Forty Stories
22 Jan 2019Today’s prompt: “A man jumps from the fortieth story of a building. As he’s passing the twenty-eighth floor, he hears a phone ring and regrets that he jumped. Why?” [As usual, I’m going to avoid gendering the reader.]
“I’m going to be worried about you the whole time,” you tell Josh and Kylie.
“At least you’ll know exactly what’s going on,” Kylie tells you.
“Just because we have the mind link doesn’t mean I can’t be worried,” you tell them. Silently.
“We’ve infiltrated the group before,” Josh thinks. “We’ll be fine.”
“Everyone there’s going to be focused on the sacrifice,” Kylie thinks. “And the book isn’t part of that. I know. I’ve been helping them gather ingredients. Josh has been in their security meetings, helping them organize. He knows the guards are all going to be posted around the ritual. But they won’t be around the library.”
You’re scanning their thoughts for any trace that their bravado is false. But they’re really quite confident.
“Still. What should I do if you guys are caught?” you think.
“Don’t even think that–” Kylie starts.
“Give yourself a quick death,” Josh thinks.
Kylie’s eyes shoot daggers at him. “I didn’t mean to think that,” he tells you.
“Are you ready?” Kylie directs her thoughts to you.
“I guess,” you think.
“I need you to be ready,” she responds. “You’re the only one outside of that cult who can read the language the book is in. We need you ready to cast that spell, seal up the rift between dimensions. It’s our best shot at saving the world from the Old Ones.”
You pause. You breathe. “I’m ready. Almost. Everything I’ve heard about this spell says it needs to be cast from a high elevation.”
“Good. You take all your casting equipment to the tower roof,” Josh thinks. “Trust us. We’ll get you the book.”
Kylie and Josh think-bicker as they walk away. You can still hear them in your head as you drive to Wilson Tower. In the passenger seat, your staff is nestled against a backpack full of various powders, a lighter, seven smooth pebbles, crystals in five different colors, ziplock bags filled with dried leaves, and a small wand – anything you’ve used to cast spells in the past. You hope the spell doesn’t call for anything exotic.
“If it does, we’ll find it,” Kylie tells you.
“I’m glad one of us is optimistic,” you think back.
You get into the elevator at Wilson Tower, cast a minor magnetic power spell that mimics access cards, and push the button for 40. You zip past floor after floor of law firms and investment banks.
“We’re almost at the hall,” Josh thinks.
“The old Shriners’ building?” you think.
“Right, if we see it, we’re effectively thinking it,” Josh thinks. “The cult bought it a few months ago.”
“Yeah, I might bother less with thinking complete sentences from here on out,” Kylie tells you both.
You see a robed guard within the arched doorway.
“A quiet world,” Josh’s voice rings aloud.
“A quiet world,” you hear the guard respond through Josh and Kylie’s ears.
The elevator dings and you walk out onto the 40th floor. You walk through the Wilson Tower corridors, looking for a door to a stairwell with roof access.
Your thoughts fill with visions of dimly lit hallways, newly painted black since the hall’s acquisition from the Shriners. As Josh and Kylie pass through the corridors, you see red vinyl lettering on one wall – part of a summoning spell, in a cheery script straight out of motivational posters.
You find your door, cast an unlock spell, and charge up to the roof.
Josh and Kylie pass armed guards and the occasional chanting figure here and there, but the cult members seem to be thinning out, and the ones they come across are heading toward the center of the building.
“They’re going to the ceremony,” Kylie thinks.
Josh and Kylie keep walking through the halls, but you’re less focused on them. You lay your backpack on the ground, unzip it, and take out a small bag of pale blue powder. You pour the powder into your palm, then sprinkle it into a circle. Thank goodness there’s no wind tonight. You arrange the seven smooth stones at intervals around the circle.
“Here we are,” Josh thinks. You see it in their thoughts – the door to the library. Kylie is just opening it when a door opens a few feet away. The men’s restroom. A massive guard with an overabundance of sharp weapons at his belt steps out of the bathroom and sees Josh and Kylie.
“What are you doing here?” he says.
I guess he’s realized something’s up, because he doesn’t wait for an answer. In one swift movement he pulls the sword from its scabbard and swings it toward Josh and Kylie. Suddenly, you can’t see or hear anything from them. The mind link is gone.
“Oh shit oh shit oh shit,” you say. “Oh shit.”
You wait a minute. You wait another minute. You wait another five minutes. Nothing. The world has never been so quiet.
A quick death, then. It’s a better offer than you’ll get from the Old Ones.
You leave the circle. You walk to the side of the building. You step up onto the ledge.
You jump.
An obnoxious ringtone erupts from your pocket. Out of habit, you pull out your phone.
It’s Kylie.
Kylie leaves a message. “Hey, hope you weren’t too freaked out a couple minutes ago. Your mind link spell failed – maybe we broke concentration when that guard attacked us or something? Anyhow, we’re fine. We dodged his first swipe, and then Josh managed to grab his sword away from him and kill him before he could call for backup. Anyway, we got the book! We’re out, all safe and sound. Sorry I couldn’t call earlier – I swear, those hallways are so long, and I didn’t feel safe calling until we were well away from the building. So, ready to cast a spell?”