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barbarewjohnson · 1 year

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The Best Tools For Content Creation

If you’re looking for the best tools for content creation, look no further. In this blog post, we’ll go over the top 10 tools that will help you create high-quality content.

Content creation is a key part of any online marketing strategy. Without quality content, it will be difficult to stand out from the competition and attract attention from potential customers.

There are a lot of different tools available that can help with content creation. However, not all of them are created equal. To save you time and effort, we’ve compiled a list of the best tools for content creation that you can use to get started.

Best content creation tools to help you write better

There is no denying that in order to write great content, you need the best tools for content creation at your disposal. Whether it’s a state-of-the-art word processor or an app that helps you stay organized and on track, having the right tools can make all the difference.

So what are the best tools for content creation? Here are a few of our favorites:

1. Word processors like Microsoft Word or Google Docs offer all the basic features you need to write, edit and format your content. But if you want something with a few more bells and whistles, consider investing in a premium word processor like Scrivener or Ulysses. These programs offer advanced features like built-in research tools and distraction-free writing modes that can help you Write Better Content faster.

2. If staying organized is a challenge for you, look into task management apps like Todoist or Trello. These apps let you create to-do lists, set deadlines and track your progress so you can see exactly what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by.

3 .And finally, no list of best tools for content creators would be complete without mentioning Evernote – an app that lets you capture ideas, store articles and webpages for later reading ,and even record audio notes . Evernote is perfect for writers who prefer to brainstorm their ideas digitally instead of on paper .

These are just a few of our favorite tools for writing better content faster – but there are plenty of other great options out there too . Experiment with different programs and find the ones that work best for you

The best content creation tools for more engaging content

1. If you want to create more engaging content, you need to use the best tools for content creation. This means using tools that will help you produce better quality content faster.

2. The best way to find these types of tools is to ask other content creators what they use and why they like it. You can also read online reviews of different content creation tools.

3. Once you’ve found a few options, try them out for yourself and see which ones work best for you and your workflow. Remember, there is no magic bullet when it comes to creating great content – it’s all about finding the right tools and using them in the right way.

Tools to help you create the best possible content

Assuming you would like tips for creating content:

The best tools for content creation vary depending on what kind of content you want to create. For example, if you want to create a blog post, you might need a word processing program like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Alternatively, if you want to create a video, you might need video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.

No matter what kind of content you want to create, there are a few things that all good pieces of content have in common. First, they are well-researched and well-thought-out. This means that before you start creating your piece of content, you should spend some time researching your topic and brainstorming ideas.

Second, good pieces of content are engaging and interesting. They hook the reader or viewer in from the beginning and keep them engaged until the end. To do this, make sure your piece has a strong opening and ending, as well as an engaging main body.

Finally, good pieces ofcontent are clear and concise. They get their point across without being too long-winded or convoluted. So when crafting your piece, be sure to edit it down so that only the most essential information is included.

Content Creation: The Best Tools to Help You Write Better

Assuming you want tips for the best tools for content creation:

If you’re serious about content creation, then you need to have the right tools at your disposal. Here are some of the best tools to help you write better:

Grammarly is a must-have tool for anyone who wants to create error-free content. It’s an AI-powered grammar checker that goes beyond simple spell checking and catches errors that even native speakers might miss. It’s available as a browser extension, or you can use the web app.

Hemingway Editor is another great tool for writers who want to create error-free content. Hemingway highlights words and phrases that are hard to read, confusing, or overly complicated. It also gives your writing a readability score so you can see how easy it is for someone to understand what you’ve written.

Scrivener is a popular tool among writers, especially those who prefer using a distraction-free environment when they write. Scrivener lets you break down your writing project into smaller sections so you can focus on one part at a time. And when you’re ready to start piecing everything together, Scrivener makes it easy to do so with its built-in outlining functionality.

How to Create Content: The Best Tools for Success

Assuming you want tips on the best tools for content creation:

There are a few things to consider when choosing the best tools for content creation. First, consider what type of content you want to create. There are different tools for creating different types of content, so it’s important to choose the right tool for the job. For example, if you want to create video content, you’ll need a tool that can help you create and edit videos. If you want to create written content, you’ll need a word processing program or a writing app.

Second, think about your budget. Some content creation tools can be expensive, so it’s important to find one that fits within your budget. Fortunately, there are many affordable or even free options available.

Finally, consider your skill level. If you’re not very familiar with using technology or don’t have much experience creatingcontent, look for a tool that is easy to use and comes with tutorials or customer support in case you need help getting started.

Creating Great Content: What are the best tools?

When it comes to creating great content, there are a few tools that can help you get the job done. Here are some of the best tools for content creation:

1. A Good Editor: A good editor is essential for any writer, whether you’re creating blog posts, articles, or even books. A good editor can help you tighten up your writing, spot errors, and give you feedback on your work. If you don’t have a good editor, consider finding one before you start publishing your work.

2. Content Planning Tools: There are a number of different content planning tools available online and they can be extremely helpful in keeping your content strategy organized.Tools like CoSchedule and Trello can help you plan out your content calendar, track deadlines, and collaborate with other team members if needed.

If you want to create great content, having a solid plan in place is key and these types of tools can definitely help make the process smoother.

3. Research Tools: When it comes to creating high-quality content, research is important. Luckily, there are plenty of great research tools out there that can help make the process easier. Google Scholar is a great option for academic research while sites like Quora and BuzzSumo can be helpful for more general topics . Whatever type of research you need to do , utilizing some type of tool will likely make things go more smoothly . Any sort Utilizing some sort While conducting any sort No matter what kind Because pf this element’s importance , various software existent today facilitate The use fo specific programs allow users to simplify Therefore investing in this step will result In an easily accessible data base which will then produce quality material..

Conclusion

In conclusion, the best tools for content creation are those that allow you to be creative and productive. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, so find the tools that work best for you and your workflow. And don’t forget to have fun!

The post The Best Tools For Content Creation appeared first on SwiftCreator.com.

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#experience supplying #administrative support #complex schedules #budgeting #multiple projects #Excel

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christophermraerdon · 1 year

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The Best Tools For Content Creation

If you’re looking for the best tools for content creation, look no further. In this blog post, we’ll go over the top 10 tools that will help you create high-quality content.

Content creation is a key part of any online marketing strategy. Without quality content, it will be difficult to stand out from the competition and attract attention from potential customers.

youtube

Best content creation tools to help you write better

So what are the best tools for content creation? Here are a few of our favorites:

The best content creation tools for more engaging content

1. If you want to create more engaging content, you need to use the best tools for content creation. This means using tools that will help you produce better quality content faster.

2. The best way to find these types of tools is to ask other content creators what they use and why they like it. You can also read online reviews of different content creation tools.

Tools to help you create the best possible content

Assuming you would like tips for creating content:

Content Creation: The Best Tools to Help You Write Better

Assuming you want tips for the best tools for content creation:

If you’re serious about content creation, then you need to have the right tools at your disposal. Here are some of the best tools to help you write better:

How to Create Content: The Best Tools for Success

Assuming you want tips on the best tools for content creation:

Creating Great Content: What are the best tools?

When it comes to creating great content, there are a few tools that can help you get the job done. Here are some of the best tools for content creation:

If you want to create great content, having a solid plan in place is key and these types of tools can definitely help make the process smoother.

Conclusion

The post The Best Tools For Content Creation appeared first on SwiftCreator.com.

