Day 322 - Faster Story

Faster Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Skipping record repeats itself. The scratching song that never ends. It all just kept going around and around. Superhuman speed that recklessly spun out of control.

Tommy ran fast, but never fast enough. He pushed himself. Faster. Must be faster. He was going to make it. He had to. But not tonight. Tonight wasn’t going to happen. There was rain and there was sun. Tommy was wet and then he was dry. Chased. He was always chased. He wasn’t going to be caught. Everything else didn’t matter. All he had to do was run a little faster, push a little harder. He could ignore all the rest. All he had to do was focus. That and believe it was possible to tune everything else out.

Michael just sat there. He wasn’t fast. Everyone knew it. He wasn’t going to do any running. He didn’t care. There was nowhere for him to go. He was a straight line and he knew it. There was nothing that was going to change that. He took a step aside and let time speed past him.

Jason ran fast. He took off and didn’t look back. The others lost track. He was gone. People looked, but they just couldn’t see. Jason left a cloud of dust and a million unanswered questions. Maybe he ran too fast too soon. But he was gone. Disappeared never to be seen again.

Martha got lost somewhere in the speed of light. She wanted it all and was going to have to be fast to get it. She ran and then ran faster. She ran so fast she got lost in the race and didn’t know when to slow down. So instead she just sped up. She would pay the price. She could only run for so long.

There was only one chance to make it. They would have to be fast. It was the only way to live, the only way to survive. Run. And then run faster.

They all ran so fast. Time bent. It was a space-time hiccup, propelled along by its own momentum. They ran so fast that they weren’t moving at all. Everything else was slow, everything else was a crawl.

Time

slowed

down…

Until it seemed to stop.

They moved but time was still.

Tommy was on the run. There was no end in sight. Tommy was on the run and then he skipped. Like a scratched record, skipping the groove. Tommy was off the track. He was racing headlong, wild, no direction, no control. He skipped over and over. In and out. One place and then no place. He was bouncing and couldn’t stop.

There were flashes. Milliseconds. Moments. The others, they could see him. Just a bit. Just a moment. Then he skipped and was gone.

Tommy saw it all. It happened so slow. He was a snail. Every second took an eternity. He couldn’t adjust correctly. It was madness. He was so slow that nothing could happen. He was so slow that no one could even perceive him. But he was so fast. He moved so fast he moved right past them. They would reach out, but he was gone. They would speak, but sound was left behind. They didn’t even see streaks of light. He was moving too fast.

Tommy skipped. He was there and then he was gone. He saw people. He saw time. There was the past and the future and a million different versions of them all. Every time he could slow down the record skipped and he was lost again.

Tommy was gone.

There were so many of them – little flickers of light, flashing and dancing around and skipping in and out of time. They pushed themselves. They had to. They pushed too hard and then they were gone.

Michael sat and waited. He was so tired. He tried to keep a lookout, but it was so hard. He was always searching, but couldn’t ever see.

Sometimes it felt like someone was right there with him. But he looked but never saw. But he could swear they were right there. Bouncing around. Skipping in and out. But it made him so tired to keep looking.

Tommy wanted to come home. He wanted to, but the skipping wouldn’t stop. Not tonight.

So tired.

They ran. And then ran faster.

It was the thing that drove them and propelled them and trapped them. They ran and then ran faster and couldn’t stop. What was the thing, that thing that had to be done? What was the chase? What was the pursuit? They had been running so long it was hard to remember.

Tommy waited, but it was taking forever. Michael waited, but was so tired. It was too fast and too slow all at the same time, and a balance was nowhere in sight.