The last of the uncompleted, rough sketches of stories, those words trapped in my Google Docs. Here they are, from 2019 – 2021.
In 10 Minutes (1.14.19)
In ten minutes the world could end. There could be a massive crash on the highway outside of my office and I could be dead. A crazy ex (statistically speaking there have to be at least 4 viable options in an office with only eight people in it) could come in the delivery door and mass murder everyone, saving their former lover for last. Personally, I could run to the bathroom, force myself to throw up, and rinse my mouth out, and return to my desk. I could satisfy my exercise tracking device and exceed my number of recommended steps for the hour. I could break my healthy eating venture and eat the whole can of pickle-flavored chips. I could do something horribly embarrassing, like burp when I go to talk. I could trip over my feet, fall in front of all my co-workers, and split my pants on my way down. I could be interrupted by one person with four stories that literally have nothing to do with me or my interests.
Repression (1.14.19)
It was fifthly and wrong – dirty and uncouth.
And she loved it.
She loved every minute of her living horror. Doing the things she was raised not to do. In the ways she was never encouraged to.
She shouldn’t have but she did.
Goosebumps ran across her flesh as she wore the meat of men that belonged to other women. She got off as men that weren’t hers entered her from all over.
Because it wasn’t just what they did, but how they did it that made it fifthly and wrong.
It wasn’t really what they did, just them, they were the dirty and the uncouth.
After all this time, she had broken the rules.
And the men. And the lives of the men she broke.
And she loved the way being unfaithful looked on her, felt on her.
She should have been repulsed by herself and them.
But she wasn’t.
Instead, she loved it.
Closet Kid (1.18.19)
It had taken about 5 years for Billy’s kids to forget what their father looked liked. They hadn’t had a current vision of him in at least 3 years. Their father had lived in the closet. In fact, he had lived in the closet for so long
In The Ass (1.25.19)
Hers had to be the only society where the better you did, the harder you got fucked up the ass. Unpleasantly of course. Not to say that all anal activities were unpleasant or bad, but this one was. It was a figure of speech though the pain was physical.
Wind in Her Sails (2.2.19)
His words cut through her hopes like a knife through sails. There was a time, or so she heard, where people put winds in each other’s sails instead of holes. But those times had long since passed. Now it was a cutthroat world – the same knives people would use to slay your blustered sails were the same used to stab, slice, and skewer your back.
There needed to be a competitive edge. She just wanted to have fun. Did she enjoy the competition with herself? Yes, but that wasn’t and would never be the point. She wasn’t even sure she had a point other than having fun and being happy. All of the other details were preferal.
Not to him. To him there was always a point.
Office Jungle (2/6/19)
“It’s incredible! It’s amazing! It’s a fucking kneeslapper across the face…” yelling could be heard across the office. Big Dan had gone into Little Dick’s office 40 minutes ago. From the shaking of the floor and the almost visible steam coming from Big Dan’s ears no one thought it was going to be a pleasant meeting. No realized just how badly it was going to go – at least not before it was too late.
The screaming continued to be one sided. Whispers floated throughout the office in hot debate: was Little Dick letting Big Dan get his furry out unopposed or was he just so inferior in size, volument, and confrontational strength to Big Dan that no one could hear him retort? While the doors and office walls were predominantly glass, Little Dick had wasted no time in having privacy paper installed on the glass surrounding his office.
He definitely wasn’t getting away with fucking his wife, or anyone else, in his office, but it did give him the freedom to get away with more than enough. It also prevented his secretary from seeing anything that could quell or ignite the crackling of rumors.
“If I thought banging my head against a wall was fun…” the screaming died down to a light banging. As light as Big Dave was capable of at the moment. Rhonda watched as a plant slid off from the ledge outside of Little Dick’s office and crashed quietly onto the carpeted floor. The carpets were both a hindering helpful part of the office. They did an excellent job of absorbing sound, but also prevented the rest of the team from hearing the rest of the argument not magnified by Big Dave’s voicebox.
Ending One >> BD throws LD out of the window and kills him
Ending Two >> Affair, the right side of the blow job
Underboob (2.9.19)
She had been trying to tuck something under her right boob for safe keeping. Under normal circumstances, her underboob space was reserved for heating up the occasional chocolate in the dead of winter while at home, in an oversized sweatshirt braless. It was not made for something that could have been a thumb drive or a square key of sorts. It was old and textured, Shea knew that much.
