but I deserve a damn explanation. Don't leave me hanging baby.
So I'm stalking her, right, followed her after school and saw this car almost hit her in the parking lot. Some idiot nerdy kid walked in front of it though, got smeared up pretty bad but saved Traci. She's swooning over this cat, now. A few days later they're inseparable. Wherever he goes, she's following. It's bullshit. This cat is real gangly, no body mass at all. What's the point even? Then I found out what this thing was.
Frankenstein.
He's a damn Frankenstein. Abomination. Living horror. She's looking over her back constantly, but she don't know I'm still watching her. They were by the football field after practice yesterday, thought they'd avoid me I guess. Not likely, Traci. I hid under some gardening equipment under the bleachers and saw them talking. Actually I think only she was talking. He seemed to just stare listlessly and moan occasionally. She finally left - and kissed him. Kissed him on the cheek. Don't leave me dangling, baby. Don't do that.
She walked away and he just stood there, leaning in the wind. I snuck up from behind and pushed him to the ground. Now, from time to time my temper gets the best of me - as I kicked the shit out of him and stomped his chest I just kept screaming.
"Who the fuck you think you are?! You stay away from my girl!"
"Rrraaghh!!"
"Shut the fuck up!" I picked him up and slammed him against the side of the stadium. Then I looked into his eyes. They were glassy and gray, his skin green, easily bruised and cold to touch. His hair was slimy, black and sticky. "What are you?"
He raised his sweaty palms and gripped my arms, with surprising strength he threw he off him. Out of the darkness around him emerged some of his clan. They were creatures of Darkness. They threw me around.
"You think it's fun beatin' up some one different?" This really lopey one yelled at me as he socked me with an impossibly long arm.
"Fucking living!" This girl smacked me in the back with a nasty green backhand. I turned to look at her. Her eyes were different colors, a long stitching scar across the middle of her face.
"What the hell happened to your face?" I said as I lay on the ground. She started laughing.
"Shut the hell up, Margaret." The long one said.
"What?" Margaret was suddenly friendly. "He just don't know what we are. I don't blame him."
"He'll know. He'll know when Father's through with him. Say - let me just kill him now, I promise not to mangle the parts, we can take him whole!"
"You haven't had a whole kill since Fred. Sorry Fred." Margaret looked at Traci's crush. I knew your name now, you bastard. "You tear up to much, take too many limbs off and organs out, you need to just get a good clean strangle, like this - " Margaret reached her cold green hands towards my throat. I swatted them away but the other one grabbed my arms, felt like he was going to rip them off. Fred intervened.
"Maarrghhh..." He struggled up and started to grab my arm.
"No!" The male holding me was furious, he grabbed Fred's arm and ripped it off. Margaret gasped.
"Schneider! We do not do that to our own kind!" He had a look of rage in his eye, but Margaret slapped him. He did not retaliate. I would not have taken that from a bitch. While they were distracted I scrambled off and hid behind a tree. They seemed to look around in vain in the darkness, moaning and screaming at each other. They finally sauntered off into the woods.
As the shock wore off I realized what they were. The scars, the green skin, the bolts in their neck, tattered clothing. I couldn't believe it to be true, but we had a whole nest of Frankensteins right here in Smelterville, Idaho. There was only one way to be sure, though.
I stalked them through the woods to this old shack on the far side of the mountains. No one had been over here in years. There must have been twenty or so huddled in his little shack as I peaked through the window. There was one of them taller than the rest, who seemed to scream and beat Schneider after Margaret explained something to him, probably what he did to Fred. He then threw the arm out the window and took a fresh pink one out of a cooler, sewed it back on. No doubt anymore, we had Frankensteins. This was just like when my sister got lice last year. We need fire.
Suddenly something grabbed my shoulder, some bony, dusty hand. I turned around and something was trying to bite me. I punched its face and it fell to the ground with a thud, the Frankensteins inside picked their heads up. It scrambled off into the woods, I followed it, then pounced on it, rolling down a hill near a creek. As I landed on top it started freaking out about its bandages near water. To my surprise it was a chick.
"What the hell are you, now?"
"My name is Nefrina of the Lagids, unhand me, mortal!"
"You're a fucking Mummy...aren't you? Why'd you try to bite me?"
"To turn you into...one of us...our foe badly outnumbers us."
"Is that...is that a thing, if you are bit by a Mummy you become a Mummy? That doesn't sound right..."
"It's not widely known. We are mostly too slow. I mean, it didn't work with you."
"I guess not. Who is your foe?"
"Frankenstein!" I unhanded her and stood up. She panted and crawled to an upright position.
"You're fighting the Frankensteins?"
"Yes. We have for centuries. One on one we are the stronger, but they are increasing their numbers, increasing technology, we are desperate."
"You Mummies, you have like mystical shit, right? Like, magic and shit?"
"Yeah. You can place curses, fly on sand kind of, control little squirmy buggies."
"I want in."
"What?"
"Bite me. I volunteer. I'll kill Fred and the rest of his kind then Traci will be mine."
"Can I be your girlfriend?"
"What? No."
"Okay, okay, I just thought I'd try...I don't meet that many guys. I mean Nesperennub always hits on me but he's sooo old and -"
"Shut up! Bite me!" Nefrina stood up and lurched into my neck. I could feel the dust filling my veins, the bandages growing and wrapping around my skin. The power of thousands of years of cursed power cursing through my fingers. I opened my eyes and I was no longer Randy. I was Randy the Mummy! Nefrina smiled.
"Welcome to Lowcountry."
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Lowcountry III: The Anger of Henry Frankenstein
Part III:
04 January 1796
I don't know who made me. I have no god. I am my own god. I awoke on a slab. Lightning crackled through the open ceiling above me as snow fell across my face. My binds were unlocked but there was no one there to greet me. This is what life was? I have since understood that most of the pink kind starts small. Babies. They grow into the people they are supposed to be. I started full. I gave myself a name, a name after the man whose research created me. When I arose however, that man had long been dead. I never found who made me. I might have been timed out by the doctor as he knew his first creation was lost. Maybe he thought he could do better. He thought I was better.
After I learned what life was I learned fear. The villagers of Bran did not take kindly to my existence. They branded me a monster, chased me with fire to my castle. My only friends bats, wolves and finally the fear I gave to them. I was dead. Always cold. I felt hunger, I felt pain, I felt fear and love but I could not age. Could not die from disease, animals did not attack me. I was dead.
