Vent (1068 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 1.88 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Smurfs (View user info) at 2005-04-12 18:29:39 EDT
He peered through tearing eyes at the resulting explosion of debris as the hammer came down and satisfaction yielded a cloud of white dust and stone fragments that bounced off his face and chest. Choking on his dry tongue he brought the hammer down again, smiling with grey textured teeth as the metal struck stone sending a sizeable chunk skittering across the large wood floor and was lost to his periphery vision.
His tongue, thick with dust, licked ineffectively at his dry lips. His arm worked again and again in the windup of a pitcher played in slow motion.
A small pause.
Drawn back.
Drawn up.
Cocked back.
Released.
The hammer, once shiny and still displaying its price tag, smashed into the side of the piece throwing off a heavy desert mist that had enveloped him in a crusted membrane. His skin was soaked in sweat and debris clung like wet cement seeking to impede his arm.
It was not happening.
As the hammer came up again he caught the distorted visage of the statue in the streaks his sweat had cut across the obfuscated head. Cracked and jagged, a grotesque remnant of its former self.
It had been a late night when he had come home, tired from a day dealing with overeager inept first and second years trying to impress him. Back in his day you used to impress the boss through the quality of your work, not your silver tongue and having it planted firmly in his ass. He found them contemptible. Their lavish praise and mounting invitations to dinners, cocktail parties, operas, concerts, benefits, tastings, auctions, wine parties, and time-shares.
Always two tickets offered. One for him. One for Leena.
Leena. Old wealthy men accessorize with silicone.
Five foot seven inches; she knew never to wear anything higher than a three-inch heel. With long black hair that cascaded down pearly white shoulders she sucked the attention of any room she entered to her with an almost audible snap. A long neck, slight hips and a perfectly toned stomach enhanced by pert jutting breasts. She was the product of good genes and deep pockets. Perpetually weighed down by whatever piece of jewelry had caught her interest she was beyond captivating. Aphrodite poured into the role of Manhattan socialite.
She was the reason he left the office. The chance to bask in perfection.
The hammer came down again ripping the nose from her nonpareil stone visage. He had commissioned it three years ago, a monument to her beauty. The sculptor had been peerless, an ancient Italian stonemason who had held a chisel in his now cramped hands since before he could crawl. A paragon of the truly gifted artist who captures the emotional current beneath the tangible attributes.
Her Mona Lisa smile, that as the hammer came down was erased in a burst of dust. That smile that mocked him as he dropped his coat at the door and called her name.
"Leena!" The sound had echoed about the vaulted ceilings for his Park Avenue apartment, one of the apartments that are beyond price tags. That are passed between generations and bequeathed. The name lingered softly in the rafters before being soaked into the age-old wood, stained golden brown by time.
He took two steps before he saw the note taped to his statue. "I don't love you Harold."
The note was typed in twelve point Times New Roman. He wondered briefly if she had left it or emailed to a maid in proxy. Black on White.
He had turned around, taken the elevator to the lobby, strode across the plush carpeting, through the door held open for him by the uniformed bellhop and walked three blocks and two avenues to a hardware store. There he bought a silver hammer with a black textured grip for $5.99. He was forced to break a hundred.
Back in his apartment, before her simulacrum, he stood silently with his arms at his sides, seething. The rage tore at him, flushing his features. Inside his chest his heart was an exploding supernova churning his blood.
Wordlessly the hammer went up and with a splintering crack that splashed about the apartment, the hammer came down.
Again and again. Up and down. He relished the solid shock that traveled along his arm every time he connected. Beneath his fury the stone was swept away as cracks turned to crevices that broke off in jutting clefts and cliffs. His temper fed on her dissolution growing as the statute disappeared, dissolving into coarse unfamiliarity.
As the hammer came down, catching its claw and ripping itself from his hand he dropped to one knee panting, coughing as he sucked dust into his lungs. As the pain from his arm spread to his chest and down his side, the dust settled, coating him like freshly fallen snow.
From his back his head rolled to the side, and the world appeared between bursts of light. He found himself nose to nose with her face, missing half the head, the lips and eyes. The stone was cracked, looking aged and wrinkled as he stared into the gouged pits of her eyes. Tears cut paths through the dust that stuck to him, rivers ending in waterfalls that fell upon the floor in a growing lake.
Across from him the statue was silent, its mouth destroyed.
User Reviews
Submitted by CanucksFan (user info) at 2005-04-20 21:44:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2005-04-18 08:15:48 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2005-04-14 13:55:27 (#)
Ranking: 2
bump
More collegiate bright ideas please :D
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2005-04-18 08:15:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2005-04-14 13:55:27 (#)
Ranking: 2
bump.
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2005-04-14 13:55:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
bump.
Submitted by CanucksFan (user info) at 2005-04-13 23:41:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2005-04-12 20:40:47 (#)
Ranking: 2
Everything you ever wanted to know about Smurfs
User id: 5475
Registered on or around: 2004-01-29 12:11:13
# Messages posted: 146
# Reviews written: 881
# Times these posts have been reviewed : 3833
# Hits: 204802
Average rating of all messages: 1.72
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-04-13 12:52:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I really really like this.
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-04-13 11:14:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2005-04-13 10:02:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
*cough*
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-04-12 23:06:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I was going to give you a +1
But I got scared.
You're a Heavy Hitter!
At Uber
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2005-04-12 20:40:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Everything you ever wanted to know about Smurfs
User id: 5475
Registered on or around: 2004-01-29 12:11:13
# Messages posted: 146
# Reviews written: 881
# Times these posts have been reviewed : 3833
# Hits: 204802
Average rating of all messages: 1.72
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2005-04-12 19:30:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd say actually 1.75.
Submitted by bluegoddess (user info) at 2005-04-12 18:51:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by BobLobla (user info) at 2005-04-12 18:35:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Initial reaction was I liked it but I reserve the right to change my review after I read it a few more times.
One thing I didnt like was the title, just didnt seem to fit.