keepthywits
Of What Was Left Behind (ONC 2024)

Of What Was Left Behind (ONC 2024)

23 0 9

In a ruined world, what traces of humans remain?In an overgrown corner of a once-intact room, nestled in the roots of a young tree, a barely functional camera watches over the decay. Maintenance calls go unanswered, leaving it to conserve power, turning on its lens only when things get within its proximity range.Its largely monotonous world gets disrupted when a family of birds make the tree it rests on home. Mysteriously, their presence stirs a torrent of memories within its circuits, some intact and others corrupted. However, recalling memories comes at a cost, and its power, gleaned from the sun, gets drained faster than it can recover.Despite the risk, the camera cannot cease. It is compelled to observe and document the intertwining of past and present unfolding before its lens. As it continues it realises why the family of birds recalls seemingly unrelated memories.It was bound by a promise of the past, one that was corrupted beyond repair, an overlap between its owner and the birds are found. Repairs of core memories are underway and soon, the bigger picture reveals itself. The battery falls, and the past gives way to the present.*An entry for the ONC 2024 using prompt 24*…

A Mother's Love [Completed]

A Mother's Love [Completed]

206 28 6

[Completed]Heather Holloy, a grieving mother, is at the cusp of fulfilling her son's final promise. All she has to do is delete all traces of her son's data stored in the big, technology-based company, Mnemonics Inc. The plan is set. She just has to execute it. It should have been simple, but crossing the rich and powerful has dire consequences.- A 5 part short story -…

Indisposable Trash

Indisposable Trash

1,647 191 19

Time, though seemingly linear, is far from being so. Lilac Mellows thinks she knows all about the time she's spent alive. She knows most of it was spent as Trash Class, the lowest of the low. The only thing stopping her from falling to the depths of despair is her de-facto sister, Chickadee. Not wanting to burn in the flames of war, Lilac takes the opportunity to try and save her only family left. Through dodgy dealings, precarious agreements and mysterious help from a supposed long-lost friend, Lilac and Chickadee get increasingly entangled in something deeper. Only then does Lilac realise that things, even reality and time, are not so simple. Though all she wanted was to live with Chickadee, her murky, time warped past begins to rear its ugly head and forces beyond her comprehension are starting to move once again. Now Lilac has to find a way to keep her and Chickadee safe from various conspiracies spanning universes and millennia. *Cover is by me.**This story is also on RoyalRoad.com*…

Flowers in the Snow

Flowers in the Snow

133 9 9

A necklace, a pair of shoes, a ribbon and a robot dog. It has been hundreds of years since the Rot was released. Only those that remain on this frigid and poisoned earth are the unlucky ones, and the number of survivors is dwindling. Sania Teik and a handful of the 5th generation live within deep underground settlements in order to hide from the Rot's decaying touch. They are the precious youth, protected and sheltered at all cost.However, the lifelights are extinguishing one by one, and sooner or later it will be their turn. At the edge of the world, their settlement is to be the last to fall. It is a waiting game with no one as the foreseeable winner, that is until an inexplicable hope presents itself in the form of a signal originating from the most uninhabitable part of the earth - the surface.The settlement's lifelight is flickering, and the waiting game is over. Now, it is a game against time, with the future as the prize.…

Short Stories, Poems and Other Strange Musings

Short Stories, Poems and Other Strange Musings

394 57 15

A compendium of short stories which may be expanded upon. From the dark, to the uncanny, step into the many worlds conjured by the human imagination.The more people who vote for an open story idea, the more likely it will become a book of its own. Some are more decided than others but I hope all bring some sort of enjoyment to you, the reader.There will be stories which have dark themes or disturbing descriptions. There will be a warning but please note that some of these stories are not for the faint of hearted. There will not be any romance.…

Perception (ONC 2021)

Perception (ONC 2021)

306 58 17

Forewarning. This was my first time doing a paranormal kind of story so it is VERY rough around the edges. If you can tolerate a confusing plot that goes somewhere but nowhere at the same time....Well feel free to read.The Face Carver; that was the nickname that the media gave to the lunatic running around the small town of Marington. However, a serial killer is the least of Lauris's problems.When a strange statue of an eye appears on her doorstep, otherworldly, paranormal events start happening around her. Chased by malicious beings, she begins to unravel the mystery of the events and the truth behind the face carverHer perception of reality will change, and assumptions challenged.Perception is in constant flux. Thus, the truth is variable. An entry for the open novella contest 2021.Previously titled 'Madness in 21 Days'…

Rant Thy Problems Away

Rant Thy Problems Away

26 3 1

Home to rants and sporadic pieces of advice from yours truly. May contain sarcasm.Enjoy.…