Inspiration has struck... Possibly, maybe...

[ThatGreenGentleman]

This I suppose is going to be a short story. Don't like it? Then GTFO, cause I'm not gonna deal with anyone's shit right now, or else I'll have to kill a mother fucker.

Dedicated to someone important, not saying who.

   There was a time when The City was whole. Though that was many years ago, and is really only remembered as a fairy tale for youngsters. But in a certain section of The Slum, there's an old man who remembers what The City used to be like, he'd even seen it fall. He was in fact, part of the reason why it DID fall. He knew secrets most people from his time never knew, and they will probably never know, considering he is the last of his generation. He has more wisdom, experiences, and more memories in his thumb nail than most people in either side of The City have in their entire existence. He keeps a pocket watch with him at all times, because it has the picture of his dearly beloved in it. It also has something inscribed in it too, but we'll come back to that later. Oh yes, I think I should tell you his name so I don't have to refer to him as "he", or "him" the entire time. This old man's name is Juris.
   Now Juris has always been a kind man, generous too. He would always give food to the hungry, have a bed open for someone on the streets. But perhaps we should take a look into his younger days, just before The City had fallen. The year is 20XX and Juris is a young man, freshly out of university. As he was walking down a street in downtown, bustling with people, the snow was falling again. It wasn't unusual, considering it was a few days before Christmas. He had always loved the snow, probably because it reminded him of the very rare and brief, good memories of his childhood. He was heading to a very "unusual", rather "unique" store, where he worked. The only reason why he had accepted a job at this unique store was because the person who owned it was someone he had fallen head over heels for.
   Now this person, is the same person who's picture is in the pocket watch, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Where was I? Oh yes, now I remember. Juris opened the shop's door, the bell rung. Inside this peculiar shop, were strange creatures in cages in varying sizes, old tomes that are possibly centuries old, odd lab equipment that was half off (because of the shifty jobs they had been previously used for), and many odd-bits that are unidentifiable. He called out, "Anyone here?" and a muffled noise from the back room was the reply he had been looking for. "Juris! It's about fucking time you got here you lazy-ass." The rude person saying this rude statement was the one whom he loved. This rude person was buried under a mountain of books that had fallen upon them.
   After he helped the rude person out from under the mess, they told him he had something big planned. This plan had stemmed from something he/she (I'm keeping the gender a secret because I can) had heard from a reliable source. As he/she told Juris of this plan, something sinister was also planing something. And as these two plans would collide, all hell would break loose, but no could have known that, no one at all.

End of Part One.

[Don Coyote]

You have intrigued me.

[ThatGreenGentleman]

Part 2: Plans that will never be revealed to our ears, my dearies.