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#computer scientist #experimental roboticist #university of denver #assistant professor #computer sci

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juniper-tree · 3 years

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hey are you a disorganized and chaotic writer like me? do you sometimes store versions of drafts in random folders and cloud services and there are too many words to pick through to see exactly what’s changed between them? try diff checker.

diff is a command I use in my normal life as a web developer to check differences in files, code chunks, etc. typically I use it in my work environment in the terminal, within a git repository, to see changes between code instances or branches. but there’s a nice online tool, diff checker, which allows you to compare two things directly:

very handy for when I know I tweaked something in a tumblr post or in the AO3 body field, but forgot to make the same change in my working copy or master. again, this is for the impulsive and absent-minded, not for those of you who are smart enough to use revision tracking tools in google docs or scrivener. :)

google docs will show your history in a particular document, and dropbox will give you a version history of the last thirty days—both are a godsend for clumsy editors or people who apparently have issues with scrivener backups syncing between computers (me).

but this is another good tool to have at your disposal.

#writing tools

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vermin-disciple · 3 years

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WIP Ask Meme

I’m a little late to the party, as usual! Tagged by @ectogeo-art last week.

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues/interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

Okay, so I don’t have a WIP folder as such, what I have for ST fic (which is all I’m writing these days) are three Scrivener files that house an assortment of text pages, folders and subfolders containing finished and unfinished works (plus various snippets, notes, outlines, stuff I’ve started and shelved, etc). Actually, this meme inspired me to do some re-organizing because things were starting to look a bit too chaotic lol. So, this time I’m going to divide the text/folder names by their respective Scrivener files. (And I’ve linked the ones I answered asks for last time I did this.)

From Misc ST Fic.scriv:

Disposable Sex Objects

Fascination AU

Racquetball fic

Casual hookup to friends to lovers fic

Random Scenes*

From This Be The Verse.scriv:

I Can’t Abide Romantic Notions

A Bag Full of God

Performativity

Cardassian Neighbors Fic

Voyager Xover

Idée Fixe

Going Away Party

Dominion Prison Opera

Risa Fic

Mirror Universe

Random Scenes*

From Where No Occult Being.scriv:

Androids Dancing on the Head of a Pin

Q D’etat

Said the Joker to the Thief

(Oh and there’s also Attack of the Giant Mutant Killer Rabbits, with 3/4 chapters posted, which I swear I will get around to finishing one of these days.)

*Random Scenes is more or less what it sounds like, so if you like you can pick a number from 1-9 (1-4 are from Misc, 5-9 are TBTV) and I’ll post all or most of the scene.

A lot of you have already done this so I’m just going to tag anyone who wants to do this and hasn’t been tagged yet. :)

#ask meme #my fanfic #vermin rites

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skotch-meow · 5 months

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Guys look..

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sleepyowlwrites · 3 years

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find the word tag XIII, XIV, XV

I will be combining three tags by @akindofmagictoo @rhyaxxyn and @spacetimewraithwrites but counting it as three, still, because reasons

maybe sorcery friend gave me:

fly (Space Story)

Myr had seen a lot of different sorts of people. He'd seen lots of humans, of course, and half-humans, and meta-humans and humanoids. Well, here he was, the person that was supposed to fly away with him. Was he supposed to just collect him? Would he know?

lace (she stole the night from you)

she comes in quietly, dripping black lace like ink off a letter left out in the rain, and it drags behind her, staining the carpet, the walls;

kick (Trans-dimensional Ghosts)

Caden covered his face with his hands. A now sleeping human, half-asleep ghost and a feisty werecat were seated on his couch and Caden wanted nothing more than to just kick them all out.

call (Ghost Story)

What else do you call half-corporeal visions that don’t know how to either disappear or become real? The newer ghosts were always very adamant about still being alive; the older ones were resigned to perhaps never dying. Violet tried to console them as best she could, but if there was no one left to keep the bargain, she was helpless.

rhyaxxyn which is a dragon name in my head gave me:

pile (Anxiety Story)

Ree caught Aiden's eyes as they all piled into the car and winked. Aiden smiled to himself. He never could have predicted gaining friends so easily and he certainly never could have predicted gaining such strange ones.

mark (Blood series)

“I am going to kill your uncle,” she announces, evoking startled gasps and curious looks from the men around the table.

“That’s nice,” Jin Ling mutters as he fights to not roll his eyes. “I’m sure Hanguang-Jun will absolutely not take retribution on you.”

“No, not that one. He at least knows better than to touch an angry curse mark. It’s his own fault he’s dying and I’m going to let him.”

leap jump

“Kinda freaked me out when she was doing a very poor job of swimming.”

“I was a little disoriented, but I got my bearing back fast enough. You didn’t have to jump in after me.”

tearing (from Shots)

A guy fell out of a first-story window and stared at them for a second before tearing off down the alley.

timespace ghost friend gave me:

bland (Anxiety Story)

"You okay?" Wes asked blandly, handing Ree another tissue.

"Yep," Ree wheezed, coughing one more as she disposed of her tissues and took a slower, smoother sip of tea. "I'm fine."

memory (Blood series)

He might store the memory away for use at a later time, but not just now. He had some sense of propriety, after all.

cross (Anxiety Story)

He pulled away reluctantly and sat down on the bed, rubbing at his wrists. Ree sat down next to him, pulling up her legs so she sat cross-legged on the rumpled sheets. "Okay. Tell me how your day went."

"It was awful. I don't want to talk about it."

fate destiny (Space Story)

"You just know? Come with you where? Where are you gonna take me? You gonna tell me I have some interstellar destiny?" The boy sounded like he didn't believe a word he was saying.

escape (Anxiety Story)

"Crying is your escape, Aiden. You shouldn't turn it off right away. And just because you have someone there for you doesn't mean that Ree can just reach inside you and set all to rights. It's okay to still cry.”

that wasn’t too long, was it? thank you for making me search through all five of my scrivener docs and my blog for that piece of prose to find all these words. I’m not even being sarcastic. I have a special sword for that. yeah, the joke’s still going. I don’t know why. @mmoonflower @halcionic @pamsdrabbles and @winnieleighwrites please to find beautiful, remember, lie, hunger and spent

#find the word tag #tag game #writing #sleepy writing #anxiety story #ghost story #space story #ff: blood series #ff: shots #writeblr #maybe sorcery friend #timespace ghost friend #dragon name friend #this tag is no longer in use

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writingtipss · 4 years

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What are some tips on how to organize a draft? Like, should I do bullet points or sentences? What are some things that a draft 100% needs?

Great question!

First of all, there’s no correct way to organize your draft, so I’ll just give tips I’ve gathered through the community as well as my own experience.

I’m sure you’ve heard the term outline get thrown around pretty frequently, and it can look different for everyone. An outline is typically a basic idea of what goes on in your story, sometimes it’s super complicated or sometimes it’s super simple. It always depends on the writer! Mine look like bullet point lists, sometimes I include specific dialogue I have in mind and sometimes it’s as vague as, “Character X and Character Y talk about Z.”

When it comes to organizing drafts, I think it depends on what program you’re using + how you organize things! I personally use Scrivener which makes it easy to have everything in one place without multiple tabs, but because it isn’t free a lot of people use Word or Google Docs. Find a system that works for you, if having everything in one document works for you, great! Maybe you need to keep notes in a journal and just write on your computer. Experiment a bit until you find the right system for you.

