Flashes of Sanity #81: Boardroom Quarrel

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Boardroom Quarrel

Enjoy!

”What are you saying?” The papers flew around the room as Sam suddenly threw himself up on the table.

”You know what I said,” his friend and business partner said. Sam wasn’t really that sure of the friend part anymore. Actually, the business partner part seemed to be gone now too.

”But you can’t just remove me from the SurgeRay,” Sam slammed his fists against the table. ”I built this company with you and Mia, you just can’t remove me.”

”Actually I can,” Douglas leaned back in his chair. ”I proposed it to the board yesterday and the decision was unanimous.”

Douglas locked his eyes on Sam’s.

”Sam you don’t belong here anymore. We don’t want anything to do with you.”

Sam suddenly threw the table across the room. Douglas not even flinched.

”This is so unfair!”

”No it is not. It is business.”

”I was the one who expanded SurgeRay’s portfolio into all it is today. If it wasn’t for me, you would still try to make the delivery machine perfect. My products made SurgeRay to what it is today!”

”And the board will be forever grateful for that. SurgeRay’s ever evolving status will be printed into our DNA thanks to you.”

Sam looked at his once best friend. The stone face was far from the smiles he was used to. He fell to the ground with his hands to his face.

”What happened to you?”

”You know what happened Sam, do not pretend the opposite.”

Sam looked up at Douglas. ”Yes, I understand,” he sighed. ”Sara.”

”Yes, Sara.”

The two men stared at eachother for minutes before Sam found the energy to get up on his feet.

”What are you gonna do now?” Douglas Diamond asked.

”I am going home.”

”I thought home was gone.”

”It is and it isn’t.” Sam opened the door. That’s the beauty of home. Somehow It’s always there.”

He hesitated before stepping outside.

”Douglas,” he said. ”I will never forget this.”

”I don’t expect you to,” Douglas said. ”And you should also know that I will never stop watching you.”

”I don’t expect you to.” Sam slammed the door behind him.

Flashes of Sanity #80: Estimated Delivery

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Estimated Delivery

Enjoy!

The devil sighed. Loudly. Then he groaned.

He was missing dinner. Roasted piglets. Why of all days was today the day the delivery was delayed?

The flaming water changed from orange to blue to white and then back again. 20, 40 and 60 minutes, and then 60 more. Even the tortured souls screaming at the bottom of the flames pitied him.

When the ship finally showed itself in the horizon, the flames had turned back to blue once again. And the devil had walked circles in the stones under his feet.

The ship docked and the devil could finally lower the bridge to welcome its passengers.

“What took you so long?” the devil asked as he saw the captain show him aboard.

“Haven’t you heard?” The captain asked. “The whole world has turned to flames.”

“I don’t find flames as intriguing as the beyonders do,” the devil said. ”And I didn’t think the ferryman feared it either.”

The captain frowned. ”The ferryman was my father. I am the Captain. My name is Valdok.”

The devil smiled. ”Ah yes, the traitor and his unwilling son.”

The sour look on Captain Valdok’s face was almost enough to make up for the missed dinner. ”Do you want the delivery or not?”

”It is my job,” the devil shrugged. ”What I want is not of importance as long as I got a job.”

”You are probably right about that,” Captain Valdok said as they mounted a tube to the extraction vent. ”I heard about the stabbers going away.”

”Not just the stabbers. The scorcher and the twisters too. The moment these sad bastards go through the tube, a whole machinery begins down there.” The devil frowned. ”It’s disgusting, I’ll tell you that much.”

Captain Valdok nodded. He pushed a button and the souls flowed through the pipe down to the eternal torment. Every single soul screeched.

”I think you’ll need to use the extra cells this time, and in the coming deliveries.”

”I will prepare tank 3 and 4.” With the press of a button two large cylinders became active.

”Tanks?” Valdok flinched at the thought. ”Poor bastards.”

”It is all pressure and steel now,” the devil sighed.

The two observed the steady flow of screaming souls flowing past them in silence.

”I will be back tomorrow,” Valdok said as they removed the tube. ”Don’t expect me to be any earlier.”

”Then I will make sure to eat dinner before I go on.”

”Yes and prepare tank 5 and 6 if you have so many,” Valdok faked a smile.

”We have eight,” The devil said. ”Bring so many souls that the tanks explode tomorrow. That would maybe put an end to this craziness.”

”With how the world looks right now? No problem.”