   After the Rude Person told Juris of their plans, and somewhere else in The City someone had revealed their sinister plans to another. Unfortunately, these plans will never reach your ears or mine. But they were made dearies, yes they were. How such plans were pulled off, that is a story for another time, too many secrets, to many intertwining stories to be told right now, but perhaps I'll tell you later. But not now. For now, I'll jump ahead to the beginning of the war that would separate The City into two, The Slum and The Copious.
   It had been about a year or two since that Christmas, when Rude Person told Juris of what was planned, and that it would, without a doubt happen. His beloved had gone to infiltrate The Copious side and had never returned. War had broken out inside The City. Everyone fought on both sides. Men, women, children, young, old, sick and strong. It was absolute bloodshed. Buildings came falling down, the sound of gunfire was constant. Everyday people would cry, but he refused to do so. He'd cry when it was over, or he'd cry in forty years, but he would not cry now. No one knew who they were fighting against, you just attacked whoever you saw. There was no such thing as peace anymore, just utter chaos. Some people had even turned into cannibals, but they were mainly in the sewers, or in the subways. If you knew what was good for you, you stayed away from manholes and subway stairs at all times. The only time the cannibals ever really ate would probably be when small children would carelessly wander to close to their dwellings, and well,  I think you get the picture.
   When the war had actually broken, every able bodied man was immediately drafted. They had no time for training. They were simply handed a gun, a helmet, and a ragged uniform that hadn't been used in years. They were all told by a man who was quite burly, and glared at them, "If you want to live, then fight for your survival. Your mommy won't be there to coddle you if you scrape your knee. So man up! If you see the person next to you shot dead, you keep on fighting. Now get out there and fucking fight you mamby pambies!" As they trudged along, many were frightened, others relished this opportunity, and a few were feeling hopeless. When they were let loose in the trenches, the battlefield looked like something from a World War battle, except in the middle of a city. When Juris layed his eyes upon it, he couldn't help but feel utter despair and horror. He looked as if he was about to retch. He'd remember what he looked upon for the rest of his life, but especially seeing a purple stuffed bunny lying next to a child's arm. Just a child's arm, nothing more, other than a heap of "meat" right beside the arm. This would haunt him.
   About ten years had passed before the City's officials had decided to divide the city to keep peace. It took another ten to get The Copious side rebuilt. The Slum was hastily rebuilt, and still falls apart every now and then. The Cannibals were eventually eliminated, at least, that's what They told you. The cannibals have probably just retreated farther into the subway system. As for Juris, he decided to run the shop his beloved had owned. It still stood proud and unscathed. He remained there for the next 40 or so years. A lady by the name of Jal would visit him once or twice a month, to make sure he was okay. She wouldn't stay long, but she always said that she'd "bring back that Rude Person". And now we return to the present, were Juris is an old man, Jal still visits. She never seems to age at all (no, she not a vampire or werewolf or any other sort of mythical creature like that). The old man would always tell stories to youngsters, and at about 5 or 6 o'clock when the sun was setting, he'd always take out his pocket watch and just smile at the picture inside it. He'd put it away after a few minutes, and would start humming "Stand By Me" to himself. He shed one manly tear, and went inside. He knew he would never see his beloved again, for he was too old now, and his end was near. This old man never woke up the next morning. He died at the age of 109. You never would have guessed him to be that old, since he moved and looked like he was 65.

And what was inscribed in his pocket watch you ask? I might as well tell you.
"A kiss with a fist is better than none."

THE END.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

The Slum was hastily rebuilt, and still falls apart every now and then.

This line gets me and I don't know why. This is aces, ThatGreenGentleman. I like your style.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

 

WIN

[ThatGreenGentleman]

The Slum was hastily rebuilt, and still falls apart every now and then.

This line gets me and I don't know why. This is aces, ThatGreenGentleman. I like your style.

Thanks. I'm actually quite proud of this story. 

[ThatGreenGentleman]

More inspiration has struck again. This one is based off a song/music video I was listening to.  As stated above, don't like this then don't read it, cause this is mainly for my own amusement and because I'm trying to get back into writing.