I spent my time researching my birth, teaching myself how to read and write. I found out how I was made, how the doctor's technology supplanted God himself. Where he and his monster ended their struggles atop the Arctic Circle. It was on my journey to find them when I first discovered their kind.
The first Mummy I met was Nesyamun. I encountered him in Leeds, 1824. I had spent a month in England tracking the doctor when this vile specimen crossed my path. At present I still believe myself to be old, but this creature was supposedly three millennia, preserved, though cursed by his people. He was a High Priest who had sinned against his god. I had no god to sin against. While he sought redemption I still sought only fear.
He had none. He was also no longer afraid of death. We were two dead things who did not understand each other. We scuffled across the dark streets of Leeds but he gained the upper hand, casting me with great strength into a carriage then summoning locusts to disguise his escape. I believe he was a coward, not of facing me, but of claiming another life. He should have claimed me there.
After years of searching I discovered the doctor's body in the Arctic, but his creation was lost in pyre. I know not what drove him there, no other Frankenstein has yet conquered his fear of flame. Something happened between these two, something that made this fear as silly as it is.
I brought the doctor back to Bran, hoping to revive him using his own technology. After many tries I was successful, in 1831 I gave my first life to a dead thing. The monster rose from the slab and opened his eyes as I had. He knew not who he was though. I showed him the doctor's notes and explained what he was, though I have never told him who he was. Victor, I named him. I believe some part of the original doctor exists yet in his mind, as he is the most solemn and melancholy of all my army, but also my oldest and most loyal Lieutenant.
Slowly we grew our family. After eking out a living for years we added a brother, Ernest in 1836, Jerry in 1845. Elizabeth, bride for Victor in 1848. While I had great anger for a world that doomed and hated us, we had little choice for many years. The Mummies did not bother us, nor us them. That is...until he showed up.
11 March 1895
Kharis was deranged. Even older than Nesyamun, he was unleashed by an Egyptian cultist priest in the late 19th Century. Kharis quickly turned on the priest, the English explorers and every other mortal who stood in his way. Using sacred Tana Leaves he began calling all other awakened Mummies to his base in catacombs deep in Egypt. That's when we began our serious feud.
Ernest was adept at spying on the villagers. Bran was a small town but connected to the crossroads. He heard that there were strange folk lumbering through on their way South. Dressed in many layers, leaving traces of dust and bandages after their path. I knew it was time for revenge on my humiliation suffered by Nesyamun. We made a journey to Bucharest to intercept him and Djedptahiufankh. No, I cannot believe that name, either. We brought rifles and water to Bucharest, where we jumped them at the train station. Victor stayed behind, he was always worried and sorrowsome.
The guns proved ineffective. They slowed the creatures but mostly puffed through the dust. The Mummies could summon the power of plagues and sand, although most did not affect that which is already dead. The fight was slow, each side lumbering against each other. In the heat of battle I first met Kharis.
He blew in almost on the wind of sand.
"What manner of creature are you?" He snarled. He had an uncanny presence among his kind.
"I am a dead thing. We are dead who live!" I proclaimed. Jerry, Ernest and Elizabeth held their weapons high and cheered.
"You are dead? So you have no fear of death?" spoke Kharis. I am not one for banter. I aimed my rifle and fired into his chest. He merely glanced down and laughed. "You do not learn well." He loped towards us and grabbed Ernest, lifting him up high. "It is time to feared death!" Earnest stabbed his pitchfork through Kharis' gut but showed only dust for it. Kharis' eyes glowed and he ripped Ernest apart. I rushed and hit him with the butt of my rifle, breaking it in half. Kharis twitched. Nesyamun winced behind him.
"There can be only one group of people who defy death. We are here for a reason. We are here because we are cursed, forbidden from the afterlife. You are unnatural. Abominations." I had heard the same my whole life.
"What gives you the right to live where we do not? We want to live!"
"We do not have the right. It is our curse. I," he sighed, "I just said that, were you listening at all? This is what I'm talking about. You know not even the meaning of your own existence."
"Rrrrgaaghhh..." Jerry moaned.
"That's right, Jerry!" I exclaimed. "You die!" I threw a bucket of water at his face.
"Dammit!" He screamed. "Do you know how badly it smells to have damp moldy bandages covering your face? This is going to take at least a half-hour to dry! I need to go take care of this!" With that they vanished again in a swarm of sand and crickets.
We left Ernest in Bucharest. We could have revived him, we have since done so with many other of our family we have lost. Out of respect for our brother and to remember to respect the power of Kharis, we let him rest.
From then on both sides built their armies with fervor. We hold a distinct advantage in this regard. The only thing we ask of our recruits is to die. We do not care how or why or when. Of course, finding volunteers has been difficult. We can reattach body parts and re-jump heart beats, but stalking, murdering and dragging back new recruits is not always easy, especially when the villagers start to become wary. Thus it has been a slow process, we dare not risk losing members unnecessarily.
It was in 1974 then when I met someone who could finally bring us to the core of the Mummy Forces. Detective Schnelppvort would take us to Lowcountry.
End of Part III
04 January 1796
I don't know who made me. I have no god. I am my own god. I awoke on a slab. Lightning crackled through the open ceiling above me as snow fell across my face. My binds were unlocked but there was no one there to greet me. This is what life was? I have since understood that most of the pink kind starts small. Babies. They grow into the people they are supposed to be. I started full. I gave myself a name, a name after the man whose research created me. When I arose however, that man had long been dead. I never found who made me. I might have been timed out by the doctor as he knew his first creation was lost. Maybe he thought he could do better. He thought I was better.
After I learned what life was I learned fear. The villagers of Bran did not take kindly to my existence. They branded me a monster, chased me with fire to my castle. My only friends bats, wolves and finally the fear I gave to them. I was dead. Always cold. I felt hunger, I felt pain, I felt fear and love but I could not age. Could not die from disease, animals did not attack me. I was dead.
I spent my time researching my birth, teaching myself how to read and write. I found out how I was made, how the doctor's technology supplanted God himself. Where he and his monster ended their struggles atop the Arctic Circle. It was on my journey to find them when I first discovered their kind.
The first Mummy I met was Nesyamun. I encountered him in Leeds, 1824. I had spent a month in England tracking the doctor when this vile specimen crossed my path. At present I still believe myself to be old, but this creature was supposedly three millennia, preserved, though cursed by his people. He was a High Priest who had sinned against his god. I had no god to sin against. While he sought redemption I still sought only fear.