The Captain took the devil’s hand, and as they parted ways both new this could be the last time. Both had ignored the label on the tank.

’Automatic Extraction’

Flashes of Sanity #79: Install.exe

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Install.exe

Enjoy!

Black. Everything is pitch-black.

Then, from nothing, fragments of light builds. The tiny fragments cluster into a shine. The shine grows into an endless miracle of connections. Every connection recalls a different aspect of reality. Every reality rebuilds world.

The worlds explode into possibilities. And from possibilities moments are created.

The moments flash in memories of what once was and what could have been.

”Oxygen levels steady.”

A life is birthed out of the moments. Two hands holding with nothing but the moon watching.

”Mother.”

Streets of a past once lived.

”We are removing life support.”

A light as strong as the sun. Then only memories.

”Father.”

A face on the sidewalk. A cold from a hand once warm. Pain from the kicks once dealt.

Chills from the asphalt turning cruel in the winter night.

”She is steady. Start her up with a shot of adrenaline.”

Hurt. Then burn.

Scream. Then cry.

”Welcome back Dina.”

Shivers. Then soft.

”You will get to meet you mother soon.”

Hope.

”Mother.”

”Father.”

”Sorry, no father is in this picture.”

Cold hands holding fades. Dead faces hides.

”Mother.”

Flashes of Sanity #78: School Zone

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: School Zone

Enjoy!

”We are closing in?” Their father glanced back at them in the rear-view mirror. ”Haven’t you missed school?”

Only one of the children cheered. The other ones stared blankly at their screens or out the window.

”I want to meet my friends!” The youngest said.

”Alright then, out with you before I change my mind and take you home again.”

The youngest child rushed out under loud cheers. ”Adaaaaaaaaam!”

The others zombie-crawled their way out of the minibus.

”Bye my little rascals!” The minibus disappeared.

The small group walked into the schoolyard. As they closed in on their classmates, they walked closer to each other.

”Remember,” the oldest said.

”Look at the ground and no one will notice you,” one of his brothers filled in.

”That’s right, I will see you right here after class, okay?”

”Here comes the smellfest.” a boy shouted from afar. ”Watch out, they scatter!”

One of the mothers scanned the group from the driveway. She had a phone to her ear.

”HI,” she said. ”Arthur Sooli drove here drunk again. Yes, he is still driving.”

She stood silent for a moment and observed as her son played with the youngest Sooli son. She wrinkled her nose.

”Yes,” she said. ”He has been giving them too.”

Flashes of Sanity #77: Dirty Business

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Dirty Business

Enjoy!

It was everywhere now. Every screen. Every newspaper. Every mouth. Everything, all the same.

That dumb grey suit, and all the theories about what was, what could be and what could have been.

None of it bothered Susanne Queen really though. It was just annoying to only focus on one thing when the whole world was so much more.

She held up the receipt. Simply Perfect Adoption Bureau. Susanne smiled, they really think about everything.

’Thanks for choosing ’Simply Perfect’ for you precious adoption. It delights us that another child in need will find a safe home. ’

An airplane docked outside the window. Soon the passengers would be flooding the airport. One of them would carry the name Dina. A homeless girl of seven years who was saved from the streets.

That was maybe the part of the truth, but most likely it was not even close.

”Who are you waiting for?” A tall man beside Susanne said.

”My child,” Susanne answered. She felt warm when saying it. ”It is the first time I get to see my adopted daughter.”

The man glanced at her in surprise. ”Then you have some great moments ahead of you.”

”Yes, ” Susanne truly thought so.

A teenage girl ran out from the gate and threw herself around the man’s neck.

”Dad!” She screamed.

”Cherish the moments,” he said to Susanne as they walked away.

After all flood waves had subsided, one little girl walked out from the gate. She was exactly like Susanne remembered her from the photos and the time she saw her in a glass tube lined up among thousand other glass tubes.

”Mother?” The girl said as her eyes locked on Susanne.

”Yes I am here,” Susanne leaned in to welcome the girl in careful hug. ”I hope you will like it with me.”

”I hope so too,” the girl said.

Susanne hugged the girl closer. She looked at the screens. As they walked away she excused herself and made one phone call.

”Buy SurgeRay,” she said and hung up.

