Last night, I randomly jotted down an idea. Today, on my phone, I made a little rough draft story out of it. I hope you enjoy!
“I just wish you both would understand what I’m trying to do. If you would just agree, I could make our lives better. It would just take a little time in the new land,” the man reasoned in his plea.
It was a holiday, but the heavy cloud of recent failures hung over the man dampening all joy. He looked at the two disapproving faces as the dinner table, their eyes pointed down and their silence screaming at him. This made the man upset.
“IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?!” the man yelled as he stood up knocking his chair back. “Hate me all you want, but I desire more. Not just for me, but for us.”
With a great boom the creature burst into the home extinguishing all lights except for the single candle on the table that splattered flickering shadows across the wall. The man who had been standing was flung against the wall knocking the wind from his lungs. A cursory glance showed the other two members of his family unconscious on the floor. His eyes were drawn to movement and then to the two glowing green eyes that met his. The creature stood on the table staring at him.
Behind those eyes the man could feel a cold, deep, hungering desire. It consumed almost all of his strength zapping his will to stand. As the eyes rested on him he felt as if he might be swallowed up in that moment.
“What are you?” the man managed to whisper, still slumped against the wall.
He was half hoping not to draw the attention of the creature.
“Me?” the creature responded.
Its glowing green eyes shifted up and then down at him as he approached, the man nodded.
“I am an entity of good fortune, it is your luck that we have crossed paths. I can give to you that which you desire.”
“I,” the man hesitated as he glanced at the two unconscious members of his family who laid on the floor, he swallowed before speaking again. “My desires?”
“Of course, all you need to do is ask it of me.”
The felt the creatures words as if they were a great hand wrapping around him. He feared it would pull him in. But, as much as he coveted his desires, the thought of his family pressed itself to the forefront. He looked at them, and although he could see them breathing, he was overwhelming worried for them.
“I, I w-would ask nothing of you,” the man stammered.
“Are you not wanting? Have you no desire? That cannot be, you were just speaking of it,” the creature thought outloud as it looked the man over and searched his thoughts. “I see your desires, I know the hunger you carry. Why would you not ask for them if I am offering to give it to you, do you fear me?”
“Yes,” the man replied more strongly and without hesitation.
“You are right to fear, this world will take everything from you one day. But you need not fear me, for I am here to give to you.”
“No.”
“Why do you resist me still?!” the creature howled.
“I have felt you crawling over my thoughts. I know you know what I want, but you miss what I truly fear. You wish to give to me?”
“Of course, that is my nature. All you need to do is ask. Why will you not ask?”
“Because, greater than my fear of you is my fear of what you would take in return for giving me what I desire. Despite my desire for more, I cannot discount what I have,” the man said as he gestured towards his unconscious family. “I am thankful for what I have.”
“Well then,” the creature said as it turned away. “And here I thought there was not wisdom among men.”
In a twist of greenish smoke, the creature seemed to evaporate. The single candle roared on the table as if it were burning away the world. The screaming silence returned and the man found himself sitting at the table, a holiday dinner on his plate, and his scowling family in front of him.
“I’m…” the man looked around at his loved ones as he paused.
He tried to remember the creature, the green eyes that held the hunger behind them. But even the memory was slowly evaporating. Looking around, it was as if nothing had happened. The man had forgotten what he was saying.
“I’m thankful for you all, I truly am.”
The scowls softened and the weighted cloud hanging over them dispersed.
“Let’s eat,” a woman said as she smiled at the man.
Though the man still had problems, they seemed to shrink against the enormity of all that he was thankful for over the past year of his life.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nathaniel Writes 