He had none. He was also no longer afraid of death. We were two dead things who did not understand each other. We scuffled across the dark streets of Leeds but he gained the upper hand, casting me with great strength into a carriage then summoning locusts to disguise his escape. I believe he was a coward, not of facing me, but of claiming another life. He should have claimed me there.
After years of searching I discovered the doctor's body in the Arctic, but his creation was lost in pyre. I know not what drove him there, no other Frankenstein has yet conquered his fear of flame. Something happened between these two, something that made this fear as silly as it is.
I brought the doctor back to Bran, hoping to revive him using his own technology. After many tries I was successful, in 1831 I gave my first life to a dead thing. The monster rose from the slab and opened his eyes as I had. He knew not who he was though. I showed him the doctor's notes and explained what he was, though I have never told him who he was. Victor, I named him. I believe some part of the original doctor exists yet in his mind, as he is the most solemn and melancholy of all my army, but also my oldest and most loyal Lieutenant.
Slowly we grew our family. After eking out a living for years we added a brother, Ernest in 1836, Jerry in 1845. Elizabeth, bride for Victor in 1848. While I had great anger for a world that doomed and hated us, we had little choice for many years. The Mummies did not bother us, nor us them. That is...until he showed up.
11 March 1895
Kharis was deranged. Even older than Nesyamun, he was unleashed by an Egyptian cultist priest in the late 19th Century. Kharis quickly turned on the priest, the English explorers and every other mortal who stood in his way. Using sacred Tana Leaves he began calling all other awakened Mummies to his base in catacombs deep in Egypt. That's when we began our serious feud.
Ernest was adept at spying on the villagers. Bran was a small town but connected to the crossroads. He heard that there were strange folk lumbering through on their way South. Dressed in many layers, leaving traces of dust and bandages after their path. I knew it was time for revenge on my humiliation suffered by Nesyamun. We made a journey to Bucharest to intercept him and Djedptahiufankh. No, I cannot believe that name, either. We brought rifles and water to Bucharest, where we jumped them at the train station. Victor stayed behind, he was always worried and sorrowsome.
The guns proved ineffective. They slowed the creatures but mostly puffed through the dust. The Mummies could summon the power of plagues and sand, although most did not affect that which is already dead. The fight was slow, each side lumbering against each other. In the heat of battle I first met Kharis.
He blew in almost on the wind of sand.
"What manner of creature are you?" He snarled. He had an uncanny presence among his kind.
"I am a dead thing. We are dead who live!" I proclaimed. Jerry, Ernest and Elizabeth held their weapons high and cheered.
"You are dead? So you have no fear of death?" spoke Kharis. I am not one for banter. I aimed my rifle and fired into his chest. He merely glanced down and laughed. "You do not learn well." He loped towards us and grabbed Ernest, lifting him up high. "It is time to feared death!" Earnest stabbed his pitchfork through Kharis' gut but showed only dust for it. Kharis' eyes glowed and he ripped Ernest apart. I rushed and hit him with the butt of my rifle, breaking it in half. Kharis twitched. Nesyamun winced behind him.
"There can be only one group of people who defy death. We are here for a reason. We are here because we are cursed, forbidden from the afterlife. You are unnatural. Abominations." I had heard the same my whole life.
"What gives you the right to live where we do not? We want to live!"
"We do not have the right. It is our curse. I," he sighed, "I just said that, were you listening at all? This is what I'm talking about. You know not even the meaning of your own existence."
"Rrrrgaaghhh..." Jerry moaned.
"That's right, Jerry!" I exclaimed. "You die!" I threw a bucket of water at his face.
"Dammit!" He screamed. "Do you know how badly it smells to have damp moldy bandages covering your face? This is going to take at least a half-hour to dry! I need to go take care of this!" With that they vanished again in a swarm of sand and crickets.
We left Ernest in Bucharest. We could have revived him, we have since done so with many other of our family we have lost. Out of respect for our brother and to remember to respect the power of Kharis, we let him rest.
From then on both sides built their armies with fervor. We hold a distinct advantage in this regard. The only thing we ask of our recruits is to die. We do not care how or why or when. Of course, finding volunteers has been difficult. We can reattach body parts and re-jump heart beats, but stalking, murdering and dragging back new recruits is not always easy, especially when the villagers start to become wary. Thus it has been a slow process, we dare not risk losing members unnecessarily.
It was in 1974 then when I met someone who could finally bring us to the core of the Mummy Forces. Detective Schnelppvort would take us to Lowcountry.
End of Part III
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Lowcountry II: The High School Years of Traci Lorraine
Part II:
17 September 1982
It started the first week of school, I think. Probably around there. I was sitting in lunch with my girlfriend Rhonda when I first saw him. He strutted into the cafeteria with such swagger. He was the most breathtaking boy I had ever seen. Pursed lips, broad shoulders and a butt...a butt that just wouldn't quit.
"Rhonda, who is that boy?" I asked my friend.
"I don't fucking know," She replied. I suddenly remembered that Rhonda really sucked. When I turned back around the boy was gone. Damn you, Rhonda.
I didn't have any classes with him, I knew that. I kept my eye out in the hallways but we never seemed to cross paths. A few weeks later and I forgot about him. Besides, Randy had asked me to homecoming. Randy was this other cute guy with this really jacked up body who was a kicker for the football team. I'm not sure why he was so beefy, actually, I don't think he ever used his arms. Anyway he asked me out so whatever.
So like a week or something passed and I pretty much stopped thinking of the kid from lunch and was getting excited for Randy. I was walking out to the parking lot one day though and suddenly this car came careening towards me! Rhonda behind the wheel! Out of nowhere that kid from lunch wandered through the lot and hit the car before it hit me! He didn't quite stop it but he definitely slowed it down so it only caused me to loose my balance as I fell through the air on top of it. As I struggled to get up through my scrapes and bruises he was standing there, bleeding from where his arm used to be. He picked it up and walked away with a moan and vacant look in his eye. That was my first indication that this boy was special.
I rushed home, tried to sleep but ended up just staring at the rain drops on the window thinking of this boy who had almost probably accidentally saved my life. The rain slowed with a crack of thunder, his green face was lit up in the window! I slid it open.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Rrrrragghhh..." he cooed. I climbed out.
"Thank you for saving me today from that car, kind of. What's your name?"
"Frrrreedd." A wolf howled in the distance, he lobbed his head and gazed into the night.
"That's a beautiful name, Fred." I heard my dad stir. "My dad's a light sleeper, there's some woods nearby we can talk in." I grabbed his hand and led him to the woods. "You're new in town, aren't you?" A chill breeze blew. "You've got to learn that Smelterville Autumn is pretty cold, where's your jacket?" Fred just stared at me, a large drop of drool hung from his lips. I caught it on my finger. "That's a pretty neat talent, Fred."