For what a draft 100% needs... This is a bit different for everyone. Assuming you’re not talking about the components of a story, think about what tools would make writing easiest for you. Maybe you don’t have an idea of who your characters are quite yet and want character sheets at your disposal. A lot of writing is just experimenting until you find what works for you, take the time to learn what makes the process easiest for you!

#writing #reading #author #fiction #writer #amwriting #amwritingya #amwritingfiction #amwritingfantasy #am writing #teen author #teen writer #indie author #publishing

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etheshadowlord · 4 years

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E Laments.

Here’s the thing with creating a tabletop game from absolute scratch.

We all know about how a game needs mechanics and it needs lore to run with players. However there is something a game needs more than those two to actually get off the ground and not just be someones pittering scrivener project.

Funding.

This is where I’m like royally annoyed with the rich. Everyone goes on about self-made people....Rich people are not self made. They are inheritance holders, was able to throw money at their silly idea and got like investors right off the bat while others have to practically woo investors ears off to get even single cent.

Truly self made people struggle. Their idea has to go through fucking loops of dismantling and reconstruction to create a fine product that will hopefully sell. I say hopefully because advertising costs money and if you’re not rich you can’t just have it advertised everywhere you’re really stuck to hoping for reblogs and retweets and maybe spamming some discords with links and even then it’s not a guarantee sale so there’s not really even the promise of success.

What I’m trying to get at is people should reblog cool projects they see, pass around the good word. Make it so these people who can’t afford to buy a block of a ad space can get some true exposure and if you’re interested in their project maybe donate a dollar or two to help them get their project off the ground and maybe help them escape the city they were born in to be with that person they cherish.

Yes that last part was totally about my circumstances. Moving takes money and the job I currently have is a dead end job that will just bind me to this town further if I work harder at it. So I’m making a game in hopes of escaping to be with my dearest sweet and I’m lamenting the fact that from where I am I’m on the stupidly hard difficulty rating of working on this project than if I were to have disposable income that I could just throw at this to make it happen quicker. Game would be made regardless because I crave positive recognition, difference is that if I had the money I would already be out of this town. Nor would I need to fret and count pennies regarding hiring artists and other things for making the game.

But now I’m just rambling on.

#E is making a game #the path towards completion is still a ways off #But I found the map at least for the path

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buzzdixonwriter · 4 years

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Duty Now For The Future (part three)

(When last we left our intrepid scrivener, he was spitballing ideas on what he thought the post coronavirus pandemic world would look like…)

Creative Breakthroughs

A lot of people are going to be doing things that interest them during the lockdown, and we’ll see the benefits of that very soon.

Ideas will collide and new ideas will emerge from that.

The high ticket items that our capitalist system kept saying was what we wanted will be supplanted by smaller scale, more personal ideas.

In my phone right now is a free app that enables me to make movies of any length.

There’s a music making app as well.

People are going to create and they’re going to create with the resources they have on hand.

The big movie theaters are taking a hit. There will not be enough audiences to sustain them. They’ll be rapidly repurposed.

Once a vaccine is developed for the coronavirus, live venues will flourish.

Pop up theaters and clubs along the times cited above for stores and restaurants will also flourish.

Some of those big empty shopping centers will see crowds return since every week will have a new batch of stores and food stalls and live entertainment to offer.

There are going to be some remarkable media projects created by this, and that will be the artistic wave of the future, and out of necessity it’s not going to be the bloated big budget blockbuster.

If you can tell an interesting story shot in your house using family members as cast, you’ll be able to craft other small scale dramas.

(The only movie theaters likely to flourish will be drive-ins, and for pretty much the reasons they flourished in the past: They’re cheaper than motels.)

Also, if you thought my incel prediction was scary, try this on for size: iPhones + senior citizens X trapped at home X several weeks or months confinement = epic granny porn. (Right now a bunch of you are rolling your eyes and saying “there goes Buzz, making up weird stuff again” and to that I say “you wish!”)

. . .

Print Takes A Hit

Disposable printing (i.e., cheap magazines, books, comics, and newspapers) may not be wiped out, but it’s gonna get rocked back on its heels.

There will always be a small and identifiable market for quality printed works (and here I’m talking about the physical package, not the contents), but the days of buying a magazine knowing full well you’ll throw it away in a few days or weeks will end.

Disposable printing will remain for specific local events (conventions programs, conference brochures, etc.) but mass market printing will go. (And expect more and more conventions and conferences to make their programs and brochures available online only.)

That’s going to be quite a block to several overlapping industries and creative disciplines. There are new venues springing up digitally and online, but the transition over will not be an easy one for older consumers.

. . .

Collecting & Crafting

Bad news for all you folks holding onto “collectables” that were cranked out by the shitte-tonne. The only people who value them are folks like you, who bought ‘em hoping to sell ‘em to some other sucker. Real 21st century collectibles will be precious because of their scarcity and their craftsmanship, in particular the fame and reputation of the crafter making it.

. . .

DIY Culture

This is going to overlap with a resurgence in home crafting, making items by hand that become desirable because they were made by hand. Smart tailors and jewelers and other crafters will operate on margins too thin for large scale production but will do quite nicely since they’ll eliminate mid-level distribution by selling direction online. Already Etsy and similar sites are making this possible.

Couple it with 3D printers becoming cheaper and more reliable, and a lot of small household items are going to actually be made in the house they’re intended for.

We should also see people creating automated looms, knitting machines, woodworking lathes, etc., that eliminate or at least drastically reduce the skill set required to turn out serviceable goods.

Not everyone will own one (much less all) of these devices, but in neighborhoods and among family and friends we should find people we know and trust who can make things for us.

. . .

Pop Up Stores And Restaurants

The worst business to be in is the restaurant business.

An estimated 20% of all new businesses fail in their first year, and 50% fail by their fifth year, but for restaurants it’s a staggering 60% in year one, 80% by year five.

Who would want to get in any new business?

No, what we’ll want to do is get our new business out.

What kills most new businesses is a tug of war between financing (never enough) and real estate / hardware (always unexpected costs there).

A restaurateur needs to find an affordable location, make sure it is outfitted with a suitable kitchen, assemble a staff, then open at set times in a fixed location and hope enough people come to make the venture profitable.

Why?

Look at food trucks. They go everywhere and they do good business. Of course, there’s no fine dining establishment, you just grab your grub and go, so it’s not the wort of thing that appeals to people who wish to socialize or do a business lunch.

But a pop-up restaurant could offer that. Find an empty venue, either take over its kitchen if it has one or truck in your own if needed, open only during the hours you wish to be open, then cart everything off when finished.

There are night clubs and raves that do this sort of thing already on a much lower scale. And it doesn’t have to be confined to entertainment style businesses.

A small shop could easily open up for a few weeks in a specific location, sell products, then close and move on / wait till the next opportunity. (This already happens in the form of Halloween and Christmas shops that pop up for a few weeks then disappear around those holidays.)

Returns could be handled in a centralized location; the business need not generate what it sells but could be the storefront for a manufacturer.

It will mean a change in the way we shop and the way we market what we shop, but with most durable goods purchased online, and with smaller items either made at home or by a local crafter one knows, this might be a viable market for items and services that might otherwise fall through the cracks.

. . .

The Knowns, The Known Unknowns, And The Unknown Unknowns

The above are what I think is going to result from this current coronavirus outbreak.

Frankly, there are still so many wild cards in play that there’s no guarantee any of the above will come about.

Consider: The tragic polio outbreaks of the 1920s / 30s / 50s were rightly or wrongly associated with public swimming pools.

