37. Superstitious

Definition

a : a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation

b : an irrational abject attitude of mind toward thesupernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition

 

Story

They find me in the streets at night. No one really pays attention most of the time. When they take notice of me, I hear a wretched "you don't belong here" or "you haven't left yet? There isn't anything here for you", they know better than anyone that I have nowhere to go. A young girl came across me the other day and wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. She was too young to understand my presence here. The girl hadn't learned her role yet in this world, let alone mine. She tried to approach me. She wanted to learn for herself; I could see it in her eyes. But she could feel my place, the fibers of her skin, built from the people who understand, pulled her away. She will grow up to be a wife, mother, and then a widow. I wish they would be smarter than the adults, smarter than the ones who keep me from having a warm home at night.

Yes, the adults criticize and question my presence in their town, but they understand that my role is to show the value of what they are given. They get food from the door and they have the technology and the knowledge to build homes from the resources around them. But they leave me on the street to rot; or at least to dig through their trash to fend for myself. They don't even invite me into the Great Hall for community dinner, but alas there isn't much I can do. I'll let you in on a few secrets. This is a beautiful place to live. The community here has built a remarkable utopia of love and trust among its people. There are rules that are understood and go unquestioned. The children are not taught the rules until they learn about themselves and their role. They are taught by the adults who follow the rules blindly. When they get older they are taught to treat me poorly. Taught that the lives they lead in happiness and peace are only possible due to my suffering.

One thing they are never taught, that only the scouts know, is that they can live because of beings like me. What they acquire on the other side of the door is not what they bring home. Their lives are sustained on creatures that they butcher and kill between the doors. They keep the people protected from these truths. They can't even look in the eyes of a gaunt black cat as they pass it on the street.

22. Kayak

Definition

A canoe of a type used originally by the Inuit, made of a light frame with a watertight covering having a small opening in the top to sit in

Story

"I started telling Vallie about what lives behind the door. I haven't told her the secrets. She doesn't know about the hunters or where the food comes from, but I told her about the...terrain, I guess. She knows about the water that has to be traversed, the plains and the woods. She understands that it is dangerous, but I guess she would've know that because of the conditions Graves and Forrest when they return from missions. I was tracking her the other day for Nell. He wanted to know where she was going without giving away our what we know about the fringes. We were at the lake and she kept trying to ignore me, like she didn't know I was there, but the way she walked...she knew. I couldn't be ignored anymore. There is something about her that intrigues me. She asks more questions than she should. She explores more than her father feels comfortable with. She has an adventuring spirit that I... appreciate? Maybe, sometimes it worries me. So, we were at the lake. She found the fruit trees there. We aren't supposed to tell the teenagers who haven't reached the age of exordium about what lies beyond the community. But she found it. Vallie explores. She wants to know what exists in this world. She has heard the stories of what came before us and what we have developed since our supposed isolation. And now I've started to tell her of our future or at least what I think it should be. I'm not sure if anyone realizes the potential of what lies beyond the door. If we could eliminate the hunters we could take what we need and wouldn't have to worry about our lives being taken. I'm probably not supposed to tell you that either. Have you ever been a scout?"

"No. I haven't."

"I didn't think so. You don't seem like the type to volunteer for that job. Staring Sullivan in the eyes would make anybody a little nervous. There is a 2 part malice, 1 part foolish to his eyes, his soul. I've only seen it a few times, but he was trying to explode the tail end of my kayak. I made it back to the door both times...barely. I tried to tell Willow about it before bed last night, but she doesn't understand how these mission's stick. It is hard to shake the reality of it all. Their world is so different than ours."

"That is what I've heard."

"Speaking of, did you hear that Nell is considering Vallie and Pettal for recruitment, or "suggestive volunteering" as he likes to call it, for next year's training. Aren't they too young for that? I mean I know that he likes to get them started at 15, but those girls are strong and adventurous...physically. Not mentally. He wants his daughter to succeed like his sons, even her mom was training to be a scout at one point. That got stopped real quick didn't it...ha. That is what he gets for having relations with one of the trainees. One thing I'll enjoy taking Vallie out for her first mission, she has a tenacity that I have yet to see in a female volunteer."

"I think she will do quite well. Vallie, and Pettal too, both have intuitions about where to go and what the community needs. Even if Pettal can't focus on much outside potential husbands."

"Yeah, that will be interesting. Whoever these hunters are, they know how to prevent the female scouts from coming back after 2 or 3 missions. What time is it?"

