"Finish The Story" Collaboration - Using Shivangi Dua's Prompt

This story, from the "Finish The Story" collaboration, is based on a prompt from Shivangi Dua (https://writersvicinity.wordpress.com/).

Prompt: “Opening my eyes, I was in a world less familiar yet more beautiful and soothing than anything I had ever experienced…To breathe felt like living a new life!”

I opened my eyes, not sure if I was asleep or awake. I was standing on a balcony, looking out over a spectacular world. Everything to me was beautiful, and I felt a sense of peace that I had never felt before. I realized that I was taking in whole breaths, without fear of dying. I was not afraid of being different, or of the consortium finding out that I was different.

In that parallel world, we were all robots, doing the bidding of the consortium. They had changed us, so that we no longer thought for ourselves. I was one of the few that could still think. We were all very careful to not let our keepers know that we could think. If they ever found out, they would morph us into something absolutely soul dead. We had seen it happen to people that we knew, and it was not a place that any of us wanted to go.

Looking around me, I saw beauty. Lovely buildings, beautiful colors, and green. Real trees, real flowers. This was not a manufactured world playing in my head. This was a real world, a real universe … a parallel universe where I could be me. Did I have the option of staying here? I certainly hoped that I did!

I took more breaths, filling myself with love and light, with peace and joy. This is where I belonged, this is where I could make a difference. I needed to be able to make a difference. I was a scholar, not a warrior. I needed to be able to help other people heal, to become all that they could be. This world needed no warriors. It was of a higher vibration, this I knew.

Had I needed to experience that other world to appreciate this one? Would I do better here because of having had that experience? We all take different paths, I just have to accept that both worlds are part of my path. I have no pull to go back and bring the others here. If this is part of their path, then they will find it. If it is not, there will be something else for them.

This was the beginning of a new life for me. I looked down, and saw people moving around - talking, smiling, and carrying on their daily life. I was now part of this world. I did not have to constantly look over my shoulder, to shield my thoughts from those that did not want me to have them.

Where I went now was up to me. I could read the works of others, I could write my own words. I could listen to music, or perhaps even write it. I could paint my thoughts, if I chose to do so. My life was one of choice – and my first choice was to stay here.

The "Finish The Story" collaboration was organized by Tanmay Jain

(Tanmay_Jain@Bookinton ).

© November 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction is prohibited without written permission from the author.

"Finish The Story" Collaboration - Prompt From Sitharaam Jayakumar.

This story for the "Finish The Story" Collaboration is based on a prompt from Sitharaam Jayakumar (http://www.jaispoetryblog.com/).

Prompt: “I woke up with a severe hangover. I made my way to the bathroom lazily. I glanced at the mirror wondering if I looked as terrible as I felt. I stood staring in horror at the grotesque skull grinning at me…”

 “Good morning, David.” The voice spoke shrilly inside his head.

“Good morning, self.” David replied into his bathroom mirror. Last night was a haze of bar hopping – his mind was still foggy. He was getting scared – his reflection in the mirror had morphed into a skull several weeks ago, and was getting more grotesque by the day.

“Quite the night you had. You do realize that you keep feeding me energy, don’t you? What you see in the mirror is what you have created.”

“Did you have to come in as a skull? You are freaking me out!”

“The skull reflects who you are right now. You are a person who is losing control of his life. If you keep this up, you and I will be one. I don’t advise that – I come from the pits of hell!”

Shivers of fear went down David’s spine. He took a shower and got ready for work in a haze. As he parked his car and walked into his building, he felt himself changing. His mind was clearer, and he was more focused. This is the way it always was. He could focus on work, and do well, but when he left work all bets were off. He hit the bars, and was never home before the wee hours of the morning.

At noon, he went out for lunch. He stopped at the men’s room on his way to his office. He was suddenly very afraid … what if the skull personality was going to take over his office hours too! Forcing himself to look into the mirror, he breathed a sigh of relief. His hands were still shaking, but the face in the mirror was that of the competent lawyer that was his professional, day self. The eyes in the mirror met his, but there was a questioning look in them. This image might have a feeling that something was not right, but it didn’t really know about the skull.

David went back to his desk, returned two phone calls, and started reviewing the paperwork on his desk. It concerned a will that he was revising for a very important client. His client was in his late 60’s, and in good health, but he was at the point where he was fed up with his two sons, and he was cutting them out of his will. He had divorced his wife several years ago, so there was no concern about her.

David wondered if his career was changing him. He was a principle in his firm, and often had to make decisions both with and for his clients that drastically changed lives.

As he got into his car to drive home, he looked in the mirror. The skull was back.

The "Finish The Story" collaboration was organized by Tanmay Jain (Tanmay_Jain@Bookinton).

© November 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.