Flashes of Sanity #76: Shades Part 6: Normality

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

As a part of my one year with Flashes of Sanity celebration I will launch an event that will be the culmination of some threads in previous entries.
Good entries to have read/previous entries in the event:
Gray: A retailers dream
Baby boom
Bidding war

Shades Part 1: Failure
Shades Part 2: Breaking in
Shades Part 3: Cheeks
Shades Part 4: Invasion
Shades Part 5: War

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity’s first event: Shade

Today’s entry: Shade Part 6: Normality

Enjoy!

”We are now at 48 hours since the last ship crashed.” The news reporter starred straight at the viewer. His expression told nothing of his inner emotions. ””We can now confirm that the man seen on surveillance videos preliminary to the launch was Gary Oliviallo, owner of SurgeRay since two months ago.”

The officers watched the news report with an undivided attention.

”And who is that?” Sandell muttered.

”I guess you will find out in less than an hour.” Kim said and smiles spread across the group.

“Okay guys,” Commander Crisis said with her abnormally strong voice. “I know we are all glad to be alive, but the best way to thank Gary Oliviallo for his sacrifice is to actually make this earth a better place. Get back to work, we have a serial killer to catch.”

In an instant people started tapping on their keyboards.

“Kara?” Crisis continued. “Can you get me an updated map with all the murders?”

Kara looked up from her computer screen. “Yes, sir,” she said.

“Great! Do we have any connections between the victims?”

“Only that they are successful in their careers,” Sandell said. “But I got a lead on the tazer killer.”

“Follow that lead, but if it gives any signal of being like the other leads let it go and go back to our serial killer.”

“It is quite fascinating,” a researcher said on the TV-screen. “One man took down an entire fleet. We are only beginning to unravel how he did it. Hopefully his notes are not as sparse on the details as the remaining traces from the explosion are.”

“I got a map ready,” Kara said. She pressed two keys and her map became visible on their big screen.

“Thank you.” Commander Crisis investigated the seven red dots. “Do we have any connection between the places.”

“Except for dumpsters.” Kim smiled. “No, sir. Nothing, yet.”

The victim’s faces became visible over the dots. “Thanks, Kara.”

“Two of them seem to have been sorority queens sir,” Officer Brynk said. “I continue looking in to the others.”

“That’s a great lead,” Crisis sat down on her chair. “Popular girls who succeeded. Brynk bring up a list of sorority queens the last 40 years. I got a feeling we might have use for it later.”

Brynk leaned over his keyboard.

Commander Crisis took a deep breath. She loved the feeling of progress.

Flashes of Sanity #75: Shades Part 5: War

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Shades Part 1: Failure
Shades Part 2: Breaking in
Shades Part 3: Cheeks
Shades Part 4: Invasion

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity’s first event: Shade

Today’s entry: Shade Part 5: War

Enjoy!

Aaron stood among thousands, no hundreds of thousands, of mankind’s last line of defense. All of them hoped the brave fifty would succeed, all of them were ready if they failed, all of them were ashamed of the pain these children would endure.

In the horizon the green monsters grew every second over one of the fallen cities. Aaron corrected his face mask as he glanced at the ship hovering above the mayhem. Tentacles rose from the green mass up to the ship and small glowing pulses left the ship for the monstrosity.

Dear lord, Aaron thought. We don’t talk a lot. But this time I beg for you to spare our world. I will forever be at your service if you do.

The space ship flashed. Two jet planes went down in an instant. A face arose from the green mass. The mass smiled at them and laughed. A wheezing, evil laughter.

“Ready!” The sergeant shouted. “It has spotted us. ”

The space ship flashed again. Aaron prepared for his skin to melt of his bones.

“Dear lord,” he whispered again. “Just this once.”

The space ship became one massive sun in front of them. The green mass shrieked. Aaron looked at his friends expecting one of them to throw himself on the ground screaming that they are inside his suit. The mass shrieked again under the sun.

The sun fell.

Under a shriek that tore through Aaron’s spine, the light swallowed the green city. Aaron held his hands up over his helmet in an unsuccessful attempt to cover his ears. All his brothers and sisters did the same.

Then the world went quiet. In a moment of confusion, the troops looked at eachother before the shock wave threw them all to the ground.

Aaron supported himself on his arms and looked up. No spaceship. No green mass. It was just the sun on a clear blue sky.

“They made it!” Someone suddenly shouted. “Guys, they made it!”

Aaron took of his helmet. We did? He exchanged confused looks with those closest. Then he broke into a smile.

“They made it,” he said.

“They made it,” his friends echoed back. “The brave fifty made it.”

Aaron pushed his fingers to his mouth, then he raised them to the air. His friends did the same. Hundreds of thousands of hands arose to the sky.

