IRC-Galleria

Conrad walked forward through a doorway and, without looking, hit the lightswitch on with his left hand to illuminate the place a little. After a few minutes he had looked through every room of the house, his inquiries of anyone being there echoing around and bouncing from the walls of the vacant house. It wasn't a huge place, one floor consisting of a kitchen, a living room and a small room between them that linked the two and the front door together. The kitchen also led to the bathroom that he also checked just in case someone had fallen asleep in the tub or something and hadn't heard him yelling. The furnishing was pretty basic. Tables and chairs in the kitchen, a sofa and a television in the living room.... the place didn't have much of a lived in feel, no opened mail anywhere or used plates or such. The only signs of life that were immediately apparent were a few rugs that had been pushed out of place in the kitchen and the tire tracks outside. After a few minutes of searching it seemed pretty apparent that there was no phone in the house. He cursed vocally. One would think that any kind of a house would have a phone. He weighed his options. It didn't seem like a viable idea to brave the journey outside back to his car and onward from there, since he had no clue how far he would have to journey in the cold before reaching help. Although he figured that the walk would probably be completely survivable, since no place should be that remote, but he still didn't feel like risking it especially since he was now in the comforting warmth of this small building. He felt tired anyway and a small clock on the wall told him that it was almost 5 pm and indeed it had already gotten fairly dark outside. It seemed like a viable option to just stay here and wait for whoever owned this place to return. Then he could just explain the scenario to the owner and the situation would resolve itself even if the person would get scared and call the police. He figured that the end result would place him safely back home eventually anyway. The couch looked very inviting and the tv just might be the thing to remedy the agitation that plagued his mind after all that had happened. He didn't even take off his coat and just lied down, placing his feet on the armrest. He noticed a remote on the table next to him and turned on the tv. As he put down the remote, he noticed a small piece of folded paper on the table as well. It stood out since it was the only item on it. Without really thinking anything about it, he took the piece of paper and noticed some writing on it :


"Have we done something
To fill the need?
For you can't hear anything
When your eyes bleed."


Conrad shuddered at the macabre text and put the piece of paper back on the table. He started to wonder if this place was truly safe. Why was that note there? Who had written it and what did it mean? As he pondered this, he started feeling dizzy again. The vertigo also seemed to return and his whole body just screamed for some rest. Soon Conrad gave in to the exhaustion and lost consciousness.


Awake. The sunlight glared in from the window. Conrad stood up form the couch and noticed the tv had shut down on its own. He looked around and felt a serious sense of disappointment. He was still in the mysterious house and apparently everything he had experienced was real. He stood up and noticed the piece of paper was still on the table. It wasn't folded though, but crumbled. Curious, since he distinctly remembered simply putting it neatly back on the table last night. He picked up the paper to look at it and maybe try to make some sense of it. After turning it around for a few seconds with an expression of confusion on his face, he dropped it to the floor. The paper was blank. He buried his face in his hands and wondered what the hell was going on. Was he going insane? Why couldn't this all just be a strange dream? He suddenly lifted his head and looked to the distance and thought to himself : "Dream. What did I dream of last night?" He struggled to remember but managed to recall a few visions of visiting some town, meeting some random people, driving and.... feeling happy. Suddenly he started to smile. "I didn't see the nightmare...", he thought to himself. He was still utterly confused about what had happened to bring him here, but this was still such good news, that he thought that maybe all of this was in the end a good thing. He walked into the kitchen, since he was feeling a little bit hungry and opened the fridge. There was nothing inside except a small brown glass bottle that didn't look like it would hold anything edible. The text on the label had worn off into a faint smudged mess. He took the bottle to examine it more closely and removed the lid. Feeling curious, he smelled the contents carefully and immediately started to feel unwell as the scent stung his nerves like a needle from the past rattling his brain. He couldn't really describe even to himself what that sharp smell was but it somehow did feel familiar. He had definitely smelled it before sometime. He just couldn't place it. The liquid inside the bottle was obviously not useful to digest so he put the container back and closed the fridge. His gaze then turned to the large freezer that had a lid on the top. He figured there would have to be something to eat in there and attempted to open the lid. It wouldn't budge. It didn't feel completely stuck, more like it was locked perhaps. He looked around and indeed noticed a heavy padlock on its side. Why would anyone need to lock the freezer in his own home? He was about to give up on his search for food but then noticed a key on the floor below the padlock. He figured he might as well try it. The lock clicked satisfyingly when he put the key in and turned it. The lid was immensely heavy. Closing his eyes, he strained his muscles to push it fully open. After opening the lid, he opened his eyes again. And wished he wouldn't have. He opened his mouth to scream, but just froze to to look at the horrifying sight before him. It was Helen. Tears of horror started to pour out from his eyes as he couldn't look away from the woman who had huddled into the fetal position and frozen to death with a distinct look of desperation on her face. Conrad then noticed a note on the inside wall of the freezer : "NOW YOU KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE BETRAYED AND LIED TO. I HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT." He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Who could do something like this? As he was about to turn away from this traumatizing display, he noticed that the woman was holding something in his hand. A cellphone. He immediately reached for it, but paused as he really didn't want to touch the body. But he felt he had to go for his only chance to call for help. He reached in and carefully tried to yank the phone out of Helen's cold brittle hand feeling a terrible chill everytime the frozen wrist and fingers cracked and snapped with every tug on the phone. Finally he pulled harder and could hear at least two fingers breaking as he got the phone free. The battery was empty. Of course it was. Otherwise she would've called for help with it. Suddenly he realized the phone wasn't hers. At least not the one he had seen her with the last time almost a year ago. His hand started to shake. Slowly he turned the phone to look at its back cover. His eyes widened and a sudden headache seemed split his brain in two. He fell to the ground screaming both in agony and shock. As he started to lose consciousness he threw his gaze at the phone's back cover. It had the letters "C P" on it.


