Touch (712 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.81 on 27 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by orph (View user info) at 2007-08-13 09:30:33 EDT
He carefully avoided the oncoming pedestrian rush as the wind whipped his long coat about him. He reached out to rein in its tangled swirling and quickly pulled his hand back in to his body so as not to brush the arm of the pretty girl walking the other way.
Relieved, he made his way to the wall of large sandstone blocks that formed the base of the tall buildings lining the street. He hadn't been outside for weeks, but he couldn't stay in again today. That path led to madness, as if there was not enough to tip him over the edge already. The stones were still warm from the earlier sunshine, and he soaked the soothing heat into his cold body.
He felt the familiar, agonising suction of transformation, and instantly remembered his gloves stuffed into his jeans pocket. With a painful effort, he wrenched his hands away from the stone, and watched a grey mist rise from the contact point and disappear. The squashed body of a cockroach remained stuck to the wall.
"Stupid, stupid," he berated himself, pulling the gloves over his burnt fingers, the broken, blackened skin scraped on the gold-fibre lining, but now he was safe.
He moved on, still a bit rattled, but resolved to continue. The crowds eventually thinned out as he made his way out of the city district and down the quiet harbour-side street on which he lived. He looked carefully around as he opened the door to his house, confirmed no one was looking, and stepped inside. He was greeted by the first of the two airlocks he had installed soon after he realised what had happened to him.
He stripped and let the force of the water jets raise him off his feet, removing any insects or microscopic creatures that may have been caught up in his clothing, but had yet to come in contact with him. The chlorine solution protected his pores and neutralised any effects until he could move into the second lock chamber. It burnt his skin, and caused an endless rash across his chest and thighs, but was far more preferential than the alternative.
Once inside the second chamber blasted him dry, whipping him with hot air. A plastic-wrapped box provided him with clothes to wear inside, again lined with the malleable fabric woven from gold-metal thread. It had cost him a fortune to clothe himself, but it was worth it now.
Reviewing the sensors that peered into his living area, confirmed what he had hoped - no signs of life.
"Thank Christ," he murmured, although it was just an empty saying to him now - he'd long ago lost any hope or belief in a greater, loving god. His home was sparse by anyone's standards. He'd removed all the internal walls, leaving him one huge room as an abode. The walls, ceiling and floor were stark white - tiles covered the floor, whilst plastic lining had been affixed to the other surfaces. The smell of disinfectant hung in the air.
His bed hung four feet above the floor on steel-ropes from the ceiling, leaving no place beneath for anything to conceal itself. In fact, there was neither a nook nor cranny in the entire room that could not be seen when standing in the centre. His cooking area looked like a science lab, which in fact, it doubled as - all bottles, jars clearly marked, and test-tubes lined the walls, neatly held in shiny metal racks.
He took an unbranded glass bottle of water from the refrigerator, and sat it down on the table next to the uncomfortable, yet functional lounge. He'd noticed a small hole in the outside wall of his house yesterday when he'd performed his daily perimeter patrol. It looked like a mouse-hole, so he had designated this evening to watching for any breach, determined that his sanctuary would not be invaded.
Tiredness infected him after the exertions of the day - he'd let his fitness slip of late. A laugh rose in his throat as he thought of this. His fitness? Chuckling, he rose and looked in the mirror. An unfamiliar face stared back at him, scrutinising him with looks and reactions that were familiar, but not entirely his own.
He'd taken this body three weeks ago, and had regretted the decision immediately. As usual, the pain was intense, yet focused. The thoughts of his victim mingled with his own as they'd struggled under the shadows of the oak tree from which he'd sprung down onto his prey. That was always the worst part of it all, even more than the anguish as he was ripped from the old body to the new. They were always so afraid, so confused.
It was true what people said - one's life did flash before your eyes before you died, and he'd seen too many lives flit across his consciousness during transformation to care, but this last one had cut him deeply. He usually chose his hosts carefully, ensuring they had no family, few friends, and little prospect of being missed. However, he'd been wrong this time, and glimpses and flashes of a loving wife and adoring children invaded him as he took the man as his own.
It had been bothering him ever since, but what could he do? I need to live, need to find out why. I've suffered long enough.
Twenty two years had passed since it began, and he was no closer to the truth, the cause of his curse. Back then, he'd woken early, and rolled over in bed to be greeted with the sight of himself still sleeping; no not sleeping - dead. He screamed, and a shrill, female voice pierced his ears. He sprang from the bed, and his wife face looked back at him from the mirror - mirrors, how he'd learned to hate them.
Panicking he'd ran through the house to check on his son. He was sleeping, soundly, unaware of anything. He stroked his son's tousled hair. His mind shrieked in agony and he'd writhed and squirmed as the burning mist rose, but his wife's hand would not leave his son's head. He passed out with the pain, and woke up, to see his wife dead on the ground next to him, and he was again trapped, this time in his son.
He eventually regained his own body and had fled, carrying the guilt of murdering his loved ones. He'd been hunted, but had escaped, turning his new-found curse to his advantage, slipping from body to body, but never staying out of his own for longer than three days. He soon learnt that if kept cold, say in a cool-room or walk-in freezer, his body would be suitable to get back into within that timeframe.
