[Summer Contest Entry 2012] "All But Mine"
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"It was very touch and go, you know."
White miniskirt and thigh high stockings. The top two buttons on her blouse are undone. Thin, in her early 20's. Maybe even 20 exactly. Too young to be a nurse.
"We had to airlift you all the way across town to Fakku General."
Fakku General. Not St. Jude's, or St. Thomas, or Our Lady of Something or Other. Fakku. Who is Fakku? What did he do to deserve a hospital?
"Anyways, I'll be back in an hour or so with your lunch." She pats her absurd miniskirt and fixes her hair, then takes her leave. I try to shift my weight a bit, but my arm cast and head bandages are stifling. It's my stomach that was hurt, so why is my arm in a cast? What are the head bandages for?
I ease my head left just in case the bandages were actually used for something, and peer out my window. I'm met with the skyline of the city. Tall buildings for miles, but there's enough space between clusters to let me see the sun set behind a hill. On one of the taller buildings nearer my window, there's somebody standing on the roof. I squint and lean in a little. It's a man in a flowing trench coat of some kind, with his arms folded. He appears to be laughing, but as I looked down where he was looking, I didn't notice anything in particular. Nothing laugh-worthy, at least.
On a separate building, beside the laughing trench coat man, there are two people. Fighting, from the looks of it. It doesn't look like the trench coat man notices them. I don't understand why though. The two of them are really going at it. Even from my window, I can make out their faint yells. How are these people even getting up onto all these roofs? Don't they lock the doors to prevent exactly this from happening?
My spectating is interrupted when the door to my room opens. A young woman marches in with the confidence of someone much older, gun at her hip.
Navy blue miniskirt, thigh high stockings. Top two buttons undone. Possibly 19. Too young to be a cop. Is everyone in this town gorgeous?
She glares at me. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
I blank. Her glare intensifies.
"I said who the hell do you think you are!?"
I try to open my mouth to make some sounds. Buy me a few seconds so I can figure out what's going on. She saves me the time.
"You got in the way of an official police investigation! Because of your dumb ass a murderer is still on the loose!"
Okay. I'm ready to talk now.
"I'm sorry? From where I'm lying, it looks like YOU are the one that shot ME." She's fuming. She leans forward and puts her hand on my mattress, pointing the other finger at me.
"YOU got in the way of MY perfectly lined shot. With one bullet I could have saved another ten people from being killed." She's making this my fault. She's making it sound as though I'm trying to help this murderer she was chasing.
"I could sue you. Sue this whole goddamn city." The change is instantaneous. She gets off my bed.
"...Sue?" I think the gravity of her mistake is finally making sense to her, as her face changes from glare to perplexion, and she takes a half step backwards.
"Yeah. How do you think I'm going to pay these medical bills? I'm just a student; I don't have this much cash."
"Medical...bills?" My anger subsides just a little bit. She hesitates. Was it hesitation? Or was it a pause? The two imply different things. If she hesitated then that means it hadn't dawned on her during her tirade that the weight of these bills are entirely on me. If she paused...then maybe she didn't know what medical bills...no. That would be ridiculous. Impossible. But I prod the beast.
"You know, medical bills? You shoot me, I go to the hospital, I pay people to make me less shot? A lot of people a lot of money." She shrinks back and drops into a nearby chair. Her shoulders slump a little. That means she paused. Oh God, she paused. How did you not know this? No, never mind. That's a Pandora's box I don't feel like opening. For now I'll change the subject. "Who was it you were chasing, anyways?"
She waits a moment before speaking, regaining her composure. "He goes by the name 'Archangel,' and has been eluding our department for years now. He usually goes after kids. Young boys, mostly. He also...killed my little brother several years ago. And the commissioner's son. I'm not letting that son of a bitch live."
Yeesh. "I'm sorry about your brother and the commissioner's son. Do you-"
"And before that I apprehended a serial arsonist on the roof of a department store. He had burned down my apartment several nights before." Again with the roofs. "Right afterwards his sister lit up a few malls to get revenge for her brother."
Christ, this city is a time bomb waiting to go off. Or maybe it's already gone off, and is still exploding. Why did I come here on vacation? See the sights, dad said. Meet people, he said. "Do you guys usually have such...high profile cases?"
"Well...yes, of course. That's what police officers are for." I guess serial arsonists, revenge terrorists, and child-killers are just par for the course for her. "What about you? What are you doing here?"
"Me? I'm just...on vacation, I guess. Or I was."
If there's a stronger word than perplexed, then that's what her expression becomes. As though what I said wasn't possible.
