Watching the rain

The rain trickled down like steady beats on a drum. Joe stared out through the window, sipping a cup of coffee. The coffee mug was old, blue and had the words “Bee Gr8 today” on it with a cartoon bee flying by. The tan walls of his apartment were mostly bare save a decorative wall tapestry that he bought from china town last time he was in the city.

            Joe grimaced as he struggled through with a headache, he hoped watching the rain would help him relax. Next to the window was Joe’s work desk, a simple wooden desk with a laptop, a mess of papers and several empty cans of soda and beer. Next to the laptop was a picture of Joe’s girlfriend, Mercy, she had raven black hair, and dark eyes. She was the light of his life but on that day, it was raining.

            Joe hadn’t heard from Mercy in weeks, the anxiety and stress of life was rolled all up into a bundle with the worry he had for Mercy and that bundle nestled itself in the base of his skull in the form of a headache. After all the phone calls were made, email checked and alcohol consumed, the only thing left to do was to watch the rain and hope for the best.

            There weren’t any books with instructions on how to deal with worry and potential loss, Joe never learned anything about his situation from school, his parents never told him how to behave in times of crisis and stress. Joe had to improvise and travel unprepared at the trouble ahead. Like a traveler with no shoes, Joe was exposed and unprepared for a loved one to go missing. The possible outcome and scenarios would play over and over in his head. What if she was dead, lost, kidnapped or what if she just left him for another man and moved to a different city without telling anyone?

            To hear her voice again would be a mercy, a reprieve from the psychological torture that Joe put himself through. Joe would jump when he heard his phone ring and at every noise that sounded like the doorbell. He would see Mercy’s face in the faces of strangers as he walked through town and every time he smelled her perfume he felt a sting in his heart.

            The rain slowed to a stop the sun wasn’t out but the rain had stopped. Joe set his coffee cup down and let out an exhausted sigh. The doorbell rang and Joe’s heart skipped a beat. He looked up to at the door and waited. He had been tricked by the sound of the doorbell before and didn’t want to get his hopes up. The doorbell rang again. Joe wasn’t expecting anyone and while he felt silly for holding out hope, he hoped the person at the door was Mercy returning to him.

            Joe walked quickly to the door, his heart racing. He was so excited to answer the door and see Mercy standing there waiting for him. Then he remembered all the times he answered the door and it wasn’t her and so he tried to temper his excitement.

            Joe gripped the doorknob and turned it. He opened the door. “Mercy!”

Jack and the Darkclaw

Bar stools smashed against the wall, bottles shattered and people were being thrown through the air. Jack ducked just in time to avoid a punch, then countered with an uppercut, shattering the man’s jaw. The drunken brawler went down and didn’t get back up. Jack used this opportunity to sneak out of the bar. He wrapped his forest green cloak around his body and quietly walked toward the door as chaos raged on around him.

            Jack left the whole messy business behind him as he left the building and quickly began to walk away. “Well crisis averted!” Jack smiled. “a crisis that YOU started!” Ack spoke up. Jack was a thief on the run from a corrupt kingdom trying to throw him in jail, he wore a gray loosely fit shirt, black pants, brown leather boots, leather fingerless gloves and a hooded green cloak. He carried a sword at his side and a knife in his boot. Ack, who Jack named, was a voice in Jack’s head. At first Jack just thought he was crazy, but more time he spent having Ack in his head the more he wondered if Ack was more of a spirit that shared Jack’s body. Only Jack could hear Ack’s words, but anytime Jack’s life was in danger he would gain supernatural powers on loan from Ack. Regardless of if Ack were real or not, he was someone to talk when traveling alone.

            “I didn’t start the fight, the guy was clearly drunk and the situation got out of hand” Jack protested. “Well your lucky you weren’t drunk as well, then we wouldn’t be able to communicate and you wouldn’t hear my warning when that guy tried to smash a chair over your head” Ack replied. “I was just trying to relax after days of being lost in Noril kingdom” Jack argued back. Originally from Koreth, Jack got lost on his journey through the vast grassland of Noril. During his travels to avoid capture from the Doomars, he got slightly turned around and ended up in a tavern in a small town, removed from any major city or landmark.

            Jack argued with his companion in his head as he walked. So caught up in the conversation he didn’t realize he had walked out of the town. Once outside the town border he was immediately confronted with a group of heavily armed men. “Halt traveler, are you Jack the bandit?” asked a man wearing leather armor and a spiked helmet, carrying a large axe. “No, sorry. I think I saw him back in that tavern over there” Jack replied pointing back into town. The man laughed, “We are the Darkclaw Mercenaries. I am the leader, Agox. These are my men, Sorm, Sepper and Harr. We are here bring you to the Doomars king, dead or alive. We were just trying to give you a chance to surrender. I know its you, I got your picture here” he said, holding up a sketch of Jack, green cloak, long brown hair, it was definitely him. “Wow, that’s really good. Who drew that?” Jack joked. The leader of the group replied by swinging his axe at Jack.

