The Blanket (911 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.01 on 58 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by ghola (View user info) at 2007-10-20 13:48:17 EDT
He was going to leave and I couldn't stand it, couldn't stand to think that he might not hold me while I slept, and wrap his arms around me so that I could feel his warmth. I did it quick without thinking about it. I turned him into a blanket, big and flannel with a blue checkered pattern.
"Brandi..." he whispered to me.
I knew he wanted some sort of explanation. Where had his limbs gone? Where was his hair, his fingers, his beating heart?
I tried to explain it to him. I told him that they were all there, inside the blanket. I told him that he was still pulsing with just as much life has he had always been. That his heart was pumping blood to all his organs, it was just inside, tucked away.
He cried. Of course he cried. But I had no way of knowing that he cried. No way of knowing he was anything but a blanket. I lay in bed with him wrapped around me, tucked around my legs and folded under my heels, pulled up tight to my neck. I could hear the whirl of the ceiling fan and nothing else. Minutes were minutes and minutes and I was asleep.
He woke me the next morning, cramming himself under my chin and onto my neck. Suffocating me. I coughed, gasping for air and pushed him down to my waist. I didn't say anything. He hadn't adjusted to his new life.
I carried him with me to the kitchen, folded him neatly and left him on the counter top while I made myself a sandwich. I didn't want to leave him alone in the bedroom. It wouldn't be fair.
I talked while I spread peanut butter across the bread.
"So I've got to go to class in an hour and then I'll come back home. We can watch a movie or something."
He didn't say anything. He just sat there on the counter, right next to my sandwich. I wondered if he was hungry. I wondered if he could be hungry. I wondered if he cared that there were crumbs scattered across him.
I left him there while I took a shower and got ready for class. Before I left I stuck him on the couch so the cats could sleep with him.
"Goodbye," I told him and I locked the door and went to class.
I came home as fast as I could. As soon as the professor finished his lecture, I packed up my books and half jogged-half walked to my apartment.
When I opened the door, he was half on the floor, still partway draped on the edge of the couch.
"What are you doing?" I asked, sitting down on the floor next to him, running my fingers over his checkered pattern. "Where are you going?"
He didn't say anything. I flipped the television on and we watched a movie, like I told him we going to. I wasn't going to disappoint him.
***
It's been a week and he hasn't spoken since the first day. He just lays there folded at the foot of my bed. He won't hold me anymore. I'm feeling lonely. I miss his warmth. I tried to pull him over me last night, but I woke up in the middle of the night and he was strewn across the floor. I don't know what to do. I keep the bedroom door locked so he can't leave.
***
It's been months since I've seen him move. He'll lay on me at night now, but there's no warmth. He's unresponsive, cold.
There's a nice guy named Keith in Chem. class that I've been talking to. We had lunch earlier this week and I think he's into me. He does the nervous laugh, almost holding my hand thing. We're supposed to go camping this weekend. I think I'll leave the blanket at home.
***
Keith doesn't understand why he can't stay the night. Pretty soon I'm going to have to give in or explain myself.
I noticed that the blanket had moved the other day. I left him folded on the corner of the bed, like I always do, and when I got home from Keith's house the blanket was balled up on the sofa. I would never leave the blanket balled up that way. Careless.
I took him back to the bedroom and laid him on top of my pillow, stroking him, telling him how important he was to me, until we were both asleep. He felt so warm that night, so like he used to.
***
"Can we go to the bedroom?" Keith asked.
My shirt was slung in the floor and my pants were bunched around my angles. The blinds in the living room were no good. The cats tore them up the week I moved into the place.
"The bedroom?" I asked.
He breathed heavy, and gripped the hair approaching the nape of my neck.
"Yeah," I told him.
He half dragged me down the hallway and slung me across the bed. I kicked the blanket onto the floor.
***
I woke up to a coughing noise, a gagging sound.
"Keith," I murmured, my eyes half-open. Through a blur I saw him thrashing around.
"Stop," I said, sitting up and yanking at the blanket that was wrapped around his face. I struggled to pull the thick wooly material off him, but I couldn't. It felt like it was adhered with super glue.