"Just vacation? You're not looking for anything or here to...I don't know, kill someone?"
"Are you, a police officer, asking me if I'm here to kill someone?" I chuckle. She doesn't. "...No. No I'm not. I'm just here on vacation."
"And...where are you staying? If you don't have a place right now, I know there's some dorms a little ways north that would take you in. They're all-girl dorms, but I'm sure it would be fine."
"I've got a place. Staying with a friend that lives here and his family."
"Ah, I've got it. It's a girl, and she has a lot of sisters, right?"
"What? No. It's just one person. What are you getting at, exactly?" The anger begins to resurface. In her as well as me.
"I just don't understand what you're here for! You're not looking for anything or anybody, right? So what are you doing here?!"
"Did I need a purpose? Is purpose a passport into the city? I don't have a missing father, or a sacred relic to find. I'm not trying to reunite with a childhood friend or save the world. Can't I just be here and then let that be it?!"
"NO, YOU CAN'T." By now she's standing straight up and looking as though the chair she was sitting in is about to go through the window I was previously looking out of. Her heels clack on the tile as she storms to the door. She turns back. "I don't know if you're lying to me or if you truly have no purpose in this city. If you don't, then you need to leave. You're...not welcome here."
Her words as she left are filled with anger and confusion. As I sigh in exasperation, a different nurse from before walks in with a tray of food. Miniskirt, thigh high socks, and twin tails. Looks like she could be 15.
Far too young to be a nurse.
-------------------
It's an idea I've been playing around with in my head for a while now, mildly tailored to fit the contest rules. If it wasn't painfully obvious what it was about while reading it, I'll lay it out in spoilers.
White miniskirt and thigh high stockings. The top two buttons on her blouse are undone. Thin, in her early 20's. Maybe even 20 exactly. Too young to be a nurse.
"We had to airlift you all the way across town to Fakku General."
Fakku General. Not St. Jude's, or St. Thomas, or Our Lady of Something or Other. Fakku. Who is Fakku? What did he do to deserve a hospital?
"Anyways, I'll be back in an hour or so with your lunch." She pats her absurd miniskirt and fixes her hair, then takes her leave. I try to shift my weight a bit, but my arm cast and head bandages are stifling. It's my stomach that was hurt, so why is my arm in a cast? What are the head bandages for?
I ease my head left just in case the bandages were actually used for something, and peer out my window. I'm met with the skyline of the city. Tall buildings for miles, but there's enough space between clusters to let me see the sun set behind a hill. On one of the taller buildings nearer my window, there's somebody standing on the roof. I squint and lean in a little. It's a man in a flowing trench coat of some kind, with his arms folded. He appears to be laughing, but as I looked down where he was looking, I didn't notice anything in particular. Nothing laugh-worthy, at least.
On a separate building, beside the laughing trench coat man, there are two people. Fighting, from the looks of it. It doesn't look like the trench coat man notices them. I don't understand why though. The two of them are really going at it. Even from my window, I can make out their faint yells. How are these people even getting up onto all these roofs? Don't they lock the doors to prevent exactly this from happening?
My spectating is interrupted when the door to my room opens. A young woman marches in with the confidence of someone much older, gun at her hip.
Navy blue miniskirt, thigh high stockings. Top two buttons undone. Possibly 19. Too young to be a cop. Is everyone in this town gorgeous?
She glares at me. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
I blank. Her glare intensifies.
"I said who the hell do you think you are!?"
I try to open my mouth to make some sounds. Buy me a few seconds so I can figure out what's going on. She saves me the time.
"You got in the way of an official police investigation! Because of your dumb ass a murderer is still on the loose!"
Okay. I'm ready to talk now.
"I'm sorry? From where I'm lying, it looks like YOU are the one that shot ME." She's fuming. She leans forward and puts her hand on my mattress, pointing the other finger at me.
"YOU got in the way of MY perfectly lined shot. With one bullet I could have saved another ten people from being killed." She's making this my fault. She's making it sound as though I'm trying to help this murderer she was chasing.
"I could sue you. Sue this whole goddamn city." The change is instantaneous. She gets off my bed.
"...Sue?" I think the gravity of her mistake is finally making sense to her, as her face changes from glare to perplexion, and she takes a half step backwards.
"Yeah. How do you think I'm going to pay these medical bills? I'm just a student; I don't have this much cash."
"Medical...bills?" My anger subsides just a little bit. She hesitates. Was it hesitation? Or was it a pause? The two imply different things. If she hesitated then that means it hadn't dawned on her during her tirade that the weight of these bills are entirely on me. If she paused...then maybe she didn't know what medical bills...no. That would be ridiculous. Impossible. But I prod the beast.
