"Time" (501 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.89 on 27 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by kaos-king (antius777) (View user info) at 2007-02-12 14:33:08 EST
"Time is running out," she said absently as she stared out the open car window.
"What?" I asked.
"I said..."
"No, I heard you. I just don't understand," I replied.
She looked at me for a long moment, biting on her thumbnail. The navy blue paint she had applied to the nail had long ago worn off. Her collection of plastic and metal bracelets dangled helplessly off her slender wrists, clacking off themselves in the wind.
"Pull over," she suddenly said.
"What?" I exclaimed. "If I stop this car now it may not start again!"
"So what? Stop it!"
With a heavy sigh I pulled the 1979 Oldsmobile off the road onto the embankment. There wasn't much out here, just more and more desert. We had just been passing a sad, dilapidated trailer park. I had been scanning the place for inhabitants as we drove upon it. Just like I had the gas station a few miles back, the small town a few miles before that, and every town before, before, before...
Scanning my eyes for any signs of life.
"Did you see someone?" I asked half-heartedly.
"No."
"Why are we stopping then?"
She didn't respond to my question, instead pushing the heavy door open and climbing out. I sat in the car and watched her take a few steps in her bare feet, sandals in hand, before she slipped them on her feet. I counted silently in my head and didn't even make it to ten before she had kicked the sandals off again. As she reached to retrieve them, I idly thought about how she was going to have to drive more; the tan she was developing on her right side was more apparent than on her left.
I peeked into the chest pocket of the sleeveless flannel shirt I was wearing and fished around until I found my crumpled pack of cigarettes. Three left. I knew I had another pack in the glove compartment, but it was time to scavenge around. Should've hit that gas station. The back seat was filled with clothes, water and a plethora of non-perishable snack foods. The trunk had all the supplies the car should need. We had just gassed up in the last actual town and had two extra emergency cans in the trunk as well.
We still should've stopped at that gas station.
Out of the car, I looked about the area, unsure if I actually wanted to see another person or not. I didn't matter, there was no one. Regardless, I shoved the car keys into my pocket and followed the dusty trail of footprints into fenced in yard about one hundred feet away.
She had found an old swing set.
Like a little kid, she soared back and forth, her knees together but ankles spread to allow her the height to zoom across the ground. She wasn't making a sound but the look on her face, eyes closed tightly and lips creased in joy, said enough. The old wooden frame of the set was creaking so bad, even under her fragile weight, I started to worry if it would collapse.
She came to a stop, her dark blue eyes wide as they found me there watching her.
"Go get the camera."
I didn't say anything, just smiled and nodded.
Returning to the car, I thought about our situation. It had been exactly thirty-four days since everyone had disappeared, mysteriously vanished while I was asleep. "Raptured Away," I had laughingly told myself. Being somewhat esoteric, I had accepted the incident with a quizzical approach. Then, thirty days ago, I had found her. She had been curled up in an empty pet store store, not taking this Brave New World as well as I had. Since then, we had found one other, and older man, but he had succumbed to loneliness and taken a shotgun to his face.
And now her and I simply traveled, searching for... something.
I strolled back to the swing set with the aging Polaroid camera in my hand. She was spinning in her seat, tracing little circles in the dirt with her toes. I stood before her and told her to smile.
"It's like the world is empty," she whispered.
"Honey..." I began.
"Time is running out," she said again cryptically.
I took the picture of her sitting there on the swing in an abandon trailer park, somewhere in the Arizona desert, her tan uneven and her dark hair blowing in the wind. Kneeling down in the dirt before her, I kissed her bare knee and smoothed out the front of the navy sundress that used to match the color of her finger nails. Handing her the developing photo, I took her chin and made her look into my eyes.
"I think we may have all the time in the world."
_________________________________________________________
Started @ 1:15 and Ended @ 2:09
Just enough time to proof & spellcheck
Not sure how I feel about this one... perhaps too much background info.
User Reviews
Submitted by DrogoRoch (user info) at 2007-02-13 05:16:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2007-02-12 15:29:41 (#)
Ranking: 2
Needs more, keep going
--
Agree with the above. Bravo!
Submitted by Snare (user info) at 2007-02-12 21:53:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Rminds of a fgilm from NZ in the late eighties called "The Quiet Earth"
...check it out if you can find it....
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2007-02-12 21:38:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Being somewhat esoteric, I had accepted the incident with a quizzical approach.
the worst sentence you have ever written.
Submitted by Zebra (user info) at 2007-02-12 21:17:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2007-02-12 21:00:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Amontillado (user info) at 2007-02-12 20:24:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Pretty. I liked the picture part of it.
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2007-02-12 19:59:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Go ahead, go ahead and light up the town
And baby, do everything your heart desires
Remember, I'll always be around
And I know, I know
Like I told you so many times before
You're gonna come back, baby
'Cause I know
You're gonna come back knocking
Yeah, knocking right on my door
Yes, yes!
Well, time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2007-02-12 17:49:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
yes
Submitted by Coleslaw_Murphy (user info) at 2007-02-12 17:28:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Hey, I'd like to have a conversation with you about self-publishing.
Because finding an agent and sending scripts to publishing houses sounds like an exercise in bullshit & futility.
coleslaw_murphy.at.yahoo.com
Or, I could possibly swing by the Zephyr and sit in your favorite seat.
Submitted by Coleslaw_Murphy (user info) at 2007-02-12 16:26:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice.
Submitted by locksly (user info) at 2007-02-12 16:13:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Wisher (user info) at 2007-02-12 15:48:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I kept hearing the pink floyd song "Time" reading this. I liked it a lot. Things may be like this someday soon.
~~
Every year is getting shorter
never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught
or half a page of scribbled lines
~pf
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2007-02-12 15:29:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Needs more, keep going.
Submitted by ampersand (user info) at 2007-02-12 15:06:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
It's kinda pretty but it doesnt go anywhere. It hardly even starts anywhere.
Submitted by St_Jimmy (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:57:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You should think about turning this into a series.
Submitted by beeltea (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:57:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this
Submitted by gravitas (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:55:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
still good
Submitted by messmind (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:53:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:47:35 (#)
Ranking: 2
'The Quiet Earth'...
If you like this concept, then watch this movie, trust JonnyX on this one...
Fuck jonnyX , great movie !
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:50:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+fucking2
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:47:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
'The Quiet Earth'...
If you like this concept, then watch this movie, trust JonnyX on this one...
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:46:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
RAAAAAAAAAAA
http://www.ubersite.com/m/96640
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:45:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:45:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by messmind (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:44:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
message_review.cgi?message=117130878860593925
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:39:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No, tis a good idea - keep going.
Submitted by ih8u2man (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:38:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome man.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2007-02-12 14:36:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
why didn't you rape her in the desert?