At the dawn of the new decade, a flurry of activity occurs within the household of Jimmy. It was about a day after his marriage with his childhood sweetheart Sally, and it was the first day that began with them being of one heart, one mind and one soul, or at least, that's what they were told by the magistrate who officiated their wedding just the night before.
Already things were behind schedule. Jimmy was in the middle of the flurry of activities, him not being the cause but fast turning into the scapegoat for all that was happening.
``Jimmy! Where did you put my jacket?'' Sally shouted from the bedroom.
``For the fifth time, I did not take your jacket, dear,'' Jimmy said, sighing again for the umpteenth time that morning. The two of them were supposed to be at the airport checking in their baggage for their honeymoon getaway from it all for two weeks, and yet they were still stuck at home, doing the last minute packing that was the case due to the late night festivities the night before.
Jimmy looked at his watch. If they left in the next twenty minutes, they should reach the airport in time to carry on with the original itinerary---the taxi cab was already waiting on standby outside the house, and the driver was getting a little impatient since he had been waiting for nearly fifteen minutes by now.
Jimmy had the sense of packing his luggage a few days in advance, something that seemed to be the most logical to him, and was thus sitting on the couch with his packed luggage, waiting for his new wife to finish up her packin gso that they could both go for their honeymoon at last. Except Sally was taking a long time to pack her things.
``Is my jacket out there on the couch?''
``No no no! Of course it isn't!'' Jimmy replied back in a loud voice. ``I'd tell you about it if it were there. Would you please hurry up a little; we are going to be late soon.''
``Oh? First day as a married couple and you are already calling me slow?'' Sally yelled from the bedroom once more as she struggled with zipping up her ballooning luggage bag.
``No, I am not,'' Jimmy sighed. ``Just finish packing and let's go. If you still cannot find your jacket, I'll get you one when we are there, okay?''
Sally emerged from the bedroom, her long tresses slightly untidy from the rush. She was still a sight to behold though, and Jimmy took pleasure in ogling her for a while as she tugged her luggage out of the doorway.
``Let's go!'' Sally said as she walked towards the main door.
`It's going to be an interesting start to our marriage,' Jimmy thought to himself as he followed her out.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Darkness
The darkness, it bites, it bites so hard. Yet the biting was nothing compared to the stabbing feeling that Yun-He felt. It was a strange feeling. Stab stab, stab stab. Yun-He sat in the darkness, heart throbbing, stabbed, and his ears ringing from the silence that was so piercing loud. Disorientation had long since set in and Yun-He found that he was already past the stage of caring about it.
`Let the disorientation set in,' he had thought. `I don't care any more, I don't care about anything anymore!'
The silence was suddenly shattered by a loud ticking sound. Finding something different, Yun-He temporarily dropped back into alertness, his earlier delusions seemingly gone in a flash. The ticking sound seemed to come from all directions at once, yet at the same time, it sounded like it was coming straight from within his head.
In desperation to keep his temporary sanity, Yun-He scouted around within the dark cavity, seeking in vain for the external source of the sound. It had to be external, it just had to be---it was ludicrous for a loud ticking sound to occur within one's head. Or was it?
It was hard to tell what was normal and what was not anymore. Yun-He had been in the cavity for too long, far too long. It had been days, if not weeks. Food was never a problem---he never felt any hunger. How that was so never really crossed his mind; he could no longer trust anything: his senses, his mind, his thoughts, his feelings anything. Nothing seemed to make any logical sense---nothing seemed to really matter, really.
The random nature in which the ticking sound came was starting to irritate Yun-He. There was a short series of ticks, followed by some period of silence, then a tick or two, more silence, ad nauseum. Yun-He's desperation of finding the source of that ticking was fast going beyond that of desperation and into that of obsession---he needed to find the source of the ticking sound, and perhaps make it go away since its randomness was really burning a deep mental wound in his already frayed nerves.
Tick. Tick tick. Silence. Tick tick tick tick, tick tick. Silence.
Yun-He groped his way through the dark, straining his ears to look for the sound, trying to find that tell-tale difference in perceived sound from each ear to triangulate and determine the true source. But in spite of his best efforts, he could not determine where the sound came from.
The ticking started to have very strong variations in its perceived volume; at times it sounded really loud and close, yet at times, it was hardly a whisper. Yun-He groped around for a few more minutes, before finally deciding that it was a complete waste of time.
There was no way that he could ever find out what that sound was, not when he was still within the cavity. `I must find my way out of this place some how,' he thought to himself, trying to keep his rediscovered wits about him. `I simply must.'
Strange coloured haloes seem to materialise in Yun-He's vision, and he knew at that moment that it was just an illusion; the rods and cones within his retina were triggered by random noise that fluctuated from the lack of proper external stimuli that is the darkness.
