Having Writ (A Short Story)
Saturday, 1. November 2008, 22:34:11
You made a cup of coffee with a heaped teaspoon of coffee and three sugars because you were feeling particularly tired this morning.
Mac looked around warily.
Who the hell left that note there … ?
Had someone broken in … ?
He listened for a few seconds, then started moving through the house, senses alert for any sign of anyone who shouldn’t have been there …
… but – having looked in every room, behind every door, under every bed – he knew nobody was there but him.
And he walked back to the kitchen.
And found another note waiting for him.
You went through the house, looking for whomever put these notes here. But nobody was there but you. And you know you didn’t write them.
Wary, confused, mind racing, Mac reached for his coffee, where he’d left it …
… and noticed another note.
You decide your coffee might be tainted in some manner, by whomever you still believe to be in your house. So you pour it down the sink. But not before spilling some.
Mac was gobsmacked.
“Who the … how the hell … where did these notes … ?”
Mac couldn’t figure it out, though he tried desperately as he reached for his coffee.
Bringing it to his lips, though, something made him reconsider.
“If there was someone in the house – someone I haven’t found, even though I’ve searched the place – what if they … what if they put something in my coffee? Drugged it, somehow … ?”
He didn’t want to risk it. The very thought set his hands shaking …
… causing him to spill some of the coffee on the kitchen floor.
Mac poured the remainder down the sink …
… and suddenly realized …
“That’s just what that note said!”
He turned …
… and saw another note.
You’re going to throw these in the bin.
Mac’s eyes widened …
… he reached for the notes, determined to see if there was something they could tell him about where they came from, who wrote them, how they got there …
… and suddenly noticed the new one …
It had simply appeared. One second, he didn’t see it, the next, he did. As though it had been there all along and he’d only just noticed it, despite the fact that he knew it hadn’t been there at all up until a second ago …
You’re going to lean back against the kitchen counter …
Hands shaking even harder, Mac tried to focus on just what was happening. His mind felt foggy, his breath coming in short gasps. What was going on … ?! These notes, telling him things he’d already …
… and then it hit him.
Telling him things he’d already done, before telling him things he was going to do … !
And he did them!
Unnerved, Mac swept the notes up and crumpled them into a wad before throwing them into the bin.
“There”, he thought. “All I … wait … !”
Realizing he’d done just as the note had said, he leaned back in a gobsmacked huff against the kitchen counter …
Another note appeared.
You’ll slip in the puddle of coffee on the floor and bang the back of your head against the kitchen counter.
And die.
Mac craned forward to read what the note said …
… and slipped …
… saving himself at the last second by grabbing onto the counter opposite, which held the note.
Fingers clawing into the counter, nose against his fingers, the note not ten centimetres in front of his eyes …
… changed …
Mac’s fingers slipped from the counter, and he plunged forward so fast he couldn’t raise his hands to stop himself as his head smashed into the it, breaking his nose and driving the fragments of bone up into his brain, killing him instantly.
Correction …
… the note read …
… you’ll bang the front of your head.
Copyright © 2008 by David Scott Aubrey
All Rights Reserved
662 Words
This short story is a work of fiction. Any and all names, characters and/or incidents are either products of my imagination or are used fictitiously. Where any such resemblance may exist to actual persons (living or dead), actual events or locales, it is purely coincidental.
Please don't assume that my characters speak for me or carry my own opinions on various matters in any way, shape or form (though some might - you never can tell).
(47%)
WIDGETIZE
theoddbod # 1. November 2008, 23:22
You should have posted this for Halloween
theoddbod # 1. November 2008, 23:24
OkayPJs # 1. November 2008, 23:56
clean # 2. November 2008, 09:39
Mart, I'm vaguely familiar with the name (Hancock's Half Hour), but not the show you're talking about. What happened there?
theoddbod # 2. November 2008, 09:48
clean # 2. November 2008, 12:13
Cois # 2. November 2008, 12:32
Zaphira # 2. November 2008, 12:36
Mickeyjoe_irl # 2. November 2008, 12:38
Enjoyed your story clean.
ricewood # 2. November 2008, 15:06
rose-marie # 2. November 2008, 15:14
clean # 2. November 2008, 21:52
Miss Catfiania,
I could write you a note if you like
Mickey,
Thank you
Allan,
Rose,
It's okay ... the nasty note-reading man has had his nose mushed into his brain now ... it's all good ...
Cois # 3. November 2008, 01:00
Suntana # 3. November 2008, 01:04
Anyway, Cool One, David!
Zaphira # 3. November 2008, 06:18
clean # 3. November 2008, 21:16
I could be a zombie!
Suntana,
Thank you!
He could have broken the cycle earlier, but then the note would have corrected itself earlier.
Miss Catfiania,
Of course! Only sweet nothings for you!
Suntana # 3. November 2008, 22:00
Ravo # 4. November 2008, 01:32
clean # 4. November 2008, 01:43
Ravo,
I do, too! The problem is I need notes to remind me to read the notes!
Cois # 4. November 2008, 23:51
Furie # 14. November 2008, 21:33
clean # 14. November 2008, 22:32
H82typ # 18. November 2008, 02:44
Zaphira # 18. November 2008, 05:49
Just call him David. We wouldn't want his ego to grow too fast, do we?!
clean # 18. November 2008, 07:27
Ms Z,