FLASH FICTION:-- HORROR, SCI-FI, HUMOUR, CRIME, SLICE OF LIFE, ETC.

Friday 12 December 2014

The routine


Bernard Hardy stared into the darkness, stared at the curtain-less window. A faint, barely perceptible tinge of light was evident, dawn was on the way.

The dining chair felt like concrete beneath his buttocks. The hours of immobility had taken their toll on his muscles and joints. He ached like a bitch, but still he remained motionless. They would hear any movement.

Hardy sat without moving, without blinking, and strove to sit without even thinking, as the light grew, crept to grey, crawled to full daylight. Then, and only then, did he feel safe to move.

They couldn't see movement in full light. Couldn't hear movement in full light. The day brought them deafness and blindness. They shut down until the fading day came around again, renewing, revigorating.

Hardy stuck to his routine. He had survived where most had not. His routine gave him life, continued existence.

He ate, bathed, then slept. His alarm would wake him before dusk. He would replace everything back exactly where it had been. Nothing must change. A place for everything and everything in its place. They would notice the difference, would investigate, would discover him.

Hardy had no idea how much of the town's population still survived, he hadn't been out of the house in a while, not since his last supermarket scavenge, but he suspected it would not be many. If the initial TV reports were to be believed the situation was global, so Hardy supposed that the world population had dwindled somewhat too.

The TV reports were no more, of course. TV was no more. Radio was no more. Traffic was no more. Electricity was no more. Muchly most of everything was no more.

Except them. They were more. They were everywhere. Watching, listening, snuffling... eating.

Creatures of the shadows.

When they first came they were like foxes in the chicken coops. Glutting out on the abundant flesh.

Now most of the chickens were gone they searched for change, for sounds, for anything that signified food presence.

The smallest things warranted attention. A fuller trash can, a recently closed blind, a fresh footprint.

Hardy awoke to the ringing of the clockwork alarm, the sound jarring his senses.

He forced himself to a sitting position, his brain struggling to become fully aware, to take In his surroundings. His almost constant depression made his first hour of consciousness the worst of the day, the hardest to deal with.

He sometimes wondered if he should just end his routine. Just give himself to them, but his fear always won out, and every evening saw him walking the walk, checking that everything was just where it should be. Just where it was when they first came.

As the light began to fade again, Hardy placed the chair back into its exact spot, sat in it in the exact same position, and tried to think of not moving.

Winter is coming, and the nights are getting longer.

Hardy stared unblinkingly at the window, watching the darkness creep back in, and did wonder to himself how much longer he could carry on doing this.


©2014 Stephen. J. Green.



16 comments:

  1. Sit still. Tough routine. Imagine doing this near the arctic circle during the winter!

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    1. I find it hard to sit still at all, and the arctic weather makes me shiver just thinking about it. :-)

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  2. reminded me of I AM legend. All the dilemmas of utter solitude that will kill you in the end anyway

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    1. I didn't have I am Legend in mind when I wrote this, but I can certainly see why it would remind you of it.

      I really enjoyed that movie btw, Will Smith did credit to the role, I also like the version Charlton Heston starred in in the early 1970's which went under the name of The Omega Man.

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  3. Frightening scenario. I couldn't sit still that long, that's for sure!

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    1. Hiya Tim, I hope all is good with you. :-)

      I couldn't do it either, nature calls far too often for me for one thing. LOL.

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  4. Oh that was creepy and frightening, imagine being by yourself and having to go through that everyday.......

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    1. Thank you Helen, I think most people would succumb sooner rather than later.

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  5. This gave me an I Am Legend vibe as well, although how the MC managed to sit still all that time without nodding off is beyond me! I'd be one of the dead chickens in no time.

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    1. Me too, Katherine, lol.
      I don't think anyone could do it really, except possibly one of those Shaolin Temple monks. I just thought the concept was a good idea for a flash story. :-)

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  6. I would have been dead the first night. but then it makes me wonder, how much of this is in his head? It could be delusional paranoia for a shut in.

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    1. I think maybe I would take a chance and lie in bed all night with my head under the duvet, and hope that they just don't notice. Not sure what I would do about the snoring though, lol. :-)

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  7. What a freaky proposition and miserable existence. This works well as a metaphor for people who won't break from their daily routine out of fear, and I think that's what I like best about it.

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    1. Miserable it certainly would be, Richard
      .
      I didn't think of it as a metaphor for people like that, but it would certainly be appropriate.

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  8. I wonder how we would fare somewhere with shorter nights and longer days?

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    1. I fear it may just take slightly longer to get to the same situation, Icy.

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