A great many families, once they rose high enough into the middle class, bought a backyard pool -- either an inground or a temporary seasonal above ground model -- to keep their family safe.

It became a status symbol to show how well you looked after your kids.

Even when polio was finally defeated, it remained a status symbol.

There’s no reason for everybody to have a backyard pool, and in places like Southern California they’re actually counterproductive, contributing to climate change (you’re better off filling ‘em in and planting trees instead).

Nobody anticipated that in the 1950s when building pools became more and more common for middle class families around America.

You’ll notice I’ve avoid discussing contemporary politics.

That’s because this crisis is ultimately one of a political nature, both in the US and around the world, and it’s going to be solved (hopefully) through politics.

Or violence.

Which is why I’m rooting for politics.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be change in a big, big way.

It may not be good change.

We may not like it.

We may have to fight to change to something else.

But we’re never going back to where we once were.

. . .

Bottom Line: We’re going to get through this, but we’re not going to be the same on the other side.

#duty now for the future #future #culture #coronavirus #morals #ethics

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aftergloom · 5 years

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The first day in four that I’m not exhausted.

You try being woken up at three every morning, and then again at six, by a small furry baby and see how on-point you are. Seriously, I’ve just opened Scrivener and I’m sitting here blinking stupidly at the WIPs I was working on last week and I’m like, “I wrote these? I don’t remember doing that.”

Trying to catch the rhythm again while I can.

Have some bits:

A Salted Field (Reylo Horror AU)

Sometime past two, an hour after Ben had opted to walk home despite the threat of rain, Rey and Chewie split sandwiches in a clean kitchen. Rather, Rey split her sandwich with herself, slurping at an iced tea that came out of a glass bottle and tasted a little like plastic, and eyed a freshly-scoured fridge scented with chemicals. The little light lit the room as it aired, the world outside gloomy and oppressive with the promise of rain.

She doubted she’d ever use the Frigidaire for food, but the gesture left a rueful smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. Ben’s expertise with cleaning products was such that he might’ve served as an excellent butcher in a past life — or maybe part of a clean-up outfit called in by the mob for particularly dreadful jobs. Not a drop of deer blood remained, and frankly, the whole room now smelled like a hospital.

The Modern Prometheus (that Reylo Frankenstein AU I was talking about because why not)

“Come, now, sister.” Finn pulled at her arm, tugging Rey along by the elbow for as long as she could bear it. The halls had been set alight with candle flame, sending the long shadows back to the corners and scuttling into the alcoves. Beyond the tall windows of the Diodati’s ballroom, the skies churned black and ominous; the promise of rain a certainty for the third night in a row. “We’ll be late.”

“You’re too eager,” she laughed. “I’ve not dressed for such occasion.”

Never mind that she hadn’t packed any such fineries for a ball — if you could call it that. With four guests alone, their host had nonetheless sent invitations to their rooms in a fine hand. Her own pressed linen card she’d folded into her bust, not knowing how to offer a polite declination when there were to be so few of them in attendance, and so hurried Finn had been when he’d come to collect her, she’d barely thought to dispose her reading material before he’d dragged her from the room. She carried the tome with her, still; pressed to her stomach as if she could hide the offending accessory.

Rey much preferred the company of her gothic novels on evenings such as these, and given the tumultuous summer they’d endured thus far, the weather uncooperative, there was little else to provide distraction.

That was not to speak of her personal ills.

She’d not seen Poe since he’d retired with Byren to the study for a brandy to recover from their supper, though she’d heard them: their laughter carried through the whole of the east wing before she thought to escape them entirely.

They should “make their own amusement,” as Byren had said over dinner. Being the inventive sort that he was, only his dour doctor was the one to point out that on his second bottle of red, the rest of the little cabal occupying his summer villa would be pressed to keep the pace he’d set.

“It was an impulsive suggestion,” Rey hissed. “And too forward.”

“And yet, you saw how Lord Byren took to it,” Finny countered, his eyes alight with some dreamy mischief. “I tell you, I will have him by the end of our stay here. Byren will fall so enamoured of me, he’ll beg for my hand.”

“He’ll beg you push him away with it,” she countered. “I fear your interest is misplaced. He’s a devil, Finny — a cad and a fiend, and far too clever for his own good. He’ll use every device to win you and then discard you at the earliest prompting, and then what?”

Green Jenny (Reylo Horror AU Prompt for Monster!Rey)

“Between three chambered cairns and one dolmen. Right smack in the middle,” Dameron had promised, his enthusiasm cutting through the crackle of long distance. Admittedly, Ben’s heart had given a stammer at that — and that was before Poe had emailed the photos from the dig.

“Biggest fucking skeleton I’ve ever seen.”

Its femur alone was the size of Ben’s torso, and even at a slouch, Ben Solo dwarfed most others in his field, and elsewhere. Scrubbing the sleep from his eyes, he replayed those words to himself on the long stretch of road back to his AirBnB to catch a few hours of restless tossing around in the jetlag. He’d be back before sunrise, and that suited him fine: not even the dreary English weather was enough to stop his palms from sweating from the thousands of explanations — the ramifications of the discovery dizzying:

Stonehenge. Avebury. Easter Island. Jesus — the pyramids.

Questions asked for generations: who had moved those enormous stones? Who raised them?

Sleep-deprived, gritty from the twelve hour flight from Arizona, he’d gone straight to the dig to find himself as effortlessly excited as a schoolboy at the find.

For Darkness Stars (That canon-compliant Reylo novel which is almost done)

Miles of jungle wreathed in pre-dawn mists blanketed the planet in a grey shroud. Breaking atmo, the heap of a freighter protesting the jump and near collision with the nearest planet when he overshot his target, Ben had only just forced the bird down when it occurred to him that he wasn’t certain of his destination. Tython, yes: that planet both long dead and alive still, but where was the temple?

Cold gripped his limbs, his staunch control over himself pushing him into a meditative state so deep it kept the cold spread in his chest nullified to numbness. Blinking the sting of exhaustion from his eyes, it occurred to him that without anyone to ask, he was reliant entirely on his heart’s compass to direct him. He would end this, because this was where Rey’s vision had indicated he’d find her again: not her corporeal self, but her spirit — alive and well in the Force, and waiting for him like some beacon in the darkness that knew only the patience of waiting.

#reylo #reylo au #reylo horror au #fanfic #updates #wips #bits #I got a dog dog and now I can't sleep

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writingwordsanddrawingpictures · 5 years

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Untitled Horror - Writing Exercise, featuring another Kat.

An extract featuring another Kat after completing @cawolters tag on Friday. Again, I though it might be a good idea to re-post this with now having a larger number of followers.

This was an exercise I tried over a couple of weeks, taking an Imgur post of 2 sentence horror stories and trying to (perhaps foolishly) expand it into a larger story. Again, I know this is dialogue-heavy in parts but it’s not been edited at all as yet, so if you do read it through (and it’s pretty long - about 6,600 words unless Scrivener’s lying to me) please bear this is mind.

The first paragraph is the original 2 sentence prompt / post, so I can’t take any credit for that, but everything following that is entirely mine.

The extract is under the cut. Trigger warnings for: violence, blood, death, swearing, gore.

Tagging: @themerrywriter, @bexminx, @bookishdiplodocus, @therska, @adie-dee, @theimportanceofbeingbookish, @roselinproductions, @farrradays, @kira-desomma, @aeschknight, @pens-swords-stuff, @fukusigma, @alixismad

As always, if you want on or off (no offense will be taken) the list for this WIP, let me know.