"Noon and 15°."

"Shit, I have a mission with Forrest at Noon and 30°. Gotta go, thanks man."

#20 Jet-setting

Definition

To be of the rich and fashionable social set the members of which travel widely for pleasure

Story

Jack was late for this flight again. This would be a moment of frustration and turmoil for most. For jack this was not unusual, at this point in his years of traveling it almost felt familiar. So Jack went up to the counter and spoke to the attendant to get on the next flight. It was less than an hour later than his previous departure. He flew from metropolis to metropolis and international concourse to world capitals and villages. For weeks on end, Jack traveled alone and in peace.

This instance was no different than the last. He had been to Hawaii before and he enjoyed spending his time in LAX people watching. It was amusing people watching to say the least. He sat and wondered about everyone's reason for flying that day. Those wearing oversized sunglasses inside going to movie sets, or at least wanting people to think they were. Those in suits had transcontinental meetings. The rest looked like him wearing light travel clothes traveling for leisure and perhaps with no destination in mind. Some people appeared frantic while others knew how travel worked and took hold of the reigns of LAX and held on tight. It was going to be a bumpy ride.

As Jack sat and waited for them to call this section to board he noticed a young man running down the terminal in quite a hurry. He watched as he was forced to stop by running into gate B17, Jack's gate. He then realized that the young man was dressed as a pilot and didn't look well. He looked flushed and sickly. He was barely 25 years old and greeted by a hesitant, "Hello, how ya feeling?" by the airline staff.

Jack put little thought toward this once he was seated. He knew that pilots flew when they were sick, that's why there are co-pilots, right? He stowed his things and waited. The flight attendants explained the proper safety procedures and precautions. Jack had heard this thousands of times. Then the pilot came over the intercom, probably not the best decision in his condition. He sounded under the weather, but not alarmingly so, just slight coughing as he closed his greeting. And they took off for their journey.

Not long into the flight he looked out the window and saw the vibrant blue of the Pacific Ocean. It was his favorite ocean to travel in or over. He knew all of the creatures that lived in it, he envisioned them going about their lives in the blue in peace. This is how he found serenity on long boring flights. At that moment, as he found his safe space, Jack heard an odd growling erupting from the cockpit. Then screams.

A flight attendant then burst from the front of the cabin bleeding from the neck. Her screaming stopped as she collapsed on the floor. No one moved. No one spoke a word for what seemed a ridiculous amount of time. Then they came for us. All of the passengers soon became a bottle of food for whatever it was that erupted from the cockpit. Jack had never seen anything like it. For the first and only time in his life he saw men and women sacrifice their consciousness for flesh.

All of this transpired faster than Jack could process; the plane started to nose dive. As it plummeted to its fate all of the occupants were thrown to the front of the plane turning a peaceful flight from LA to Hawaii into a soon to be sinking tube of flesh eating monsters and their soon to be decaying food source.

Jack and the other passengers never arrived at the tropical destination. No one ever dared to recover the remainder of the flight. There was no telling what they would've found.

#31 Papaw

Definition

1. A deciduous tree (Asimina triloba) of the eastern and southeast United States, having flowers with three sepals, three petals, and numerous stamens and fleshy, edible fruit.

2. The fruit of this tree.

3. See papaya.

Story

I walked through the trees as Ryan followed close behind. He thought he was being stealthy, but I knew he was there. He had only been trailing me for the last mile or so. My mother must have sent him. She always worries when I leave home without Graves. She probably told Dad and since he is always curious about where I go, he sent Ryan instead of Graves. Ryan is stealthy and will report my adventures back to Dad. My brother would have just hunted me down and dragged me home. Well, this ruined my plan for the day completely, so instead of exploring the edges of the grounds, I'll stop at the lake and go for a swim. That will give Ryan something to report.

I don't think Ryan has ever explored this far outside the community. He usually stays pretty close when he isn't going on scouting missions. My dad and William keep the trainees pretty close to town for their lessons, until they go through the door for the first time. They usually try to find scouts who are adventurous, but cautious. I would think that they would explore the land we live in. But no one seems to care what exists outside the community. Except me.

From where I'm sitting I can see Ryan behind one of the trees to my right. I'm debating whether to say something or not. It would be fun to show him that he isn't as stealthy as he thinks!

"Have you ever tired the fruit off these trees?" He walked out from behind the tree holding a green fruit.

"No, why are you following me?"

