Entwined Senses of the Mind
An array of creative short stories.
By: M. C. Addington
Copyright © 2014 by M.C. Addington
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Published by Amazon Kindle
1200 12th Ave. South, Ste. 1200
Seattle, WA 98144-2734
Acknowledgements
It is with great pleasure that I thank everyone who supported me with my writing. Whether it was help with editing, reading to critique the general story line, or listening to me as I read aloud. The feedback I received; helped me strive to either, A. be better or B. to keep going.
To write every name would be a book all in its own. Each name presented would be followed by a story of how we met with funny or corky conversations included. Some conversations wilder than the next, but in all, each one of you knows who you are. I love you guys!!
A Special Editing Thank You To:
Thomas J. MacDougal IV
&
Melissa K. Mark
To Franchesca Zimmerman, May your heart continue to scream ART while your hands fill empty pages with creative pictures that only you can make. Thank you for allowing me to share your talent on the cover of this book.
In The Mind of the Author:
I am seeking
I am seeking new characters to be born from old. Each one growing and developing into their own lives. Taking on their own shapes only to question and wonder who they really are in their world. With the many challenges they face and ones yet to come they try to locate true meaning. Some will reign over others leaving the battle to be won by the strongest.
I am seeking the loneliness of the deepest darkest person to come alive and explode onto paper. A character that if others are not careful will betray whomever they choose without a second thought. One that will break laws while turning heads with balance and a sense of charisma.
I sit here seeking empty promises and lost loves. One’s that can be reunited into beautiful love stories while filling the pages. Each word making love to the next, interchanging, allowing you as a reader to see the ample colors of their life’s cycles.
I am seeking ways that knowledge can be used for the good and the bad. The deceitful will want to conquer with their cunning ways and hurtful tactics. While the good fight back with kindness and love, not causing pain but wanting to understand.
I am seeking for this incredible mind of mine to create such ideas with such characters. Leaving behind visions of life portrayed in words. Taking the story in any direction that I choose. All the while developing my character to be who I want them to be.
I am seeking to become a writer although I already am. I am one that is not known but that will all change. It’s all a matter of time before what I am seeking will come to life allowing my own story to unfold.
Noah’s Eyes
I sat up in my bed; it’s dark, my heart is beating fast, and I’m sweating. Confused, I ask myself, “Where am I?” I gain focus and look across my bed toward the alarm clock stationed on the night stand. It’s time to get up for work; I shake the dream off and hurry to get ready. I step off my porch and flag down a cab, directing the driver to take me to the corner of Saks on Fifth Avenue.
Once I arrive I jump out of the cab and head toward Starbucks. I need a ‘pick me up’ before I go into the office. Of course there’s a long line, I hoped to be in and out but I should have known better. I stare up at the menu deciding what to order. The Christmas Blend sounds good, what the heck, ‘tis the season’. Christmas music played softly in the background and an array of people chatted with the sound of laughter draping the room. One voice caught my attention and my thoughts rushed back to the dream which had awoken me this morning.
My heart began to race. It can’t be. I’m trying to match the voice to the face, urgently I scan the room over and over. “Sir, are you ready to order?” the woman behind the counter asks me. I quickly snap back to reality, “I’m sorry, yes. I’ll take a Grande of your Christmas Blend flavor.”
“Great choice sir, that flavor is on special today so your total is $2.69. Anything else?”
Where is it coming from? My mind goes back to the dream. This can’t be happening, this can’t be real.
“Sir.” the woman behind the counter grabs my attention again.
“Sorry.” I hand her my debit card. She returns it with a receipt and I absentmindedly take my coffee.
I walk around Starbucks, not looking for a table but looking for the owner of the voice. I don’t hear it; the voice is gone. I stand firmly in one place and turn around making a complete circle as I scan the busy room once more. She has to be here. The voice, I need to see her, I need to speak with her.
“Hi, are you okay?” Here she is, in front of me, talking to me! It’s her, the voice from my dream! Narrowing her eyes she repeats the question while I stare at her with a blank expression on my face, “Are you okay?”
“Um yeah,” I exhale and run my fingers through my hair feeling a bit uneasy, “You’re not going to believe what I am about to tell you.” I say to her without introduction.