After working a hard day, I came home to see my girlfriend cradling our child. I didn’t know which was more frightening, seeing my dead girlfriend and stillborn child, or knowing that someone broke into my apartment to place them there.

I don’t know how long I stood there, trying to make sense of what was in front of me. I knew I’d buried them both six months ago and it had taken me four more months to get to a state where I could get back to work. The thing I kept coming back to was how, for want of a better word, fresh they both looked. They looked for all the world like they were both just sleeping, but that couldn’t be - it just couldn’t. I felt bile trying to rise in my throat and the overwhelming urge to throw up and to run screaming from the apartment, but remained stock still and swallowed the bile back down, leaving an acrid taste in my mouth. I finally blinked, and started to regain some control over my body, sliding my hand into my jacket for my phone. Call the police, that’s the thing to do here, isn’t it? But tell them what? That I have my dead girlfriend and daughter in my living room, and they’re still as fresh as the day they died six months ago? No, don’t be stupid, you have to call them - otherwise what are you going to do? Move them? Dispose of them somewhere? No, I have to call the police and try to explain it to them. They’ll be able to see them for themselves. I unlocked my phone and dialled - 999. The connection clicked through: “Which service do you require?” came the voice at the other end. I breathed out, not realising that I’d been holding my breath. I looked up and started to say police, but only got as far as “Po…” before I saw my girlfriend’s eyelids open, showing two pitch black eyes underneath that were staring straight at me. I’m embarrassed to say that I started to scream - possibly like a girl, only being cut short by something striking the back of my head - then it all went black.

I awoke to the sound of radios crackling and someone saying my name repeatedly. “Jonas? Jonas, can you hear me? Mr Finch?” a woman’s voice. I groaned, struggling to open my eyes. “I think he’s coming round - can we get the medics in here?” the same woman’s voice. I started to try to lift myself up - I was lying on the floor in the recovery position, god alone knows how long I’d been there for but it was definitely still dark outside - apart from the flashing lights. “Don’t try to get up just yet, Mr Finch, let the medics look at you first.” I gave up trying and settled back down to the floor, not that I’d been able to move very much at all anyway - it seemed that all of my strength was gone. My eyes had closed again as well, leaving me in the darkness. “Can you understand me?” the woman’s voice asked I tried to say yes, but could only grunt. Very dignified. “Can you speak?” I tried to say no and could only grunt again. Then I tried to move my head to the side, but lifting it up off the floor was too much of an effort. What the hell happened to me? “I’ll take that as a no. Where are the medics?” “Waiting for the all-clear to come in” a male voice replied. “I’m asking for them to come in, we need to see to Mr Finch” “Not happening. We’ve had orders to secure the scene first and to make sure that he’s not a threat.” “Really. Look at him constable - does he look like a threat to you? You are aware of the concept of the ‘golden hour’, are you not?” “Yes ma’am” “So, given the time between his 999 call and now, would you say that it’s imperative that he gets medical attention before anything can happen to him that could be avoided? Or would you like to explain that to your superintendent?” There was a pause, and I groaned again, concerned by what the woman’s voice was implying. I heard a loud sigh “No ma’am” “Then get the bloody medics!” “Yes ma’am. MEDICS! In here now.” I felt a whisper tickling my ear “Don’t worry, I don’t think you’re in any danger, I just want them to check you over and get you out of here so we can work out what’s happened and speak to you coherently.” “An Oo” I managed to cough out as the sound of boots came closer to me. It was almost thank you - almost. “You’re welcome.” “What the f…” exclaimed a new voice - female I think. “Just see to the casualty and get him out of here. And try to close your mouths while you’re doing it please?”

The next few minutes were a blur of prodding and a sharp pain to the back of my head that made me growl. That was followed by a small pricking sensation in my arm. In the distance I could hear the two female voices talking. “The head trauma’s the only thing visible - could be something internal, but nothing to explain the paralysis.” “Scoop and run - get him to the nearest decent A&E and get a full workup done on him. I need to talk to him about this, and I need him coherent.” “But…” “Get him strapped to a backboard and get him out of here - now!” “Yes, ma’am”

I felt the sensation of my head being held tightly, then both my head and body being slowly rotated until I was on my back. Then I was lifted up and lowered onto something cold and plastic. After that, the lights went out again.

The next thing I remembered was screaming - loud and agonised, then I realised it was me doing the screaming. “Hold him down while the sedative works.” Shouting, garbled words, and more screaming - all mine again, I think. Fade to black.

The next time I came round was much more controlled. I was aware of a hazy light, and patches of shadow around me. Slowly, the scene swam into and out of focus. I could see - that was a new and welcome development! “Where …” I heard the word whispered in the distance, and realised it was my voice. One of the patches of shadow came closer, resolving itself slightly into a figure dressed in light blue, although there were no features visible. “Hospital, Mr Finch. You’re ok now.” “How …” Again, my voice somehow. The blue figure resolved itself a little more - red at the top, pink below, then mostly blue down to the bottom of my vision. Maybe a nurse. Hopefully a nurse. “I’m afraid I don’t know, but there are some people waiting to speak to you once the doctor’s seen you. I’ll go and get him now.” “Don’t …” so far away, was that really me? Why was I so scared? “You’re safe here Jonas. We’ll take good care of you.” “Please …” almost pleading, and still coming from so far away. What was going on? “I’ll just be a second, I promise.” A sigh, then “okay …” “Be back in a tick Jonas.” I felt my eyes close again, the effort of keeping them open had obviously been too much. When they re-opened, I was presented with a pale, almost blue face and pitch-black, soulless eyes. This time the details resolved quickly, and into a very familiar face - Caroline, my dead girlfriend. She looked deep into my eyes and cocked her head to one side briefly as if she was either listening to something or considering what to do next. I screamed - I was doing a lot of that lately - and she disappeared. “Mr Finch? Jonas? What’s wrong?” came the voice of the blue-dressed figure as she ran back in through the door. “Ca … Caro … Caroli … Caroline …” I stammered. This time it definitely was my voice, and felt like it came from me. “It’s okay Jonas, there’s just us here. No-one else.” She’d reached my side, and I could actually see the details now - yes, she was a nurse, with a kindly face and red hair. “Just … Just … Just here …” I blurted out. “I was only outside the door, no-one’s come past me Jonas. You must be mistaken.” “Saw … Saw her … Definitely … Definitely her …” “I can assure you, Jonas, there’s been no-one else in here.” “What’s the problem, nurse?” A new voice came from behind the nurse - male and tired, must be the doctor she’d mentioned. “Mr Finch had just been a little confused, but it’s okay now doctor.” She gently patted my arm, attempting to reassure me. The doctor stepped into view, looking as tired as his voice had suggested. “Let’s have a look at your stats and see how you’re doing Mr Finch.” “Why … Why … Why here…?” I was struggling to form sentences, not helped by the fact that my eyes were darting around the room to make sure I could see everything and everyone. “You were in an … incident and required our help. I’m sure you can appreciate that as you can’t speak properly and have difficulty moving at the moment, that you are in the best place?” The doctor flipped through my chart, and I’m sure I saw his eyebrows shoot up briefly when he looked at one of the machines I was hooked up to. “What … What happened … ?” “I … don’t have that information for you, I’m afraid Mr Finch.” He was lying about something there - he deliberately looked away from me when he said it. “There’s someone here that wants to talk to you. They’re being … most insistent about it.” “Who … ?” “Police - I think.” The last part of his reply worried me more than anything else. They’re either police or not, aren’t they? “Why … ?” “I don’t know, something about the incident that brought you here. I can put them off for a while longer, but I don’t think they’re going to give up.” There was a note of something in the doctor’s voice that I couldn’t place - fear maybe? “Fine … Now …” “You’re far from it, Mr Finch, but if you want to see her now, I’ll show her in. We’ll be outside if you need us.” He moved towards the door then stopped and half turned back to me. “Can you use your fingers yet?” I tried to flex my fingers and felt a small amount of movement in them - sight and some movement, would wonders never cease? “Little …” “I can see - should be enough for the call bell.” He moved over to the bed and took the call bell off the wall and wrapped my right hand around it. “Press it if you need anything.” “Thank … You …” “Just doing my job, Mr Finch. I’ll show your … visitor in.” He left the room, and I forced my eyes to stay open this time - I really didn’t want a repeat of last time. Surely it was a nightmare? It couldn’t have been real… Could it? No, don’t be stupid - how could it have been real… But then, wasn’t there … something to do with when I got home? Things were very fuzzy in my head, and I didn’t like it at all.