            Having quick reflexes and the agility of a monkey, Jack’s whole body swayed sideways, dodging the axe chop. There were four mercenaries in this group. The leader, Agox with a spiked helmet and axe, Sorm used a two handed sword, Sepper had a spear and Harr used duel hammer.

            Jack drew his sword and slashed at the axe man, slicing the Agox’s arm. The leader growled in pain. It would be a little tougher swinging his large axe now. In reaction to the exchange of strikes, the other four members ran at Jack.

Sepper thrust his spear at Jack, grazing his arm as he barely dodged the strike in time. Immediately following Sorm and Harr brought their weapons down at Jack from both sides. Jack blocked the large sword slice with his own sword, but was struck in the back by Harr’s hammers and dropped to his knees from the impact. “This isn’t good…” Jack muttered. “oh come on Jack, you’re a big boy, take care of these fools and lets get some lunch” Ack said carefree. “sure, I’ll get right on that” Jack grunted in reply. Sepper stabbed down at Jack’s exposed back. Reacting quickly, he rolled out of the way, across the ground and kicked up dust. Jack jumped to his feet, then whirled his sword sideways at Harr while he was distracted by the dust in his eyes. Jack’s sword sliced into Harr’s shoulder making him drop one of his hammers, Harr tried to swing his second hammer to counter, but Jack kicked him in the chest, sending him to the ground.

            Sorm swung his sword again, Jack ducked, reached into his boot to grab his knife then threw it at Sepper, stabbing the spear man right in the chest. Sepper gurgled blood as the blade pierced his leather armor and his lungs. Sepper fell to the ground dead. Enraged Agox swung his axe with massive force, Jack sidestepped the attack, moved in forward and struck Agox in the face with the hilt of his sword. The leader stumbled clutching his face. “Lets end this Jack, im bored” Ack sighed. Jack grumbled, but before he could reply dark energy surged through his body. Jack’s movements became a blur and a dark aura surrounded him. His eyes glowed red and his voice echoed as if two people spoke at once. “Darkclaw mercenaries, I suggest you run” Jack said, showing a wicked smile.

            Blinded by pride and rage from being injured by a thief, Agox charged again. Jack dropped his sword to the ground and waited with arms out. The second before Agox struck Jack with his axe, Jack moved with a flash of speed. Harr and Sorm who were too scared to fight anymore watched, one second their leader ran at the thief, the next Jack had Agox lifted into the air by his throat. “Tell others of this, tell them only death awaits” Jack said. When he spoke he looked at Harr and Sorm, no longer paying attention to the large man suspended by his throat. Then within a blink Agox let out a scream and was torn in half. Jack threw each half of Agox at the remaining mercenaries and walked off. Harr and Sorm were too scared to move as they looked at their leaders remains on the ground at their feet.

            “Should have killed them all” Ack said. Jack had his head lowered “I didn’t even want to kill Sepper or Agox. I would rather they be afraid then keep hounding me” Jack replied. His dark power fading and eyes returning to normal. “That dark power helps me survive, but I don’t like how blood thirsty I get” Jack said sadly. “But it’s a rush, isn’t it?” Ack laughed. Jack said silent and continued on his journey. The hunting wouldn’t stop and neither would the fighting, but still Jack is on the move, hoping to avoid capture and maybe one day will find a peaceful life.

Fallen Star

Wind whipped through the night sky, the sound of the ocean could be heard from across the town. William looked out his window and sighed, there would be a storm again. His father promised they would go fishing tomorrow, but if the weather didn’t get any better they would have to cancel their plans. As he looked out the window he saw a sparkling light shine through the clouds and fall into the water. It was the most brilliant light he had ever seen, even at a distance. Something urged him to go out and investigate. The storm was approaching and the waters would turn treacherous. If he wanted to find the source of the light, he would need to hurry.

William put on his boots and hurried out of his house to the docks, which were close. William was 17 and lived with his father, he had no siblings and his mother died from disease. He had gone fishing many times with his father, so he knew how to sail a boat and navigate on the ocean. Once at the docks he untied a little boat and paddled his way out into the open water. He was in a landing boat or a lifeboat, so he was careful not to go too far out. He decided to be careful, but if he was truly cautious he wouldn’t even be out in the water, at night, with a storm approaching in the first place.

He paddled out to where he saw the light drop and hoped it didn’t sink to the bottom of the ocean. With luck, he saw a faint glow and brought his boat closer to it. Whatever made the light was close to the surface of the water. William reached his hand into the water and tried to scoop up the object. He felt something and pulled it out of the water. It was a ball of light. Warm in his hand, solid enough to hold onto, yet at times it felt as if he wasn’t holding anything at all. As if it were light in solid form, but it couldn’t decide if it wanted to stay solid. Once out of the water, the ball of light started growing brighter.

