Empty Shell

[WhereFMF]

Consider this my belated entry to Memoirs of the Dead. It's a shame there were no winners (or even entries?) for Carapar. And yes, it's a really short story—after all, it was carved on one tablet.

 

------------------------

 

I found this tablet in Carapar's former cell during the evacuation of The Pit. Seeing as there's no more Order of Mata Nui and therefore no need for secrecy, especially given the death of the writer, I'm publishing it for all to see. - Hydraxon

 

For a few minutes—just a few—my mind is my own again, so I want to carve out these few tablets.

 

It's so hard to think these days. It even took me some time to remember how to write. I used to write a lot; I remember writing a few orders for moving supplies from one island to another. It's not an important memory, I know, but it's one of the few I have left, so I hold on tight to it.

 

If you've ever met me, you might notice that I sound different when I write from when I speak. It's because when I'm talking, it's usually Takadox doing the talking.

 

Takadox. I really don't like Takadox.

 

I can remember a time when I was fighting against an island city. It'd been a long fight, and we had them surrounded...I know there's a word for this kind of thing, but I can't remember what it is. I won the fight by doing something clever. I don't know what it was anymore. The others always congratulate me on that, and I don't know what they mean. It's so hard.

 

How did I go from a great ruler everyone loved, to this? No, it wasn't trying to take over Mata Nui; it wasn't the Pit; it was Takadox.

 

But wait! I remember the first time Takadox started making me do things. He walked up to me, and said some things that made me feel good. And then I noticed an hour had gone by and I couldn't remember any of it.

 

Then he started doing it more and more often. I know I had a better mind once, but Takadox took it away like that. Now he's my mind. We're one. Sometimes when I'm alone his control wears off, and I can use my own mind again. But it doesn't last long. He always comes back.

 

I could fight back. I could kill him. I'm stronger than he is. But he always makes the right decisions for us. It's so much easier to let him do the thinking now.

 

I might have a really hard shell. But I guess that's all I am now. A shell.

 

He is back. I have to go.

Edited May 14, 2014 by WhereFMF

[LockmanCapulet]

...

 

...dang.

 

Brief, but well written. Its brevity actually serves to enhance the story. In less than 400 words, you've completely overturned our understanding of a character and enhanced that of another, all while fitting into the often-tight mold of plausible canon. Well done.

[Some Random Phrase]

Great. Wonderful. Now I actually like Carapar. I always looked at him a just a big dumb brute and didn't like him much. Now I have a bit of sympathy for him.