"Mmmrrrggh." I took his hands.
"Fred, your hands are freezing! Screw my dad, I'm giving you some hot tea. Also don't screw my dad." I tugged on his hand but he wouldn't budge. His eyes were fixed on to something in the woods. He started to walk away, legs stiff, arms locked out in front.
"Hey, where are you going? There's no houses that way, did you guys put one up?" He kept walking. What could I do? I wanted to be true to Randy but I couldn't just let this boy wander alone into the woods. There were wolves and shit. I followed him until he came to a clearing in the woods not more than a few hundred yards away. On a rocky outcrop was this green-skinned man with dripping black hair and a long face. There must have been dozens more who looked like him and Fred around the rock. Fred began to walk but I tugged him back into the woods. He looked at me, then stayed where he was.
The man on the rock lifted up a gun and fired it, squirting water into the air. I squeezed Fred's cold hand. He didn't squeeze back. Suddenly someone grabbed my shoulder, I let out a yelp that he muffled! This man brought me close to him and whispered in my hear, I could feel his hot breath pant through his moustache.
"What are you doing here? This is a Frankenstein meeting!"
"What?!" I whispered through his fingers. I turned around to see a cop I had known when I was a little girl, Officer Otto. "Officer Otto, I remember you from when I was a little girl!"
"Shut up. Who's he?" He motioned to Fred.
"He's cool, uh, he's my new friend. Don't tell Randy."
"Who the fuck is Randy? No, don't answer that. Did he bring you here?"
"No, I followed him, he was wandering off without a jacket into the wolf-infested forest."
"Dead things don't need jackets. And wolves only eat fresh meat. You'd better get out of here." I saw him cocking his gun.
"What are you going to do?"
"Get going." I turned to Fred. His eyes moved towards mine. For the first time tonight he was looking into me. He then caught a spider that had been dangling in front of my face and ate it. Then his eyes glossed over. I grabbed his hand again.
"We need to go!" Officer Otto looked at Fred and I, squinted his eyes then moved into the night.
"Know what you're doing, Traci," he grabbed my arm. "This is Lowcountry."
End of Part II
17 September 1982
It started the first week of school, I think. Probably around there. I was sitting in lunch with my girlfriend Rhonda when I first saw him. He strutted into the cafeteria with such swagger. He was the most breathtaking boy I had ever seen. Pursed lips, broad shoulders and a butt...a butt that just wouldn't quit.
"Rhonda, who is that boy?" I asked my friend.
"I don't fucking know," She replied. I suddenly remembered that Rhonda really sucked. When I turned back around the boy was gone. Damn you, Rhonda.
I didn't have any classes with him, I knew that. I kept my eye out in the hallways but we never seemed to cross paths. A few weeks later and I forgot about him. Besides, Randy had asked me to homecoming. Randy was this other cute guy with this really jacked up body who was a kicker for the football team. I'm not sure why he was so beefy, actually, I don't think he ever used his arms. Anyway he asked me out so whatever.
So like a week or something passed and I pretty much stopped thinking of the kid from lunch and was getting excited for Randy. I was walking out to the parking lot one day though and suddenly this car came careening towards me! Rhonda behind the wheel! Out of nowhere that kid from lunch wandered through the lot and hit the car before it hit me! He didn't quite stop it but he definitely slowed it down so it only caused me to loose my balance as I fell through the air on top of it. As I struggled to get up through my scrapes and bruises he was standing there, bleeding from where his arm used to be. He picked it up and walked away with a moan and vacant look in his eye. That was my first indication that this boy was special.
I rushed home, tried to sleep but ended up just staring at the rain drops on the window thinking of this boy who had almost probably accidentally saved my life. The rain slowed with a crack of thunder, his green face was lit up in the window! I slid it open.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Rrrrragghhh..." he cooed. I climbed out.
"Thank you for saving me today from that car, kind of. What's your name?"
"Frrrreedd." A wolf howled in the distance, he lobbed his head and gazed into the night.
"That's a beautiful name, Fred." I heard my dad stir. "My dad's a light sleeper, there's some woods nearby we can talk in." I grabbed his hand and led him to the woods. "You're new in town, aren't you?" A chill breeze blew. "You've got to learn that Smelterville Autumn is pretty cold, where's your jacket?" Fred just stared at me, a large drop of drool hung from his lips. I caught it on my finger. "That's a pretty neat talent, Fred."
"Mmmrrrggh." I took his hands.
"Fred, your hands are freezing! Screw my dad, I'm giving you some hot tea. Also don't screw my dad." I tugged on his hand but he wouldn't budge. His eyes were fixed on to something in the woods. He started to walk away, legs stiff, arms locked out in front.
"Hey, where are you going? There's no houses that way, did you guys put one up?" He kept walking. What could I do? I wanted to be true to Randy but I couldn't just let this boy wander alone into the woods. There were wolves and shit. I followed him until he came to a clearing in the woods not more than a few hundred yards away. On a rocky outcrop was this green-skinned man with dripping black hair and a long face. There must have been dozens more who looked like him and Fred around the rock. Fred began to walk but I tugged him back into the woods. He looked at me, then stayed where he was.
The man on the rock lifted up a gun and fired it, squirting water into the air. I squeezed Fred's cold hand. He didn't squeeze back. Suddenly someone grabbed my shoulder, I let out a yelp that he muffled! This man brought me close to him and whispered in my hear, I could feel his hot breath pant through his moustache.
"What are you doing here? This is a Frankenstein meeting!"
"What?!" I whispered through his fingers. I turned around to see a cop I had known when I was a little girl, Officer Otto. "Officer Otto, I remember you from when I was a little girl!"
"Shut up. Who's he?" He motioned to Fred.
"He's cool, uh, he's my new friend. Don't tell Randy."
"Who the fuck is Randy? No, don't answer that. Did he bring you here?"
"No, I followed him, he was wandering off without a jacket into the wolf-infested forest."
"Dead things don't need jackets. And wolves only eat fresh meat. You'd better get out of here." I saw him cocking his gun.
"What are you going to do?"
"Get going." I turned to Fred. His eyes moved towards mine. For the first time tonight he was looking into me. He then caught a spider that had been dangling in front of my face and ate it. Then his eyes glossed over. I grabbed his hand again.
"We need to go!" Officer Otto looked at Fred and I, squinted his eyes then moved into the night.
