Day 31 - Causality Story

Causality Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

John Lennon is famously quoted as having said that life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.  Quincy didn’t know much about life or philosophy or John Lennon.   But one thing for sure is that he didn’t believe life is what happens to us.  He fervently believed that life is what you make happen for yourself. 

It is easy to believe that when you can make things happen.

Quincy was obsessed with the nudge.  Some people make a wish.  Some people pray.  Some people make a dream board.  Some people read The Secret.  Quincy knew better.  He knew better than all of them combined.

Some call it magic.  Some call it luck. Quincy had his own name.  He called it the Nudge.  Quincy had the power to push life just a little bit one way or the other.  Tired of a long line?  Nudge the people ahead of you and make them move faster, or make them make up their minds sooner, or have them grow tired of the line themselves and leave.  Gambling in Las Vegas?  Nudge the front desk attendant and get that upgrade to a suite.  Nudge your dealer and get the card you need.  Nudge the roulette wheel and make your money on double zero.  Quincy was playing the odds and tilting the game in his favor. 

Quincy always told people that life takes no interest in us whatsoever.  Life does not think.  It does not care.  It just keeps on going.  Because of this Quincy knew life was mutable and he could change or do what he wanted.  He was sure he could get away with just about anything and that no one would be the wiser.  Of course there are certain things like laws of physics that nothing, nudge or otherwise, is going to change.  Quincy didn’t know about things like the laws of physics.  He just knew if there was a chance of something happening he could make it happen.  Probability Tampering might have been a better term for what Quincy was doing, but he didn’t really know much about that either.  He just liked it when things worked out his way.

The thing about a nudge is that it doesn’t make you all powerful.  Quincy was no god.  He couldn’t invent a new reality or blink and suddenly half the world never existed.  There was no redo button.  It wasn’t going to change the past or change the future, not in any grand sense anyway.  Quincy was never going to grow taller or more handsome or make certain women fall in love with him, no matter what he tried to think about or cause to happen. There were certain limits that through trial and error he had become all too aware of.  He had to think about what he wanted to happen and there had to be an actual chance of it happening.  Not some mathematical trick to prove that anything can happen at any time if given enough changes.  This wasn’t some game with infinite probabilities.  There had to be a real honest chance of the event occurring naturally and of its own accord.

Still, even with those limits, it gave Quincy quite a playground to play in. 

There are rules about action and reaction if you’re so inclined to read about such things.  Nudge something and you make a ripple.  Nudge a lot, you make a wave.  Waves push something else and then those things have to push other things.  And so on and so forth.

Quincy really had no idea of all the things he was pushing all the time.  He never stuck around long enough or studied the people he touched to witness his inadvertent causes and effects.  But even if he had, he probably wouldn’t have cared very much.  That was just the sort of guy Quincy was.

But there are times when you nudge something and somebody and then you are there to witness the effects first hand.

Nudge a stop light – not everyone can stop in time.

Crash through your windshield?  You don’t always have time to think about what probability outcome you can and can’t nudge in that situation.

There are always rules and a little thing like a nudge isn’t going to change that.

Day 30 - Eyes Story

Eyes Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Six months ago my friend Eddie met a girl. 

“She touched my arm and for one brief moment I was living a life I wanted to live.”

That’s what he said about the first time they met.  That’s what he actually said.  How does a girl’s touch make some guys go crazy?  And how can one touch suddenly invert everything?

I was very disappointed in Eddie.  I’m not a hater.  I want my friends to be happy.  But it all sounded too good to be true.  I mean, Eddie deserves a girlfriend; he’s a great guy after all, but something in the way he talked about her was scary.  That sort of zombie scary that couples get when they’re too happy and all they can do is talk about life like it’s great all the time and everything is rainbows and puppy dog tails.  It made no sense.  Eddie was a major douchebag.  He’s probably my best friend, but the guy is a tool and there’s no way he would ever go for a girl that was all girlie girl and happy smiley and all that.  Eddie is a screw or be screwed, life is out to get you sort of guy.  If he was becoming all hugs and kisses then something was definitely wrong. 

The problem was I was the only one to see it.  Everybody else was happy for him.  Here she was, stealing my best friend and nobody seemed to care, least of all my supposed best friend. 

I thought things were bad then.  Little did I know what was to come, but then again, how could I?  But if I had, I would totally have rather he just have been one of those dudes that becomes sickeningly sweet in a relationship.  I would much rather have had that happen to my best friend than what actually happened...

*                             *                             *

“What is happening!?!”

Eddie was screaming at me.  I was busy peeling webbing off his face.

“Damn it, Reese--”

“I am trying to save you, you ungrateful son of a--“

“What is happening to me!?!”

