Word: Susurrus

 

susurrus

[ soo-sur-uhs ]

noun,plural su·sur·rus·es.

1. a soft murmuring or rustling sound; whisper.

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               The room was whispering. The walls, the floor, the ceiling. Even the air itself seemed to be speaking in soft, barely heard voices. None of the team could hear the words spoken, but they all knew they were there. That it was not their senses playing tricks on them, or anything in the room. At least, nothing physical.

               They still moved as quietly as they could through the place, weapons loaded and ready. They had a mission to do, unsettling whispers be damned. None of them spoke as they looked around. It felt wrong somehow. Like doing so would trigger some disaster. None of them could explain why. Maybe it was something in the quiet voices all around them. A subconscious understanding of what was being said, and all of it a warning. Or perhaps it was something deeper than even that. A primordial sense long forgotten that had woken up in this place.

               Even in silence, they moved. Some of them could feel a cold sweat dripping down their back, but none let something so mundane stop them. A few footsteps caused some floorboards to creek. The sounds only seemed to make the whispers louder for a brief moment. Some of the team members thought they could almost hear what was being said during those brief moments. But nothing was voiced out loud.

               The team leader’s brow wrinkled as they walked. How long had they been walking? It felt like quite a while. More than they should have been. The room was only so big, and yet the longer they walked, the longer they had to go. Was there something affecting their sense of distance? Maybe confusing them into walking in loops around the room. He held up his hand, stopping the team’s movement. He took out a knife and made a tiny mark on the wooden floor. A simple arrow, telling the team which direction they were going in. The rest of them held their breath, wondering if this would cause something to happen. Nothing did.

               They kept walking. Now the leader, and the entire team, noticed it. They had been walking for far too long. The leader made more of his marks on the floor as they went, but they never passed any of them. They were, at least, not going in circles. Several wondered if the room itself was changing sizes, or keeping them in place. In a room that whispered to them, anything was possible. And few of those possibilities were good for them.

               Some of the team members even looked back, seeing where they had come from. The door they had entered through was gone. It should not have been very far away, but it was nowhere to be seen. Vanished into the distance as they walked ever forward. Always forward towards a destination they could not see. Several wondered if there even was an exit to the whispering room.

               They did not voice these ideas though. They simply kept going, until they either reached the end, or their voices joined the whispers. 

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Ooo, creepy, right? I hope so anyway. I don't know how good I am at creepy stuff though, so it probably isn't that bad.

Word: Enigma

 

enigma

[ uh-nig-muh ]

 

noun,plural e·nig·mas; Chiefly Archaic e·nig·ma·ta [uh-nig-muh-tuh].

1. a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation: His disappearance is an enigma that has given rise to much speculation.

2. a person of puzzling or contradictory character: To me he has always been an enigma, one minute completely insensitive, the next moved to tears.

**********************************

                              The light shone over Dr. Bryant’s workplace. It came from a single lamp that hung precariously over the stacks of papers. All other lights had been turned off at some point. He had not noticed, nor cared. As long as he could see, he could work.

               His hands scratched at the papers, making lines and numbers that an outsider would almost consider arcane in nature. Dr. Bryant was almost inclined to agree with them, given the nature of what he was studying.

               Suddenly, the room filled with light. Dr. Bryant blinked heavily, but did not let the sudden change in environment stop him. If anything, the lights turning on took some of the strain from his eyes.

               “Oh hey, George. When’d you get here.”

               The voice made Dr. Bryant look up suddenly. One of his colleagues, Dr. Laverne, was heading to her work station. It was likely her that had turned on the lights in their shared workspace. Dr. Bryant considered the question.

               “What time is it?” He asked.

               She took out her phone and looked at the time. “About 8:30, which you should know unless…Oh no, George. Did you stay here all night?”

               Dr. Bryant did not answer. Dr. Laverne made a bee line towards him and lifted his chin to examine him closely. She twisted his face from side to side, acting as if her doctorate was in medicine instead of anthropology.