"You really should try it. It is perfect when it is ripe. The seeds are a perfect complement to the fruit and the secret ingredient in your mothers holiday pheasant." He rambled on about the fruit as he turned it over and over in his hands.

"Did my father send you? He usually sends my brothers when he is tracking me."

"He didn't." Ryan answered discreetly.

"Then why are you following me?!" I wanted an answer and he was nowhere near revealing his true intentions.

"I wanted to see where you were going for myself."

"Why?"

"It isn't important for you to know that."

"Of course it is! You are stalking me."

"You don't need to know...I'm...keeping you safe."

"Safe from what? I've been out her a thousand times."

"I know. I've been out here with you."

"What? Why?"

"You can't know what is out here. Just come back home."

"What is out here?"

He stayed silent.

"I'm not going with you!"

"Okay." He turned and started to walk away. "But don't tell your parents you know about the fruit."

He left.

***

When I got home Ryan joined us for dinner. He made no indication of our interaction earlier, but he probably told my father everything.

#47 X-Ray

Definition

Physics.

1. a. Often, x-rays. a form of electromagnetic radiation, similar to light but of shorter wavelength and capable of penetrating solids and of ionizing gases.

b. Such radiation having wavelengths in the range of approximately 0.1–10 nm.

2. A radiograph made by x-rays.

Story

Every now and then you can just see right through people. Some people are open books. While others are blessed with heightened intuition. You can read every sigh, every glance and every moment of silence. People evolve from a foundation. Mannerisms and behaviors are built on a structure of experiences and choices a person makes throughout their life.

I don't have these. I'm not quite sure how I know this, but I do. Something is different about me. Okay, that may be an over statement. I think I'm the same as the people that I live with, but not like the different people I see every day. They have a...umm...something more. They have a deeper...existence? I'm not sure what it is, but we live on the surface here. I mean physically I think we are underground. We only know what is shown and told to us. They tell us we don't need to know any more than that. Every day I meet and interact with people who are more than that. They know more than this.

I'm not sure when I started writing about it. Every day I go back and read from the day before. I wish I had some way to record how long I have been writing. Today I met with a man who had a critical illness...I think...it had something to do with planned death. We went to San Francisco, to a secure unit off the coast, it looked like my own home...just abandoned. Sam, the man I was with, kept talking about how he wished he could have lived back then. That things would have been different and he wouldn't have had to do what he did. But then he kept talking about an injection; we only get injections when we are sick...I'm not sure what he was talking about. He didn't look sick.

Once we were done with that tour we went back to the city and had a beautiful dinner. He took me back to a hotel, but I don't...that part is lost. It may have been there, but oh well. They tell us every day that what we don't know won't hurt us. It seems like an odd statement because I think it does. I'm not supposed to remember these things. I've asked the others about their days and they just stare at me blankly and continue to eat their pudding.

They train us to understand what these people want. That doesn't sound quite right, but close. It is something like that...programmed maybe. These people we visit are transparent. I understand their intentions and wants, but I never understand why. These people have histories, families and homes. At least ones that mean more to them than mine do. Sam kept mentioning Christine and Kimberly. He talked about them in the past tense; like he hadn't seen them in a long time. Christine had moved on...from what he said. He loved her or at least how I'm supposed to understand it. Why didn't he spend this day with them?

I don't think I will ever see him again. I liked him, he was nice.

It will be whole new adventure tomorrow. Hopefully I will remember more of tomorrow than I did of today. Maybe if I can remember more after my nap, I could piece together my own history and family.

A Tiny Story

This is a small piece for submission to a pretty cool writing experience.

Paper

He always wrote his own life, or what he dreamed it to be.

As a kid he loved the fantasies.

He grew up and continued to explore the infinite of the imagination.

Then one day he was gifted the future.

He didn't know the power of the paper, but he tested its gift.

He could've written that he was an astronaut, that dinosaurs ruled, or that he was the wealthiest man.

But he wrote of a knight, a man who risked his life to save a woman; the one of his dreams.

He wrote of love.

He always wrote his own life, or what he dreamed it to be.

#1 Ask

Definition

Verb

1. To put a question to: inquire of
   
2. To request information about
   
3. To try to get by using words; request
   
4. To solicit from; request of
   
5. To demand; expect
   

Story

"Okay, what do we do next?"

"We adventure!"

"Where do you want to go?"

"Hawaii? Paris?"

"I love Spam Sushi and Wine, where else?"

"Disneyworld!?"

"YES!"

"What is your adventure?"

"A life time of adventures with you."