I've mentioned before that www.sffworld.com has a monthly flash fiction contest, which is a very good way of stretching your mind to think up a new story with just one word or phrase as inspiration. More importantly, it is not a phrase that you, yourself, chose!
Both of these pieces were written from the first concept that I came up with when I read the theme, and Laudanum was the first flash piece that I wrote for SFFWorld.
The Tournament
Jeremy stared at the table standing on the beach. It was quite a pleasant day, or would have been if the sky was blue and not grey even though there was not one cloud in the sky. The table was bare, its two chairs having inappropriate frilly cushions on them. He realized it was the same cushions as those his grandmother had had in her kitchen. The cushions were tinted in grey as well, as if the pinks and greens had washed out of them leaving only their shadows. He looked behind him. The palms forming a distinct line between sand and forest looked like it was taken from a black and white holiday catalogue. The salt water was a clear grey. A voice next to him said: “Choose a game.” The figure was dressed in black – the only pure black he could see anywhere. His mind raced.
“Trivial Pursuit – no,” he stopped himself. He would not know the answers. He thought and thought. Chess? Checkers? Poker? Bridge, for goodness’ sake?
“Choose, human, or I will choose for you.” The voice was louder, impatient. He tried not to look at the scythe it held in one grey, bloodless hand. “You wanted to play, so let us play.”
Jeremy swallowed hard. “Dice, we will play at dice.”
Two dice appeared in his clenched hand. When he opened his fist, he saw one was of the purest white, the other pure black. When he looked up the figure was already seated at the table.
“Come,” it said, cracking its fingers. “Time for a game.”
Jeremy took a deep breath, smelling the salt in the air and walked to the table, placing the dice in the centre before lowering himself into the chair.
“You first. Highest out of three wins.”
Jeremy took the dice, shook them in his hand and let them fall. Two sixes. He let out a breath. So far so good. The figure did the same. It landed. Two ones. It was Jeremy’s turn again. He threw. Two and three. The figure threw. Two sixes. Jeremy threw. Four and one. The figure threw. Two sixes.
“Well then,” it said. “Come along.”
“Wait.” Another hand pushed the dice towards the black-robed figure. “Best one out of one.” The figure took the dice, threw. Two sixes. “He’s still mine.” The other figure threw. It landed. Two sevens. “He is mine," the voice boomed as colour returned to the world.
**** The two sevens at the end came as just a surprise to me. I wanted to write a tournament between a mortal and death where the mortal won. When I reached death saying "Come along", I thought that was that for Jeremy. The dice landing on seven, the "voice" saying "He is mine" and the colour returning to the world added so much more to the tale, especially in a Christian perspective. This is now one of my favourite pieces. ****
Laudanum
Laudanum stared at the blank page in front of him. Below him, in the kitchen, he could hear muffled voices that only sometimes rose too high or too loud for a few syllables to act as if it was a normal conversation. Nothing here seemed normal. You just had to look at his name to know that he was not normal. No normal person would name their child Laudanum. It was a wonder his newly born sister was named 'Rose' like any other normal child and not something like ‘Latrine' just because his parents liked the way the word sounds.
He kept his eyes on the page and stared intently at the darkness that lay behind them until he could see nothing but the darkness. Then, after the darkness had come, the other world came. The world that was created in the darkness behind his eyes. He knew not if he had been the creator, he was quite sure he wasn't. A few people here and there, a couple of dragons, a mythical quest or two. Those he did create. But the rest he was not so sure of. He remembered the first time he visited the place. It had no mountains then, but was simply grassland as far as the eye could see. Then he thought ‘mountains’ and the next moment they were there, on the horizon. One even had snow on top. He had never even seen snow. He also changed the weather patterns that day with his gigantic mountains. And crushed a few villages. After that he tried not to think too much while he visited. But, sometimes, a thought or emotion did slip through. And, today, it rained although rain did not seem to be the right word to describe the amounts of water falling from the sky. It was more like a monsoon rain, more like torrential rain that fell and turned all the ground to mud. And it was cold, so cold. Up in the mountains an avalanche started and slid down the great mountain.
Laudanum thought as hard as he could about sunshine, rainbows, and the absence of water. The mud sprouted into flowers as far as his eyes could see. But the sun was too warm. Just enough water, he concentrated, and could feel the water rising to the surface. The sun not too warm, he thought and could feel the sun's rays fading, although sudden flashes of light streamed from the mountains like northern lights gone berserk.
The lights he did not understand and tried not to look at them lest they blind him where he stood between the sprouting flowers, but the lights kept on flickering until he looked at them briefly and then they went away only to start again once he concentrated on the ground and the living things there.
“Not too warm,” he mumbled again, staring at the world behind his eyes.
“He’s been like this for days now doctor,” Laudanum’s mother said. “Is there nothing we can do?”
The doctor took his small torch and shone it into Laudanum's right eye. Then he shook his head.
“Not until we can figure out what is going on in there,” he said. “There is a response, but so slight…” his words trailed off as the boy mumbled again.
“Not too warm.”
The nurse sadly shook her head and removed one of the piles of blankets covering the boy.
***** My first piece's inspiration came while I was drawing an early map for Airthai. After drawing a river's course, I saw that it was completely wrong to what I had already written. Out came the eraser and I drew a new line. The sight of a whole river drying up and vanishing in seconds before appearing in another place suddenly formed in my mind.
When you stop to think about world building, you find that you can think of a few characters and a geography that just 'works'. What if the boy was so part of his secondary world that he almost had to die in the real one to give enough energy to just one part of his created one?
And, yes, I chose the name 'Laudanum' mostly because I like the sound of it. *****
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