Holding onto the ball of light the best he could, he made his way to shore. The whole time wondering what he had found and what he should do with it. Once on the beach he held the light up to get a better look at it, grasping it with his thumb and first finger, it was the size of a large coin and almost didn’t seem to weigh anything at all.

Suddenly images flashed into his mind, images of far off places and distant worlds. It was like his mind was taken over by a dream. He saw the night sky, but all around, surrounding giant floating structures. The word ‘space’ flashed into his mind. He was a simple son of a fisherman and the most advanced technology his town had access to was a fishing boat. Single shot guns were a new thing in this world, so William was having trouble grasping the concept of space, planets and spaceships. The metal structure was important for some reason, it had humans of all kinds living in it. As William stared at it through his vision, the space ship, or large structure exploded. He heard the cries of a hundreds of people all at once, then the next minute they were gone. This light flew from the blast and crashed to his world, into the water.

William snapped out of it and realized he saw all of this by looking into the light. The problem was he didn’t know what any of this meant, what the light was, or what he was supposed to do with it. Maybe nothing, maybe he wasn’t supposed to be meddling with things beyond his grasp. He wanted to keep it safe as it seemed important, but didn’t know how or even what he would keep it safe from. “what am I to do? I am only a fisherman!” William asked the ball of light, frustrated and emotional from seeing such grand sights and all the death from his vision. The light pulsed and the image of a tree appeared in his mind. “A tree?” he asked. Then thought instead of looking at the light as a star or something used as a light source, what if it was just a seed. He didn’t know what it would grow into, but he was determined to help.

William ran home and got a shovel. Then tried to think of a spot this little light seed wouldn’t be disturbed. He got an idea, then ran off into the fields. There was a grassy hill that overlooked the town, it was empty and people rarely went up there. It was perfect. He ran up the grassy hill, the night breeze blowing in his face, cooling the sweat on his forehead as he ran. He stopped to catch his breath, and then started digging. As he worked he heard the storm growing closer. Thunder cracked and lightly rippled through the clouds. He finally finished digging and planted the seed, then covered it with dirt. The rain started just as he was done. The rain came down hard and soaked the earth. William laughed with satisfaction at a job well done. Now the cold rain cooled him down from all the work he did for this little seed. He thought about how lucky it was that the light found him that it landed near someone that could help it. He wondered what would have happened if no one took it out of the water. Would it have washed up to shore or simply sank to the bottom of the ocean?

His mind ran wild with thoughts of what might happen next and could have happened if things had been different. The storm was getting worse though and William had to get home. He had a hard time sleeping that night and the next morning ran up the hill to check on the little seed. There was no change, so William went about his day. He had a hard time sleeping that night too and again checked on the seed the next morning. He knew seeds didn’t sprout up overnight, but this wasn’t a normal seed and his excitement kept getting the better of him. For a week he had a hard time sleeping as he was so excited and every morning he would check on the seed. This became part of his morning routine everyday. Though he luckily was able to sleep fine after a week or so.

Williams life went on, the average simple life of a fisherman’s son became the average life of a fisherman. He grew older, got married and had kids and every morning went up to the top of the hill to check on the seed. But the seed never sprouted and no one ever knew why William went to the hill each morning. As William got older, he told his children the story of the glowing seed from the sky, and told them that when they grew up to keep an eye on the hill if they ever got the chance. Time passed still and he told his grandkids the same story. The town grew and the story slowly spread. The story became a local legend and had some that believed the story and others that just thought it was a silly story told to children. Soon other parents told their children this story, but just told as a fairy tale, not told the way William told it, which was more like a set of instructions.

One day, William slowly made his way up the hill. He had gotten old and tired and didn’t know how many more times he would be able to visit his magical seed. He laid out on the grass and looked at the spot where he planted the seed all those years ago. He sometimes wondered if it was all a dream, but hoped more than anything that it wasn’t. He felt so tired, so tired from life and so tired from walking up that hill and began to close his eyes. Before he did, he saw a little sparkle in the grass. A glowing sprout sprang from the earth and shined as bright as a star. William at the age of eighty-five closed his eyes and smiled. The seed was growing and the town legend would live. To see the seed sprout was the only thing left he wanted to do before he died and now he could finally sleep at last. William closed his eyes and dreamed.

The sprout stayed a sprout for years more, but even such a little plant created great excitement in the town. It glowed night and day and the villagers finally had proof that Williams story was real. The town protected the little plant and put up a memorial for William on the same hill. It became William’s hill, home of the starlight plant. Which soon became the Starlight tree…but that’s another story altogether.

New and exciting time!

   Hello everyone,
Its a new and exciting year for me. I've written a book as well as many short stories and I'm going to use this site to post my short stories for everyone to enjoy. I haven't published anything yet, but when I do I will post updates on this blog with the details. So for now, sit back, relax and enjoy some short stories by me Stephen J. Mulvaney.

Also, I would like to add that I enjoy feedback and if you like my short stories, you will love my book that I am writing.