  There's an old story of a young man who was said to have loved the ocean so much that he ended up living on a boat. Of course that's the widely common version of the story, but the citizens of a town on the coast know the original. The young man is named Donnie, and he did not live on the boat because he had a boundless love for the ocean, it was because he was shunned by the people of the town on the coast. Donnie was your average looking guy, brown hair, brown eyes, glasses, always wore a hat. It was sort of a fedora, or perhaps a boat gambler's hat. Maybe even a hybrid of the fedora and the boat gambler. But let's not get carried away with conversations of hats. No, let's continue with the story here. Donnie had joined the navy as soon as he graduated high school. He did so, not because of patriotism, but because his father had always complained that Donnie wasn't strong like the other boys growing up. Donnie was not interested in sports, or horsing around. He preferred reading and mathematics, history and philosophy, and the like. But his father would never be happy with that. Donnie's mother never complained though, it's not like she would. She was drunk off her gourd most of the time, and when she was sober she'd do nothing but bitch and moan that the vodka was all gone. And Donnie could do nothing but put up with noise, and he did for most of his time as a minor. In his Junior year of high school he got himself a girlfriend. She was a very pretty girl by the name of Vanna. Now Vanna was a very nice girl, with long black hair and green eyes that sparkled. She was on the honor role, good at music, etc. She was even the one who taught Donnie to play piano. But even she could see Donnie was a bit... off.
  Donnie wasn't "off" mentally, oh no. He was considered "off" because he absolutely had no interest in girls the way most guys his age were. And Vanna could see this. She eventually became desperate for his attention, but Donnie was completely oblivious to this fact. They were even still together when he entered the navy. They'd write to each other, and they'd be together as much as possible when he came back home. She was still vying for his attention, but he didn't look at her like that. He didn't even know why he was with her. He thought it was probably because that's the way things are, that a man has to be with a woman. But deep down, he knew that that wasn't how he really felt. Soon enough, Vanna became more and more obsessed with Donnie. And Donnie didn't realize until it was too late.
  On one of his visits home, Donnie and Vanna went to a malt shop. She was determined to ask him once and for all. She had high hopes that she'd get the answer she wanted, but that wouldn't be so. They sat at a table by the large window at the front of the shop. Looking in at the store from the outside you can't hear what they're saying, but you could probably guess. She asked him, there was an awkward silence for a few minutes. She repeated her question, he told her he heard her the first time. She started to panic a bit, her heart racing. She had stammered out 'well what's your answer?' He answered her question. Though, it was not the answer she wanted, and all her high hopes came crashing down around her. Tears welled up in her eyes, and green eyes weren't as bright and sparkling as they were before. He said they could still be friends. She became angry and shouted 'That's not good enough! If I can't have you, then no one else should! You belong to me, and only me. If it weren't for me you'd still be that worthless trash!' He merely stared at her with calm eyes. She began to regret what she had said, and as she began to apologize, he held up his hand. She stopped. She had gone too far, and he wouldn't put up with that shit anymore. He got up slowly and left. And she sat there, motionless. Her time with him came to a sad end, and so did she.
  Depressed that Donnie was no longer hers, and convinced that it was impossible for her to love another, she hung herself. Everyone in the town knew that she had become mentally unstable, but no one did a thing to help her, so they all blamed Donnie. They all gathered around Donnie and gave him an option. He had to either kill himself to atone for breaking up with Vanna, and causing her death, or live in exile on a fishing boat for the rest of his life. Either way he'd become a shell of a man, giving up his life either way without ever having really lived. He decided to live on the boat, as long as they permitted him to bring his things and there had to be a piano on the boat. The towns people agreed, feeling satisfied. And so there he remained. He played the piano often. The towns people could hear him play because he kept his ship close to town, but it wasn't docked at the port.
  He wasn't in love with Vanna, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her. He had always thought of her as a good friend whom he just so happened to be together with. He hadn't realized that by being with her, but not being in love with her, was just as cruel as her placing him in this situation, until many years later.
  What a catch, Donnie, oh what a catch.

THE END.

[Don Coyote]

[ThatGreenGentleman]

   She had talent. The little girl had always wanted to be ballerina. She dreamed of performing Swan Lake and the like. She worked hard all her life to achieve that goal. She had friends, but they weren't really friends. They were just people she knew from her dance school. They had pretended to like her, and she pretended right back. This was their complex dance of social interaction. She'd take one step forward and they'd take two steps back, and vice versa. She had come a long way from being a little girl who would dress up as a ballerina, to a young lady who had a chance to make her ambition become reality. Unfortunately, someone who was jealous of her talent had pushed her down a very long flight of stairs. During her tumble, she desperately prayed that her legs would be alright. Sadly, her prayer was not answered. She had damaged a part of spinal cord from her fall that made it impossible for her to ever be able to dance again.
  It was a long way for heartbreak. All those years spent practicing endlessly, all that sweat and hard work, for what? To be snatched away from her in moments? She sat sitting in her wheelchair, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She had done this many times as a child, dressed in her tutu and ballet slippers, just pondering about her life. She knew she couldn't give up yet, but days, weeks, even months passed, as reality slowly set in. No matter what she did, she could never get the use of her legs back. So, she just sat there, staring at her reflection, her gaze never once breaking.
  How long until your surrender?
THE END.

[ThatGreenGentleman]

   They had never done anything wrong to have deserved this. But they still thought it was their fault, that they must have done something to make her angry with them. The twins were only six when their mother began to hit them. When they were seven, they finally realized she truly hated them. Their father always worked, so they couldn't burden him with this. They also knew he wouldn't divorce their mother. He loved her too much, and he had his reputation to think about.