               “You did, didn’t you?” She asked. “Did you at least sleep?”

               “Sleep? Why would I do that? I’ve got work to do.”

               She sighed heavily. “Work that would still be there if you went home and got some rest. In fact, it would probably go smoother if you did that.”

               “I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. Not with this damned thing taunting me like it is.”

               “Still stuck on that translation, huh?”

               He turned to face his desk. “I doesn’t make any sense, Janet. All the words, all they symbols. We’ve seen them all. We know what they mean. And yet, somehow this one tablet…It’s all wrong, damn it! It doesn’t make any sense. The symbols don’t go together like they should.”

               “Yes, yes, I know. You’ve told me that.”

               “I have?”

               “Several times, yes. You practically wouldn’t stop talking about it yesterday, remember?”

               He paused, hand mid-way to his pen. He thought. He had told people about his problems, hadn’t he. Now that he was thinking about it, he noticed just how hard it actually was to think.

               “Are you okay?” Dr. Laverne asked. “Oh dear, this isn’t the first all nightery you’ve pulled, is it?”

               “No.” He admitted.

               “How long has it been since you’ve slept?”

               “When did we get the tablet information?”

               Her eyes opened wide. “A week? You haven’t slept in a week? George, you need to go. Now. Go home, get some sleep. I’ll make sure the bosses know what’s going on. But don’t drive. Call a cab or get someone else to drive you. Hell, I’ll drive you home if nobody else will.”

               “But I need to know, Janet. I need to figure this damn tablet out.”

               “And you will. Once you get a good night’s rest you can come back and figure out this little mystery, okay?”

               “I’m fine, I promise. I can keep going. I’ll take a break after I—”

               “Stand up.” She said firmly.

               “What?”

               “Stand. Up.”

               Dr. Bryant huffed, but stood. Immediately, his vision started swimming and he nearly fell over as his knees almost gave out. He managed to catch himself and stand upright. But he was still not as steady as he should have been.

               “Ah. Maybe…maybe a day off will be helpful.” He admitted.

               “There we go. Get your stuff. I’ll call someone to drive you. And no, you can’t bring any of your work home with you. Not one single paper.”

               Dr. Bryant had turned to his desk and was about to grab a few sheets of his work. But he stopped as she said that last part. He sighed and stepped away from the desk.

               “There we go.” She said. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure nobody touches your work. It’ll all be here when you get back. You’ll solve it then.”

               “Yeah. Yeah, I will. I definitely will.”

               Dr. Laverne took him by the shoulder, helping to support his weight. Weight that suddenly seemed much greater than it actually was. Dr. Bryant allowed himself to be led out of the office and then outside. And all the while, his mind was churning, flowing. He would figure out the tablet. It was only a matter of time before he solved the ancient mystery it contained. He just needed to get some rest first.
**************************************

Sleep is kind of important. Don't skip it if you don't have to.

Word: Nigh

 

nigh

[ nahy ]

adverb

1. near in space, time, or relation: The time draws nigh.

2. nearly; almost; (often followed by on or onto): nigh onto twenty years.

adjective,nigh·er, nigh·est.

3. near; approaching: Evening is nigh.

4. short or direct: to take the nighest route.

5. (of an animal or vehicle) being on the left side: to be astride the nigh horse.

6. Archaic. parsimonious; stingy.

preposition

7. near.

 ****************************

               “The end is nigh! The end is nigh!”

               The moment he heard those words, Pete froze. He turned to look at the doomsayer, holding a large sign with various religious jargon on it, and a sandwich board with various hate messages. The only thing keeping Pete from heading straight for the man was a hand grasping his elbow.

               “Don’t do it. It’s not worth it.” Aubry, Pete’s girlfriend, said. She was giving him her best death stare, which was pretty damn good. Enough to dissuade Pete from taking any action.

               “Fine, I won’t.” He begrudgingly said.

               “Repent sinner!” The doomsayer called. “For the end is nigh, and when it comes all but those who repent shall be spared the pain of eternal hellfire!”