"Know what you're doing, Traci," he grabbed my arm. "This is Lowcountry."
End of Part II
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Lowcountry I: The Travel of Det. Otto Schnelppvort
Part I:
09 August 1974
It's been a long night. Early morning. My chief said I got the call because of my ancestry in the Old Country. I'm also the best damn cop on staff. I don't see what the issue is really, I have some nearby relative in the area, I haven't been through in ten years. I was basically called in because that's the closest any of us had ever gotten.
You can't get to this place by plane. I flew into Bucharest then hopped on a train through the countryside. Plenty of time to read over my mission briefs. Apparently someone over here was scaring the villagers. I can't believe there's still villagers any place in the world. A dozen or so would disappear, then be seen again, all stitched up and green. There was something strange going on here. They called me because I was the best and didn't say no. I should have, if only so I didn't have to spend an indefinite vacation in this shithole land.
Had to take a cab out of Bran after the train and even that wouldn't take me the whole way. I went on foot for about a mile to the Castle. If something went down there wouldn't be back-up and I wouldn't get out of there. Cop's dream.
It didn't take long till I saw the first one. Loping around, green skin, straggly black hair, started staggering towards me but one pop in the head took care of him. I looked closer and sure enough, I knew what I was in for.
Frankensteins.
It wouldn't take them long after they heard the gunshot. Clearly they were behind the recent rash of stranglings in Bran. I had thought their creator had died out a century and a half ago, but these corpses were recently animated. Victor Frankenstein's technology had survived and these things were multiplying themselves.
I ran through the woods. The trees were black and twisted, the grass and ground gnarled and fused under my feet. The moaning grew louder. I burst into a clearing and the groans echoed from all directions. Seas of green hands burst from the trees about to strangle someone. Someone...named Otto Schnelppvort. I readied my .44, prepared to save a single bullet for my own journey.
"Enough!" a voice boomed louder than the constant moans. From the shadows a tall man emerged, the moonlight revealed a face drawn long and covered in scars, his black hair dripping past his brow and soaking the bronzed bolts coming from his neck. Was this the Leader Frankenstein?
"I am the Leader Frankenstein," he boasted. "My name is Henry." He commanded a presence among the other Frankensteins. As he strut around the clearing they bowed their heads and retreated from him. He came close to me. "You intrude on this land where you are not welcome. We however do not wish to lose our army prematurely."
"That's too fucking bad," I said while aiming between his eyes.
"We have more brains, you know. If I'm lucky I might end up with yours at night's end. Is that what you wish?" This Frankenstein was more cultured that most I had met before. I guess that's why the department chose me. They knew what was lurking here. Maybe.
"Come in for a drink, it's cold out here," with that he turned away and his army retreated. The Moon was full and I wouldn't be able to sequester another cab until daylight. As the wolves howled I had no choice but to follow him. The trick tonight I guess is to last until dawn with a brain still in my head.
The Castle was a swarming, living entity. Frankensteins hurried everywhere, as if they were preparing and packing for something big. Henry ushered me through the grand stairway chamber to a smaller dining room. He poured me a glass of very brown water and set some grapes on the table.
"Eat," he said, staring into my eyes. "We are not poisoners. We do not have the fine knowledge of chemistry to do so." This was definitely true, these grapes were safe. I hadn't had anything since the cream cheese on the train so I dug in.
"What do you want with me? My brain?" I asked him.
"Eventually," he said. "But I'm also curious about what an American so armed is doing way out here."
"You're not used to this kind of firepower? The villagers of Bran have no guns to defend against Frankensteins?"
"Guns we can deal with. We are in the body part replacement business. Guns we do not fear. You see, you are armed insufficiently. What are you doing out here with only that revolver to defend yourself? Are the bullets even silver?"
"I dunno. What should I have brung?"
"We have only one irrational fear, but I would not be a good bargainer if I told you, would I?" Just then a lightbulb fell on to the stone floor causing a small spark and fire. A nearby Frankenstein jumped and screamed, running out of the room.
"Oh great, Jerry, really subtle!" Henry groaned. "It's fire. We're fucking scared of fire, alright. Damn."
"What are you preparing for?" I asked.
"There's a war coming." Henry paused. "We needed numbers fast. I hated to sacrifice the Bran Villagers but it became necessary as the crypts around here proved insufficient."
"War with who?"
"Our oldest enemy. A Rivalry that has gone on for centuries. Our most feared opponent. The Mummies." I stared at him with mouth agape. "After all, this is the Lowcountry."
End of Part I
09 August 1974
It's been a long night. Early morning. My chief said I got the call because of my ancestry in the Old Country. I'm also the best damn cop on staff. I don't see what the issue is really, I have some nearby relative in the area, I haven't been through in ten years. I was basically called in because that's the closest any of us had ever gotten.
You can't get to this place by plane. I flew into Bucharest then hopped on a train through the countryside. Plenty of time to read over my mission briefs. Apparently someone over here was scaring the villagers. I can't believe there's still villagers any place in the world. A dozen or so would disappear, then be seen again, all stitched up and green. There was something strange going on here. They called me because I was the best and didn't say no. I should have, if only so I didn't have to spend an indefinite vacation in this shithole land.
Had to take a cab out of Bran after the train and even that wouldn't take me the whole way. I went on foot for about a mile to the Castle. If something went down there wouldn't be back-up and I wouldn't get out of there. Cop's dream.
It didn't take long till I saw the first one. Loping around, green skin, straggly black hair, started staggering towards me but one pop in the head took care of him. I looked closer and sure enough, I knew what I was in for.
Frankensteins.
It wouldn't take them long after they heard the gunshot. Clearly they were behind the recent rash of stranglings in Bran. I had thought their creator had died out a century and a half ago, but these corpses were recently animated. Victor Frankenstein's technology had survived and these things were multiplying themselves.
I ran through the woods. The trees were black and twisted, the grass and ground gnarled and fused under my feet. The moaning grew louder. I burst into a clearing and the groans echoed from all directions. Seas of green hands burst from the trees about to strangle someone. Someone...named Otto Schnelppvort. I readied my .44, prepared to save a single bullet for my own journey.
"Enough!" a voice boomed louder than the constant moans. From the shadows a tall man emerged, the moonlight revealed a face drawn long and covered in scars, his black hair dripping past his brow and soaking the bronzed bolts coming from his neck. Was this the Leader Frankenstein?
