Gods
Entry posted by Janus
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This is an idea that's been floating in the back of my head since last week, and it was going to be the entry for Thursday--but I couldn't write to a degree that made me happy, so I scrapped it. Here is part one in all its glory.
Part two comes tomorrow.
Word count: 870
Enjoy!
Samuel East—Sam, for short, was sitting quietly on a bench outside the park; with a small book open on his lap he sat unobtrusively.
To say that he was careful to ensure he was out of people’s way was an understatement. Sam had lived his entire life in this fashion, sitting quietly in the corners away from other people…usually with his nose in a book.
It wasn’t what most people assumed; that people simply weren’t interesting to him. No, it was the fact that he didn’t want to be a bother, and so he simply shuttled himself away into dark corners with a book for company.
On this day, however, something was different; even Sam could feel it…could feel that nervous prickle at the back of his neck. Glancing up from his book, Sam’s eyes darted around nervously, anxiously scanning the people gently moving around the park.
“You won’t find me that way” Came a disturbingly cold voice. A voice that somehow managed to hover just at the edge of Sam’s hearing…making it impossible to figure out where it had come from.
“Who…?” Sam murmured softly, half to himself as he again scanned the crowd that milled about the park.
“Me.” Came the voice, full of dark humor.
“But who are you?” Sam whispered, his eyes rapidly darting around as he tried to find a source for the mysterious voice.
“Interesting question” the dark voice chuckled. “Who am I?” There was a pause. “I’m someone on a quest…and I believe you can help me with that, Sam.”
Sam nearly dropped the book at this. His pudgy face flush as his hands scrambled to hold onto the book that had almost slipped from their grip.
“How do you know me?” He croaked quietly, his throat drying out quickly.
“You are full of questions, aren’t you?” came the voice. “Lucky for you at this point I happen to be full of answers. I know you, Samuel East, because I’ve been watching you for the past…oh…month or so, I’d say. And I’ve found that you will suit my purposes quite nicely.”
“…You’ve been watching me?” Sam said, voice cracking. “For…a month?”
“Yes.” The voice said simply.
“Why?” Sam murmured, almost dreading the answer.
“Because you can help me Sam, you can help me quite a bit.”
Sam wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and looked downwards—having long since abandoned his vain quest of discovering the voice’s owner.
“How?” he muttered.
“Look up.” The voice commanded. Sam obliged.
Sitting on the same bench as himself was a young child—a boy of no-more than six or seven. He had dark sandy hair and piercing green eyes which seemed to be boring directly into Sam’s own. Aside from his eyes, however, he seemed perfectly normal.
“Thank you, Sam” the boy spoke. Sam nearly wet himself.
“You’re…welcome?” Sam said questioningly.
“Tell me, Sam. How much do you know about myths? About Gods?”
Sam happened to be quite knowledgeable on this subject, having spent most of his life with his nose burrowed in a book he managed to read most myths at least one, and prided himself on his knowledge of the ancient Gods.
“Quite a bit” Sam half-grinned.
“As expected.” The boy said with a malicious smile. “Then you would know that often enough they appear to mortals in the guise of flesh.” Sam did a doubletake
“You can’t be trying to tell me…”
“That I’m a God?” The boy smiled again. “I won’t say anything then”
Sam rubbed his eyes repeatedly, all nervous somehow evaporated now that he knew he wasn’t dealing with a human—or at least that’s what he felt.
“Open your eyes.” Came the command—and Sam did as he was told.
The boy was gone.
“You see mortal, regretful though it is, your purposes is this. We as Gods cannot exist for a long period of time in this realm—we bend the fabric of time and space in such a way that we are able to force ourselves through the tiny pinprick that we’ve opened…but all too soon the fabric snaps back and sends us hurtling back into our own world.”
“I…don’t understand” Sam murmured, looking around for the boy.
“Of course you don’t. The simple fact is that if we want to do anything of worth on this world we need to find someway to avoid this slingshot effect—not only does it damage us, but it severely limits what we can do here in this realm. And so I have tried my own little experiment” The voice laughed darkly.
“And what’s that?” Sam said, pocketing his book and standing up. There was no sense in staying on the bench anymore, he just felt it.
“Why, having a helpful mortal such as yourself shield me, Sam.” The voice whispered.
Sam glanced around, the sense of panic returning to him threefold. He barely resisted the urge to run from that spot and never return, and, taking a deep breath he turned in a full circle to take in the entire park. The boy really was gone.
“Nice try, Sam.” The voice murmured. “But you and I are going to get to know each other quite well…”
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