He gasped and begged, "Stop, please stop. You crazy fucking bitch."
"I'm trying to help," I said, pulling at the blanket, but all I got were fuzzy pieces of lint.
His body went limp and the blanket relaxed.
I flicked on the lamp and slung the blanket across the room.
"Keith," I whispered. "Keith, I'm so sorry."
The blanket shuffled in the corner.
"Brandi," it said, the first time I'd heard it speak since the day I turned him into a blanket.
User Reviews
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-11-09 12:36:25 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2007-10-28 14:13:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2007-10-20 17:44:25 CDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
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Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2007-10-20 17:44:16 CDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Solid 1.5
I enjoyed most of this.
OMG FAT MIKE IS THE UNITER!
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-10-22 23:22:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
BRANDI YOURE A FINE GIRL
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-22 23:02:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
dear god why would you want to come here?
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2007-10-22 22:28:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
http://www.ubersite.com/m/112641
I'll actually be in your shitty college town this week, clone-girl.
I'll leave Leroy's head wrapped up in a nice, soft, but not too expensive blanket in your nearest park.
Submitted by ColchesterDr (user info) at 2007-10-22 21:09:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2007-10-22 21:00:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Females and blankets.....I don't know where to start, but they always seem to have some form of unspoken relationship. It took me 2 months of dating until I was "allowed" to even have the slightest form of physical contact with my woman's blanket.
I could cum in her mouth, but I couldn't touch that piece of fabric.
WTF?
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2007-10-22 17:28:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Scourge stop nicking my lines!! And its How Very Dare You!!
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-22 15:06:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
i don't write much horror or horroresque writing.
maybe i post a lot of it on uber though? i have no idea.
it's not my thing.
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2007-10-22 15:04:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Let me just say that I LOVE certain types of horror ... mostly the kind that are mind fucks. Examples would be Jacobs Ladder, Identity (the film), the Silent Hill video game series, certain graphic novels that I consider to be horrific (actually Watchmen would be one of them). Most of these are very fresh and non-cliched.
Here is the thing I seem to have realized ... all of Ghola's short stories are so terrible because you can instantly predict where they are headed. The main character is probably a murderer, or fantasizes about murder, or kills small animals, or something. It's very blaise. The best horror can't be done in a few paragraphs, and it's almost trite to attempt.
For an example of a BEAUTIFUL horror story, and one of my all time favorite stories in any medium, please buy and play the Silent Hill 2 game. It's story is second to none and unequalled in depth, complexity and sheer awesomeness, and very frightening. It's a perfect example of a story about death, obviously very macabre, but with a twist that I found almost impossible to predict. You can probably get it used for about ten bucks for the PS2 ... well, well worth it.
Also, Stephen King wrote The Dark Tower series, which is fantasy, not horror, and I believe it's considered one of his most popular works. So even Stephen King, the master of terror (not in my opinion, though), has bridged into other genres.
Submitted by Lib (user info) at 2007-10-22 13:30:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-10-22 12:33:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
HOW DARE YOU!
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-22 12:31:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
rules?
Submitted by MudWhistle (user info) at 2007-10-22 12:30:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
sorry, the rules were clearly stated.
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-22 12:01:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
i noticed my first grey hair at 13
Submitted by ChaosJester (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:59:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
His name's Drogo, and I don't think he'd like you talking about him when he ain't around.
...
Just sayin'.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:53:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:46:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Maybe i should shave my head?
___________________
Yeah, I don't think that pointy creature that symbiotically lives on your scalp will allow that...
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:46:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You will have to grow your ears if you want to look like CJ.
Sinead O Connor is hot by the way or she was, is she dead? i dunno, either way she had/has a beautiful face. Unless she was cremated, but now I dont think she's dead so ummm she's hot.
Maybe i should shave my head?
Submitted by ChaosJester (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:43:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Jayzus...
KK+CJ+GholaTime = SuperDuperCreep-Fest
...
*Brow furrowed in thought for ways to push the envelope*
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:40:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
10% gray???
Um, aren't you 23? That's surprising. It must be all the stress.
