This is just some basic brainstorming. No real stories here. Enjoy!

What Flak Wants Me To Write

There’s a man that’s become obsessed with clouds. For as long as he can remember, he’s always admired clouds. Every day, clouds can show him something different and amazing. He’s spent his entire life studying clouds, and decided to take up a profession to help him get closer to them. Once he becomes a pilot, a whole new world of possibilities open up to him…

(Will require amending once history facts are worked out)
The year is 1656. The coast and lands in what was now known as “New England” had practically been scoured clean of Native Americans. Diseases from Europe had proven highly effective in reducing native populations. One young boy sets out to prevent the strange invaders from pushing further into their land. His journey will take him through far off lands of myth and legend.

A young boy is confronted with the death of his dog. The boy and the dog had been best friends for as long as the boy could remember. In order to help the boy cope with the loss, the boy’s father suggests he builds a tree house. The boy spends months constructing the tree house, and on the night of its completion, he sleeps there. That night, the boy dreams of his lost friend, and finally feels he has a proper chance to say goodbye.

A woman wants to go traveling around the world. She works hard for a year, studying for school and saving up money. She logs her progress in both my schooling and her earnings throughout the year. She finally has enough money and begin her trip. On the way to the airport, she has second thoughts, which causes her to drive slowly. When she arrives at the airport, she learns that a bomb was planted on the plane and prematurely went off before take-off, and that she was spared only because she had been running late.

Watching TV is a staple of families all across the world. We watch, and we watch, and we watch. Entire generations have been shaped and molded by what we show on the television. But what if we’re not the ones in control? What if the television itself is more interesting and intelligent than we ever imagined…

It was too late. On that fateful day, the sky opened and the sun stared down at us like a great eye of flame, scouring all life it saw before it. Few survived, and the world that remained could sustain any semblance of a civilization. Why would anyone want to live, after the devastation that had been wrought? Because the desire to live is strong, has been strong, and will remain strong.

Flak will be out of town until Friday! Until then, you’ll just have to make due without him!

EDIT: Up to 582.

 
 
The door began to shut behind him and he spared a glance back at the world he was shutting out. It was cold, and brittle, and far too uninviting for him. He felt all his feelings of frustration, anger, anxiety, and sadness swell to a peak as he thought on the months that had gone by. At that moment, there was nothing he wanted to see less in the world. The door was to the east.

Gods, he was going to miss it.

Settling in wasn’t difficult. The room was bare, stark in contrast to the home he had lived in before. How fortunate it was that he sold it, on a whim, and most of his possessions, to come out here in the middle of nowhere to try to find some peace. It had all seemed so simple… and yet so much could go wrong.

He had bought enough food and supplies to last the winter, all of which he had hauled in not five minutes ago. A few boxes of food, water, warm clothing, and fuel sat neatly in a corner. There were also a few mementos that he had brought from home to cheer up the place a bit…

Turning around, he surveyed the rest of the room. The cabin was simple. Wood logs built together and sealed with some sort of wood dust mortar, and wooden plank floors. There was a fireplace opposite the door, large and built from natural stones fitted together with no lack of work. A bed was ready and made some four feet from the fireplace, not so close that it would set on fire, but not so far away that the flames wouldn’t help warm the occupant in the cold nights. Also, there was a wooden rocking chair in front of the fireplace as well. He assumed it squeaked when rocked in.

He had brought a few more supplies too, of course. Toiletries and whatnot. The toilet in the room was surrounded by a faded blue curtain, and there was no sink. He had been told that the pipe went thirty feet into the ground before changing direction, due to the cold. Hopefully, this meant that it hadn’t frozen and become unusable.

The cabin was fully stocked with firewood and starter fluid, fortunately. He had paid extra to make sure it had come that way. Hauling five thousand some logs that took up the south side of his cabin would have been a nightmare. With a quick glance out the windows, he decided it would be time to get a fire started.

-

“I want you.” she said. “And I want you, but-” “No buts. If we want each other, then there’s nothing wrong with it…” She slid her hand across his chest, fingertips walking the entire way. “We can’t.” he replied. “We’ll get caught.” She laughed at him. It was a light, tinkling laugh, and it made him blush. “We’ll get caught? We’re both in our twenties, Jim. Our mid twenties. Your parents won’t care if we do it in your old bedroom.” She always knew how to make him blush, blunt and perceptive as she was…

And even though they might get caught, for the time being, he didn’t care.

-

The fire was warm, and yet Jim’s face felt surprisingly cool. Reaching up, he felt something wet. This was one of the things he had been trying to get away from.

Damn it all.

