The Waste (XV)

The figure glided towards her hunched-over form with the dexterity of a ninja, her sobs muffling the otherwise barely audible shuffle of soles across wood. Abigail’s keen senses felt the approaching presence of the stranger, as the curious bird cried out in the trees in the distant darkness.  A phantom heat drew her attention over […]

The Waste (XIV)

Abigail maintained her daily vigil at the docks for weeks, each day persistently hopeful that one of the sailors would approach her and offer to take her aboard his ship, set sail upon the great blue ocean, and teach her the secrets of the fisherman’s craft. But despite her deep yearning and consistent attendance at […]

The Waste (XI)

The next morning, the pumping mechanism in the pen was engaged by the villagers, and the inhabitants of the octagonal enclosure were encouraged by immaculate engineering, to revisit the seas from whence they had been captured. It took little time after Allamar’s edict of augmentation, for the unwed fishermen of the village to have docked […]

The Waste (X)

The villagers waited out the impossibly long pause in Allamar’s speech. The sun bore down on patient brows, its insistence drawing beads of perspiration from calm onlookers. After long seconds of intense stillness, breath barely noted among the close-pressed villagers, Allamar reached towards his own chest. The crowd drew in a tiny collective breath, as […]

The Waste (VIII)

Beginning around noon the next day, the entire village enjoyed exquisite food the likes of which many of the citizens had never tasted.  No one could offer a plausible explanation regarding the source of a majority of the ingredients, for the elements of these recipes were not consistent with the villagers normal fare.  Allamar postulated […]

The Waste (VII)

Before Allamar brought his scaled, water-dwelling colossus to the village, the succession of chieftainship had been passed generationally, from father to son, for as long as any living member of the village could recall.   The passing of time had been so considerable since the last catch-to-chieftainship, that none of the villagers could specifically remember whose […]

The Waste (VI)

Paris slept poorly, and woke many times. Though, when he woke, he knew not whether it was hours that had passed, or minutes.  Adjusting to sleeping during the day, when his normal routine would have him awake, and walking, not sitting for many miles, was challenging. After many hours of sleeplessness, Paris had finally sunk […]