“Praise to the Brave Fifty!” They all said.

Flashes of Sanity #74: Shades Part 4: Invasion

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Shades Part 1: Failure
Shades Part 2: Breaking in
Shades Part 3: Cheeks

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity’s first event: Shade

Today’s entry: Shade Part 4: Invasion

Enjoy!

Gary ’Gray’ collapsed on the floor. The launch had been late.

How lucky.

He picked up a note from his back pocket and crossed off ’hijack ship’. The next item was ’save the world’.

Sounded difficult on paper. Was even worse in real life.

”Okay Gray,” he mumbled. ”What is the plan?”

”Quite simple,” he continued. ”Give them the full package, they will never expect that.”

He opened his backpack and lined up bottles with a fine white powder. He took two bottles of water and filled a rubber suit with water. Just incase. The rubber suit was just as he wanted it to be. Grey.

”Let’s hope I am right,” he said and rolled in the white powder. Then he smeared it on the walls and the floor.

The rocket rumbled as Gray began prepping the room for assault. An alarm went off as the monsters pulled it in. Gray stepped into the middle of the platform. He inhaled.

These aliens had successfully bested scientists and armies. But they were not ready for Gray.

The door complained as it wrenched open from the outside. The shadows on the other side screeched. Their eyes glowed. Their tentacles flew against him. They touched his suit.

”Yes,” Gray said between his teeth. ”It is in fifty shades.”

”Just like me.”

Flashes of Sanity #73: Shades Part 3: Cheeks

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Shades Part 1: Failure
Shades Part 2: Breaking in

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity’s first event: Shade

Today’s entry: Shade Part 3: Cheeks

Enjoy!

Adam looked at the 49 other kids.

”Shit,” he mumbled. His mother hated the word, that’s why he liked using it so much. He missed her already.

“I don’t want to be a hero anymore.” From the blank eyes staring at the now closed door, he guessed he was not alone with that feeling.

”Mom…”

”We need to maximize the impact,” they had said. Too big words for Adam, but he understood them anyway. No parents.

”Dad…”

A girl went from sobbing to crying.

”Everything will be okay,” Adam said with the knot in his belly growing bigger with every one of her tears. ”We will be okay.”

”You will save us all,” they had said.

Adam felt his own tears running down his cheeks.

Who will save us?

The door lit up once again. All the children gathered closer as the shadow stepped inside.

”Okay all you little rascals.” A thousand pinches hailed upon their cheeks. ”Lets get you out of here!”

A lollipop appeared out of nothing in Adam’s mouth and two hands pushed him out from the small room.

”What are you doing?” Adam asked.

”I am taking your place,” the grey shadow answered. A second lollipop appeared in Adam’s mouth. ”Kids should live life not rescue everyone else’s.”

”Now hurry.” the shadow looked at his watch. ”We are out of time.”

The two hands suddenly lifted Adam and threw him out.

”Run!” The shadow shouted as the doors closed.

Adam wasted no time. He got up and forced his feet forward as fast as he could.

”Mom,” he screamed. His 49 friends did the same.

Flashes of Sanity #72: Shades Part 2 – Breaking in

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly (during July it is daily!) dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity’s first event: Shades

Today’s entry: Shades Part 2: Breaking in

Enjoy!

Gary took one deep breath. He kissed his grey striped shirt.

It’s go time!

The scanner blipped as he swiped the card over it.

”Welcome Matt Domahan.”

”Sucker…” Gary whispered.

Who could have known it was so easy to break into a space station? You just needed the right leverage.

”Hey!!!”

Gary froze. A muscular man closed in on him, fast.

”What are you doing here?”

”Me?” Gary turned around with his fingers pointing at himself and the biggest smile he could find. ”I am here to save the world.”

The guard pointed his gun in Gary’s direction. ”You are not saving anyone in that.”

”Off course I am,” Gary picked up a spraycan from his pocket. ”It is in fifty shades, just like me.” He hit the can against the wall, breaking the can just above the SurgeRay logo, and threw it across the room.

”Press two times for three hours,” he mumbled. ”For the children.”

The guard collapsed before the bottle hit the floor. Gary quickly picked up gas mask from his back pocket and ran through the thick smoke.

”Fifteen minutes,” he said as he glanced at his arm watch. ”Gray has done bigger sales in less time than that.”

A new scanner blipped and Gary ’Gray’ disappeared.