Don't think too deeply on it, ok? That's the saying right? As a society we gloss over things.
We see what happens, we question it, we think about it and we move on. Well that's thinking about it right?
We see a situation or whatever, we ponder it, we understand what's happened and why... But then we just... Forget.
We forget.
That's the important part. We might carry some lesson with us, we might think critically and publish a paper, sure. But it's the little things. The things that you assume are correct. That's what I realised that night. Well I say night, I don't think you can really put this at a certain... Time.
A fisherman came off of a boat, he had barrels of fish in... Whatever they put the fish with. And there he is at the docks late at night, he's whistling and he passes the security guard. The security guard says to him,
"Another good catch?" And the fishermen smiles and nods, then goes back to whistling. And the fishermen goes off to the edge of the docks, to throw away the fish that were too small, wouldn't sell well... whatever. And the security guard is used to it, goes back to his office and then goes off to do whatever it is he does as a security guard at the docks. Now you might think that story is over with, you have a rough idea, it's normal to the security guard so it must be ok, your brain is probably already filling the blanks I left. Right?
Well let's try another. The night before, a girl came home from a party. They got home and stumbled a bit and dropped their keys, but they got inside and went to bed, leaving a trail of things they fumbled with or dropped or knocked over. She's drunk right? She's been to a party, had a few drinks... It's normal. But she didn't think about the fact that she'd seen flashes of light late at night when she was drifting in and out of sleep. She didn't think about the eyes on the other side of the glass... It was probably a cat.. or ... Something.
It was normal, unimportant.
But what If it was a man with a camera. what if she wasn't drunk that night? Barely able to walk or think, she went somewhere familiar; where she felt safe, like a wounded animal back to its burrow. By now your brain is using this new information and filling in the blanks again. Don't let it. Or if you do, make sure you think carefully about it.
How does it all fit together? Where's the pattern? Humans live for patterns after all. It's why we miss things.
It's why it took two days for the girls friends to worry that she was skipping class. After all, she was a 20 something student and she had spent all night at a party with some boy, she was obviously skipping. I think by now you're starting to see the image in your head. And in your head, there's some scenarios forming. One of them could be right. Now put the stories together as best you can. Read them again, take a few minutes... I'll wait. You might get something like this:
A girl gets home, she can barely walk, she's knocking things over, she's been at a party all night with some boy. She goes to bed, there's something outside she can see from her window, she keeps seeing a strange light in her few moments of conciseness. Could be anything. And the other story is totally unrelated.
Maybe, but maybe not. This is just hypothetical of course, but what if the eyes were that boy from the party. What if the flash was a camera. What if they came from inside the room and not outside. What if she wasn't drunk. Why was she stumbling? Why was she knocking things over? Are the boy from the party, the security guard and the fishermen somehow related? Why did the fishermen not dump the fish he couldn't use back out at sea, get it over with? Why did the security guard go off alone. Keep thinking, let me know what you come up with.
You won't get all the details, but you'll have one hell of a story.
Devin Rundell is an 18 year old student studying business and management at university.
He writes a variety of short and longer stories; with a focus on horror and thought provoking fiction
He also writes poetry, music and tends to get lost in his hobbies.