Conrad opened his eyes as he was lying on the kitchen floor. He looked at the clock and noticed that he hadn't been out for more than an hour. He stood up and looked again into the freezer with a grim look on his face. He felt like he should say something. But couldn't really think of anything. He didn't even know what to think anymore. Now everything made sense but... what now? The feeling of emptiness overwhelmed him. He knew what he had done, but couldn't really justify it. Taking his dead cellphone with him, he left the house and started to walk along the road. He hadn't bothered ever to undress inside the house, so the bite of the cold didn't feel all that bad. The world was bright and calm and the rays of the sun bounced around in the snowy landscape, but for Conrad the world was in flames. He came to the bridge and noticed a set of half snow-covered tire tracks that led over the edge right next to the stone pole to which he had leaned on yesterday. Shaking his head he stopped walking, turned to the pole and tried to collect his thoughts. There was a moment of calm in his mind as he searched his feelings and memories as the freezing wind was picking up again. Suddenly he knew. He had to get out of here. Had to escape. He opened his coat, took a step forward and looked upward with a blank look on his face... and let the cold sink in.

Kirjoitin tämmöisen pienen tarinan näin halloweenin alla/kunniaksi. Kaikki palaute on tervetullutta, varsinkin jos se on jollain asteella rakentavaa. Tämä on kokorajoituksen vuoksi pakko jakaa kahteen osaan.



Cold Dreams


Every night it's the same dream. Or part of a dream. He walks into a room, inside is a young woman on the couch. She is frozen solid, a thin layer of ice covering her entire body save for the head. The damsel is clutching to something small in her hand, but he can't make out what it is. She looks at him with pleading eyes and manages to utter the words "...please...lift me...". Before he can take a step towards the poor woman, her face turns motionless and she stops breathing. After this he wakes up.


This had been going on for longer than Conrad Penner cares to remember. It was unsettling at first, but eventually it became more of a nuisance than anything else since it seemed to often prevent him from actually resting and gaining energy while asleep. Not that it mattered that much, he didn't really have an outlet for energy, being unemployed and without a family or a spouse. He had long ago stopped trying to figure out the meaning of the dream and figured it would eventually just go away if left ignored. He picked up his cellphone and checked for messages. Nothing as usual. His finger felt something rough on the backside of the phone. He turned it around and saw the letters "C P" scratched onto its corner. His ex-girlfriend Helen had made the markings over a year ago. It might as well have been a decade since then, those times seemed so distant to him these days. She had said back then that the markings served the double purpose of helping him recognise his phone and remembering that it is indeed a cell phone. "Hilarious...", he uttered aloud to himself almost bitterly. He sat on his chair in front of the tv. It was already late, but he figured he could watch something pointless anyway, since it wasn't like he had some errand to wake up to in the morning. He was tired though, the dream had taken its toll. He turned on the tv and settled on the channel that was showing a thriller about some detective trying to solve a murder. "Fair enough..." he thought to himself, sat back tried to relax. Soon his eyes started to feel heavy as he listened to the sounds of the city outside the window.


