Sunday, September 2, 2012

Failed Experiments

Not every egg I shit out is going to be golden, or silver, bronze, or even copper or tin ( does that analogy work?). Nope, some times the creative process is nothing but typed out thought diarrhea... and it needs to happen. Especially when you're trying out something new. So i present to you this giant mess: The Diary Of Nathaniel Edmund. The title itself is cringe inducing (just wait ill you start reading). Nathaniel is in a psyche hospital because he "wants" to be, because he believes that he is the only one that can save our world from invaders from another dimension. Compiling a bunch of journal entries from him as well as nurses logs and doctors notes, I wanted to tell the story. Unfortunately, this presented the problem of tension as everything was told after the events. Some parts i think still packed a punch, but ill leave that up to you. Another thing i tried to do, and you'll notice, is writing the journal in a way in which i think a paranoid character with a lot to talk about and afraid of dieing at any moment would tell his story. Quickly. Short and to the point. This has varying results. Anyways without further adue, an excerpt:



Diary of Nathaniel Edmond
January 16th,
They are coming. Last night I awoke to something under my bed. I could hear what sounded like scratching. And scrapping. I looked under my bed. It was a black blob. A shadow. With two piercing eyes. Small. That reflected the moon light. Like two little green pearls. It just stood there and looked at me. And I stared back. It had been found. Found before it could go back home. And it knew it. Those things discovered how to possess other’s souls. They couldn’t roam our world with theirs. Because they didn’t have a soul. But they could possess others. I got off my bed. I reached for the rat. It didn’t move. It didnt twitch. It was like it wanted to be dead. Or wanted me to think it was. But when I snatched it in my hand. It bit me. I screamed but didn’t let go of the rat. When I did the light in the hall way flicked on. NO. I thought. The door swung open. Charley Bradley came in. I screamed for him to leave. But he wouldn’t. I told him he didn’t know what I was doing. But he wouldn’t listen.  I held up the rat and tried to explain. “They are coming.” I said. “They will kill you. Me. Kristy. Everyone on this floor.” I began to squeeze the rat. I could feel its ribs breaking. I could feel its organs starting to rupture. It let out a cry. It bit me again. And again. Blood began to cake on the sides of its mouth. And a smell. Like the smell of the center of a star. Filled the room. Charley Bradley made a face. A disgusting face. A face of someone not willing to do whatever it takes for survival. I made him watch. He yelled. “I need some help in here! Nathaniel put the rat down! Put it down now!” But he didn’t know what I knew. Finally another nurse came. But the rat was dead. When I dropped it onto the ground. Blood spurted out of it. Like a waterlogged sponge. Charley Bradley came into the room and restrained me. He made sure not to step on the rat. I watched it. I watched it leg twitch. Then again. And again. I watched it stand up. It teetered. Back and forth. Side to side. Before it limped towards the shadow of the bed. I tried to break free from Charley’s grapple. But I couldn’t. He had me. And there was nothing I could do. I tried to tell them. I yelled. “It’s still still alive. You have to kill it. Before it comes back with more.” But it was no use. They just thought I was being hysterical. God help us all.


Nurses Log: Charley Bradley – January 14th 11:48P.M.
Nathaniel Edmond, in room 208, woke up at 11 Pm. He was yelling about a rat in his room. When I arrived in his room to see what the matter was, he was holding the rat up in front of me. Blood was pouring from its orifices as he squeezed it. He crushed the thing and threw it onto the ground. I restrained him as he became hysterical and threw the rat on the ground after crushing it. After I restrained him he began to shout about the other world and the things that were trying to come into our world. The same story we all know and love coming from Nathaniel. I brought him to get blood work done to see if the rat was rabid, and then gave him a sedative (as ordered by the doctor on call, Dr. Williams). When I went back to retrieve the dead rat it wasn’t there. It more than likely was kicked under the bed when the struggling occurred, or wasn’t as dead as Nathaniel thought, and scurried away. Either way I will retrieve it tomorrow.

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