Here's another flash fiction for Chuck Wendig's contest. This prompt was "A novice revenges the rhythm." We had to include that sentence in our story.
Spit your game, talk your shit, grab your gat,
Spit your game, talk your shit, grab your gat.
My feet hit the pavement in rhythm with the song. With my earbuds blasting, I looked ahead unseeing, only focusing on the music, the rhythm, the beat.
Today was just a normal day. I was heading toward the elementary school to pick up my little sister, Jasmine, but I was making a stop along the way. In the alley behind Drug Mart, some of my friends and others would hang out and chill after school. Nothing serious, we would just swap gossip about kids in our class or sling clever insults at each other. We always liked the hidden alley, not because we were doing something wrong but because adults expected us to be. Back there, we were away from prying eyes and could just be ourselves.
Getting closer, I saw Daquan and Avionna with a few others. Everyone had earbuds in ears and cell phones in hand. When they saw me, they shouted out, but I just gave a small nod in return. I didn’t change my pace, just walked up smooth and casual. Hurrying looked childish and not cool.
“Man, where’ve you been,” Daquan greeted me as we bumped fists. I shrugged in reply.
“Lil’ J got nothin’ to say today?” he teased. He knew I didn’t like that name.
“My rapper name is Big Jay,” I retorted. Biggie Smalls is my idol so I made my name as a shout out to him.
“You gotta be a rapper first.”
We both dream about being rappers. I know we are two out of millions who aspire to be the next big thing, but it’s the dream that keeps us moving, keeps us going, keeps us living. It’s the thought that at any moment, any of us could be plucked up out of our humdrum lives and live the high life of fancy cars and shiny things. I don’t even need to look around and see how we all immerse ourselves in the music. It’s our way of life, our way of coping, our way of being. Music is our way of life and rapping is the means.
“You think you’re a rapper, huh?” this other guy asked, overhearing us.
“Yeah, what of it?” I bristled. I didn’t know who this guy was. He looked a few years older than me, at least.
“Ha, ha, that’s funny. You keep thinking that while I get my record deal,” he boosted.
“Recording yourself in your grandma’s basement doesn’t count,” I shot back.
“Oh, so you think you’re better than me? You don’t know shit.”
“Prove it,” I prodded. I wasn’t backing down with this guy, especially not in front of my friends.
“Okay, then. You and me right now. Rap battle,” he challenged.
Daquan chipped in, “I got the beats.” He looked at me and gave a nod. He knew I could do this.
The girls took interest now. “Oh, shit, it’s on,” they tittered.
Daquan started the rhythm. Bom, Chk, Bom, Bom, Chk. As he repeated the sounds with his mouth, everyone got quiet, breaths held. Everyone was watching and waiting. I couldn’t mess this up. My rep as a rapper was on the line. I fuck this up, and no one will let me live this down.
The other guy nodded with the rhythm, feeling the beat, preparing his words. Then, he began:
You think you got this,
But you’ll drink my piss,
For all the stuff you diss.
So get off my dick,
As I rhyme real slick.
The others guffawed, but I shook my head. That was weak.
Now, I’m up. I gotta make this good, make this clever, make it my own. I saw the words dancing in front of my eyes, moving with the rhythm, bouncing with the rhymes. The words began to spring from my mouth like a fountain, ready and bursting:
I fight battles with words and rhymes,
The clock is ticking and I ain’t got time,
To find my nickels and find my dimes,
So here’s my two cents, for your rhymes:
You’ve spent your rent; you’re past your prime.
I patted myself as I spoke, as if I was really looking for change and then spun it as advice. I was really proud of myself for that one, and I got sounds of approval from the others. I got this.
The other guy bit his tongue, just biding his time for his move, and as soon as I was done, he struck back:
You’re just a novice,
You don’t know this.
Rap has rhythm; rap has flow,
And your advice has no dough.
When you shit, it ain’t gold,
And when you spit, it’s just mold.
When he was done, he put his arms out to his sides, as if to say, “Whatcha got?” He knew he made a comeback.
I licked my lips. It all came down to this. I let the beat go for a moment, feeling it out, and then, I took a breath and started:
A novice revenges the rhythm,
Yeah, I tear it limb from limb.
With my flow, I fight the system,
And with my hoe, I come in Kim.
I hope you know, I won this row.
I sow my seed; I roll this weed,
I spit my game and claim my fame.