Again the same dream. It even seemed that the dream looped once and the events played out twice in exactly the same way in one night.


Awake. Conrad still kept his eyes closed and tried to shake off a headache that must have come from seeing the dream twice. He was sitting down and figured that he must have fallen asleep in the chair. While he opened his eyes, he let out a vocal exclamation of startlement as he realized he was looking at a steering wheel. The steering wheel of his car. Confused, he looked around and saw that the car had hit a small tree on the side of the road. The road didn't seem very urban. It was a gravel road that had a small amount of snow on it. It didn't look like it sees much traffic. Where was he? He didn't have any idea of his whereabouts, although he felt a very faint sense of recognition as if he had seen this place before... but couldn't piece together his location or how and why he had ended up there. The tree had sunk about a half meter into the hood of the car, so it seemed like fair bet that it wouldn't work anymore. He tried turning the car keys anyway, but the engine didn't make a sound. He reached to his pocket to pick up his phone and call for help, but noticed that it was not there. After checking all his pockets in his pants and coat he searched the car thoroughly finding nothing. He never left the house without his phone. He checked his pockets again and found piece of paper. It was crumbled, although it seemed to have been originally folded once to maybe fit an envelope. To his amazement Conrad recognized his own handwriting on the paper : "You'll find the house easily after turning on the right road after the small red wall. You'll know you're on the right track when you see a large rectangular boulder on the right side of the road. It's just a little ways after that, beyond a bridge that crosses the river." He couldn't remember writing this. It started to snow and he now noticed how cold it really was. Wind was also picking up and he looked around again trying to get his bearings and noticed a large rock with almost 90 degree angles on it. It must have been the "boulder" mentioned in the letter, he thought. The surreality of the scenario baffled him, but he knew he had to find shelter, and the letter mentioned a house in the direction of the rock. Conrad started walking passing the large boulder on his right. He turned to look behind him and stared into the dark tail lights of his car. Shaking his head he continued on toward the unknown.


After a few minutes he came upon a small stone bridge. Judging from the sound, the water was still flowing in the river below. Conrad glanced quickly over the side and saw that the water was indeed flowing and it seemed that the river was fairly deep as he couldn't see any rocks breaking the water's surface. For such a short bridge it was a surprisingly large drop. Suddenly an odd sense of vertigo came over him. It wasn't the height, he had never been afraid of heights before. He stumbled to his side and leaned onto a stone pole. Trying to maintain his stability he took a step forward toward the end of the bridge and stepped on some broken glass. He was really cursing his luck at this point. Taking a few deep breaths he continued on over the bridge and regained his sense of equilibrium. He still felt dizzy but at least he could move forward normally again. He glanced back at the bridge, wondering who had built it, since it didn't look exactly safe. Save for two small poles, one on each side, there wasn't any railing or even much of an edge before the vast nothingness beyond. A shiver went down his spine and reminded him that he should probably keep going to find shelter from the winter that tried to push into his bones so relentlessly.


During the journey Conrad had tried to remember why he had ended up in the car but the last thing he could recall was sitting in front of the tv. The dizziness didn't help his ability to think clearly but it seemed to be thankfully fading away. After walking a few more minutes he saw a house in the distance. The cold was biting his face as the wind circled around him and he hurried onward. When he reached the front yard, he saw a few sets of tire marks on the ground that had partially been covered by the snow. He didn't see any cars around though and dreaded the possibility that no one might be home to let him in. The door looked like a bastion of hope after the ordeal he had just been through and walked over to knock on it. There was no answer. "Hello!", he yelled and knocked again and turned the handle almost as a reflex. To his amazement, the door was unlocked and opened. "Anyone home?!... My car broke down a mile or two back and.... Hello?!" There was no answer nor any sign of anyone being home. He took a few steps inside and closed the door, figuring that if someone was home he could just explain the situation calmly and ask to use the phone or something. He was really exhausted from the events that had transpired moments ago and needed to just take a breath after reaching what at least seemed like safety.