"I am the Leader Frankenstein," he boasted. "My name is Henry." He commanded a presence among the other Frankensteins. As he strut around the clearing they bowed their heads and retreated from him. He came close to me. "You intrude on this land where you are not welcome. We however do not wish to lose our army prematurely."
"That's too fucking bad," I said while aiming between his eyes.
"We have more brains, you know. If I'm lucky I might end up with yours at night's end. Is that what you wish?" This Frankenstein was more cultured that most I had met before. I guess that's why the department chose me. They knew what was lurking here. Maybe.
"Come in for a drink, it's cold out here," with that he turned away and his army retreated. The Moon was full and I wouldn't be able to sequester another cab until daylight. As the wolves howled I had no choice but to follow him. The trick tonight I guess is to last until dawn with a brain still in my head.
The Castle was a swarming, living entity. Frankensteins hurried everywhere, as if they were preparing and packing for something big. Henry ushered me through the grand stairway chamber to a smaller dining room. He poured me a glass of very brown water and set some grapes on the table.
"Eat," he said, staring into my eyes. "We are not poisoners. We do not have the fine knowledge of chemistry to do so." This was definitely true, these grapes were safe. I hadn't had anything since the cream cheese on the train so I dug in.
"What do you want with me? My brain?" I asked him.
"Eventually," he said. "But I'm also curious about what an American so armed is doing way out here."
"You're not used to this kind of firepower? The villagers of Bran have no guns to defend against Frankensteins?"
"Guns we can deal with. We are in the body part replacement business. Guns we do not fear. You see, you are armed insufficiently. What are you doing out here with only that revolver to defend yourself? Are the bullets even silver?"
"I dunno. What should I have brung?"
"We have only one irrational fear, but I would not be a good bargainer if I told you, would I?" Just then a lightbulb fell on to the stone floor causing a small spark and fire. A nearby Frankenstein jumped and screamed, running out of the room.
"Oh great, Jerry, really subtle!" Henry groaned. "It's fire. We're fucking scared of fire, alright. Damn."
"What are you preparing for?" I asked.
"There's a war coming." Henry paused. "We needed numbers fast. I hated to sacrifice the Bran Villagers but it became necessary as the crypts around here proved insufficient."
"War with who?"
"Our oldest enemy. A Rivalry that has gone on for centuries. Our most feared opponent. The Mummies." I stared at him with mouth agape. "After all, this is the Lowcountry."
End of Part I
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Scooter
When I'm down and when I'm low
When I wander to and fro
You are the king of cooter
absolutely; booger (that's scooter)
When fog scares the birds
when I'm at a loss for words
you give all your ooOooOoo smooter
I'm an animal; booger (that's scooter)
When I wander to and fro
You are the king of cooter
absolutely; booger (that's scooter)
When fog scares the birds
when I'm at a loss for words
you give all your ooOooOoo smooter
I'm an animal; booger (that's scooter)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Nemeses
Ryan meets Jeremy for breakfast at a diner. Ryan complains that he’s sick of living at home, has an mediocre job, but doesn’t have the money to afford an apartment. Jeremy also complains that he can’t find steady work and his parents are about to kick him out. A man leaves a newspaper behind, Ryan grabs it on a whim and notices a cheap house for sale. They grin and decide to buy it.
They meet this the old man selling the house, sign some papers and get the keys.
“I think it’s only fair to warn you boys. This house has a certain timeless quality to it. The last owners, a young man and a young woman, they couldn’t handle it. They left.”
Jeremy and Ryan shrug off this warning.
They spend a night in the house. Watch some TV, have a few beers, Jeremy goes upstairs, Ryan downstairs. Ryan lies down then starts hearing some creaking footsteps, he looks above him, shrugs and goes to sleep. Jeremy upstairs hears the same creaking, sits up and looks around, likewise shrugs and goes back to bed.
Come morning, Ryan is in the shower. He gets out and sees through the mirror the reverse angle of a door creaked open, what looks like a naked Jeremy crouched outside. Startled, he turns around fast and swings the door wide open and no one’s there. He goes into Jeremy’s room, he’s still sleeping. Ryan is suspicious, but merely leaves, puts on a tie, one last check then leaves for work.
Late at night, Ryan comes home, Jeremy is waiting on the couch, lights dim, Ryan comes home, finally. Jeremy jokingly says “Missed you for dinner, hon!” Ryan is still a bit wary, “Hey listen, I’ve got some pretzels in my room I’m just going to munch on, I’ve got to run out again in the morning.”
“Since when do you work all the time?”
“”Oh, I, uh, this doesn’t happen too often, you know. Every other week really, but I’m pretty busy again tomorrow.” Ryan closes the door. Opens it. “Hey this is kind fo weird, but were ah, were you looking at me in the shower this morning, dude?”
“What?! No!”
“Um ok. Goodnight.” Door closes.
Sitting there, Jeremy’s eyes start drooping, his head logs, suddenly mid-dropp he sees Ryan’s face and hands pressed up against the window, making weird faces, it looks bruised and bloody with a giant slash down the middle. Jeremy does a double take and it’s gone. Jeremy is kind of shaken up, shakes his head and goes to bed.
Next day, Ryan is in the kitchen, puts a pot out. He sees Jeremy’s reflection, face cut up, shirt off, behind him in the pot, turns around quick and he isn’t there. He starts getting pissed, wakes Jeremy up.
“What the fuck.”
“Wh-wha? What are you-what are you doing in my room?”
“You were sneaking in on me in the shower yesterday and now you’re in the kitchen creepin on me? What the fuck.”
“Dude go away, I don’t have work today.”
“Right. Well I do have work. Don’t scare the shit out of me like that again.”
Ryan comes back again late at night. Jeremy says nothing.
“You work today?”
“No, I told you that this morning.”
“Well…then what did you do all day?”
“Uh…not much.”
“Well, why don’t you work on finding a fucking job so I don’t have to pay our whole bills this month.”
“Hey dude, what’s up, I’m trying.”
“No, you’re not, you’re not trying, I’m fucking sick of you goofing around all day while I work my ass off all day.”
“Shit dude. Calm down. We talked about this, you knew my situation coming in here.”
“Well, get it done.”
“You working tomorrow?”
“No.” Ryan goes in his room closes the door.
Again, Jeremy is almost asleep, turns off TV, in the screen that’s left is reflecting Ryan looming behind him, covered in blood, face slit down the middle. Jeremy turns around really fast but sees nothing there. He checks behind the couch, nothing. He rushes in Ryan’s room and shakes him up.
“Hey you yell at me messing around, what the fuck was that?”
“What the fuck, why are you still awake?!”