Cheers went up from the crowd. Pride welled up in me as the others congratulated me. It wasn’t just about beating the other person. You also had to win the crowd because they were the ones judging.
The other guy looked mad for a moment, but then he relented.
“You put that shit down, bro,” he said and held out his fist.
I bumped it. “Yeah, man, that was tight.”
My cell rang. It was Jasmine.
“Later, I gotta go get my sister,” I said to them.
I put my earbuds back in and turned up the music, immersing myself in its rhythm.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Lucifer's Story
This is a short story for Chuck Wendig's contest. From the categories, I picked to include in the story:
Splatterpunk
Hell
Tattoos
“I’m Beelzebub, Satan, Father of Lies, Devil, Prince of Darkness, Beast, Leviathan, Thief, Serpent of Old, Star, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, and let’s throw in Anointed Covering Cherub for fun. Yeah, I’m the bad guy,” said Lucifer.
“Please, I don’t want to be here!” a woman pleaded desperately, kneeling in front of him.
Lucifer harshly kicked the woman in the ribs and then quickly knelt down and got right in her face.
“You’re not listening!” he shouted in her ear. “When I’m speaking, you fucking listen!”
He pulled her up by her hair, yanking her back to her feet.
“Now, what did I just say?” he asked, eerily calm.
The woman whimpered, not sure what to say without setting him off again.
“You’re the bad guy?” she answered uncertainly, cringing.
“Damn right. I’m the bad guy. At least, that’s what everyone thinks.”
He let go of her and walked to his seat. It was a throne fitting the Ruler of Underworld, not golden and majestic but dark and terrifying, forged from the fires of Hell itself. The black metal throne glinted maliciously whenever it ensnared the light with its ridged teeth, while shredded claws of iron strained out from the legs and arms of the chair, desperate to seize anything within its reach.
The room was one of many rooms in Hell. This one was a dark and dank cellar with cinderblock walls lined with tortuous, blood-stained toys for Lucifer’s amusement. He picked one now, a long, thin and sharp knife, perfect for careful incisions.
“Please, God, save me!” she begged as she back away from him.
Lucifer threw back his head and laughed, full and rich laughter that came deep within his core.
“God? God save you?! Please, it’s because of God that I’m here.”
He grabbed her violently and dragged her to an operating table then strapped her in with leather cords. When he was done, he stopped and looked right into her fearful brown eyes.
“Will you be a good girl and listen now?”
She only stared back.
Then, he began his tale as he slowly started slicing the skin of her stomach with the knife, leaving a thin red line in its wake.
“In the beginning, there was God. Don’t ask me how He came to be, He just was, okay? Well, God didn’t begin by making Earth as you humans love to believe. He first made us angels. Yes, I said us, me included. He made us to worship Him and tremble at His mighty feet. As angels, we were in heaven and were made to be perfect creations of His. We were holy, therefore, we couldn’t murder, rape, steal, or even lie,” Lucifer explained calmly as he pulled back the skin, exposing the organs underneath.
“After awhile, God then decided to make Earth in six days and rested on the seventh. Yada, yada, you know the story. Well, in this time, He created the first two humans, Adam and Eve. When He did this, we angels were confused because He made us, why is He still making stuff? And we wondered about these humans He created. I mean, they were molded out of dirt - how filthy! At first, we mocked them from a distance. What a joke they were to us - these lowly, dirty humans compared to holy, pure angels of the Lord,” he continued, but the tension in his voice grew and his knife cuts became more jagged as he sawed the ribs. He ignored the screams, just background noise.
“But then, God started spending more time with them. They would go on walks around the Garden of Eden, naming shit. Soon, we barely saw God at all! He was abandoning us for those stupid humans! Well, I for one was furious and I talked to the other angels about it. We agreed to confront God about it and I would lead them. Not all the angels agreed with me, mind you, some were still goody-two-shoes who thought we shouldn’t question God. Anyway, we went up to Him and asked Him what was with these humans and why are they so special? God replied that He had created them in His image and had given them the freedom of choice,” he snarled. He threw the bloody, busted ribs aside with a clatter to reveal the frantically beating heart. In the suddenly silent room, the sound of the blood pumping through the heart made the whole room throb.
“So you see,” Lucifer whispered intensely over the throbbing sound, “He gave the humans freedom to chose whether they wanted to follow God or not, but I.... But when I question God, what happens?” Lucifer stopped and looked at her.