When people feel down
All of them seek light
Things to remove the frown
Turn to find energy and might

To see reason again in pain
Fire gone from their hearts
Will they again feel rain?
Is this a story of no parts?

The light they are seeking
Final destination it seems
Feeling it somewhere peeking
You think it all simply redeems

All brightness is made by fire
Clinching to its current host
To create pain so dire
Desire gone, only a dead post

Find this flame in you, making
Yourselves so very hopeful
Kneeling down then knowing
Me to be wisely doubtful

Myself I have once burned
And learned dearly from it
The fire so bright turned
Rest is all history of grit

In the hopeful flames
This truth of cruelty
Test of all your minds
Of all up to a deity

All along the heat kills
Time slowing into nothing
My veins it all fills
Life leaving with frothing

Guarding this dreadful display
The keepers of dark fire
Best not to think in dismay
Darkness will never retire

Is this what we all sought?
Now killing us in endless pain
Defeating us as we fought
Crime turned only by rain

When the red skies turn dark
The day becomes a grim night
Black clouds having their walk
Fires burning down out all blight

In all your hearts I see fear
My sight conceals something
Soul once so kind and dear
Go in there, see everything

Out in the open we find hate
Your ears hearing a presence
Kind in life, twisted by fate
Will he ever reach the fence?

Feel the heat of the hidden limit
The wall holding the unknown
Wrath flowing where it sees fit
Inside, a feeling well grown.

The land is only darkness
World of shade and black hate
Will it heal into greatness?
Look inside and see its fate.

Up there in the clouds of fire
And below the seas of pain
Shout out your dreams so dire
"Save" your soul from the rain.

"Us" is a word unknown here
And alone everyone dies
I´ll be the one to see a tear
Whisper and hear their cries.

"No" is the final cry I hear.

Legendojen mukaan vampyyrit kuolevat auringon valossa. Sen verran varmaankin tietää jokainen muutamaa vuotta vanhempi ihminen tässä valtiossa.

Jos näin, niin mitä tapahtuu jos vampyyri matkustaa avaruuteen tilaan jossa auringonvalo ei pääse koskemaan siihen, mutta jonkin muun tähden valo pääsee? Sanotaan vaikka että se olisi Siriuksen valon vaikutuspiirissä.

Ja jos vampyyri kuolee silloinkin, niin mikä on se valon vahvuuden määrä joka tappaa vampyyrin? Kuitenkin Maahan asti kantautuu jonkin verran muiden tähtien valoa jatkuvasti myös öisin. En oikein vakuutu selityksestä "valo jonka ihminen näkee", koska se tarkoittaisi että ihminen on luonut vampyyrilegendan, mikä määrittää sen auttamattomasti epätodeksi.

I had just parked my car next to a hotel. I was confronted by a group of chinese men who guided me to go with them onto a small boat on a river.

I flashed back to an earlier event. I was in my room minding my own business. Then some of my female friends came into the room. It was somehow apparent that there was going to be a party. I was pleasantly surprised. After a short dialogue I went downstairs and there were something like 20 people there. The only downside was that there was no running water, but I don´t think it bothered us all that much. We had fun. Then a friend of one of my friends said that she wanted to talk with me about something. It had something to do with the friend we both knew. The overall feel of the situation was very pleasant.

Then someone was asking questions about my evening, the people there and my relationship and feelings toward those people. Casual stuff. It wasn´t an interrogation, the voice was simply asking questions and I answered smiling with my eyes closed. I noticed that I was lying on my stomach. I was still answering a question when I opened my eyes... I was floating on a wooden platform on the river. I looked to my right to see who was talking to me, asking all those casual questions. What I saw was blood, and two bloody stumps where I would have expected to see arms. Someone had cut off the man´s arms from the shoulders but still somehow he was hanging on a wall. He was covered in blood and shaking. He still managed to ask me a question about my relationships but I couldn´t answer anymore. I started to get the feeling that he was trying to sooth me with all those questions.