The door to my room opened, and I saw a woman enter. She was dressed like a detective in a suit and blouse, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. There was an odd patch towards the front that was stark white, but the rest of it was an auburn colour. She closed the door behind herself and pulled a chair over to the side of my bed opposite the door, almost as if she wanted to be able to see it while she was talking to me - odd. “Mr Finch, or can I call you Jonas?” Her voice was very familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I’d definitely heard it recently. “Jonas …” “I’d heard you were talking, and I’m glad we can finally chat about this. Don’t worry, I’ll take it slowly.” “What … Need …?” She leaned over from her chair, lowering her voice and getting closer to my ear. “I want to help you Jonas, but it’s not going to be easy.” “Why …?” That really worried me. Why did I need the help? What had I done / had done to me? “I don’t know how, but you’ve managed to get caught up in a … unique situation. Can I be frank with you?” “Please …” I could hear my heart monitor starting to speed up. Definitely worried. “You were visited last night, weren’t you? In your home? By someone you lost?” A dam broke in my mind, and sent pain, fear and the overwhelming desire to scream flooding through my body. I felt one hand tight around my mouth and one around my right hand, stopping me from pressing the button. “Blink if I’m right” I blinked, and tears rolled down my cheeks. “I’m going to let go now. Please don’t scream, and don’t use the button - you’ll only put them in danger.” My eyes went wide at that part. I saw her face in front of mine, her piercing green eyes staring straight into mine. “I need you to trust me, and I need you to help me Jonas.” I blinked again, then felt her hands relax and pull away from my mouth and hand. The urge to scream was still very strong, but I choked it back. “What … have I … done?” “Nothing Jonas, but it’s been made to look very different.” “Caroli … Caroline and … Vic … Vicky.” I said their names, remembering exactly what I’d seen when I walked through the door. What the hell was going on? “Two? You’re sure?” Her eyebrows were high, and I didn’t think that was a good sign. “Girlfriend and … our … still …” I coughed through a sob. “Stillborn daughter” I saw a flash of pain across her face, then her expression went back to wariness. “You’re absolutely certain there were two?” I growled. “Yes. Not forgetting that … in a hurry.” Her right eyebrow raised slightly at that. “Can you try to move your left arm for me?” I lifted my arm off the bed, and held my hand in front of my face. Damn, it was good to see it, and it was an effort to hold it there, but it was good to see I was getting control of my body back. “Progress…” “Indeed, Jonas. Just as well, as we’re going to have to move soon.” “Why…?” “They’ll be coming here for you. They still need something from you.” “Saw Caroline … earlier. Closed eyes … Was there when opened, then … vanished.” She stopped stock still at that, and I saw her eyes narrow. “When?” “Before the doctor … came in.” “Think very carefully, and I know this is hard, but was there anything you remember about seeing her that seemed … odd?” “Other than her … being dead? Pale, blue … face and black … eyes. Seemed interested … or listening to something.” “How so?” “Head cocked to … the side. I … screamed, she disappeared. What do they … want with me?” “Nothing good, trust me. I’ve …” she swallowed, then continued “I’ve dealt with their kind before.” I let out a long sigh and looked up at the ceiling. Seriously, what kind of hellish trouble was I in here that I was talking about the dead walking around with a complete stranger. I started to close my eyes. “NO!” My eyes hadn’t quite closed all the way, and now they shot open again at the sound of her shouting at me. “For the love of god Jonas, don’t close your eyes. Blinking’s fine, but don’t close them for any length of time.” “Why?” “What did you do just before you saw … Caroline?” “Oh… How?” “I don’t know, it seems to act like a beacon somehow. Just don’t do it if you value our lives.” “Mr Finch? Jonas? Are you ok in there?” The nurse’s voice called from behind the closed door. “We heard shouting?” “All ok.” I managed to call out. “Misunderstanding.” “Are you sure?” “Yes. Will call if … I need you.” I was almost managing whole sentences now. I tried moving my legs, and was surprised when they responded, albeit slowly. “Ok. We’ll be nearby.” “Thank you.” There was a brief pause before I heard footsteps walking away from the door. “And thank you, Jonas. That could have been - difficult.” “What now?” “I need to get you out of here, then I can work on helping you out of this … situation.” She’d started pacing around the room, looking like some kind of caged animal. I still knew next to nothing about her, but she was clearly someone who was used to taking action. “How?” “I’ll think of something.” She stopped pacing and turned to look straight at me. “I’ll need to leave you here while I pick something up. Promise me you won’t close your eyes?” “Promise.” “There are police here as well to see you - your living room was a bit … chaotic when you were found. They’ll want to speak to you as well, but I’ll ask your doctor to put them off for now.” “Thanks.” She walked over to the door and stopped with her hand on the handle. “Remember Jonas - keep your eyes open.” I suspected she meant that in more ways than one. “Will do. Who …?” “Call me Kat” she replied, then walked out of the room.

Shortly after she went, the nurse came back into my room to see how I was and to make sure that there really had been nothing untoward when Kat had shouted. Once I’d repeated my assurances for the fifth time, which seemed to please her on two levels - that I was coherent and that there was nothing wrong - she checked all of my stats again and promised to return with the doctor and maybe something to drink. When the room descended into the semi-quiet of just the background noise of the various machines, I finally started to think properly about what was going on. It sounded completely insane, putting it mildly - the dead, the long dead, returning from the grave and visiting me. Them apparently wanting something slightly sinister from me (brains? That might be a crash diet) - again, absolutely insane. But what was that about the police wanting to speak to me about my living room? And then, if they wanted to speak with me after I’d spoken to Kat - if that was her real name - then who the hell was she and what was her interest in all of this? “I’m going crazy. Only explanation. Finally having … breakdown.” I whispered to myself.