Her face wrinkles up around her eyes and nose as she takes a step back, “I don’t even know you; how can you have something to tell me?”
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“Maddie.”
“I’m Noah,” I answered, “there now we know each other. This is going to seem strange but I have something to tell you and I need you to listen closely.”
“I don’t have to listen to you. You’re freaking me out.” she turns to walk away from me.
“MADDIE!” I yell, “You’re going to DIE!” Everyone’s eyes in the coffee shop were on us, not a single sound was made except for the clinging of coffee mugs being washed in the back by the dish washer.
“WHAT? GET AWAY from me!” she yells back with hysteria in her voice as she exits Starbucks.
I follow her outside, “Maddie, please listen, I had this dream last night and you were in it. Your voice.”
“You’re some kind of weirdo aren’t you?”
“Listen in my dream you were walking down Fifth Avenue. There was a shooting and you were the target. Please believe me.” I request of her.
“How do you even know this is going to happen?” she asks. “Are you some type of Medium or Psychic?”
“I didn’t know until I heard your voice, the same voice from my dream. I saw you in my dream, you were shot. I’m afraid it’s going to happen Maddie.” Fearfully, I plead for her understanding.
She stares at me and says in an annoyed tone, “Noah, I really have to go.”
“Where are you going? Can I walk with you?”
“NO NOAH! Nothing is going to happen. You don’t even know me.” She says as she turns and walks away. I watch her until she blends in with the crowd.
There is nothing I can do. She’s right, I am a stranger coming to her with this bizarre story. I wouldn’t believe it myself if I hadn’t dreamt it. Filled with emotion and confusion I ponder in my mind. I don’t blame her for her disbelief, maybe I am crazy. A dream is a dream and that doesn’t mean it’s going to come true.
I make sure my Pea Coat is buttoned up as I fix my scarf. The cold air strikes fierce against my exposed face and hands. I take a sip of my coffee and allow the warm fluid to seep down the back of my throat. The bold minty flavor stays in my mouth while its unique aroma clings to my nose. I look towards the direction Maddie had walked in wondering, ‘should I?’
My thoughts were disrupted by a loud pop followed by a second. People were screaming and scurrying in all directions. I found myself running straight toward the direction everyone is running from. My heart is pounding, I knew. “MADDIE!” I scream. I slow my run into a fast walk so that I won’t miss her. I notice one of her gloves laying off to the side on a small mountain of snow that was shoveled away from the sidewalk. I pick it up, “MADDIE!” I hear a weak cough, it sounds like it’s coming from the alley. I turn my head and there she is sitting against an old brick building on the snow covered ground.
I kneel down beside her and listen as she tries to tell me something. I gently put my finger to her lips and ask her to hush. I take my cell phone out from my pocket and called 911. Before I even hung up I hear the sirens. Either someone else called before me or they were close by.
Maddie whispers, “Don’t leave me.” I think to myself, how could I leave her?
The ambulance crew arrived immediately and took over her care. I called the office to report off. I asked the medics what hospital where they taking her too and immediately flagged down a cab and told him to take me to Mt. Sinai Hospital. The cab driver weaves in and out of traffic while I’m bewildered with my own thoughts in the back seat.
Maddie suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen but the bullet missed all her vital organs. The doctor said she was lucky. I went to visit with her every day at the hospital; bringing her small gifts, flowers, candy, and such. Pretty much anything to cheer her up.
We eventually spoke about what happened. She told me it was her ex-boyfriend that had shot her. She had dumped him a couple of weeks before the shooting because she had caught him cheating. That’s when he started stalking her, he left her tons of messages at her job, her house, and now he tried to kill her. His final words to her were, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can!’ He must have been a man of his word. After the shooting he took off running, but she was able to get a good look at his face. She felt her flesh burn as the bullet penetrated her abdomen catching her by surprise. Using the old building as support she slid down in order to pretend to be dead until she heard my voice.
The police obtained a warrant for her ex-boyfriend’s arrest and it was then that they found him dead in his apartment. Autopsy reports showed that he killed himself the same day of the shooting, drug overdose. Chillingly, I was relieved when she told me this, I didn’t want him to ever hurt her again.