“Look at me!” He screamed at her. “LOOK AT ME!”
She forced herself to stare back at him through the pain. He wasn’t red like all the cartoons depicted. He was bald with odd piercings in his nose and ears. But that’s not what he wanted her to see. It was that he was covered in black markings that looked like tattoos. The markings were everywhere, on his eyelids to the tips of his fingers.
“These tattoos are the marks of evil that I got when God cast me out of heaven. He threw me out and sent me here to rot until time itself comes to an end. And I’m the bad guy?!” He raged.
He plucked her heart out of her chest. It was still beating, pumping away uselessly as blood dripped in long rivers down his arms.
“All I have now is torture and pain! All I have, all I do, is to torture the sinful,” Lucifer grasped the heart tightly in his hands.
“And I love it!”
He clenched the heart so tight that blood sprayed everywhere. He could feel the sticky warmth on his face, in his mouth, on his lips. It tasted so good.
“Yeah,” he said slowly, “I am the bad guy.”
Check out Chuck Wendig's site: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/09/14/flash-fiction-challenge-a-second-game-of-aspects/
Splatterpunk
Hell
Tattoos
“I’m Beelzebub, Satan, Father of Lies, Devil, Prince of Darkness, Beast, Leviathan, Thief, Serpent of Old, Star, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, and let’s throw in Anointed Covering Cherub for fun. Yeah, I’m the bad guy,” said Lucifer.
“Please, I don’t want to be here!” a woman pleaded desperately, kneeling in front of him.
Lucifer harshly kicked the woman in the ribs and then quickly knelt down and got right in her face.
“You’re not listening!” he shouted in her ear. “When I’m speaking, you fucking listen!”
He pulled her up by her hair, yanking her back to her feet.
“Now, what did I just say?” he asked, eerily calm.
The woman whimpered, not sure what to say without setting him off again.
“You’re the bad guy?” she answered uncertainly, cringing.
“Damn right. I’m the bad guy. At least, that’s what everyone thinks.”
He let go of her and walked to his seat. It was a throne fitting the Ruler of Underworld, not golden and majestic but dark and terrifying, forged from the fires of Hell itself. The black metal throne glinted maliciously whenever it ensnared the light with its ridged teeth, while shredded claws of iron strained out from the legs and arms of the chair, desperate to seize anything within its reach.
The room was one of many rooms in Hell. This one was a dark and dank cellar with cinderblock walls lined with tortuous, blood-stained toys for Lucifer’s amusement. He picked one now, a long, thin and sharp knife, perfect for careful incisions.
“Please, God, save me!” she begged as she back away from him.
Lucifer threw back his head and laughed, full and rich laughter that came deep within his core.
“God? God save you?! Please, it’s because of God that I’m here.”
He grabbed her violently and dragged her to an operating table then strapped her in with leather cords. When he was done, he stopped and looked right into her fearful brown eyes.
“Will you be a good girl and listen now?”
She only stared back.
Then, he began his tale as he slowly started slicing the skin of her stomach with the knife, leaving a thin red line in its wake.
“In the beginning, there was God. Don’t ask me how He came to be, He just was, okay? Well, God didn’t begin by making Earth as you humans love to believe. He first made us angels. Yes, I said us, me included. He made us to worship Him and tremble at His mighty feet. As angels, we were in heaven and were made to be perfect creations of His. We were holy, therefore, we couldn’t murder, rape, steal, or even lie,” Lucifer explained calmly as he pulled back the skin, exposing the organs underneath.
“After awhile, God then decided to make Earth in six days and rested on the seventh. Yada, yada, you know the story. Well, in this time, He created the first two humans, Adam and Eve. When He did this, we angels were confused because He made us, why is He still making stuff? And we wondered about these humans He created. I mean, they were molded out of dirt - how filthy! At first, we mocked them from a distance. What a joke they were to us - these lowly, dirty humans compared to holy, pure angels of the Lord,” he continued, but the tension in his voice grew and his knife cuts became more jagged as he sawed the ribs. He ignored the screams, just background noise.