"You know, medical bills? You shoot me, I go to the hospital, I pay people to make me less shot? A lot of people a lot of money." She shrinks back and drops into a nearby chair. Her shoulders slump a little. That means she paused. Oh God, she paused. How did you not know this? No, never mind. That's a Pandora's box I don't feel like opening. For now I'll change the subject. "Who was it you were chasing, anyways?"
She waits a moment before speaking, regaining her composure. "He goes by the name 'Archangel,' and has been eluding our department for years now. He usually goes after kids. Young boys, mostly. He also...killed my little brother several years ago. And the commissioner's son. I'm not letting that son of a bitch live."
Yeesh. "I'm sorry about your brother and the commissioner's son. Do you-"
"And before that I apprehended a serial arsonist on the roof of a department store. He had burned down my apartment several nights before." Again with the roofs. "Right afterwards his sister lit up a few malls to get revenge for her brother."
Christ, this city is a time bomb waiting to go off. Or maybe it's already gone off, and is still exploding. Why did I come here on vacation? See the sights, dad said. Meet people, he said. "Do you guys usually have such...high profile cases?"
"Well...yes, of course. That's what police officers are for." I guess serial arsonists, revenge terrorists, and child-killers are just par for the course for her. "What about you? What are you doing here?"
"Me? I'm just...on vacation, I guess. Or I was."
If there's a stronger word than perplexed, then that's what her expression becomes. As though what I said wasn't possible.
"Just vacation? You're not looking for anything or here to...I don't know, kill someone?"
"Are you, a police officer, asking me if I'm here to kill someone?" I chuckle. She doesn't. "...No. No I'm not. I'm just here on vacation."
"And...where are you staying? If you don't have a place right now, I know there's some dorms a little ways north that would take you in. They're all-girl dorms, but I'm sure it would be fine."
"I've got a place. Staying with a friend that lives here and his family."
"Ah, I've got it. It's a girl, and she has a lot of sisters, right?"
"What? No. It's just one person. What are you getting at, exactly?" The anger begins to resurface. In her as well as me.
"I just don't understand what you're here for! You're not looking for anything or anybody, right? So what are you doing here?!"
"Did I need a purpose? Is purpose a passport into the city? I don't have a missing father, or a sacred relic to find. I'm not trying to reunite with a childhood friend or save the world. Can't I just be here and then let that be it?!"
"NO, YOU CAN'T." By now she's standing straight up and looking as though the chair she was sitting in is about to go through the window I was previously looking out of. Her heels clack on the tile as she storms to the door. She turns back. "I don't know if you're lying to me or if you truly have no purpose in this city. If you don't, then you need to leave. You're...not welcome here."
Her words as she left are filled with anger and confusion. As I sigh in exasperation, a different nurse from before walks in with a tray of food. Miniskirt, thigh high socks, and twin tails. Looks like she could be 15.
Far too young to be a nurse.
-------------------
It's an idea I've been playing around with in my head for a while now, mildly tailored to fit the contest rules. If it wasn't painfully obvious what it was about while reading it, I'll lay it out in spoilers.
Spoiler:
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I like the idea. But it really doesn't fit into the catagory of "Summer", "Romance", and "Vacation".
Although I'll give you one thing, this is one of the only entries where I see the author taking a risk and trying something new. I wish you the best of luck, and hope you continue to write, as I think you have a mind full of brilliant ideas.
Although I'll give you one thing, this is one of the only entries where I see the author taking a risk and trying something new. I wish you the best of luck, and hope you continue to write, as I think you have a mind full of brilliant ideas.
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Cinia Pacifica
Ojou-sama Writer
Grock wrote...
I like the idea. But it really doesn't fit into the catagory of "Summer", "Romance", and "Vacation".Oh? I thought it actually befitted the theme of vacation up to some extent?
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Grock wrote...
I like the idea. But it really doesn't fit into the catagory of "Summer", "Romance", and "Vacation".Although I'll give you one thing, this is one of the only entries where I see the author taking a risk and trying something new. I wish you the best of luck, and hope you continue to write, as I think you have a mind full of brilliant ideas.
Oh-hoh, thank you. I don't write often, so I was worried that what I had in my head wouldn't translate well into typed words.
I'll admit that my inclusion of the vacation theme and the mention of the website in some capacity was...I think banal is the word, but it looks like Cinia's rules don't say that the stories had to revolve around the themes explicitly, just that they had to be included. I'm hoping it'll slide.