On lighter news than we’ve heard recently, I just got a job. I’m a computer technician at a local school district. The pay is good, and I get comp time for hours I go over (basically, free time for when I want a break). It looks like I may be able to do this job after all, which greatly pleases me.

On an annoying note, the two new shirts I just got don’t seem to fit me well. I was hoping they would, since they were bought at a store where I got a shirt that fits me -perfectly-, but I guess the brand is wrong.

This job should be tight.

The boy was born in darkness. That’s where he lived. He had never given it a second thought, not for all the time he’d been there. He could see, mind you, not like we do, but with his hands, and his ears, and his nose, and his flesh. His world, a world we would be lost in, was so much more than darkness to him. For, darkness is not nothing. It is merely dark.

Whether his eyes had gone blind or not was up to speculation, but regardless, one day he saw something. And how do you describe something such as this when you’ve never seen, dreamt, or experienced it before in your life? Perhaps it’s a bit like this.

Blinding. How is it, is anything, blinding to someone who can’t, or rather, hasn’t ever seen? It was harsh. A rough, dull and piercing pain. Light, as it was light, seemed to penetrate deep into the recess of his skull and burn his eyes.

It wasn’t hot, but a gentle warmth, unlike that of the steam-springs, washed over him, comforting him while his eyes screamed in protest, beleaguered and ill-equipped for such a thing.

But curiousity got the best of him. He had explored his whole life, searching and exploring his environment in the ways he knew best. So, obviously, when he attempted to grasp the light to determine its nature, he failed.

This confused and upset the boy. How could this new thing exist and yet not be tangible? But that was not right, he thought. He could feel it warm on his skin, but why, then, could he not hold it? The boy left and returned to the light many times after, but never discovered the origin of this light. So many long hours passed of his puzzling on it, but he never realized what it was.

What he did find, however, was warmth. A gentle kindness that radiated onto his skin and made him feel loved. It was the embrace of something he had never known, but was lucky enough to spend his last moments in.

It was a Mother’s love.

“Tonight hasn't been going so well.” That's what I told myself as I walked down the sidewalk, orange light coming down from above. “Things definitely could have been better.”

I felt sharp gravel dig into my feet as I crossed an alleyway, shoes long discarded. I hadn't thought much of the buzzing sounds I was hearing at first, but now it was really starting to get on my nerves. There had been a hope inside me that I would just eventually stop caring if I walked long enough, but then… what about my friends? I wasn't sure if I could even call them that anymore. After the words and blows we'd shared… no, they weren't friends anymore. It really was best if I stopped caring about them.

Strangely, I grew more and more acutely aware of the orange light as I walked. It was late at night, and I was still getting warmer. What was a jacket or a shirt now that I'd lost my shoes? No, it was best not to care about those things… if I was going to be walking I was going to do it comfortably.

The buzzing stopped, finally. It really had been annoying. The top of a hill was steadily approaching as I walked along now, leaves and trash and other debris slapping me in the face or chest. Blood was trickling down my arms… it was almost a funny sensation when you didn't pay attention to it, or try to recognize it for what it meant.

I was so close to the top of the hill. My steady going was starting to decline, and I felt my body being weighed down as I struggled to make it to the top, working not to care about it.

As I reached the top, an orange sky met me, and I opened my arms.

And then I burst into flame.

See, there’s going to be these online classes that I’ve signed up for that will be starting June 2nd. I’m not exactly sure how well I’ll do it, considering as how I’ve never taken an online class before and there will be no teacher/mentor/book in front of me to help, but it should be an interesting experience.

I also need to email one of the teachers at the college I’ll be taking classes at this upcoming school year. Apparently, I need to email him and ask him for permission to get out of what sounds to be a very basic computer class so that I can actually be in his programming class (Visual Basic). I’ve yet to decide completely on what it is I need to say to him, though I’m confident that I should meet all the requirements of the course already.

No word on a job as of yet. I haven’t exactly been looking around, but I know that needs to change pretty soon. We’ve almost got enough saved up for our new computer, and then it’s just a matter of transferring files over (most of which I already have backed up).

I haven’t done any writing on Drawing My Heart but I’m fairly certain no one else has either. This may or may not be a good thing. Oh, and I haven’t written any Utterance either. I need to get on that.

My sister is moving to Hawaii before too long, and my parents will be moving sometime next year (leaving me without a place to live). I’m pretty much clueless as to what I’m going to be doing once that happens, and am scared pretty shitless sometimes. Still, I’m hoping to be keeping a positive outlook on things from now on, at least the important things, and maybe things won’t be as bad as they seem.