   Mary and John always kept to themselves at school. During class they'd work with each other, on the playground they'd be sitting on a bench holding hands. They refused to play with the other kids because they were afraid. Not afraid that their mother would be taken away, afraid she'd hurt them even more. They probably only had one friend. His name Mikey, and he was what you'd think of as a "greaser" (mainly cause this story takes place in 50's and 60's). Mikey didn't have to notice them, but he did. He didn't pity them or say "I'm so sorry." Instead he merely asked them if they wanted a coke. That's how their friendship began. He'd always be working on a motorcycle in his parents driveway, and they'd always stop by to see him and help with repairs. He never asked them about their scars and bruises, and they felt relieved because of that.

  Eventually they met his friends and became close with them too. But Mikey was still the one person they were closest to. But because John and Mary were coming home later than they usually would, their mother became even more infuriated. The beatings became worse and worse. And Mikey noticed. He went and talked to their mother about it. She only replied "So you're the bad influence upon my kids." When the twins came home, they could tell their mother was in a rage. But before they could run away the mother grabbed Mary by her hair and began to shake her with a violent strength. Mary was kicking and screaming, and John did his best to get his mom to let go. John finally ran to go get Mikey. His mom was still shaking Mary. By the time John and Mikey got back, it was too late. Mary lied in heap, her hair covering her face, and her listless eyes. And there was blood. The mother, however, sat at the kitchen table, drinking booze, with her hands shaking. She kept muttering to herself "I didn't meant to. I didn't mean to. It was an accident, I swear." John started crying, and Mikey called the police.

  After that incident, Mikey said he'd look after John. The father agreed to that. John only ever saw his father on holidays. But he never saw his mother again. John no longer had his sister to be by his side. But he had Mikey to help him grow into a fine adult.

  The mind is poison, and time is fleeting.
THE END.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Damn TGG!!!

Your work is awesome!!!

[BadBeast]

 

This almost had me welling up like a lost toddler in a shopping mall.
For what it's worth, your's was the very first post I ever responded to in PD. Probably because everything else seemed to be written by fucking wackjobs, and nutters. "Got a sane one here" I thought, then moved on. Seems I was right. (About the wackjobs, I mean) You are proper sane, too, just not the kind of sane I first thought, is all.

Anyway, PD.sane is better than all the other sanes, because we're all nutters as well. That's both kinds o sanity, the sane kind, and the other, madder sort too.. . . . With no conflict over which is which, and that's truly mad, that is.

We lucky few, we band of bastards, *sighs* Sometimes I suspect we're all too fuckin' good for this World. Other times, . . . well, . . . . .  I know we are! 

Great big puddles of tears in this post, but not all sad ones. There's one or two tears of hope here too. And  sometimes that's all it takes to fix even the brokenest of situational badwrongs.  

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Christ. You go, ThatGreenGentleman. You have a deft way of creating your settings and making it look like you aren't trying. Keep writing. And maybe wander over to the Nessie thread. *whistles innocently*

[ThatGreenGentleman]

   She was a coward, and she knew it. She had been in love with her friend, Alison, for a long time. When she had finally managed to get the nerve to tell her, Alison had already been swept off her feet by the coward's best friend, Neil. She wasn't a coward because she didn't tell Alison, oh my no. She did tell her. She was a coward because she backed down, because she had given up. When Neil and Alison had told her they were together now, she lost all her nerve. Neil had always been her rival in many things, but now he had beat her. She was a coward because she refused to fight. So, she meekly told them she wished them the best. When Alison asked the girl if she was alright, the girl replied "I'm fine. I won't stop you." She would pretend things were fine whenever she would meet up with them, like the coward she was and is. She would always harbor a secret hate for her best friend, and then feel guilty about it. Just like how she would always be in love with her friend, and then feel even more guilt. She would remember her friend looking as radiant as a thousand suns, always wanting to be her only one. She would tell herself "Their relationship can't last forever, so I'll wait." She spent her whole life waiting, always loving but never knowing how to. And thus the cowardly girl died after many years, all alone.
 
  Happy endings aren't always so happy.
THE END.

[Don Coyote]