Welcome to Writing Forums, one of the fastest growing writing communties on the web.
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and photo galleries. By joining our free community you will
be able to talk with other writers, get feedback on your work to improve your writing skills, discuss ideas, share tips & tricks, network and make friends!
Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact support.
| Short Stories Short Stories, usually between 500 and 2000 words. |
05-15-2008, 02:30 PM
|
#1
|
|
Best Seller
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: A lonely little Farmer's Market called Kent.
Gender: Male
Posts: 636
|
The End of the World
My mind is at rest.
Finally, I am alone.
I am so distracted even my thoughts become a crowd. I just look down to my desk, reviewing the order I made.
I know what I have done. I understand what I have done. I know how I did it, too. But what puzzles me still is why I did it. Revenge? Instead of ordering defense, I attack.
I know what demon approaches.
I know more will follow.
I know that this ruthless attacker, soaring graciously through the silent sky, will open up a new hell.
I know that the fires of sin will overtake even the survivors, and the world will be eaten by the forever-hungry pit of fate.
But I am the general.
I am the general in a war that cans not be won, thinking only about the ever-dimming light of victory instead of the fruitful lives of my men.
I assisted in the opening of hell. What does that make me? Am I Satan? Am I the destroyer of hope and love? Do I fight against the refreshing healer known as god? If I do, why do I feel guilt? Thousands of people do their bit for the Devil. Husbands abuse their wives. Tramps rob old ladies before they slit their throats. Mothers smother their babies only to receive peace and calm. All are slowly destroying the belief of the being named God.
So why do I feel so guilty?
Because I am the largest contributor.
All these people slowly get the ingredients, but I make the cake.
I am the General.
I can feel my conscious eating away at my mind, but I don't care anymore. Why should I care about anything anymore? The order had been taken, and soon the end will come. Life no longer has a meaning.
My soul is being eaten.
This is the confirmation I was searching for. I needed to confirm who I am. I am just a body and a mind. The thing that made me humane, that gave me limitations, is in front of me, being eaten away by maggots.
I know this is the last thing a guilty person feels before they die.
I quickly stand up from my desk and turn to the window.
I look to the busy gardens below, monitoring the people. Do they know what would soon happen to them? Do they know what I had just done? If they did know, how did they cope with it? Did they blame me?
Of course they did. They still have their souls. They still have their common sense.
I did not have my soul. My common sense was being questioned to the limit. But why the hell did I still have to have my conscience? Was it another punishment? No one trusted me; did I now have to lose trust in myself too?
The door opens and a scared, weedy man looked at me in disgust.
“The order has been sent, sir,” he said, “but a retaliation is approaching. What should we do?”
Without even turning around, I told him what first came to my mind.
“Well, we just hope were not even too low for the devil, son,” I said, “because where we’re going we don’t want to be on the bad side of him”
“Sir, I can’t go back and say that.”
I sigh as I realize that I should be nice for once before I go. “Kid, go home. Have fun with your family, say goodbye.”
I heard the door creak shut.
Again, I was alone with my conscience. My untrustworthy, contradicting conscience.
I looked up to the huge, beautiful, blue sky. Strings of white glided randomly through the never-ending blue. Among the clouds, another feature appeared.
A huge, long capsule flies magnificently through the place many only dreamed of being. It does a nosedive and approaches the ground.
This is the end.
I am a general, fighting a war that will live on forever. I should be proud to die in battle with my men. But they were cowards. Cowards who believe that what I am doing is right. Cowards that believe I am a great man, who stands strong in a losing battle. Cowards that believe they are dying for their country, and not for a lost cause. Cowards that are dying for a freedom they already have.
I can feel my sanity slipping away.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
“I’m sorry,” I say, with a tear slipping down my cheek, “my people, I’m so sorry. But you have got what you wanted. Your freedom is yours.”
__________________
"Oh how beautiful they all are!" - Vlad 'The Imapler' Tepes, as he walked through a field of his own men, women and children, all imapled.
Dracula was real.
Last edited by SoNickSays... : 05-16-2008 at 01:16 AM.
|
|
|
05-15-2008, 02:32 PM
|
#2
|
|
Best Seller
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Keyport, Nj
Gender: Male
Posts: 745
|
Before I do a critique on it, is this story supposed to be in the past or present tense? Because I see elements of both throughout the story.
|
|
|
05-15-2008, 02:41 PM
|
#3
|
|
Best Seller
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: A lonely little Farmer's Market called Kent.
Gender: Male
Posts: 636
|
Oh, yes, sorry about that.
I was meant to do it in Present Tense, but I always find it difficult to keep in present tense.
I must have missed it in the editing.
__________________
"Oh how beautiful they all are!" - Vlad 'The Imapler' Tepes, as he walked through a field of his own men, women and children, all imapled.
Dracula was real.
|
|
|
05-15-2008, 03:16 PM
|
#4
|
|
Best Seller
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Keyport, Nj
Gender: Male
Posts: 745
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoNickSays...
My mind is at rest.
Finally, I am alone.
I was so distracted even my thoughts became a crowd. I just look down to my desk, reviewing the order I made.
I know what I have done. I understand what I have done. I know how I did it, too. But what puzzles me still is why I did it. Revenge? Instead of ordering defense, I attack.
I know that demon approaches.
I know more will follow.