I was staring up at the ceiling, still keeping my eyes open like a good boy - other than blinking - when I heard the door open and someone step into the room. I didn’t hear any footsteps, but heard the door close again. “Hello? Nurse?” “Ah, you’re awake Mr Finch. Just need to adjust your IV.” It was a male voice, and not the doctor I’d spoken to earlier. I turned my head towards the voice and didn’t recognise the figure, which made me a little uneasy. “Where’s … doctor saw … earlier.” I exaggerated slightly the pauses between my words, just in case there was something to my unease. “Shift change - he’s getting a well-earned rest.” Now I was really uneasy, especially as he had one hand in his pocket. He stopped fiddling with my IV, then stopped as if he was considering something before producing a syringe from his pocket and walking over to my bed. Just as I was about to shout, I felt his hand smothering my mouth. “Sorry, Jonas. Can’t have you doing that.” I glared at him and tried to press the call button. He held up the other end of the cable and grinned evilly at me. “Or that.” I tried to bite his hand, but he’d been too clever and had left his fingers out of my reach. This wasn’t going to end well for me, I just didn’t know how painful the journey was going to be. “There are a couple of, ah, friends of yours that would like to see you.” He pulled the safety cap off the top of the syringe with his teeth, then lent his knee on my right arm while he injected me. I felt the sharp pricking, then a chill spread up my arm and started fighting to keep conscious and thrashing around on the bed - seemingly much to his enjoyment. “Knock yourself out - it’s pointless, and you’ll see them again very soon.” “Damn you. Will … kill … you …” I spat, feeling my limbs getting heavier and heavier and my eyelids drooping. Damn it! I couldn’t stop them. I guessed I might find out what Kat meant, assuming I ever woke up. Then darkness.

I heard a mix of noises, wet sounds, ragged breathing, whimpering. My eyes briefly flicked open and I saw them again, sat in the chair opposite me - it looked like Caroline was feeding Vicky something wet and glistening. More whimpering and ragged sobs. A wet smacking noise, the sound of meat tearing. Caroline looked at me with those pits of darkness, considering me carefully, then she turned Vicky around to see her daddy… Blood smeared all over her face that she was licking off with gusto. Same black pools for eyes, but regarding me with hunger. I’ll swear I heard a gurgle of joy, then a shushing from Caroline. “Later, darling.” I felt those words rather than heard them and blacked out again before I could even think about screaming my lungs out.

A voice in the dark. “Damn it. Wake up Jonas, now!” I knew it from somewhere. I felt a hot, stinging pain on my face and jumped to consciousness. “What? Who? Caroline? Vicky - oh lord no!” I was in a charnel house, blood smeared all over the walls, half-eaten entrails scattered over the bed on top of me and what used to be maybe two bodies in pieces strewn across the floor. “I thought I told you? Don’t …” “I didn’t. Doctor, or someone else, drugged me. Taunted me.” Kat turned away from me, looked around the room and came to a decision. “We have to leave. Now.” She said without turning back around. “Do I need to carry you?” I tried lifting myself up in the bed - I was sore, but seemed to have control back over my limbs again. I regretted doing that as I could now see more of the carnage and felt bile rising in my throat yet again. I swallowed, hard. “No. Just to get me some clothes.” “Bedside cupboard.” I lifted myself further up in the bed and felt something under my right arm - the cap off the syringe. “Here.” I threw it at her like a petulant child. “I was drugged, damn it!” She caught it as she turned, glanced at it and put it in her pocket. Sighing, she looked at me. “Doesn’t bring them back. Get dressed.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed and opened the cupboard - clothes, check. Looked like shoes at the side as well. I dressed quickly, doing my best to avoid the many patches of blood by my bed. “Now what?” I asked, trying to avoid looking too closely at the remains. “We walk out of here calmly, then we put as much distance as possible between us and here as we can.” “Lead on.”

Kat strode calmly out of my room and down the corridor with me following on behind trying to do my level best to look like I belonged there and that there was nothing out of the ordinary to see and that we’d definitely not just walked out of a scene from a horror movie. There were still so many questions running around in my head, but I could tell that this was definitely not the time to be asking any of them - maybe once we were far away from here. I followed her through a maze of corridors, and we eventually exited the hospital through - of all things - the main reception area. She glanced behind to make sure that I was still with her, then turned to the left and walked over to one of the trees that had been planted nearby to give the grounds a more organic and less sterile feel. “No problems so far?” She asked and I wasn’t sure if it was genuine concern or out of concern for her own safety. “Sore, but still going. Where to now?” “We’re parked a couple of streets away - still some more walking to do.” She was looking over to the hospital reception, checking to see if there were any signs that anyone had found the carnage in my room. “You ready, or do you need a breather?” “I’ll breathe when we’re away from here.” I was talking a good game, but inside I was terrified, more than just a little sore from whatever had been done to me and I kept having brief flashbacks to seeing Caroline and Vicky, or whatever they were. What the hell was going on here?

We walked, again outwardly calmly, off the hospital grounds and through a couple of the neighbouring back streets until we stopped beside a nondescript estate car. “This is us - get in.” I opened the passenger-side door and slid into the seat, fastening my seatbelt almost on autopilot. Kat briefly glanced around before slipping into the driver’s seat and buckling up herself. She looked over at me “Keep your eyes open and we’ll talk once we’re out of the city.” “Ok, but I do have a couple of hundred questions for you - you must know that?” “I do, and I’ll answer what I can - once we’re safely away from the city. Deal?” “Deal - drive on.”