Out of Stock (3.5.19)
Out of practice and out of touch. It had been years since he used his penmanship for anything other than numbers and brief abbr. notes about scheduling and orders.
Planning (3/9/19)
Planning. The mere mention of it was enough to turn a room full of friends into traitors. Planning had long since been outlawed. Not since before Svinguard and her army had planning anything been acceptable. Now people followed their path. The one assigned to them at birth. Every moment given because of the one before, enjoyed, and used as a stepping stone to the next. There was no planning, not even for a spot of tea or a cup of coffee. There was knowing, executing, enjoying, and moving along.
Blueprints were not plans for a building. They were strategic outlines, instructions. They were made, submitted, approved or stolen by Svinguard, then crafted. Lessons were not planned, they were scheduled, approved, and drafted by a Svinguard-appointed council. The word had been banned when Svinguard had been a State Senator. Before she had taken complete control. Before her plan had come to fruition. She knew what a plan could do, her plan had given her complete control, complete power. Now she would keep it, and no one would or could plan to stop her.
Untitled 4 (4.13.19)
The focus wasn’t there. Rather, it was, but it was highly concentrated elsewhere.
Before Time Froze Them Both (7.8.19)
She had always been clumsy. Slap-stick, rom-com movie level clumsy. It was something Scottie used to tease her about until she landed herself in the hospital with a concussion and a shattered patella. After that, Maisey’s clumsiness wasn’t endearing or adorable. It was a countdown for her end of days, and depending on how she fell that time, the potential of serious charges for Scottie, even if he had been a few hours away for business.
Maisey shifted in her bed trying to hold her gown closed.
Time Froze Them Both – Maisey (7.6.19)
Maisey couldn’t see straight. Yes, she had been drinking but not like that. Not so much that she couldn’t figure out which pills belonged to her husband and which pills might have been her escape. She wouldn’t jeopardize Scottie’s life by taking his pills when she hadn’t intended to.
She had finally been able to concentrate on the insides of her eyelids when the bed rocked softly. Scottie reached out and picked up her hand. Maisey was sure of nothing, but she was secure in the fact that she did love her husband. The best solution to ease their struggles would be to remove the problem. Like so many other situations in Maisey’s life, the root of the problem was vested deep down inside her.
As Maisey settled into sleep plans wove together like a dream catcher. In a way, her planning was so rapid and forceful it shielded Maisey from seeing the end result as an end, but more of a beginning. A new stage of life for Scottie. A peace for herself, freed of ever having to be the problem yet again. Everything was falling into place as Maisey fell deeper into sleep.
Untitled # (8.10.19)
She could smell him before she could properly see him.
Eyes of Death (10.2.19)
Remembering that he too would one day die, Edward placed two coins on his mark’s eyes.
The pain radiated through his chest spasming across his upper body. This was going to be the big one. Breathing hurt. Edward tried to steady his breathing as he shuffled down the hall. His phone sat, charging in the cradle. It was a cordless phone. A fact his niece reminded him of every month. Bring it with you everywhere you go, Uncle Eddie. It’s important. Maybe when she was done being angry with him, she would be able to find humor in the situation.
Edward dropped to the floor. Holding his chest his, his breath ragged out in short gasps. His bedroom was at the other end of the hallway. The cordless phone stationed to the right of his bed – everything else he needed was there too.
Pig Roast (11.9.19)
Everyone knew that the most efficient way to get rid of a body was to feed it to pigs. But that was only half the battle as Billie was concerned. You had to then also get rid of the pigs. And what better way to do that than a pig roast?
Cheater, Chester (2.11.19)
“Don’t forget to wish Katelyn a happy birthday!”
Puts the phone down, rolls over and starts kissing her shoulder… “Chester,” she whines.
“My girlfriend told me to wish you a happy birthday, baby (more kisses) so I am.”
Grey Clouds (1.17.20)
She waited patiently to exit the ferry. With a two and a half hour drive ahead of her she wasn’t in any particular rush. The camp’s first reservation wasn’t checking in until tomorrow afternoon which gave her the rest of the evening and the next morning to prepare the welcome basket and do a once over the cabin.