I know that this ruthless attacker, soaring graciously through the silent sky, will open up a new hell.
I know that the fires of sin will overtake even the survivors, and the world will be eaten by the forever-hungry pit of fate.
But I was the general.
I was the general in a war that could not be won, thinking only about the ever-dimming light of victory instead of the fruitful lives of my men.
I assisted in the opening of hell. What does that make me? Am I Satan? Am I the destroyer of hope and love? Do I fight against the refreshing healer known as god? If I do, why do I feel guilt? Thousands of people do their bit for the Devil. Husbands abuse their wives. Tramps rob old ladies before they slit their throats. Mothers smother their babies only to receive peace and calm. All were slowly destroying the belief of the being named God.
So why did I feel so guilty?
Because I was the largest contributor.
All these people slowly get the ingredients, but I make the cake.
I am the General.
I could feel my conscious eating away at my mind, but I didn’t care anymore. Why should I care about anything anymore? The order had been taken, and soon the end would come. Life no longer has a meaning.
My soul is being eaten.
This was the confirmation I was searching for. I needed to confirm who I was. I was just a body and a mind. The thing that made me humane, that gave me limitations, was in front of me, being eaten away by maggots.
I knew this was the last thing a guilty person felt before they died.
I quickly stand up from my desk and turn to the window.
I look to the busy gardens below, monitoring the people. Did they know what would soon happen to them? Do they know what he had just done? If they did know, how did they cope with it? Did they blame him?
Of course they did. They still had their souls. They still had their common sense.
I did not have my soul. My common sense was being questioned to the limit. But why the hell did I still have to have my conscience? Was it another punishment? No one trusted me; did I now have to lose trust in myself too?
The door opened and a scared, weedy man looked at me in disgust.
“The order has been sent, sir,” he said, “but a retaliation is approaching. What should we do?”
Without even turning around, I told him what first came to my mind.
“Well, we just hope were not even too low for the devil, son,” I said, “because where we’re going we don’t want to be on the bad side of him”
“Sir, I can’t go back and say that.”
I sigh as I realize that I should be nice for once before I go. “Kid, go home. Have fun with your family, say goodbye.”
I heard the door creak shut.
Again, I was alone with my conscience. My untrustworthy, contradicting conscience.
I looked up to the huge, beautiful, blue sky. Strings of white glided randomly through the never-ending blue. Among the clouds, another feature appeared.
A huge, long thing(you should add a different word) flew magnificently through the place many only dreamed of being. It did a nosedive and approached the ground.
This is the end.
I am a general, fighting a war that will live on forever. I should be proud to die in battle with my men. But they were cowards. Cowards who believe that what I am doing is right. Cowards that believe I am a great man, who stands strong in a losing battle. Cowards that believe they are dying for their country, and not for a lost cause. Cowards that are dying for a freedom they already have.
I can feel my sanity slipping away.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
“I’m sorry,” I said, with a tear slipping down my cheek, “my people, I’m so sorry. But you have got what you wanted. Your freedom is yours.”
Needs to be converted to present tense
Green: Spelling error fixed
Blue: Other thing
I think I got everything but I'm in a bit of a rush so if I missed anything sorry! Good job nonetheless. A good story with a very good ending.
|
|
|
|
05-15-2008, 08:22 PM
|
#5
|
|
Prolific Writer
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Temporarily residing with these lesser beings on this shithole of a planet.
Gender: Male
Posts: 427
|
One question: is Hitler the protaganist here? I just got that idea
This was beatifully written, very emotional. Nice work.
WC~~
__________________
"Even if you win for the short term, you'll ultimately fail, alive or dead. Imagine if the great men from the past - men who thought they were working to shape the world – could see what their efforts have yielded. There is no change. There is no hope. Marx failed. Hitler failed. Jefferson failed. I just don't try."
-- Reilly (Everyday Madness)
|
|
|
05-16-2008, 01:00 AM
|
#6
|
|
Best Seller
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: A lonely little Farmer's Market called Kent.
Gender: Male
Posts: 636
|
Thanks
The idea was that this man was the leader of a country and he had just ordered a nuclear attack to wipe out another country (I dunno... say, Iraq).
He knew other countries were seeing this as an opportunity to attack his country and others too so they can be leading economically etc.
This, basically, as he knows, is the end of the world. We destroy each other.
__________________
"Oh how beautiful they all are!" - Vlad 'The Imapler' Tepes, as he walked through a field of his own men, women and children, all imapled.
Dracula was real.
|
|
|
05-16-2008, 11:54 AM
|
#7
|
|
Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 10
|
The structuring was slightly off-putting to me- although I have to admit that I'm not sure why.
I think some sort of description of the man and the room would've greatly added to the atmosphere- nothing major, just a short description.
Other than that, it's a great idea, and it was well written- well done.
|
|
|
05-18-2008, 11:18 PM
|
#8
|
|
Adept Writer
Join Date: May 2007
Location: In your imagination
Gender: Male
Posts: 912
|
I didnt like it. It needs some thing more.. It strikes me as being a bit pretentious.
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:44 PM. Powered by vBulletin, Copyright ©2000-2007, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.1.0
|
|
Newsletter |
 |
|
Subscribe to Majestic the official newsletter of Writing Forums and lit.org
|
|
Link to Us:
|
|