Let it grow out a bit, something different. Oh, and let me help you with that stress...
Submitted by ChaosJester (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:34:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Y HALO THAR, SINEAD O'CONNOR
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:31:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
actually i've quit dying the shit and i'm letting the grey grow in. (i'm about 10 percent gray).
it's growing for now. i hate it. i hate hair. i wish i was bald like chaos.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:27:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Emission, you leave pappy outta this!!!
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:11:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
KK...trendy?? You sound like my dad.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:10:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
How long IS your hair now? You haven't chopped it again, have you???
I bet it's all trendy with crimson streaks in it...
Submitted by ChaosJester (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:05:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
(emulating Emission)
Oh Ghola, you big gay.
You know you don't have any hair.
...
Oh, wait.
That's me.
:(
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-22 10:00:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
it's like a snarling, grinding noise.
i'm worried it wants to eat my hair.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-22 09:38:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm willing to bet one of the cats are behind that particular issue.
I find, when in doubt - Blame The Cat.
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-22 09:05:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
blow dryer's been making funny noises.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-10-22 08:44:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Pretty good. Do one about a toaster now.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-10-22 08:38:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i liked it.
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2007-10-22 04:50:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Your stories are getting very predictible. Obviously have some good thoughts.... well twisted thoughts in your brain but they seem to be coming out in the same format every time which is cool if your Steven King. Well anyhoo what does it matter, better than I could do.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-22 04:27:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
She went over to his apartment
Clutching her decision
And he said, did you come here to tell me goodbye?
So she built a skyscraper of procrastination
And then she leaned out the twenty-fifth floor window
Of her reply
And she felt like an actress
Just reading her lines
When she finally said yes.
It's really goodbye this time
And far below was the blacktop
And the tiny toy cars
And it all fell so fast
And it all fell so far
And she said:
You are a miracle but that is not all
You are also a stiff drink and I am on call
You are a party and I am a school night
And I'm lookin' for my door key
But you are my porch light
And you'll never know, dear
Just how much I loved you
You'll probably think this was
Just my big excuse
But I stand committed
to a love that came before you
And the fact that I adore you
Is but one of my truths
What of the mother
Whose house is in flames
And both of her children
Are in their beds crying
And she loves them both
With the whole of her heart
But she knows she can only carry one at a time?
She's choking on the smoke of unthinkable choices
She is haunted by the voices of so many desires
She's bent over from the business of begging forgiveness
While frantically running around putting out fires
But then what kind of scale
Compares the weight of two beauties
The gravity of duties
Or the ground speed of joy?
Tell me what kind of gauge
Can quantify elation?
What kind of equation could I possibly employ?
And you'll never know, dear
Just how much I loved you
You probably think this was
Just my big excuse
But I stand committed
To a love that came before you
And the fact that I adore you
Is just one of my truths
So I
I'm goin' home to please the one I so love pleasing
And I don't expect he'll have much sympathy for my grieving
But I guess that this is the price
That we pay for the privilege of living for even a day
In a world with so many things
Worth believing in
"School Night" - Ani DiFranco
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2007-10-22 04:01:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
This was ok. I liked the first part. Then it got kinda predictable.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-10-22 03:40:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
didn't love this
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-22 02:13:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Kaelic - - All I do is pretty much write Horror and Dark Modern Fantasy. I enjoy it and feel I excell at it. I don't understand why certain people are always saying to write something "different' to folks like Ghola and myself. Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Nora Roberts, Arther C. Clark, Danielle Steele, Robert Jordan - all of these hugely popular authors write in a distinct style & genre for the most case. I don't see why WE should have to be penalized for doing what we do, what we like.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2007-10-22 00:28:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Jesus Kaelic, why are you in such a bad mood lately?
Damn, I hope whatever it is, it gets better soon.
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2007-10-22 00:19:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Oh, and Kaos King ... fuck off. I've never had a problem with you, but licking Ghola's clit about her terrible writing and then riding in to the rescue because you think she's a hapless flower that needs to be saved from the big bad critic makes you look like a huge asshole. It's clear other people feel the way I do about her writing .... the style is extremely annoying and the content is always macabre in a very unsuprising, dare I say BORING way.