               Pete felt his eye twitch. Aubry’s hand tightened on his arm. Her eyes narrowed. “Remember what happened last time you did this?”

               “I still say it was totally worth it. I mean, making a guy like that mad enough to punch me? It was beautiful. Besides, this guy doesn’t look like a hitter. Way too skinny.”

               “That doesn’t matter. Just ignore him. It’s not like you’ll change his mind about anything.”

               “That’s not the point and you know it.”

               “Your reasons don’t matter. Just stay with me and let’s move on. We’ll both be a lot happier if you don’t engage with the religious nutjob.”

               The doomsayer was shouting out seemingly random Bible verses at people. It was like he was trying to annoy people as much as possible.

               “Okay, fine. This one’s obviously ignorant anyway. I mean, come on, those passages are meaningless in context.”

               He gave one last look at the doomsayer. Just in time to see a pleasant looking gay couple cross the zealot’s line of sight. Pete froze. Aubry kept going for a few more steps. Then she saw the other couple as well. Her eyes widened.

               “Get ‘im before things get really bad.” She said.

               Pete rushed forward like a dog let off his leash. He barely even saw Aubry take out her phone.

               “Hey.” He said once he was close to the doomsayer. “So, nigh, huh?”

               “That’s right! The end is coming!”

               “When?”

               The doomsayer paused a blinked. “What?”

               “When? When’s the end coming? I mean, are we talking a few days? Maybe a year or two?”

               “It..it’s coming. When is not for us to know.”

               “I don’t know, the time frame seems pretty important. I mean, if we’re supposed to repent of our sins, then knowing how long we have to do that is a pretty big deal.

               “You should be repenting of your sins anyway.” The doomsayer said. It was obvious the man was getting confused.

               “Oh sure, no doubt. But I kind of want to get all the sinning out of my system, you know? Just get it all out of the way and repent for everything all at once. I’m sure God won’t mind, right? But to do that, I need to know how soon is soon. I mean, soon on a personal scale and soon on, say, a geological time scale are really different.”

               “You will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven like that, fool! You must repent now!”

               “Yeah, but if I do that I’ll just have to repent more the next time I commit a sin, won’t I. That’s just a hassle. Way more convenient to just get it all done at once, right? So yeah, time frame for the rapture?”

               “God’s will is not to be known!”

               “Ah. So you don’t know, got it. Well damn. And here I was thinking that, since you seemed so sure of yourself, that you’d have some way of telling the when. Makes me wonder if the end really is, as you say, nigh. And while I’m at it, makes me question if you’re right on any of the other stuff you’ve got on your little board there.”

               The doomsayer puffed himself up. It looked like the man was about to commit an act of violence. But he held himself in check.

               “You fool! You dare question the word of God? Matthew 10:8 states—”

               “Hey, isn’t that one about healing people?” Pete said quickly.

               “What?”

               “Hang on, let me check.” He pulled out his phone and did a quick search. “Yup. Healing people. It basically says that you should take care of sick people. What was your point bringing that one up again?”

               The doomsayer sputtered and his eyes darted around. He made several incoherent sounds that seemed like the start of something, but nothing ever came of any of it.

               “Hey. Have you actually read the Bible?” Pete asked. “Because if you haven’t, maybe you shouldn’t be trying to use it to make a point?”

               “You…I…It’s clear to me now that you will never be saved by the coming of the Lord! I’m wasting my time trying to spread the message to heathens like you.”

               With that, the man stormed off, pushing his way passed anyone nearby, It looked like he even went out of his way to bump into several people. Pete had a wide grin on his face as he watched. He turned to find Aubry not far away, putting her phone away. He joined up with her quickly.

               “Well, that was easy. A bit disappointing, actually.” Pete said. “Ah well, maybe the next one will be more of a challenge.”

*****************************

Happy 2024 everyone. I'm here celebrating with COVID. Yay. I guess it was only a matter of time before it happened, huh? I mean, it still sucks, but I guess it was inevitable at some point, right?