Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Charles leaned his head back against his chair and moaned. “I can’t believe this is happening,” he said to himself.
“You can’t believe what’s happening?” He heard a jingling bracelet, and then one of the other professors from the school was standing in his doorway. He couldn’t quite place who she was, but that wasn’t rare anymore.
“Nothing, I was just talking to myself. I’m sorry, dear, I can’t remember your name at the moment,” he smiled.
“Lilith Duff. I’m in Religious Studies,” she paused, as he noticed her take a short breath. “It’s not really any of my business, but my father went blind in his later years, and I noticed that you seem to be doing the same things he did when you try to see.”
He closed his eyes, though it really did no good when all he saw with them open at this distance was a blur. Still, he could imagine the look on her face. “That would be an astute observation.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that my father always said that if he would have traded almost anything to not do so, and I was just curious,” she broke off at the end.
“I don’t think it would be any surprise if I said that was true for me too. They say that your other senses will make up for the loss of one, but I’m an academic. I require my sight to read articles, grade, everything. And all I can smell down here is coffee, anyways,” he said.
“So what would you trade away if you could?” she asked.
He lifted his head and tried to look in her direction, though he had to guess at where her face was based on the red balls he assumed were her earrings. “Anything. If I had to choose at this moment, my hearing just so I wouldn’t have to listen to screaming frat parties anymore.”
“I just find it interesting, the desperation to keep a sense when other people would trade it away for other things. But you probably don’t find such philosophy interesting when it’s your life,” she said. He saw only a blur as she left, too quickly for him to say anything in return.
_
The next morning he stood up from his bed and had to grab the nightstand to keep from falling over, while pain radiated from his ear. He couldn’t make out the ringing of his alarm clock over the higher pitched ringing in his ears.
He hoped that he wasn’t going deaf right after going –
He stopped. He could see, and not the blurry images he had seen for the past few months. That conversation yesterday with Dr. Duff - it seemed impossible. It was impossible. But that was the closest he could think of to an explanation. He barely felt the pain as he stumbled into his dresser, though he ran his hand over his arm to make sure the rough wood hadn’t left any splinters.
He finally made it into the kitchen and grabbed an apple and a cup of coffee before sitting at his desk. The coffee left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he ignored it as he sent a message to the head of the Religion department asking about Dr. Duff.
He sipped at his coffee, ignoring the burnt smell as the result of heating up yesterday’s coffee. Finally a reply came in.
She did teach here, but Dr. Duff left the school several years ago, Charles. However, he name was Lily, not Lilith. Why are you asking?
He stared at the words on the screen, which made no more sense than the vague blurs he had been able to see the previous day. She had been there yesterday, and he knew she had said her name was Lilith.
He stood and turned, meaning to take a walk to try and think this through.
But there were flames in the hallway when he turned. Something must have caught on fire, he thought, and I thought the smoke alarm was just the ringing noise.
He stumbled as he tried to walk towards the door, falling to the ground and hitting his mouth, metallic blood filling his mouth and becoming all he could taste. He grabbed at the ground, managing to grasp something smooth and metal – the table in the hallway, he hoped – before it became too hot to touch and he had to drop his hold of it.
He couldn’t stand, he had fallen too many times today, and even if he did you’re supposed to crawl in a fire anyways, right? But even on the ground he still felt off balance, and he couldn’t hear anything.
A beam fell out of the ceiling without warning, leaving him stuck there to imagine what the crackling flames sounded like and if there were any firetrucks coming quickly enough to rescue him, since he couldn’t hear them.
There was silence, and all he could do was leave his eyes open and stare as he was consumed in the flames.
Element 1: Horror
Well, he burns to death in his house because of a deal with a devil like figure. I'm more scared of this possibility than a lot of other horror.
Element 2: Collab
I took part in a giant group collab, because nobody left behind without a partner. Thanks to IntelligentZombie for putting it all together and putting up with my obsessive organization and lists.
We're all linked by the main idea, which is that there's a Magic Man/devil like figure who can change what they appear as and offers the person's deepest wish in return for the trade of a sense. We all picked different ones to trade away.Links to everyone else's:
ilyilaice : FFM 2016 22: The Dismantler (touch)
GDeyke : Hunger (smell)
DamonWakes : The Scholar and the Aged King (sight)
IntelligentZombie : Razor Blade Man (taste)
xXMoreWithinXx : Day 22 -- Dyschronometria (time)
Ag-Cat : Erased (Proprioception)
PsychoPath-et-ic : Cold (Temperature)
MyLovingWife : FFM July 22 2016 - Wish the Pain Away (Pain)
mimi-lolacute :Diner Meeting (hunger)
I did hearing, but I added balance as part of that. Because I only have partial hearing due to inner ear damage, which also affects your balance sometimes. So I borrowed that for how my character lost his hearing besides just magic man. Have free knowledge.
I'm also late compared to everyone else. Element 3: Allegory
Okay, so I think society has this tendency to push people to sacrifice things in order to achieve some goal (see the number of university students who believe in the "NO SLEEP NO GAIN" message or the number of ritalin and stuff, for example). But at the same time, there's this fear that won't you sacrifice won't be enough.
And this guy sacrifices something he has/needs for something he thinks is necessary to stay on top. And it works, for a very brief period of time when he's able to communicate with a colleague or whatever, but then it all collapses. That's the fear I think a lot of people have - that they're going to sacrifice all of this, but then it's all going to go up in flames anyways.
Also general fear of somebody taking a joke seriously because you didn't watch what you said, but that's less important.
Element 4: Foreshadowing
Quotes:
"He couldn’t quite place who she was, but that wasn’t rare anymore." Something's wrong, so what is that something? Turns out he can't see, which we find out shortly.
"he had to guess at where her face was based on the red balls he assumed were her earrings." Hiddenish foreshadowing, but red balls in somebody's face are never a good sign, because good people don't have red eyes.
Which he'd know if he could actually see where they were at this point. Also, Lilith (and not Lily) is obvious foreshadowing if you know your biblical mythology and evil female figures.
Element 5: Sensations (which I included all of in this story, for whichever poor people have to judge this and don't want to read 7 other stories just to count senses).
See: "All he saw with them open at this distance was a blur." "
"He stared at the words on the screen, which made no more sense than the vague blurs he had been able to see the previous day."
Hear: "He couldn’t make out the ringing of his alarm clock over the higher pitched ringing in his ears."
"He heard a jingling bracelet."
Smell: "All I can smell down here is coffee"
"He sipped at his coffee, ignoring the burnt smell as the result of heating up yesterday’s coffee"
Taste: "The coffee left a bitter taste in his mouth"
"metallic blood filling his mouth and becoming all he could taste"
Feel: "though he ran his hand over his arm to make sure the rough wood hadn’t left any splinters"
"He grabbed at the ground, managing to grasp something smooth and metal – the table in the hallway, he hoped – before it became too hot to touch and he had to drop his hold of it."
There's more both in my story and in the collab stories, obviously.
