hdhstory.net

The writing prompt for this piece was a set of words to choose from to start our writing. I chose all of the words to include in this piece. The words were: And, Maybe, Time, Wait, Before, Now, and Thanksgiving. 

The Inheritance

And the time had come. It was difficult to wait this long. The decision had been made before I was born. Now was the moment that I was to use my inheritance. 

I never believed I would be able to do this. 

My first Thanksgiving as a teenager was when my grandfather pulled me aside and explained it all to me.  

“Harvey, you have been given a gift,” he said, “The firstborn male child of every other generation inherits it. When you reach your 21st birthday, at the exact time you were born, you must say these words:

The time is right. 

I have no fright. 

I need to use the power of flight. 

Back in time is where I will go, 

To the ancestor, that will let me know

The power that I hold within.“

My grandfather couldn’t tell me what that power he spoke of was. He told me that only the first one could explain. My grandfather was clear that my words would send me back in time to where the power originated and that all questions would be answered. 

I had eight years to ponder this. Eight anxious, frustrating years of letting my imagination go wild. Just the thought of being able to travel through time was enough to feed my dreams with all sorts of alternative realities. 

I couldn’t talk to my parents about it, for they were not of the chosen generation. They would have no knowledge of what was to happen. 

You should note that a few days after my grandfather gave me the words, he passed away. At least, I think he did. He just disappeared one day and was never seen again.  When I asked my mother about it, she informed me that all my grandparents had passed away before I was born.

Despite arguing that I had seen and talked to her father, she said I must have just been dreaming.

So here I stand, twenty years old at 4:22 in the morning, waiting for the second hand to reach 12. 

Was it all a dream? Time travel isn’t possible, right? This is a foolish thing to do. But no one is here with me. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to try. Maybe this power that I have in me can be used to help this world. It certainly needs it.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1:

“The time is right. 

I have no fright. 

I need to use the power of flight. 

Back in time is where’ll go, 

To the ancestor that will let me know 

The power that I hold within.” 

The prompt for this piece was “A ride on a train.”

It Happened on the Overnight Express

It was to be a long train ride. Jeremy had never been on a long train ride before. The longest ride he’d been on was for a couple of hours. But this one was an overnight ride. It had sleeping compartments and catered meals. It was a big deal for him. The best part was that his company was paying for it. Also, as a part-time storyteller, he hoped that the trip and meeting he was to attend would be fodder for stories he could use when he performed.

This meeting was of top executives and planners involved in creating a new form of communication. It was known as the Let Individuals Attune Reality System (L.I.A.R.S.). It allowed one to send instant information to the global community that was authenticated and factual based on research and public interest – sources withheld. Jeremy’s boss managed to get an invite for Jeremy.

The L.I.A.R.S. had been tested in Russia, China, and the U.S. for how it could be used to impact real-time knowledge, with much success. Now, Jeremy’s role was to become part of it. 

There were several strange individuals on this voyage. Some were well-dressed males with slick-backed hair who must have been going to the same meeting as Jeremy. He overheard several conversations in the dining car reflecting on the recent election’s results and how it turned out so positively for them.

There were also a few women involved in these conversations. They were inputting some rather radical ideas into the discussion. Jeremy didn’t believe they were active implementers of the L.I.A.R.S. project but that they certainly had participated as subjects.

It was overnight, when all were in their sleeping compartments that the incident occurred. There was a scream, and as Jeremy rushed out to find out what had caused it, he tripped over a body on the floor.  He recognized the person immediately as a reporter for the Times. The reporter was dead. 

This train ride now became a Murder on the Orient Express event. There happened to be a famous detective on the train. All the passengers were interviewed about their knowledge of the deceased, where they were when the scream was heard, and any connections they had with the reporter. Unfortunately, Jeremy became the lead suspect as he was the one who found the body first. 

Something about the L.I.A.R.S. project was the motive for the person who did it. Jeremy, being a storyteller, meant that his testimony was considered unreliable. 

Jeremy’s cover had been blown. He was not a supporter of the Let Individuals Attune Reality System, and it was clear that he was at the meeting for some other nefarious purpose. 

As circumstantial was the evidence. He was taken away and charged with the murder. 

Of course, Jeremy’s boss at the Telling Rational Underlings True Happenings (T.R.U.T.H.) company denied all knowledge of him or why he was there.

Guess that is the way the world works now.