sixwordstories | (no subject)

Also makes for dead cats.

You wanna figure that out for me? ‘Cause, I’m having a whole world of trouble doing so on my own.

Maybe that was just me as a kid, then.

[…]

And I thought choir boy practice was hard life for a kid.

It was better than the monkeys.

What are you curious about?

Where did you live, a zoo?

The knocking sounds on my apartment walls.

Government facility.

Rats, probably.

You’re from a military family?

Ah-uh. Guess that big ol' city living gave them the smarts to work out: knock one for yes, two for no.

My father was a marine, involved in a Black Ops group unwittingly exposed to a top-secret bioweapon. When I was five, they decided they should study the offspring of the team.

Ah. In that case, it's either neighbours or a poltergeist. Or maybe it's like that guy in Japan who had a woman living secretly in his cupboard.

What trouble has curiosity and boredom gotten you into?

Which would explain the need to hurt a lot of things when you were a child. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

Probably the neighbours messing about, lord knows it'd be easier to deal with. Wait...how does anyone not know they have a woman in their closet?

Have any ideas for how I can explain to my landlord why the flooring has been pulled up in the living room?

Joshua.....what happened?

What part? Before I ended up in the emergency room after something wanted to make me into a cat scratching pole. Or when the T.V remote decided to have a mind of its own and I’d have to go look for it. Or, the knocking sound in the crawl space of the floor; where I found the T.V remote...which has gone missing again.

And the knocking sounds is in the walls now.

I may or may not be finally losing my mind.

...hi, how are you?

......Joshua.....[She looks concerned but not 'oh my god' freaked out.] Are you okay? I can come by.....stay the night?

Not sure how I am. Confused. Let us not talk about me but how I can help you.

I’m just helluva tired, I guess. I’ve a couple of days off work after the last case and haven’t properly unwound. Don’t worry, that’s why I got a shrink to talk to. And a new roll of antacids.

Besides my bathroom is still a mess. I can’t have you stay the night with a messy bathroom.

You need to sleep. Let me come over. I won't be under foot, swear.

......I don't even need a bathroom.

I've got a great bottle of wine that should be shared.

It was part of training.

She'd wait until he left for work before she'd crawl out. I guess she moved very carefully, but yeah. Creepy, right?

Guess I better get the flooring back down on the living room then, for a bottle of wine and the pizza I’ll get for us.

I am very good with my hands. I come from a time when everyone, even the girls, worked hard.

I started it, so I’ll finish what I started. The bottle of wine will be enough.

What, taking away your childhood?

Are you yanking my chain about the closet stuff?

Killing animals and people.

No, I swear I'm not!

Pardon me while I try to get my mind around that fully; I had a sheltered life.

Wow. Just. Wow.

Oh, uh. Sorry.

It's even more amazing since this was like, Tokyo. You know how small an apartment is in Tokyo?!

Ah-uh. My curious mind does want to know if there is some good that came out of the experience.

I know, right. To me, Tokyo apartment translates as closet.

I'm the best of the program! Does that count?

Precisely. Poor woman must have been desperate.

Should I bring my sleeping bag?

More than counts. But what are the chances of someone better coming along?

I’m thinking about this and my bullshit radar is going off. I figure the guy was only allowed to live in the place under his tenancy agreement and hid the woman. The landlord found out, so to cover their asses he was: “She was living in my closet, I didn’t know!”

The bed is helluva uncomfortable with the mattress from previous tenants doing god's knows what to it, but it alright to sleep in.

Ah, for you.

On. Your. Own.

Not---okay, just bring your sleeping bag.

And a good book. I am after all staying up so you can get some rest without becoming a cat scratching post, right?

Unless you want to play hunt down the t.v remote to work the t.v, bring your book too.

I am very good at hunting.

I really don’t know you, do I?

To be honest you know things about me I rarely tell anyone. But, there are other things I guard rather closely.

Ah-uh. And a lot of things I don't know. For starters, do I get to know why you are in the Valley?

I’m not sure what you need to ‘guard’ me against. I’ve been in the Valley too. What would I have to fear about it? Evil? …Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me.

It is always safe to assume that where ever I am, unless I am jogging, is likely related to work.

You said something scratched you up and you need to sleep. Something is also playing hide and go seek with your remote. There are very bad things that go bump in the night.

The obvious question then is: What is your work about.

There are bad things that go bump in the day, too. I’m no stranger to either. I’m no stranger to badness, Selene; I fight it every day I go to work. I see it everyday behind the cigarette smoke, the stuff living people aren’t supposed to see. I know the consequences of my actions and what it’d bring to me. No matter what happens I will always do the right thing and if anything bad wants to mess with that, I’ll come to the fight.

Now, you have to be honest and tell me straight up what I’m dealing with when it comes to you.

During the day? Bioengineering synthetic plasma. Well, sitting at the head of the board room table that does.

With me? You are dealing with one of those things people are not meant to see.

You said a lot but didn’t really give anything concrete. I guess I just have to wait until you’re ready to give me a proper answer. I've learnt the --- dead ---speak when they are ready, and not before.

It is a difficult task to tell someone why they should be afraid of you. There is a reason why I spend a great deal of time alone it is not because I am dead but because I should have died a very long time ago.

Why complicate matters? Way I see it, there’s living and there’s dead. Like I said before there are folk who have yet to see the light. And there’s all kind of folk who are walking in the Valley trying to find the light. Then there’s folk in the light. Nothing complicated about that.

Is it fear or fear of being judged? Whatever it is holding you back from telling me, sounds like you got plenty of reasons and that’s alright with me. When you don’t want to be alone, you know how to find me.

Right now you don't look at me like you are afraid of me. Or disgusted by what I am. It's amazing how a single word can change the light you are seen in.

That is what holds me back.

....I will see you around then. Good luck with your remote. Try duct tape. Works wonders for keeping things where you want them to stay.

Selene…

Okay then, I’ll maybe see you around.

None. I had the place shut down.

I'm not sure, man. You can google it, probably. I have a friend who lived in an air vent for a long time.

This doesn’t surprise me, you did say you were the best.

I’d use google if I wasn’t a prehistoric dinosaur stuck in the paper research age. Computers just aren’t my thing.