Maddie was discharged from the hospital one week after her surgery. She invited me to come over to help her with preparing meals and chores. Still merely strangers she wouldn’t allow me too close to her so she was left to her own devices as far as personal care, but I was happy enough to just be with her.
Days passed quickly into weeks, Maddie and I became close friends. The woman of my dreams became the woman I couldn’t fathom living without. Two years had passed since the shooting when Maddie accepted my invitation to become my wife. One year and a day after our wedding our son, Ethan, was born. I never knew what true love really felt like until I met Maddie, a love that will truly endure forever.
Some days I think back to the morning of my dream and of my only regret. I didn’t follow her that day as she stepped away from me frightened by the truth. I blame myself as I think I should have followed her and maybe I could have prevented her from the pain of that bullet. Then again, had it been prevented, would we even be together?
I can suggest for you to never ignore that moment when you feel so compelled to act on the behalf of another human being. Love has a funny way of finding you and when it does, if it’s true, it won’t let go.
Bell Tower
Nine months pregnant and I find myself feeling incredibly impatient to deliver my baby. People have told me that walking speeds up the labor process, so in a desperate attempt I have begun taking the subway in the morning. At least three times weekly from my apartment in Queens I go to lower Manhattan. I chose this area of the city to walk because my husband works in the World Trade Center, Building Five. Not to mention I love the Gyro truck that sits on the corner of Vesey Street and West Broadway.
I am fascinated as I walk along the busy streets and notice the different cultures and types of people. Most of them here to sight see the various tourist attractions. I think New York City is one of the few places in the world that you can walk along one city block and hear the babble of so many different languages being spoken at once.
The weather is beautiful as I walk along Church Street and look down at my watch, it’s eight forty five. My husband takes his lunch at eleven so I have plenty of time to walk and gaze at the individuals passing me by. I find myself walking slower than usual today as I am inundated with a terrible pain in my lower back. It started at six this morning when my husband left for work, not really a strong pain but enough to alter my step.
An Asian couple in front of me stops to ask if I can take a picture of them with a sight of the Twin Towers in the back drop. “Sure,” I say while they pose and I snap the photo. “What brings you to New York?” I ask. “Just married”, the man says, using his broken English as they both glance at each other with beaming smiles. “Congratulations!” I say as I return the man his camera. They both say thank you and turn to walk away, the woman waves with so much joy on her face. I nod and smile lovingly back as I cherish the moment. Whether people are happy, busy, sad, or homeless, you can see it painted on the many faces bustling through these busy streets.
I continue walking but feel myself slowing as my pain increases. I place my right hand on my lower back and arch backwards in an attempt to relieve the pain slightly. My head tilts back with my body and I look up toward the beautiful blue sky. I notice a plane in the air heading straight toward one of the Twin Towers. My heart races, my eyes stare, as my mouth gapes open. I watch as the airplane connects with the South Tower causing immediate mass hysteria all around me. Terrified, I’m not sure which way to go, where to hide, or what to do. My thoughts immediately turn to my husband.
Violence erupts in the streets as panic aligns the faces of every individual. I see a piece of metal flying through the air striking the Asian man who stands just a few feet ahead of me. It knocks him in the face and forces him to fall to the ground. I hear myself scream as I see him lying dead on the street while his mourning wife kneels before him crying. A rush of warm fluid begins to stream down my legs as large debris flies all around me. People are running, ranting, screaming, and crying. With trembling hands I realize I need to find a safe place to hide from the chaos until help arrives. I try to run but I can’t, the pain is now unbearable. I come to a stop in order to focus on breathing as the pain streams through every ounce of my body reaching its highest peak. It’s too hard to see anything white particles and dirt are thick in the air. Breathing suddenly becomes very difficult. The pain subsides a little and I begin to scurry away as fast as I can.
I hear another loud explosion. I make a right at the corner hoping I can escape the mayhem. I start to cough repeatedly as I feel my lungs fill with the massive white particles flying through the air. “Oh my goodness!” I exclaim loudly to nobody in particular as the pain returns, only this time even stronger than before. I bend slightly forward while holding my belly tightly. A sudden urge to use the bathroom overwhelms me.
