And Caleb Burst Into Flames... (Part II)
Still completely unedited. Yay.
xD
Still no idea where it's headed. Yay.
Continued from my last post - please read that first or you'll be even more confused ...
:)
-------------------
Caleb first realized he was no longer on fire, and then secondly that he was somewhere else. After falling to the ground and reassuring himself with pats to his chest and head that only his pride was singed (with the minor exception of his left shoelace) he breathed his first breath of somewhere else as a sigh of relief. The air, he noticed, as most young men his age wouldn’t notice, tasted like oranges and salt and very unlike the train station with its grease from the tracks, shiny shod men’s cigars, pretty girl’s perfume, and smoky exhaust. Shakily getting to his feet, Caleb decided he was not where he was before, though what that meant he had no idea. The llama standing next to him under the mid-day sun happily chewing at the green grass cinched the fact.
Past the llama was a green hill and past the green hill was a fir tree and past the fir tree was an ocean and in the ocean there was a single fishing boat. Confused, dazed, and smelling of burnt leather, Caleb looked at the llama. The llama pointedly ignored him.
Driven by something he did not quite understand, Caleb, his left shoe flopping with every step, walked over the green hill, past the fir tree, and to the seashore. The smooth sand was slick beneath his shoes and Caleb realized suddenly that he had never seen an ocean before. The land tapered off to the water and dissolved away into the waves, which thundered into coast sounding like a beast from the deep jungles. It all sparkled and twitched and twirled in the sunlight like a thing completely alive and it left the already dazed young man dazzled. It was spectacular.
Now closer, Caleb saw shadows on the fishing boat move and heard a voice call out, “Hello!” across the water. The voice was deep and gravely and sounded like salt.
Caleb called back, far more timid and far less happy, “morning…?”
“Not at all, actually.” The voice carried oddly over the water. Despite the fact that the little watercraft was more than half a mile out to sea and that waves were continually crashing and singing into the sand, the speaker’s voice rang as clear as a bell.
“Oh?”
The voice called back, “It’s close to midnight, actually.”
Caleb had nothing to say to that, so he simply stood on the beach and let the sand fill his shoes until he could feel the grains rub between his toes. He stood in the sunlight for a full minute before the shadow called out to him again.
“You want a lift?”
In a state of shock only recently transported individuals such as Caleb can truly understand, Caleb mutely nodded his head and didn’t wonder at how the fishing boat man saw his acquiesce or how, a single second later, the boat blinked into being leaning up against the green hill with its anchor wrapped up around the fir tree. It wobbled for a second before coming to rest against the grass and a great sigh of seawater sluffed off its bow and crashed into the ground.
“Hop on board, kid.”
And so Caleb did. His shoes, now filled completely with sand, were pulled off his feet by the unbending force of gravity when he went to leave the beach and the young man left them, too stunned to force his body or mind to do anything but mutely follow the boat man’s directions.
In another blink Caleb was standing on the wooding fishing boat with splinters in his toes and leaning sharply east to compensate for the extreme angle the earthbound boat was forced into. In a second blink they were back on the ocean and Caleb was violently throwing up into the sea.
“Would you like an orange?”
Enough was enough, Caleb decided, and promptly fainted.
The ground underneath Caleb was rocking and jostling and pinching his skin and pulling his hair and there was an awful pain in his toe. He opened his eyes carefully and was met with the sight of and unruly beard speckled with the occasional grey whisker and spare fishing bobs and hooks.
Caleb quickly decided to close his eyes again.
“Hey now, boy-oh! Welcome back.”
Caleb’s attempt to wish himself back to the train station failed. His subsequent attempt to will himself dead also failed and he felt a roughened finger prod his cheek.
“You’re not the first, you know, so don’t worry none about that. Been lots before you, lots. You’re actually one of the best so far, if I must say. I never liked the screamers much myself.”
-------------------
Yup.
That's that then.
