Epistle from the Land of Fiction

[digitaldiscipline]

Persistence

Catcalls.

"You'll never make it."

"Give it up."

He turned to the hecklers, tattered robe clinging to his shoulders, caked with dust and sweat. He had made good headway, but was certainly no more than half done. The sun was just beginning its westering descent. There was still time. If not, there was always tomorrow, though there would be one day more exhaustion in his bones, one day more bitterness in his spirit, one day more hate in his soul, a soul that was dangerously full already. But he didn't want to wait one more day. That meant there would also be one more night.

After all, everyone knows that demons and vampires only come out at night. And they did. And they laughed when they came. Their mockery was cold, it was hard, and it came with the undoing.

But they weren't the only ones who moved at night. Petey was also relegated to darkness. And that brother could fly.

He'd told Petey what he wanted. Petey was smart enough to find a way to get it. Almost as smart as me, he thought, but no better at avoiding trouble.

"You're wasting your time."

Sarcastically, "Want a hand?"

Patience had been hard to learn, buried under a mountain of rage and frustration, but it had come to him. Having a plan gave his mind something to work over as his body went about its daily struggle. At first, his mind had participated in the struggle, trying to devise some method, some trick that might grant him success.

It had been futile, exhausting, demeaning. Now, he was simply going through the pathetic motions, not because he believed he would succeed, but to throw off suspicion that he would succeed, and to give his daylight hecklers something to do. And come night, it meant that there would be something to distract the demons.

He sometimes wondered if the demons felt that their task was punishment, and if so, what they had done to earn it. He'd heard rumor of a man, beset by gnomes, who was forced to circle the world in a single night; and of another who'd been sentenced to trudge through the same series of moments.

He leaned to his task with renewed vigor, wanting to give himself as much leeway for the night's activities as he could.

"That's it, faster!"

Darkness eventually drew down over the edge of a day like a sodden rag, the hecklers having gone home to warm dinners and warmer beds, or to whatever other errant folly called them. Perhaps they had other obligations as nuisances.

As the dusk drained away in a trickle of blood, capering footsteps and gibbering laughter echoed across the desolation, joined by the tenebrous, labored flapping of wings. There was a familiar grinding noise, and he stepped aside to let the demons have their fun, slipping a short distance away to find Petey holding a length of chain and a knot of bungee cables.

"Perfect. Now, get out of here, and be ready for my signal." Quietly, he watched his friend move away through the darkness, and set to this night's work, making a lattice of the hooks and straps. Eventually satisfied that it would serve the purpose, he crept behind a boulder in the middle of the clearing and watched the demons high-five one another, their nightly undoing complete.

"Let's do it, Petey."

Prometheus pulled the cord at his side, and a coughing drone cut through the glassy quiet.

Grinning at the dawn, Sisyphus fired up the winch.

Comments

[bitogoth.livejournal.com]

i am *most* impressed! liking this all kinds of muchly...

[etcet.livejournal.com]

danke. *s*

we have a surprise for you in vegas. *weg*

[bitogoth.livejournal.com]

*and the trepidation sets in* ;}

never fear: drew and i located cocktail napkins which shall be sent with a designated messenger (most likely miss margaret) to promote dispensation of libations both amusing and appropos- hee!

[etcet.livejournal.com]

waitaminute. . . that sounds suspiciously like you're not going to be in attendance to. . . umm. . . [*whistles innocently, grinning at drew*]

[katyakoshka.livejournal.com]

I like. Quite witty. Nice style, too.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

i'll try and get the fellow whose style i was emulating to put his short fiction online somewhere (he's currently in various stages of negotiation to have his novel-length stuff published).

Re:

[katyakoshka.livejournal.com]

Rock. Thanks.

Ah, publishing negotiations. So glad that I'm just part of a self-publishing corporate contributor. Less emotional attachment, though the insanity is compensates for the lack of truly personal angst. ;P

I wish him luck on getting a good deal.