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-21 14:40:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
well i quoted the wrong part of what you said, but i'm sure you get the picture.
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-10-21 14:40:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2007-10-21 14:33:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Also, the perpetual presentation of the macabre is something even Stephen King doesn't do, regardless what you think of him (he was worth > $100 million, last I heard).
---
this story is in past tense.
P.S. A MFA degree is good for teaching, but not much else. They are a dime a dozen. Who wants to be taught writing by someone who cannot get published?
---
I'm published.
I don't want to be an asshole, but I intend to be honest. . . :)
---
appreciate the honestly.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2007-10-21 14:33:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'll give this a +2 because you have a certain talent, although somewhat under-developed. The constant posting in present tense, composed of short, choppy sentences and phrases, is irritating.
Also, the perpetual presentation of the macabre is something even Stephen King doesn't do, regardless what you think of him (he was worth > $100 million, last I heard).
Try writing a children's story in past tense. Try a science fiction in future tense.
P.S. A MFA degree is good for teaching, but not much else. They are a dime a dozen. Who wants to be taught writing by someone who cannot get published?
I don't want to be an asshole, but I intend to be honest. . . :)
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2007-10-21 13:56:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Didn't make me smile more a frown really.
Am I missing something here?
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2007-10-21 11:27:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
pretentious bollocks
Submitted by HotWillie (user info) at 2007-10-20 21:19:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I puked when I read Chaos Jester's review.
Kaelic's review made me puke again.
Now I remember why I stopped coming around here.
Fucking bulimia.
Story was cool.
Submitted by lechuza (user info) at 2007-10-20 19:10:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
creepy
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2007-10-20 18:52:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Remind me to have a talk with you about the human soul.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2007-10-20 18:44:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2007-10-20 18:44:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Solid 1.5
I enjoyed most of this.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-20 18:29:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Holy shit fuck...
This is one of the best pieces you've written. I could make the arguement that the blanket was never truly alive, that "Brandi" was insane and it was all in her head; that SHE was the one who killed Keith. I like that a lot. The title also works perfectly fine in this case.
Oh, and Kaelic... please shut up.
Submitted by gravitas (user info) at 2007-10-20 17:05:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
this really clicked in strong halfway through. i'm not sure how to explain what i mean by that. oh well.
Submitted by ilikesteak (user info) at 2007-10-20 17:04:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Gholatime!
This reminds me of the time I got lost in a vineyard.
Submitted by Wompom (user info) at 2007-10-20 17:03:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Twisted shit
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2007-10-20 16:54:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I just ... really, really loathe your writing. The style, but mostly the content. It's always about death, or someone getting killed, or mutilated. It's always the same broken paragraph stream of conciousness Chuck Pahlinuk wanna be.
I'm sorry ... YOU ARE NOT HIM. STOP TRYING TO WRITE LIKE HIM.
ALSO, SUPRISE ME AND WRITE SOMETHING THAT ISN'T VAGUELY GROTESQUE AND ULTRA PRETENTIOUS. PLEASE, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-10-20 16:42:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by pandora (user info) at 2007-10-20 16:42:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was excellent! It was short, it was a horror story, and it had inanimate objects moving around on their own, killing people. Everything I enjoy about literature.
Submitted by ChaosJester (user info) at 2007-10-20 15:43:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Y'know, sometimes I think that you're almost as creep-tastic as me.
Then again, who hasn't thought about having such control over the people we love?
It's truly a hard thing, isn't it?
To know how to let go when everything in us cries out to hold on.
That's part of the reason that I've always been a bit curious about the many and varied obsessions that the human animal cultivates.
...
Hmmmm.
Homemade German moon-shine is a *lot* more tricky and evil than I first expected.
Y, HALO THAR, NAZI PIXIE!
Submitted by triangle_man (user info) at 2007-10-20 14:22:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
thanks, I'ts snowing here today
I brewed a cup of green t and read this
I feel warmer already
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2007-10-20 14:00:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
eval breeds eval