Eddie was scared.  That’s understandable.  I was scared too.  Who wouldn’t be scared to wake up and find they were inside some sort of giant spider web cocoon?  That would totally be freak worthy.  And worse, you realize your girlfriend was the one that put you in there.  Double the freak out.

“You gotta trust me... I’m saving you.”

“From what?!  What... what is this?”

Eddie was starting to come to his senses.  He could see just what a screwed up situation this was.  He started to tear webbing off his body and legs.

“Dude I gotta just say it – I told you this girl was trouble.”

“Sheila?”

“Hell yeah, Sheila!  Who do you think did this to you?”

Eddie looked a little lost.  Apparently as you are being eaten by your crazy half spider monster girlfriend you tend to zone out and not remember things.

“But…”

“Trust me.  I saw it with my own eyes.  You two were getting it on and then she started spitting this all over you.”

“You were watching us have sex?”

“Totally not the point!  The point is I saved you.  Now we gotta run before she gets back and wants more than a snack.”

Then the hissing noise began.  It was too late.   She was home.

*                             *                             *

If she looked into your eyes she could convince you of anything.  The girl was a succubus.  Or a siren.  Or a harpy.  I can’t remember.  She was one of those.  One of those horrific things the Greeks were always making up for their stories.  They would look pretty and sing songs to sailors and before you knew it they were sucking out your blood and you were turned into a stone statue.  That’s what this girl was.  She was trouble.  And I was the only one who had seen it coming.

*                             *                             *

“Cover your eyes – if she looks you in the eyes she’ll eat your soul.”

“If I cover my eyes how will I know where I’m going?”

“Just shut up and run!”

*                             *                             *

Run!

Run for you life...

Out of the apartment… through the courtyard…

Where is she?  Where is she?

Why can’t I run faster?  Totally need to start working out again.

Hide behind that dumpster. 

What is this place? 

A construction site… row and rows of port-o-lets? 

How is this going to help us escape?

*                             *                             *

“Shut the lights off--“

Eddie did.

“I don’t think she saw us come in here.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I can’t, okay.  But what else can we do?  Look around for something – a knife or a weapon or something.”

Eddie didn’t say anything.  Maybe the shock of finding out your girlfriend is a monster was finally catching up to him.

“Eddie?  You okay?”

“I… I don’t know.  I don’t feel very well…”

“We’ll get you to a hospital.  Soon.  I promise.  We just can’t go out there yet.   We have to make sure she’s gone.”

“Reese… I--“

“No need to thank me man.  You’d have done the same for me.”

“No.  Reese.  Something’s wrong.  Look me in the eyes and tell me what you see.”

*                             *                             *

Idiot!  I’m such a freakin’ idiot.  The eyes – the eyes.  I should have thought about what he was asking me to do.  She probably infected him with some succubus sex virus or maybe the greeks had some male soul suckers too...

Day 29 - TithonEos Story

TithonEos Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

“Drink the drink of me and I shall drink the drink of you and together we shall be free...” – from the poem “Eos and Tithonos” by Winston Alexander Whitmore, circa 1923.

Tithonus the Trojan was immortal.  He had been granted eternal life by Zeus at the request of Eos.  The twist, because there always was one, was that she forgot to ask for eternal youth to go along with eternal life.  And so Tithonus aged and aged and aged.  While Eos loved him, her love was only so strong.  Watching a man age and wither until finally unable to move or speak, will test any lover’s resolve.  Eventually when Eos finally had had enough she found some semblance of mercy and turned him into a cicada.  Why did she wait so long to act?  And why was existence as a cicada better than existence as a decrepit old man?  Perhaps Eos wasn’t really that in love to begin with. Perhaps she got stuck in a relationship but tried to stick it out to make herself feel better about trapping him in such an existence.  Perhaps she derived some sick pleasure in torturing him.  First she simply watched as “loathsome old age pressed full upon him” and then she manically transformed him into a creature sans brain or ability.  Perhaps as his age grew, her love diminished equally and she grew to resent taking care of him and learned to hate him.  Perhaps life as a grasshopper is by far the worst life possible on this Earth.

The Tithonian Brotherhood, or the Monks of Tithonus as they were also known, believed that the secret to youth and to immortality lay in the water.  Tithonus had a water nymph for a mother.  Therefore his elemental power would have been water and any god gift such as immortality would certainly reside within his element.

