#VisDare 49 : Devoted (Taran’s Tale, Part 32)

After the videos, Alice spoke. “Cynthia is my mother. Leighla is my daughter.” She looked into my eyes, and I got lost in hers. “I have a son. The hordes took him.” Her blue eyes became wells of sorrow. “I’m afraid,” She pulled away from me. “Of what I feel.”

I knew not to touch her then. It would hurt her. “I’m from the caves.” It was time to tell her. “But I lived alone. Alone.” Her eyes wouldn’t let me go. “I read the books of the ancients. I left the caves to find a new life.” I let my eyes return to hers. “And I have.” I tried to smile.

“Me?”

“No.” I couldn’t lie to her. “Me. And I’m afraid. Of what I feel.”

I slowly offered her my hand. She slowly reached for it, and what we both felt began to grow.

146 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 32 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.

The entire story, from part 32 to part 1, is located here.

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#VisDare 48 : Beneath

The films showed me what I’d learned from the books and journals I’d read. They told the history of the end of the world that was.

The cities went insane, with men hunting women, using them as sex toys, then discarding them. The military tried to restore order, but they had too few guns, and too few members.

The women fought back, shooting men on sight. Blood ran through the streets of the cities. The chaos spread from the cities, to the towns, through the world.

Surviving city men formed gangs and became “The Hordes”, collecting women for recreation, and population management.

Surviving countryside families found caves to live in. And started digging deeper underground, becoming the cave dwellers.

Small groups of survivors became cannibalistic, formed hunting packs, and became “The Wraiths”.

Isolated survivors gathered in small camps, and started over. Jessica lead the first small camp.

146 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 31 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.

The entire story, from part 31 to part 1, is located here.

#VisDare 47 : Contemplating

Alice and I walked by the lake. “Perhaps it’s time I learned more about Jessica.”

“She’s not what they teach in the caves.”

“I know.” One day soon, I’d tell her about my life in the caves. “Nothing is what I learned in the caves.”

We went back to Old Phoenix, to an old theater. Alice taught me to make popcorn. I’d never seen anything like it. “Popcorn and soda,” she said, “perfect for watching movies.”

And we watched movies. For hours. “These tell the story of the end of what was. And the start of what is.”

“Alice,” I felt her fingers, so graceful, so delicate, laced between mine thick, scared, brutal fingers. “When the movies end…”

She interrupted me, “We’ll talk.”

“Yeah.”

I wished I could freeze time and stay in that moment, with her, and her smile, and her hand in mine, forever.

146 words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 30 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.

The entire story, from part 30 to part 1, is located here.

#VisDare 46 : Silhouette

“Taran. I’m afraid of love.” I felt her hand tremble in mine. “I’m afraid of you.”

We walked to the lake. “There’s a statue in the cave. Of the monsters on the surface. Of a little girl controlling them.”

Alice nodded. “Jessica.”

“So they teach.”

“What do you mean?”

I looked across the lake. “I’m no longer in the caves. I’m on the surface.”

She leaned into me, drew my arm around her waist. “Taran. What are you afraid of?”

What was I afraid of? I didn’t know. I’d never thought about it. I’d never asked myself. I’d always tried to follow what I thought were the rules of life. The way I thought was right.

“Everything’s a lie.”

“No. It’s not.” Her fingers brushed my cheek. “It’s just bigger than you knew.”

“I’m afraid of me. Alice.” I closed my eyes. “I don’t know who I am.”

147 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 29 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.(And yes. I know I’m days late getting this one written and posted.)

The entire story, from part 29 to part 1, is located here.

#VisDare 45 : Scrutiny

When we returned to New Phoenix, Alice lead me to a strange statue of iron and concrete. “Looks like the devil’s playing chess.”

Alice grimaced. “This was made by Frank.”

“Frank?” I stared at the statue. “Who was he?”

“The first mastermind.”

A strange man in a trench coat, carrying an umbrella approached the statue. He stared at it, his hands on his hips, and declared, “I’m not afraid of you.”

I read the plaque on the statue’s base. “When Fear Wins.”

“Frank made this to honor Jessica.” Alice took my hand, “Do you know who Jessica was?”

I shook my head.

“The first to speak with the animals.” She pushed me before the statue. “She always asked one question.”