“But then, God started spending more time with them. They would go on walks around the Garden of Eden, naming shit. Soon, we barely saw God at all! He was abandoning us for those stupid humans! Well, I for one was furious and I talked to the other angels about it. We agreed to confront God about it and I would lead them. Not all the angels agreed with me, mind you, some were still goody-two-shoes who thought we shouldn’t question God. Anyway, we went up to Him and asked Him what was with these humans and why are they so special? God replied that He had created them in His image and had given them the freedom of choice,” he snarled. He threw the bloody, busted ribs aside with a clatter to reveal the frantically beating heart. In the suddenly silent room, the sound of the blood pumping through the heart made the whole room throb.
“So you see,” Lucifer whispered intensely over the throbbing sound, “He gave the humans freedom to chose whether they wanted to follow God or not, but I.... But when I question God, what happens?” Lucifer stopped and looked at her.
“Look at me!” He screamed at her. “LOOK AT ME!”
She forced herself to stare back at him through the pain. He wasn’t red like all the cartoons depicted. He was bald with odd piercings in his nose and ears. But that’s not what he wanted her to see. It was that he was covered in black markings that looked like tattoos. The markings were everywhere, on his eyelids to the tips of his fingers.
“These tattoos are the marks of evil that I got when God cast me out of heaven. He threw me out and sent me here to rot until time itself comes to an end. And I’m the bad guy?!” He raged.
He plucked her heart out of her chest. It was still beating, pumping away uselessly as blood dripped in long rivers down his arms.
“All I have now is torture and pain! All I have, all I do, is to torture the sinful,” Lucifer grasped the heart tightly in his hands.
“And I love it!”
He clenched the heart so tight that blood sprayed everywhere. He could feel the sticky warmth on his face, in his mouth, on his lips. It tasted so good.
“Yeah,” he said slowly, “I am the bad guy.”
Check out Chuck Wendig's site: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/09/14/flash-fiction-challenge-a-second-game-of-aspects/
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Character Description: Alexander
For the next few posts, I am going to set up who the characters are in my story and their descriptions.
Character:
Alexander, the Grim Reaper
Description:
His shaggy, black hair hangs in his face like thick curtains, shielding himself from the light. He is tall and lean with long, pale fingers tightly grasping his staff. Alexander is a man that appears to be in his thirties, not some elderly, decrepit person as some would envision a reaper of souls. However, his eyes show what his body does not. His eyes are ancient pools of water, dark and deep, without any way to peer in and see what is hidden, yet there is an overwhelming sense that time and death have taken a toll in this place.
He wears a long robe that hangs limply off his thin body. It was black at one time but that time has long been forgotten. Now, it is ashen gray, dirty and ragged, falling to his frayed sandals. His staff is just symbolic of his title; he does not actually reap souls, only brings them to the other side. The staff itself is cobbled together with yellowed and cracked bones strapped together. It is top off with a human skull, hollow and smiling toothily while cocked to one side, as if listening for the death knell.
Personality:
His humor is dry and dark. For thousands of years, he has been the Grim Reaper, leader of all reapers. Death bores him and the newly-departed bother him even more.
Favorite Saying:
"Another one for the furnace."
Character:
Alexander, the Grim Reaper
Description:
His shaggy, black hair hangs in his face like thick curtains, shielding himself from the light. He is tall and lean with long, pale fingers tightly grasping his staff. Alexander is a man that appears to be in his thirties, not some elderly, decrepit person as some would envision a reaper of souls. However, his eyes show what his body does not. His eyes are ancient pools of water, dark and deep, without any way to peer in and see what is hidden, yet there is an overwhelming sense that time and death have taken a toll in this place.
He wears a long robe that hangs limply off his thin body. It was black at one time but that time has long been forgotten. Now, it is ashen gray, dirty and ragged, falling to his frayed sandals. His staff is just symbolic of his title; he does not actually reap souls, only brings them to the other side. The staff itself is cobbled together with yellowed and cracked bones strapped together. It is top off with a human skull, hollow and smiling toothily while cocked to one side, as if listening for the death knell.
Personality:
His humor is dry and dark. For thousands of years, he has been the Grim Reaper, leader of all reapers. Death bores him and the newly-departed bother him even more.
Favorite Saying:
"Another one for the furnace."
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Step One
This is my first step. I want this to mean something, not just to me but for anyone reading this blog. Right now, I am an artist without a brush, a poet without a muse, and a writer without a story. I am lost. My wish - a daydreamer's wish- is to write a trilogy and illustrate it myself. Can I do it? I don't know.
I have to take my first step.
I have to take my first step.
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