The swirl of colours of the haloes were working their magic on him, and Yun-He was fast discovering that the little sanity he had from the interruptiosn from the random ticking sound was ebbing away as the hypnotic swirl of colours formed a cacophony that shattered slowly the suspension of ratinoality on his predicament.
Then the ticking sound came once more. Yun-He was instantaneously alert once more, seeking, searching. Tick, tick, tick. Silence. Tick. More silence. Tick, tick.
``Stop this infernal sound already!'' Yun-He shouted into the darkness at no one in particular.
``I cannot take this any more! Stop this! Stop this! Stop this! Stop this please!''
By then Yun-He was already down on his knees, sobbing uncontrollably, his psyche finally in shambles.
------
``Test subject two-zero-four: failure. Subject was enclosed in anachroeic chamber for twenty-four hours as part of initiative fifty-six point three. Randomised omnidirectional ticking sound was administered twelve hours into the experiment. Subject demonstrated great signs of distress and general anxiety consistent with Hallusane Syndrome. At twenty-four hour mark, subject was released from chamber in state of permanent shock. Electro-stimulation of neural matter was administered to no avail. Test subject is unsuitable for deployment by the State as part of new-age intelligence programme. Suggest different protocol and incentives to obtain better candidates.''
``File closed.''
`Let the disorientation set in,' he had thought. `I don't care any more, I don't care about anything anymore!'
The silence was suddenly shattered by a loud ticking sound. Finding something different, Yun-He temporarily dropped back into alertness, his earlier delusions seemingly gone in a flash. The ticking sound seemed to come from all directions at once, yet at the same time, it sounded like it was coming straight from within his head.
In desperation to keep his temporary sanity, Yun-He scouted around within the dark cavity, seeking in vain for the external source of the sound. It had to be external, it just had to be---it was ludicrous for a loud ticking sound to occur within one's head. Or was it?
It was hard to tell what was normal and what was not anymore. Yun-He had been in the cavity for too long, far too long. It had been days, if not weeks. Food was never a problem---he never felt any hunger. How that was so never really crossed his mind; he could no longer trust anything: his senses, his mind, his thoughts, his feelings anything. Nothing seemed to make any logical sense---nothing seemed to really matter, really.
The random nature in which the ticking sound came was starting to irritate Yun-He. There was a short series of ticks, followed by some period of silence, then a tick or two, more silence, ad nauseum. Yun-He's desperation of finding the source of that ticking was fast going beyond that of desperation and into that of obsession---he needed to find the source of the ticking sound, and perhaps make it go away since its randomness was really burning a deep mental wound in his already frayed nerves.
Tick. Tick tick. Silence. Tick tick tick tick, tick tick. Silence.
Yun-He groped his way through the dark, straining his ears to look for the sound, trying to find that tell-tale difference in perceived sound from each ear to triangulate and determine the true source. But in spite of his best efforts, he could not determine where the sound came from.
The ticking started to have very strong variations in its perceived volume; at times it sounded really loud and close, yet at times, it was hardly a whisper. Yun-He groped around for a few more minutes, before finally deciding that it was a complete waste of time.
There was no way that he could ever find out what that sound was, not when he was still within the cavity. `I must find my way out of this place some how,' he thought to himself, trying to keep his rediscovered wits about him. `I simply must.'
Strange coloured haloes seem to materialise in Yun-He's vision, and he knew at that moment that it was just an illusion; the rods and cones within his retina were triggered by random noise that fluctuated from the lack of proper external stimuli that is the darkness.
The swirl of colours of the haloes were working their magic on him, and Yun-He was fast discovering that the little sanity he had from the interruptiosn from the random ticking sound was ebbing away as the hypnotic swirl of colours formed a cacophony that shattered slowly the suspension of ratinoality on his predicament.
Then the ticking sound came once more. Yun-He was instantaneously alert once more, seeking, searching. Tick, tick, tick. Silence. Tick. More silence. Tick, tick.
``Stop this infernal sound already!'' Yun-He shouted into the darkness at no one in particular.
``I cannot take this any more! Stop this! Stop this! Stop this! Stop this please!''
By then Yun-He was already down on his knees, sobbing uncontrollably, his psyche finally in shambles.
------
``Test subject two-zero-four: failure. Subject was enclosed in anachroeic chamber for twenty-four hours as part of initiative fifty-six point three. Randomised omnidirectional ticking sound was administered twelve hours into the experiment. Subject demonstrated great signs of distress and general anxiety consistent with Hallusane Syndrome. At twenty-four hour mark, subject was released from chamber in state of permanent shock. Electro-stimulation of neural matter was administered to no avail. Test subject is unsuitable for deployment by the State as part of new-age intelligence programme. Suggest different protocol and incentives to obtain better candidates.''
``File closed.''
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)