07/11/2022 - This Side Of The Horror
Reading time: 1 min
Photo by Frances Yeung on Unsplash
It’s nothing more than a problem of perception.
To me, the slow creeping of entropy toward the universe’s heat death is fast and continuous—comfortable, almost, as I am cold and heat disturbs me. To you, it’s just time. But, you see, time has no meaning from my perspective. Time sits in the realm of the living, and I sit just outside, dipping my toes in it at times.
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This is until an explorer discovers my temple. To you, they have features and appearances. They’re beautiful, or funny, or rich. To me, they have deep or shallow darkness. This one, for instance, is tall and strong; dangerous in human terms. To me, he’s just shallow. I can scare and kill him, sure, but I can’t make him crave for physical torture to replace my presence in his mind.
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This other one, though, is so deep. To you, she’s fragile and kind, broken by a traumatic past, and all she wants is to grow from the ashes of her suffering. To me, she’s an oasis in the entropy desert. Don’t beg me. Don’t say the first explorer deserves it more. It doesn’t make any difference to me. With time, everyone comes this side of the horror.
Even you.
About this story
Prompt:
Element One: 369!
A safe, controlled demolition is not done in one go with one big boom (we believe – please correct us if the head responsible for this challenge is incorrect). Hence, the demolition happens in the form of a 369er. Unfamiliar with the format? Worry not, for we shall explain: a 369er is composed of 3 interconnected but separate 69-word sections.
Element Two: Down with the 4th wall! X3 combo
You must break the 4th wall twice within the 369er, with the demolitions happening in different sections.
Element Optional: Variety!
For extra challenge, you may opt to break the 4th wall in two different ways during the course of the demolition job. This is completely optional; broken 4th walls are broken 4th walls regardless of how they were broken.
From the official page of FFM 2022.
Notes on the challenge
Each and every story published here has been written, reviewed, polished and published in less than 90 minutes. Which means you’re going to find spelling mistakes, ugly sentences and weird structures. I still hope you’ll enjoy them!