I looked behind me and moved my legs. A chunk of flesh fell into the water. I think it was a human torso. Or what was left of one. I couldn´t pay much attention to it because I noticed to my horror that my legs had been cut off. The other from the ankle and the other from the knee. I didn´t scream. I simply looked around in shock. There was an uzi next to me on a railing. I picked it up. I wasn´t sure whether it was empty or if there was still one bullet in there.

I couldn´t feel anything anymore.

Then I woke up.

So let´s imagine a galaxy.

In this galaxy there are many solar systems with all their little details. Comets are flying here and there and if you get lucky you might even find some scrap metal from satellites and spaceships floating around.

I want to concentrate on stars and on the planets that are gravitationally bound to them. Let´s say that a solar system has for example three planets. The one closest to the star gets the most light and warmth. The ones further away get less. Logical enough.

Here´s a thought : Is the planet closest to the star content with its position or does it try to get closer? When will it feel satisfied and think that it is the only one of importance in that solar system? Will it ever feel that way and will it ever be sovereignly more significant than the others? Problem being that, if it gets too close to the star, it will become completely void of life and finally the entire planet will suffer a fairly agonizing death.

What about solar systems of a much larger scale? Let´s say that the amount of planets is twelve. What is the value of the eleventh planet? There is unlikely any life on its surface and even its core is fairly cold compared to most other planets. Asteroids maul its surface every now and again and it can barely see and not really feel the star´s presence.

In a large system, which of the planets is the most content with its own existence? What should the planets try to do, as their life force is aligned to the star which is also the cancer that is destined to one day either destroy them or leave them in eternal cold darkness? If the planets always hope for a better... warmer place for themselves and in a way "own" the star... and they will at least burn badly while trying to get close... what do they achieve in the end?

If life could be supported by the planets themselves, rendering the stars slighlty less significant for the existence of life... would the planets be better off supporting it by themselves in darkness?

In the beginning I was driving to somewhere. It was winter. I stopped next to the road near some house and got out. Some of my acquaintances from a time long gone were there. I´m not exactly sure how many of them there were... possibly near ten. I think they were complimenting me... it was something about my car or my ability to drive.

Then the world changed.

Suddenly we were in a strange ocean-like pool with a strong glass wall on one side and endless ocean everywhere else. There was a strange war going on, with robot-like machines mauling and shooting at each other. We were floating in the water. I felt like we were supposed to collaborate to the war-effort. I dove into the water and it was crawling with huge bloodthirsty sharks and manta rays. The beasts were anything between ten and twenty meters long. I got up from the water onto a floating metal deck that resembled the deck of an aircraft carrier. I ran through it and dove back into the water. The sharks tried to eat me with with speedy efforts. Everytime they got close the world fell silent. The only sound in the world was the weird chomp sound that their jaws made when they stormed past me and tried to catch me with their teeth. I dodged them for a while down there. Finally I got up again and threw something to the glass wall and to my surprise the wall cracked. I pulled two people with me from the water and through the hole.

The world changed again.

I was infiltrating a place of some sort by sneaking through forests and grasslands with a couple of companions. We were crawling through long grass when I hit a wire and it triggered the alarm. Two attack dogs came running at us barking as attack dogs usually do. They turned out to be quite small but still looked like they wanted to bite my legs. I stood next to a small well of lava. I had my back turned against the dogs. I sensed somehow that one of them was going for my leg. I moved slightly and the pooch ran straight past me into the well. A few seconds later the same happened with the other dog. When they hit the lava, they didn´t burn. They sort of... drowned into it, while not moving a muscle or making a sound of any kind. I silently watched them sink into oblivion.

I woke up.

Childé : Show me your agony and I will show you anger. After my anger your agony will be a part of the winds that try to be something poetic. Denying your stench, which plagues the lands of this world.

According to the x-ing of the Paragrab : Xix you fools. Your xxistxncx is xxmxaning to thx human racx. Xix anx rix thx lanx of xarknxss.

Look out for the horses. Their eyes show hate when you´re not looking.