I’m startled when a man comes over and touches my arm, “Are you okay?” he asks. “No,” I tell him, in between rapid shallow breaths, “I’m in labor! Call 911!” He replies in a trembling voice, “Ma’am, I already tried when I first saw you, but since the plane hit the second tower there’s no cell phone signal. Every fire truck and ambulance in the city will be here soon. Hold on to me we’ll find help together!” Nervously I reply, “Okay.”
We turn back to walk toward the corner to see if any ambulances had arrived yet, all the while the ferocious pain returns. I grab the helpless stranger’s arm, almost pulling it out of the socket while screaming nothing in particular.
“What’s wrong?” he yells wrinkling his brow.
“I think I have to push!” I yell back at him above the noise surrounding us.
“Holy Crap! Hold it!”
“I CAN’T!” I begin to gently push and to my surprise it actually feels good to push against the pain.
“What are you doing? STOP IT! STOP PUSHING!” he screams at me. “There’s an alley way here. Let’s go in there so I can get help.”
Slowly we find our way and he takes his shirt off to lay it on the ground. He tells me to sit on it and I try, but I cannot sit. The pressure is too great in my pelvic area, instead I slowly change positions and lay down on the ground. I focus again on my breathing until the next contraction comes and I push again.
“DON’T PUSH ANYMORE, WAIT! I’m going for help!”
“Please don’t leave me,” I plead.
The pain becomes unbearable as I cry and beg this stranger to stay by my side. We hear another loud explosion as a building just up the street is demolished to the ground. More dust and dirt mix with the thick white particles that already exists in the air. The man and I both cough as we try with difficulty to breathe.
“It’s not safe here!” he yells above the screams of people running past.
“I can’t move! I can feel the baby! My pants have to come off.”
“HOLY CRAP!! I don’t know what I am doing!”
“Listen to me,” I yell in a possessed voice, “take my pants off and help me get this baby out!”
He pulls my pants down and lowers my panties. He bites his lip gently while taking a few deep breaths. I close my eyes, tilt my head back, and push again. “It’s coming, it’s coming!” he yells with excitement in his voice. I exhale trying to force a smile. I see him kneeling in between my legs with his eyes on my most intimate parts, a big smile crosses his face. “Okay when you’re ready, push again!” he yells. The sounds of buildings crashing, screams from the injured, and the scuffle of people running surrounds us. I take a deep breath and push again as sirens are heard nearby.
“The head is out!” he says, as I exhale. “Take a few deep breaths, and push again. It’s almost out!” Sweat drips down my face as I take a few more deep breaths. “One more should do it! I’m going to count and when I say three give me a good one!”
“Okay.” I say in between quivering breaths.
“Here we go! One… Two… Three… PUSH! PUSH! YES! A LITTLE MORE!” A scream comes out of my mouth finishing what nature started. Sweat drips from my brow as my chest rises and falls rapidly. I hear the faint cry of a baby but it is suddenly silenced as my head begins to feel heavy. I try to speak but nothing comes out. I watch as the man comes closer to my face proudly amongst the chaos. My baby is displayed before me while the man observes my child with a big smile on his face. I can’t keep my eyes open long enough to tell him something is wrong.
***Six Months Later***
“Jeff, come quick! Bell’s crawling!” Jeff runs into the room clapping with excitement as he watches his daughter take her first step. He walks closer toward me while the blonde head, blue eyed baby girl sits and tries to clap her hands mimicking Jeff. She then topples over while Jeff and I laugh.
“Mark, we made a great decision to adopt this beautiful baby girl after the death of her mother.”
“How could we ever refuse? She lost both her mom and dad in the same day. Look at her, she’s beautiful. Not to mention I did deliver her.”
“I wish I would have been there to watch it happen.”
“No you don’t. It was the scariest experience I’ve ever had in my whole life.”
We both stand together smiling as we watch Bell play with her toys. Jeff puts his hand in mine, I look down to notice our wedding bands sparkling. “Mark Tower, I love you!” I squeeze his hand and smile. “I love you too, Jeff Tower.”
Tusckeegan Walls
“What am I going to do? This is crazy I can’t believe this is happening!” I pace my living room with my hands on my hips.
“Emma, just sit down, let’s talk about this.”
“Julia, I can’t sit right now.” I am too distraught about losing the key to the jewelry store that I manage.
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M.C. Addington 