It was an uneventful drive, mercifully. Kat was remarkably calm for someone who’d seen much of the same things as I had - and she’d also evidently seen whatever scene had played out at my home… Who the hell was she? What was her interest in this? I kept coming back to many of the same questions: Why me? Why my dead girlfriend and daughter? Who or what were they now? What did they want? Did they actually want anything, or just to torment me? Was this all some kind of nightmare? Had I finally snapped and this was some kind of psychosis? A bad trip? I kept staring out of the window, all these questions and more running through my head and, mercifully, keeping me awake. To be honest, it felt like I wouldn’t be wanting to close my eyes in a hurry anyway. The scenery had changed from city urban to a much more rural feel - I’d completely lost all track of time with my musings and had no idea how long we’d been driving for and where on earth we were. I was a little anxious at that, I’ll be honest, but what choice did I have at this stage? We pulled into the driveway of what looked like a barn conversion - it had seen better days, but looked sound from here in the darkness. Kat killed the lights and turned off the engine. “We’re here. Let’s get inside, then you can break out the thumbscrews on me.” “Mmhmm.” I found myself looking around for other signs of life nearby and coming up short. I had a feeling I could scream until my lungs exploded and no-one would hear me. That was putting the hairs up on the back of my neck. Horror 101 - no secluded houses in the countryside in the dead of night… I was just missing a good thunderstorm, then the atmosphere would be complete. We both left the car and walked over to the door - closer up, it actually looked in pretty good condition which made me think it had been made to deliberately look from the road to be more run down than it actually was. Kat unlocked the door and it swung silently open - I think I would have yelped if it had creaked. She dipped inside in the dark and I heard the blipping of an alarm system start up and quickly stop - I hadn’t remembered seeing any evidence of an alarm on the outside. She reappeared in the doorway and beckoned me into the dark hallway. I reluctantly stepped in and closed the door behind me, at which point she clicked the light on. It looked pretty nondescript inside - nothing special, but then it had looked deceptive on the outside as well. She nodded over to the left “Kitchen - we can eat and talk, assuming you have any appetite?” “Not really, but it’s been a long time since I last ate.” We walked through into the kitchen - again, pretty nondescript other than the fact that it was large, with an island in the middle and a breakfast bar over on one of the walls. Kat walked over to the connecting door to what looked like the dining room and closed it over, then doing the same with the door we’d just come through. I raised an eyebrow at this. “We’re the only ones here, but at least it’ll buy us some time if there’s a problem later.” My other eyebrow raised, answering for me. “There’s no milk, but I’m suspecting you’d prefer your coffee black at this point?” “Good guess.” Kat busied herself filling the kettle, finding mugs and the coffee. “Ask away” she said over her shoulder. I was briefly thrown by this - where the hell did I start? “Who the hell are you?” the question jumped from my lips - not the one I thought would have been first, but definitely high on the list. “Kat’s good enough for now - you don’t need my full name at this point. As to my interest in your situation…” she clicked the kettle on “I have an, ah, interest in the unusual and a knack for finding it.” “That’s …” I started “Not an answer, I know. I investigate unusual occurrences, and sometimes help people with their … less than normal problems.” “You mean the paranormal?” “I’m not a fan of the term, it’s been abused a lot over the years. But yes, that’s the kind of thing - strange happenings, odd creatures, impossible situations are my stock in trade. Sugar?” “Huh? Oh, none.” She slid a mug across the top of the island to me - hot, pitch black and reeking of bitter coffee. It looked and smelt like pure heaven to me. “Are you serious…?” I asked. “Deadly, or have you forgotten what you’ve seen with your own eyes?” I swallowed hard at the memories. “No. Definitely not.” “Good. Next?” “What the fuck is going on?” “I thought that might have been your first question. It’s definitely going to be the longest one to answer - take a seat.” We pulled the stools out from under the breakfast bar and sat down. I instantly felt tired, but I could also feel my brain perking up at the smell of the coffee. “Okay, I’ll narrow it down a little - what the hell has happened to Caroline and Vicky? They’re dead for god’s sake. I buried them six months ago.” “It’s not them…” “The hell it isn’t…” “It’s not. Their forms are being used - they were taken from your memories when you went into your living room two nights ago. It’s a tactic used to drive you insane.” I barked out a hoarse laugh “It’s working.” “Not yet - the insane don’t question their sanity, trust me on that. They feed on the chaos that they cause and once they’ve driven you completely insane, they’ll tear you apart - on all levels.” Kat had been looking at me during the conversation so far, but her head tilted down so she was staring at her coffee when she mentioned about them driving people completely insane. I let it go for now - we had more pressing concerns. “So, when you said they still wanted something from me, you meant my sanity and my life?” “Correct.” I thought for a second, remembering the ‘doctor’ who drugged me. “Do they have help?” She looked back up at me. “Yes. There are some people who, for want of a better word, worship them and others of their ilk. They receive certain boons from them, and a guarantee - such as it is - that they won’t befall the same fate as their other victims.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Not that they’re ever to be trusted on anything they say - they’re expert manipulators.” “I can well believe that.” I took a long slow swig of the coffee and felt it burning my throat on the way down. We both sat in silence for a minute, which I then broke with my next question. “How can they find me when I close my eyes, and why doesn’t it work with blinking the same way?” “In all honesty, I’m not sure. There seems to be a link formed when they rip the forms out of your memories, and that can be tracked back to you when your eyes are closed for any length of time. Blinking is just too short to get a fix. They don’t always use every opportunity, but sleep is their best bet.” She took another sip of the coffee. “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the effect of waking up to their little dioramas is incredibly effective at pushing people over the edge.” I nodded, grimly. “So, I guess my next question has to be - how do I get rid of them?” She held the mug in both of her hands, savouring the warmth, then looked me dead in the eyes. “That’s the tricky bit. We either have to break the connection they’ve got with you, or we have to lure them out and somehow kill them.” “Have you done this before?” “Honestly? No. Not with this species.” I turned away from her gaze and thought, playing the conversation over in my head again. “Hang on a second,” I said, turning back. “Others of their ilk? This species? You’re seriously telling me that…” “There are other creatures like them out there? Yes. If you’re very, very lucky, you’d never come across any of them directly as long as you live. Most people never do. There‘s usually a specific reason why someone sparks an interest in one of them - either as a powerful follower, a source of power / sustenance, or as a tool for something else. Sometimes even just as a plaything.” “Lucky me. So, if you don’t know how to break the connection they have with me, I’m guessing you don’t know how to kill them either?” “Massive trauma’s usually a good starting point - a lot of bullets over a short space of time, or decapitation tends to work most of the time as well. The problem’s not normally the corporeal form, it’s the essence of the creature that can cause problems - but there are ways to cope with that, it’s just knowing the right one.” “I think at this point I’m willing to try anything to get rid of them.” “You do realise that as part of this we’re going to have to use you to draw them out?” “Yes. I also realise that we may not be able to do this so, if it comes to it I’d like you to do what you know you have to do to sever the connection.” I looked deep into Kat’s eyes as I said this, knowing that she’d understand what I was asking her to do. Well, if I was dead, the connection would be severed and this would be all over. Hell, my life as it had been was over anyway, so it made little difference to me now. She stared back at me, searching my eyes to make sure she understood me. “You realise what you’re asking me to do?” “I do. We both know it’s the only definite way to stop this continuing, don’t we?” “It is, and hopefully it won’t come to that. Now, I have a couple of things I’d like to prepare before we roll out the welcome mat, and I’d prefer it if you didn’t know what they were - just in case.” “No problem. I’ll amuse myself in here - keeping my eyes open, of course.” “That would be appreciated. Shouldn’t be long. Kat drained the last of her coffee and left me alone in the kitchen, closing the door behind her. I let out the breath it felt that I’d been holding in all the way through that discussion. I felt like screaming, and every fibre of my body wanted to run far away from here. It was an effort to keep myself on the stool, cradling the remains of my coffee. I really didn’t want to die, and definitely didn’t want to be driven slowly insane at the cost of innocent people’s lives - hell, even if it didn’t cost any lives I didn’t want to be certifiable. I still didn’t really know why they’d picked me - what on earth did I have to offer them that the rest of joe public didn’t?

I savoured the last of the coffee, then rinsed the cup out in the sink and left it on the draining board. Every now and then I could hear noises from elsewhere in the house - scraping of something heavy on the ceiling, or cupboards opening and closing. I also heard the front door open and footsteps outside. I won’t deny, with every passing minute it was getting harder and harder to convince myself that this was the right thing to be doing instead of bolting for it - especially as there was still a better than average chance that it’d end up with us both dead for nothing. Ask yourself this - what would you do in this situation? Run? Fight? Ignore it and be driven insane by something pretending to be your dearly departed? How long would you hold fast to your choice while you were waiting to actually do something? 5 minutes? Half an hour? A day? Longer? Would you consider taking your own life to hopefully end it all quickly? Believe me, that was looking a more and more attractive option as the time passed. You know you’re in a bad situation when you’re cataloguing potential weapons in a kitchen and you’ve got a long list with their relative effectivenesses… Yep, I had a small theoretical armoury at my disposal by the time that Kat knocked on the door of the kitchen. “It’s me.” Kat announced before opening the door. I took my hand off the hilt of the carving knife I’d been stood next to and turned to face her. “All good?” “As good as it can be. Here - can you use one of these?” She handed me a pistol, handle first. I took hold of it, ejected the clip and pulled the slide back to eject any chambered rounds. “Never fired one, but I’ve got a good idea how to. Done some clay shooting in the past, so it can’t be too different?” “Point and shoot. This is likely to be close quarters, so keep your nerve - especially given their current forms.” I swallowed hard at that. It was one thing to think about killing some malevolent creature, it was another if they were wearing the form of your dead girlfriend and daughter.

<End>

I did warn you it was long! Kudos for reading it all, though - let me know what you thought.

#writeblr #my wips #my ocs #ww&dp: untitled horror #tw: death #tw: violence #tw: swearing #tw: blood #tw: gore

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