Thirteen years ago he'd finally overcome that restriction - the humming cryogenic unit in the corner of the room was testament to his triumph. His original body lay inert, yet sustained within the coffin-like receptacle, waiting, just as he did, whatever body he dwelled within.
He'd discovered, through painful and repetitive experimentation that he could take the body of whatever living creature he touched, with some exceptions including plants and microscopic organisms. His mind, his self, remained whole with each transformation - he possessed his victims, unfortunately killing them in the process. Gold, he found, neutralised the process, allowing him freedom to move outside without fear of inadvertently becoming someone else.
He used to jump from body to body without a second thought for his host, caring not that they died, as long as he lived. But he was not an inherently bad man, just driven to the edge of his sanity by circumstance. Soon his conscience reeled him back, and he'd sobbed for three days, for himself, for his family, and for his countless victims through the years.
He'd been men, women, children, dogs, cats, insects, rodents and once a tiger at the zoo. The escape had been all over the papers. He'd been policemen, doctors, business men, catwalk models, office workers, paperboys and an acrobat. None had answers, and all the bodies broke down within a few months, as if the cellular structure knew something was wrong.
Now he controlled his changes, hence the stringent measures he'd taken to secure his home. Once he'd inadvertently flicked a bee from his arm, to find himself flying through the air, one wing broken, and a wasp closing in from above. This experience had freaked him out, so now his life ran to a monotonous schedule. He'd wake up, eat a frugal meal and spend the morning scanning scientific websites and journals, looking for anything that resembled his affliction. After lunch, he'd go through his perimeter check, and experiment with an array of chemical solutions to gauge any effects, and in the evening, he stalked the local homeless.
Life couldn't go on like this. The loneliness crushed him, a load he ever carried. He was death, his touch taketh away.
He sipped the water. A small, rodent-like nose emerged from a small, but growing crack in the wall near his bed.
Life went on. His life went forever.
User Reviews
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-08-23 11:25:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
None of my current friends are barely literate aresholes from the western-scum suburbs, so that probably won't happen.
You really have issues - do something about it.
I do find it somewhat annoying, but this seems to be the way ubersite is heading - lowest common denominator.
Why don't you put some effort into something, instead of being a parasite.
Submitted by shinebox (user info) at 2007-08-23 11:18:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-08-23 11:06:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Locksly, are you going to do this all again with another alter?
You're obsession is worrying.
__________
Its better when you get really cut and call Locksly a fag because you know that totally gets under his skin.
ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO TRY ANTOHER TACK THOUGH.
SHINE FUCKING BOXXXXXXXXXX
BUT DID IT WORK
SHINEBOXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DOMNT PRETEND YOU AREN'T ALL CUT
WHAT A FAG ITS ONLY RATINGS
LETS BE MATES SERIOUSLY
WE CAN BE FRIENDS AND STUFF
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-08-23 11:06:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Locksly, are you going to do this all again with another alter?
You're obsession is worrying.
Submitted by shinebox (user info) at 2007-08-23 11:05:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
THIS ROCKS
SO GOOD HAS PERFECT SCORE
WOOPS
SHINEFUCKINGBOXXXXXXX
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2007-08-18 00:44:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
have another.
Submitted by DeathJester (user info) at 2007-08-14 10:33:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
... Me Where I Pee.
And now to read it.
Submitted by Zeglamancer (user info) at 2007-08-14 04:22:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
fucking awesome
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-08-14 04:05:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks.
And beerturtle, I'm sorry about missing the contest too, but keep moving around too much at the moment. I banged this one out yesterday when bored at work.
Submitted by Ballare (user info) at 2007-08-13 23:03:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by beer-turtle (user info) at 2007-08-13 20:32:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this a great deal.
It's too bad we didn't get to go head to head in the SFH07 due to your travels.
I did think it was kinda like Rogue's power from the X-men, excepting that Touch's is instant.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-08-13 18:40:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by sparkle_pink (user info) at 2007-08-13 16:22:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Cool story Hansel.
Submitted by genericIntent (user info) at 2007-08-13 16:07:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Interesting :)
Submitted by brokenlizard534 (user info) at 2007-08-13 14:08:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
very well done.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2007-08-13 14:04:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2007-08-13 12:27:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by sexualchocolate1984 (user info) at 2007-08-13 11:48:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Really nice read - flittered between "he" and "I" a little, but very entertaining.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-08-13 11:23:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
comment
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2007-08-13 10:56:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2007-08-13 10:44:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
great imagination.
Submitted by azurefroz (user info) at 2007-08-13 10:32:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It's always a pleasure reading what you write.
Submitted by DirtyHarry (user info) at 2007-08-13 10:26:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ih8u2man (user info) at 2007-08-13 09:47:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Tanfastic.
Submitted by TechnoRatty (user info) at 2007-08-13 09:42:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
a fantastic dark story reminds me of the Midas touch?
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2007-08-13 09:41:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yeah, pretty good.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2007-08-13 09:40:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
he, he, he, he.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2007-08-13 09:39:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuck off for being good at writing.