Tell me what you think?
(/paper procrastination...)
xD
Still no idea where it's headed. Yay.
Continued from my last post - please read that first or you'll be even more confused ...
:)
-------------------
Caleb first realized he was no longer on fire, and then secondly that he was somewhere else. After falling to the ground and reassuring himself with pats to his chest and head that only his pride was singed (with the minor exception of his left shoelace) he breathed his first breath of somewhere else as a sigh of relief. The air, he noticed, as most young men his age wouldn’t notice, tasted like oranges and salt and very unlike the train station with its grease from the tracks, shiny shod men’s cigars, pretty girl’s perfume, and smoky exhaust. Shakily getting to his feet, Caleb decided he was not where he was before, though what that meant he had no idea. The llama standing next to him under the mid-day sun happily chewing at the green grass cinched the fact.
Past the llama was a green hill and past the green hill was a fir tree and past the fir tree was an ocean and in the ocean there was a single fishing boat. Confused, dazed, and smelling of burnt leather, Caleb looked at the llama. The llama pointedly ignored him.
Driven by something he did not quite understand, Caleb, his left shoe flopping with every step, walked over the green hill, past the fir tree, and to the seashore. The smooth sand was slick beneath his shoes and Caleb realized suddenly that he had never seen an ocean before. The land tapered off to the water and dissolved away into the waves, which thundered into coast sounding like a beast from the deep jungles. It all sparkled and twitched and twirled in the sunlight like a thing completely alive and it left the already dazed young man dazzled. It was spectacular.
Now closer, Caleb saw shadows on the fishing boat move and heard a voice call out, “Hello!” across the water. The voice was deep and gravely and sounded like salt.
Caleb called back, far more timid and far less happy, “morning…?”
“Not at all, actually.” The voice carried oddly over the water. Despite the fact that the little watercraft was more than half a mile out to sea and that waves were continually crashing and singing into the sand, the speaker’s voice rang as clear as a bell.
“Oh?”
The voice called back, “It’s close to midnight, actually.”
Caleb had nothing to say to that, so he simply stood on the beach and let the sand fill his shoes until he could feel the grains rub between his toes. He stood in the sunlight for a full minute before the shadow called out to him again.
“You want a lift?”
In a state of shock only recently transported individuals such as Caleb can truly understand, Caleb mutely nodded his head and didn’t wonder at how the fishing boat man saw his acquiesce or how, a single second later, the boat blinked into being leaning up against the green hill with its anchor wrapped up around the fir tree. It wobbled for a second before coming to rest against the grass and a great sigh of seawater sluffed off its bow and crashed into the ground.
“Hop on board, kid.”
And so Caleb did. His shoes, now filled completely with sand, were pulled off his feet by the unbending force of gravity when he went to leave the beach and the young man left them, too stunned to force his body or mind to do anything but mutely follow the boat man’s directions.
In another blink Caleb was standing on the wooding fishing boat with splinters in his toes and leaning sharply east to compensate for the extreme angle the earthbound boat was forced into. In a second blink they were back on the ocean and Caleb was violently throwing up into the sea.
“Would you like an orange?”
Enough was enough, Caleb decided, and promptly fainted.
The ground underneath Caleb was rocking and jostling and pinching his skin and pulling his hair and there was an awful pain in his toe. He opened his eyes carefully and was met with the sight of and unruly beard speckled with the occasional grey whisker and spare fishing bobs and hooks.
Caleb quickly decided to close his eyes again.
“Hey now, boy-oh! Welcome back.”
Caleb’s attempt to wish himself back to the train station failed. His subsequent attempt to will himself dead also failed and he felt a roughened finger prod his cheek.
“You’re not the first, you know, so don’t worry none about that. Been lots before you, lots. You’re actually one of the best so far, if I must say. I never liked the screamers much myself.”
-------------------
Yup.
That's that then.
Tell me what you think?
(/paper procrastination...)