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 a new WIP–“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 in the morning, he breaks his phone screen, his shower sprays water everywhere, and the subway car he’s on is delayed more than an hour.
Previous snippet: Just as Seth was sinking back into the flow of words, the screech and lurch repeated. The lurch shook the car hard enough that Seth toppled onto the lap of the guy sitting behind him. He pushed himself up quickly, muttering apologies, while around him other people regained their footing or grabbed for spilled briefcases.
And then the lights went out, and the car slammed to a halt in a symphony of screeching brakes. The crowd let out a collective, and heartfelt groan.
A few moments later, weak emergency lights flickered to life, emphasizing the shadows without really casting out the darkness.
“Pardon *static* -ruption, folks,” a voice blared from the speakers. “Ser- *static* will resume *static* -teen minutes or less.”
Seth was more than an hour late for work.
He powered grimly through the rest of the morning, head down, focused. So when a hand came down on his shoulder, he jumped out of his seat, and smashed into the side of his cubicle.
“Oh, hey, sorry!” Harry held her hands in the air, palms toward him, and offered a crooked smile, “I’m headed to lunch, want to join us?”
Seth glanced at his still-incomplete work.
“It’ll be there when you get back,” Harry said, “You have a minute before we’re gone, Monty!”
He reached for a post-it stuck to his monitor, and a spark of static jumped from the machine to his finger before he could peel up the top layer that he was certain covered something important.
Seth shook his hand, and hurried to catch up to Harry. He needed to get out of this office–too bad he had to come back.
* * *
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.
Although I can understand how he feels about work, the problem isn’t the office. It’s the invisible demon the meany author has sicced onto him.
He doesn’t know that, though. 😉
I agree with Ed. You’re the devil here, Caitlin. Beware all before the so-called Gremlin gets you. Your imagination boggles the mind. quite an amazing tale.
I’m already bedeviled by Gremlins, might as well pass it on! I once had a desktop computer die in a shower of sparks.
Glad you like it! 🙂
Oh no, he thinks it’s the office! I wonder what trouble will follow him to lunch.
The office is tangentially related, so he isn’t completely wrong.
All kinds of trouble. 😉
How long will it take for him to realize? Maybe he should have read the note.
Oh, it was just a note he’d written to himself. He’s frazzled, understandably.
I think many people would chalk this up to a very bad couple of days, and not think monsters. Because Gremlins aren’t real, right? 😉
I personally have always believed in cyber gremlins. For instance, this morning my word files turned a pumpkin color for no reason whatsoever. Gremlins for sure.
I believed in Pen Fairies in university. Every now and then I will change classes and find an abandoned pen. Sometimes the Fairies were kind and left a pen that works… sometimes they were spiteful and left a pen that doesn’t work. Sometimes they were cruel…leaving ones that leaks!
Gremlins like pumpkin, clearly. 🙂
I’m looking forward to seeing what kinds of mischief the gremlin will cause for the rest of that day!
There is more coming! 😉
Oh yes, it all just keeps getting worse! His friends may have a more eventful lunch than they were expecting…I’m really enjoying the story, kind of on the edge of my chair – fun snippet!
His coworkers do *not* know what they’re getting into. Glad you’re enjoying it! 🙂
[…] Caitlin Stern Writes. […]
They aren’t going to go after Harry if Seth is with them, will they? I feel like it has been too long since an incident that one big one is on the way…
Gremlins only target the people who’ve annoyed them, but like in the subway, they don’t much care if they inconvenience other humans.
I’ve heard of an angel on your shoulder but this poor guy as a gremlin on his @ss! He’d better figure out some way to placate it before he ends up toast – burnt toast!
I love that–“gremlin on his @ss” it’s accurate! 😀
I’m interested to see where this goes, and how he is going to get that gremlin to stop following him.
How’s he going to get the gremlin to stop? Something clever, I hope. 😉
I have a feeling this lunch is going to be a disaster. Can’t wait!
Don’t worry, food poisoning is too mean, even for me. 😉
What next??
More trouble! 😀
Bit by bit you’re showing us that bad things happen when we least expect it. I imagine it’s going to get worse for poor Seth. Will Harry help him?
Excellent question! You’ll see. 😉
I’m thinking maybe he should have read that note! I wonder what horrors the gremlin has in store for him next!
(I forgot to register for this round of snippets but my post is up at https://hywelalyn.blogspot.com/2018/07/sunday-snippets-weekend-warriors_21.html )
The note wasn’t anything important, I think. Unless I change my mind. 😉
Thanks for the link! 🙂