“And you in the bushes last night! Are you kidding me?”
“Listen you rat shit, you stay up all fucking night watching bullshit and then dare fucking say that I’m fucking around? Get the fuck out of my house.”
“what?”
“I’m paying all the bills anyway, get the fuck out.”
Jeremy shoves Ryan. Ryan shoves back. They start throwing punches and wrestle into the kitchen. Ryan grabs a knife.
“What the hell are you?”
“Hey, calm down, man” Jeremy stammers. Ryan lunges, his knife catches Jeremy's shirt and rips it open. Jeremy tears it off then grabs a knife of his own as Ryan comes in again. They push each other over to the couch when Ryan finally connects and rings Jeremy through the gut. With his last bit of strength Jeremy slices Ryan's face down the middle and then slits his throat. They both lie behind the couch, dead.
They meet this the old man selling the house, sign some papers and get the keys.
“I think it’s only fair to warn you boys. This house has a certain timeless quality to it. The last owners, a young man and a young woman, they couldn’t handle it. They left.”
Jeremy and Ryan shrug off this warning.
They spend a night in the house. Watch some TV, have a few beers, Jeremy goes upstairs, Ryan downstairs. Ryan lies down then starts hearing some creaking footsteps, he looks above him, shrugs and goes to sleep. Jeremy upstairs hears the same creaking, sits up and looks around, likewise shrugs and goes back to bed.
Come morning, Ryan is in the shower. He gets out and sees through the mirror the reverse angle of a door creaked open, what looks like a naked Jeremy crouched outside. Startled, he turns around fast and swings the door wide open and no one’s there. He goes into Jeremy’s room, he’s still sleeping. Ryan is suspicious, but merely leaves, puts on a tie, one last check then leaves for work.
Late at night, Ryan comes home, Jeremy is waiting on the couch, lights dim, Ryan comes home, finally. Jeremy jokingly says “Missed you for dinner, hon!” Ryan is still a bit wary, “Hey listen, I’ve got some pretzels in my room I’m just going to munch on, I’ve got to run out again in the morning.”
“Since when do you work all the time?”
“”Oh, I, uh, this doesn’t happen too often, you know. Every other week really, but I’m pretty busy again tomorrow.” Ryan closes the door. Opens it. “Hey this is kind fo weird, but were ah, were you looking at me in the shower this morning, dude?”
“What?! No!”
“Um ok. Goodnight.” Door closes.
Sitting there, Jeremy’s eyes start drooping, his head logs, suddenly mid-dropp he sees Ryan’s face and hands pressed up against the window, making weird faces, it looks bruised and bloody with a giant slash down the middle. Jeremy does a double take and it’s gone. Jeremy is kind of shaken up, shakes his head and goes to bed.
Next day, Ryan is in the kitchen, puts a pot out. He sees Jeremy’s reflection, face cut up, shirt off, behind him in the pot, turns around quick and he isn’t there. He starts getting pissed, wakes Jeremy up.
“What the fuck.”
“Wh-wha? What are you-what are you doing in my room?”
“You were sneaking in on me in the shower yesterday and now you’re in the kitchen creepin on me? What the fuck.”
“Dude go away, I don’t have work today.”
“Right. Well I do have work. Don’t scare the shit out of me like that again.”
Ryan comes back again late at night. Jeremy says nothing.
“You work today?”
“No, I told you that this morning.”
“Well…then what did you do all day?”
“Uh…not much.”
“Well, why don’t you work on finding a fucking job so I don’t have to pay our whole bills this month.”
“Hey dude, what’s up, I’m trying.”
“No, you’re not, you’re not trying, I’m fucking sick of you goofing around all day while I work my ass off all day.”
“Shit dude. Calm down. We talked about this, you knew my situation coming in here.”
“Well, get it done.”
“You working tomorrow?”
“No.” Ryan goes in his room closes the door.
Again, Jeremy is almost asleep, turns off TV, in the screen that’s left is reflecting Ryan looming behind him, covered in blood, face slit down the middle. Jeremy turns around really fast but sees nothing there. He checks behind the couch, nothing. He rushes in Ryan’s room and shakes him up.
“Hey you yell at me messing around, what the fuck was that?”
“What the fuck, why are you still awake?!”
“And you in the bushes last night! Are you kidding me?”
“Listen you rat shit, you stay up all fucking night watching bullshit and then dare fucking say that I’m fucking around? Get the fuck out of my house.”
“what?”
“I’m paying all the bills anyway, get the fuck out.”
Jeremy shoves Ryan. Ryan shoves back. They start throwing punches and wrestle into the kitchen. Ryan grabs a knife.
“What the hell are you?”
“Hey, calm down, man” Jeremy stammers. Ryan lunges, his knife catches Jeremy's shirt and rips it open. Jeremy tears it off then grabs a knife of his own as Ryan comes in again. They push each other over to the couch when Ryan finally connects and rings Jeremy through the gut. With his last bit of strength Jeremy slices Ryan's face down the middle and then slits his throat. They both lie behind the couch, dead.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Symmetrical Heart Tracklist
- Antacid Tablet
- Sarah
- This Song is Filler
- Whost
- Symmetrical Heart
- Whost (refrain)
- This Song is Filler
- Itty Bitty
- Booger (that's me)
- This Song is Filler
- This Song is Filler
Sarah
Sarah, she is as pretty as a picture
Sarah, she is so perfect just for me
Sarah, she isn't Tara
Because that Tara is a double-crossing bitch.
Sarah, she is so perfect just for me
Sarah, she isn't Tara
Because that Tara is a double-crossing bitch.
Whost
Whost! What does it mean? We don't know
Ghosts! What are they made of? We don't care
Most! Of the lyrics in this song suck
Toast! How do you make it? A toast-air.
Ghosts! What are they made of? We don't care
Most! Of the lyrics in this song suck
Toast! How do you make it? A toast-air.
Booger (that's me)
Accountability; that's the job for me
You're the only one that I'd let watch me pee (who would yout let watch you pee)
Take a chance on me;
You can let me be;
The best booger
(that's me)
You're the only one who treats me right;
You give me all your ooooo empathy
I'm a real animal
Booger (that's me)
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Dr Guo MDB.... the extra b is for byobb
I've been attending midnight psychiatry for 3 years now... it was an alternative to incarceration for some murders I did on a mushroom trip.... mushroom tip... what? Anyway its going really well. Dr. Guo told me that murder is wrong, but mushrooms aren't necessarily wrong. "Do you have any now" he asked. I said no... but one of the listeners called in a dealer he knew... and Dr. Guo left... I got some taco bell and when he came back he was very fearful. He tried to charge me $3,400 for the session.... I made up the difference in food stamps. Life can be hurtful I guess.