It is unclear as to when the Brotherhood began and little has been written about their religious order.  Renowned occultist Mortimer Thornewill only referenced their existence as a side note while studying vampyre cults and other associations dedicated to the pursuit of eternal life.  While spending several years living amongst various groups Thornewill only wrote one journal entry which simply read “Tithonian Brotherhood does exist.  Rituals leave members all too mortal.”  Apparently Thornewill was unimpressed.  Another less circulated clerical guide of spells and rituals describes a tear ritual where Tithonian followers drip water into their eyes in an attempt to absorb its life giving properties.  It is unclear whether or not the Brotherhood actually believed this to be some version of transubstantiation where they are absorbing Tithonus in some form, but the parallels with the Christian Communion are obvious.

Day 28 - Twin Story

Twin Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer

Sanford and Niles Braddick were footballers.  They both had the extreme talent, luck and drive to make it to the professional world of sports.  Brothers playing football isn’t rare.  Twin brothers playing and making it that far is certainly less common, but it has happened. 

Sanford and Niles had intentionally played different positions, Sanford a wide receive on offense and Niles a safety on defense.  There was great competition between them in life but also great love and admiration.  This was true as well on the field.  They never fought for the same role, but by playing different sides of the game, they could compete and try to lay claim as the most influential to team success.  Both wanted to win games.  Both wanted to win because their squads made it happen.

As children, Sanford and Niles liked to change clothes in the restroom while the other kids played during recess.  Then, they would assume their brother's identity and spend the rest of the day sitting in the other one’s seat and acting as the brother.  Their haircuts were the same, their voices were the same, and at the time, they were both similarly skilled in school.  Very few friends or teachers ever suspected or realized.  Their test scores certainly didn’t give them away.

Sanford and Niles took to football instantly.  They were gifted and had the right intensity.  The game itself with its physical and mental skill and precision appealed to their competitive natures.  In practice both took great pleasure in lining up and attacking the other one.  Their practices were more intense that some other people’s games. 

As young men, Sanford and Niles made a point of defining themselves by having completely opposite styles.  Hair cuts, clothes, favorite films and bands – all were different.  They were happy to be a twin, and happy to share the football field, but they wanted their own identities, their own successes, their own failures.  Once on a dare, they didn’t speak to the other for ten days, except during football practice.  It was a very lonely time, but they had wanted to see if they could do it.

They had played on the same teams as children, in high school, in college, but not in the NFL.  Sanford was an incredible talent and was drafted early by a lesser team.  Niles, while being a quality player, was most definitely not a star in the making, and was drafted lower, but had the good fortune of being drafted by a better franchise.  Both were lucky enough to have their careers last longer than the average.  Both were unlucky in the fact that they were in different conferences and they only played against each other on rare occasions.  They would have loved to be in the same division and face off at least twice a year, and even though they both changed teams during their careers, they never had the luck to be part of a heated rivalry.

As young adults, Sanford and Niles had many adventures together.  No matter what, they always found a week or two to spend together as a private vacation.  In college they took trips and tours and saw the world.  Soon they were returning as volunteers and guides.  When they loved something they learned everything there was to learn about it and made themselves into experts.

When they were thirty-one, Niles’ team made it to the championship.  Sanford was his biggest fan and cheerleader.  Both knew careers were short and thirty-one can be old for a player on either side of the ball.  Trips to championship games are few and far between and this might be the only time either one of them ever had the opportunity.

Sanford and Niles always wanted to test the other and see who was better at just about anything – including who was best as the other.  As children they had taken each others' tests and competed for the best report card.  As young men they had traded part time jobs to find out who the best employee was.  Both ended up with raises.  Once, during a womanizing era of their youth, they had both tried to date the same woman.  That was one of their only disasters.

During the championship game Niles played the best game of his career.  Niles was a decent safety, and could cover well in zone and one-on-one defensive sets, but he was not known for big plays and never had the catching ability that his brother possessed as a wide receiver.  During the game Niles had two interceptions, one in the first half, and one in the second.  The second was returned for a touchdown.  He won the MVP award.  No one was happier for him than Sanford.  Both retired soon enough and that one game went down as the best moment of either of their careers.  Neither would play for another championship.

Niles didn’t talk a lot before or after the game.  He met with his family early in the day and spoke of his hopes and dreams and how much he loved his family and the game of football.  Later he was unusually quiet during the game, but extremely focused on making his dreams come true.  Some would say he rose above his ability that day, made the most of mistakes and quarterback miscues.  Some athletes do that.  Some play their best when all the chips are down and the spotlight is on them.  No one would ever say Niles didn’t do just that.  Sanford especially would speak often in interviews about his brother and just how proud he was of how Niles had been able to play that day.  Both would say in interviews how sad they were that they hadn’t both won championships or been on the same team that day. 

When asked about his second interception that day, when asked why he fought so hard to break tackles and gain extra yards and finally score, when asked why, with the game well in hand, he took it upon himself to make such a big play, Niles would simply smile and say “I guess I still had something left to prove.”