~~~~~***I’ll be out of town for the Fourth weekend, but I will get to everyone I can***~~~~~
This 8-10 sentence blog hop is hosted by The Weekend Writing Warriors. (Click the link for the list of participants, or rules if you want to join!)
Here’s the start of a new WIP–working title “Discovering Gremlins. Seth had a bad day at work–hit his head and saw a monster, which he dismissed as his imagination. That night, a shadow follows him home, and his microwave catches fire–in the morning, he breaks his phone, and his shower sprays water everywhere.
Previous snippet: Deciding not to risk the microwave, he had a much less satisfying shake instead, then headed to the bathroom to shower. Setting the water to its hottest setting, which never got above lukewarm, he hummed as he lathered his body and hair. When he leaned back to rinse, the shower head rattled, and clunked to the floor, water spraying everywhere, suddenly ice cold.
He squealed like an offended hamster, and jumped back, flailing wildly with one hand for the tap, using the other to shield himself, futilely, from the frigid deluge.
Finally, the cold porcelain fell under his fingers, and he twisted. The water slowed, but didn’t stop. Venting his frustration with a few heartfelt epithets, he rinsed off in the cold spray, and made a few more unsuccessful attempts to stem the flow of water. He dried and dressed in the nearest clothes he could find on the floor, and hurried down to maintenance.
After he slammed his fist into the door a few times, it opened.
“What?” the maintenance guy blinked, “Hey, you’re all wet!”
“My water’s busted,” Seth said, “it’s spraying everywhere.”
The maintenance guy swore, and hurried down the hallway. Since he had a key, Seth simply trailed after, and disappeared into his room to finish getting ready for the day over the sounds of clanking and vicious muttering.
He hurried out the door and down the street with what should have been eight minutes to spare, and instead had to run and jump through the closing doors, the car inexplicably early, instead of its usual tardiness.
All the seats were full, so he grabbed a strap and consigned himself to the minor discomfort of standing the whole ride. He listened to a podcast, letting it shut out the world, until he could escape the stifling metal box onto the streets. About halfway through the trip, the car lurched, and emitted a grinding metallic screech that cut through the words cushioning him from reality.
Seth blinked, tapping the pause icon on his cracked screen.
Everyone else was looking around, many with earbuds in their hands, so he hadn’t imagined the noise. He waited, and when nothing happened for a good long moment, he restarted the podcast.
* * *
Gremlins have camouflage magic, and a way of making people who catch just a glimpse forget them. This is good for humanity, because they’re powerfully ugly, and react violently to being discovered. But when Seth hits his head and lands on the floor right next to a gremlin, he sees it… and it notices that he’s done so. Things are about to go downhill for Seth.
You mean all those subway delays are caused by gremlins? They’re nasty creatures, then.
Gremlins! Blame them for everything technological that goes wrong!
Oh yes, the gremlin really has it in for him! I’m enjoying the story, love the escalating incidents (because it amps up the tension so much, not because I wish you hero to suffer!). Great snippet!
Poor Seth was pretty much created to suffer. Thanks! 🙂
Now this gremlin is affecting others as well, because of their proximity to Seth. I wonder how much worse things are going to get for him. Loving these snippets!
Gremlins clearly love to mess things up.
Glad to hear it!
It would’ve been worse if he were the only one to hear the noise. Gremlins? Nasty little creatures.
Yes, but Seth isn’t crazy. He’s afflicted.
They are indeed!
He’s still rather clueless . . . which makes it all the more fun!
He convinced himself he imagined the one glimpse of gremlins he got… and they’re too sneaky to be caught again!
I think I just learned why public transportation is such fun- gremlins!
They get their claws into all sorts of things.
Your imagination works overtime, Caitlin. Gremlin is a strange word. It brings to mind weird frightening creatures.
I love how a myth stretches to cover a variety of ideas–gremlins can range from mischievous to deadly. These are the latter kind.
I love the line squealed like an offended hamster.
I had hamsters as a kid. They can make some noise!
This gremlin is getting sneakier and sneakier!
They’re ramping up to the finale. 😉
You literally are describing the worst day ever haha. Also he left the maintenance guy in his house alone?? Yeah maybe he trusts him, but the way this day is going, I’ll bet you anything Seth is gonna get robbed.
Actually, I squished a few sentences together. The guy leaves… and Seth gets the bonus of his water being out for the day. 😉
The gremlins are really terrible creatures. Yikes!
They are responsible for all the world’s tech ills, maybe. (If you feel like blaming them.)
Uh, oh. I wonder how far this gremlin will go. Seth is going to have a very long day, I suspect.
It was going to murder, but I think that might be too mean. 😉
Gremlins! Mischievous buggers. 🙂 Good start!
He’s got a really bad case of the gremlings, poor guy! 🙂
He does, indeed.
Thanks! 🙂