Monday, August 16, 2010
On the matter of Cookie Sirico
My castration date is 7/4/2006... Remove me from the bondage of penis... my son... my son Kandwell he's not an NFL running back... what a failure... he was the 7th born... and the 7th worst.... I wanted to live vicariously through him topping emmitt smith's yardage record... he has wronged me... and you know what he wants to go into... architecture! architecture! Why don't you just drive a knife through my heart you ungrateful bastard... all the times I hit you until you did what I wanted... what's best for you... well I HAVE NO SON... except for the other 6... (Emmit Smith, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Curtis Martin, Marshall Faulk, and Jerome Bettis) They're passable sons.... Lucifer put me on a strict diet of lard and cigarette butts... Kandwell will go on it too until I can beat some vicarious pleasure into him.... failure... what a victim I am
Sunday, August 15, 2010
fat kid at fat camp
The halls at the Luv a Duv love factory were as dirty as a pirate's coffee machine, and the floors as disgusting as a Chinese Christmas tree. Boy howdy, did it suck to be a janitor there, and boy howdy did it ever suck to be Sam. Wait, no, it wasn't that bad being Sam. At least that's how he thought of it; even the janitors at Luv a Duv Co. were paid well, and there weren't many other jobs out there that were willing to pay for Midnight Psychiatry. Even the work was pretty easy; a few ounces of concentrated hate dissolved even the grimiest of messes, and the Kiss Removal scraper took care of all the love remnants that made their way around the factory.
It was boring though, and Sam was getting sick of being so pungent and shiftless. Working there was making his soul like the ocean; vast and unsophisticated. Sam grabbed his scraper and started gouging at the floor. The faint smell of Cookie Crisp meant that the love was coming off. He held his breath though; the stuff always gave him a tummyache.
At midnight, he took his break. Usually, he'd head downtown to the Neutralville Loser District. He liked to go to Midnight Psychiatry during his food eating break, but the Psychologist was getting too abrasive and Sam was getting fat from all the Taco Bell. Instead, he took a taxi to the nearest cornfield. Seating himself on the broad shoulders of a grim-faced scarecrow, he looked up at the sky. "Somewhere out there", he mumbled to himself, "somewhere is the lassy of my dreams."
It was boring though, and Sam was getting sick of being so pungent and shiftless. Working there was making his soul like the ocean; vast and unsophisticated. Sam grabbed his scraper and started gouging at the floor. The faint smell of Cookie Crisp meant that the love was coming off. He held his breath though; the stuff always gave him a tummyache.
At midnight, he took his break. Usually, he'd head downtown to the Neutralville Loser District. He liked to go to Midnight Psychiatry during his food eating break, but the Psychologist was getting too abrasive and Sam was getting fat from all the Taco Bell. Instead, he took a taxi to the nearest cornfield. Seating himself on the broad shoulders of a grim-faced scarecrow, he looked up at the sky. "Somewhere out there", he mumbled to himself, "somewhere is the lassy of my dreams."
oh dear
Linda put her duster down and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. The love crystal glowed bright blue in front of her even in the dim red light of her cigarette. The mine was cool enough, but dusting was hard work, and she needed a break.
She sat down on the metaphorically gray box behind her after wiping off a thin film of blue dust. You weren't supposed to sit on the boxes, but no one was around, and she'd only broken three of them this month. Another one wouldn't hurt too much. She pulled her pocket thesaurus out, and opened it to the bookmark. The pages were delicate, and stained with her tears, but she was gentle with them as she read in the dark. She took a drag on her cigarette, and the light in the room got brighter.
The mine was in bad shape ever since the love market had cooled down after the Pathetic Wars. Most of her friends had either quit or been laid off, and she had to move almost a six tons of love a day just to keep her head above water. She stopped reading for a moment, and thought about all the fun, sexy adventures she'd had in the past, the fantastic journeys, the thrilling thrills, and the passionate romances. The time she had learned the greatest lesson life could teach, the time she won a belching contest and saved the vice-mayor, the time she found a puppy while baking cookies. Now those were definitely some interesting, amazing stories.
But that was the past, and her life was over now. Twenty-six, she thought to herself, I'm twenty-six now. Just running out the clock in a haunted love mine. She looked down at the page; it was enough words for today, and she wanted to get this last bit of love loaded before it was time to go home, so she wiped off a tear, closed the thesaurus gingerly, and stuffed it back into her pocket. She stood up, and looked down at the gray box. She pushed an unbearably unremarkable red button on the front of it, but it did nothing. Damn, she thought, must have broken another one. But suddenly the box opened up, and a small arm reached out, wiping the dust off the box before it closed again.
She picked up the feather duster, and went back to the love crystal, brushing the rock at its base to free it from its granite tomb.
She sat down on the metaphorically gray box behind her after wiping off a thin film of blue dust. You weren't supposed to sit on the boxes, but no one was around, and she'd only broken three of them this month. Another one wouldn't hurt too much. She pulled her pocket thesaurus out, and opened it to the bookmark. The pages were delicate, and stained with her tears, but she was gentle with them as she read in the dark. She took a drag on her cigarette, and the light in the room got brighter.
The mine was in bad shape ever since the love market had cooled down after the Pathetic Wars. Most of her friends had either quit or been laid off, and she had to move almost a six tons of love a day just to keep her head above water. She stopped reading for a moment, and thought about all the fun, sexy adventures she'd had in the past, the fantastic journeys, the thrilling thrills, and the passionate romances. The time she had learned the greatest lesson life could teach, the time she won a belching contest and saved the vice-mayor, the time she found a puppy while baking cookies. Now those were definitely some interesting, amazing stories.
But that was the past, and her life was over now. Twenty-six, she thought to herself, I'm twenty-six now. Just running out the clock in a haunted love mine. She looked down at the page; it was enough words for today, and she wanted to get this last bit of love loaded before it was time to go home, so she wiped off a tear, closed the thesaurus gingerly, and stuffed it back into her pocket. She stood up, and looked down at the gray box. She pushed an unbearably unremarkable red button on the front of it, but it did nothing. Damn, she thought, must have broken another one. But suddenly the box opened up, and a small arm reached out, wiping the dust off the box before it closed again.
She picked up the feather duster, and went back to the love crystal, brushing the rock at its base to free it from its granite tomb.
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