I stared at the chessboard, and the devil. Alice continued. “All her descendants know it.”

“What are you afraid of?” I grasped Alice’s hand. “What are you afraid of?”

149 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 28 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.

The entire story, from part 28 to part 1, is located here.

#VisDare 43 : Memory

The eagles asked me to take Alice to a second place. As I did, Alice pulled me to a stop. “I can’t.”

I took both her hands in mine. “Why?”

“You don’t know, do you?”

I softly touched her cheek with my fingertips, as I closed my eyes. Alice pressed my hand against her face. And I saw her memories. She stood in the small glade the eagles told me about. She was much younger. I saw her speaking to a butterfly, her eyes closed, as she listened to the stories it shared with her.

I saw members of the horde pour through the walls of the glade, destroying it. I learned what they’d done to Alice that day. When she was just a child.

I’d seen enough. I kissed her. I held her.

“Alice. It’s time for things to change.”

She kissed me. “I’ve looked for you so long.”

150 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 27 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.

If you wish to read the entire tale, you can find it, starting with Part 27, running back to Part 1, here.

#VisDare 41 : Transfixed

We returned to Old Phoenix, as the sun was setting. “Follow us!” the cats mewed. They led us to an old warehouse someone had converted into a theater. There were several tables along the East wall. The cats led us to one. “Sit! Sit!”

Alice whispered, “This is Josie’s place.”

A man in a tuxedo, carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses approached the table. He poured a drink for each of us. A woman sat down at a piano in the north-west corner of the warehouse, and started to play.

“Josie!” Alice grabbed my hand, as a woman in a wedding dress, and ballerina shoes pirouetted across the floor. She stopped before us. Alice sat, transfixed, staring at the woman, unable to speak.

The woman took my hands, and placed them on Alice’s. “Help her.” As she danced, I wondered how I could help Alice.

150 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 26 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.

If you wish to read the entire tale, you can find it, starting with Part 26, running back to Part 1, here.

#VisDare 39 : Adore

The next morning, after we’d eaten, Alice and I took a walk. We left Old Phoenix, and walked beyond the boardwalk, and the houses in the hills. We walked along the edge of the lake.

“Where are we going?” She squeezed my hand.

“Where the Eagles said I should take you.” I loved the way her hand felt in mine. I loved the way the sunlight brought out the color of her eyes, and the highlights in her hair.

As we walked beside the lake, an old woman came out of the brush, and watched us. “Who are you?” I asked.

She just smiled at me. “You are the one.” She bowed her head, then spoke to Alice, “He is the one.” She looked to the sky, “He is the one.”

All we heard was the piercing cries of eagles, though none were visible in the sky.

148 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 25 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.

#VisDare 38 : Chase

I did not sleep that night. I watched over Alice. Something wouldn’t let me sleep. Something told me I had to protect her.

During the night I heard the cats of Old Phoenix, yowling. In my mind, they screamed. I reached for my knives, still in my boots. The door to the church opened, slowly, silently. Three men stood there.

The cats screamed, “The Horde!”

I didn’t wait. I threw my knives, and two of the three men died. The third turned, and ran. I chased him through the streets of Old Phoenix, to the lake. He didn’t take the boardwalk. He dove into the lake, going under the boardwalk. I followed as he race into the lake, where he reached a boat with more men. They pulled him aboard, and quickly left.

I returned to the church, where Alice waited for me.

143 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 24 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.

#VisDare 32 : Undecided

That night, we ate in the church in Old Phoenix. As we ate, I noticed Alice staring at her glass of water, lost in her thoughts. I knew she was afraid of how she felt about me. She’d lost everyone she’d let into her heart.

“You really think I’m pretty?”

I smiled at her and held out a hand. “You are beautiful. And your heart and soul are the most beautiful I have ever found.”

She smiled and held my hand. I knew she was the missing part of me. I wanted to tell her to take her time. I wasn’t going anywhere. I’d wait forever for her. But I knew not to.

“I’m afraid.”

“So am I.”

She held my hand as she stared into her glass of water, too afraid to care for me, and too afraid to let me go.

143 Words
@LurchMunster

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This is part 23 in the continuing story I’m working on for Angela Goff’s Visual Dare. Please read the other entries in this week’s Visual Dare challenge.