As generations upon generations of men before him, John felt his mind wandering. The sterile, white hospital room remained, but it lost significance as he heard the old man's chuckle, quiet but completely clear in the back of his mind. “Well, I’d like to congratulate you, young man. A record like yours is not an easy thing to come by.” explained Saint Peter with an amused air. “A record like mine?” asked John who, like all dying men, was surprised to be unsurprised by the voice of the gatekeeper. “What’s so extraordinary about my record? I haven’t really haven’t done anything amazing,

Guilty Parties: Prolouge by goblinbee, literature

Literature

Guilty Parties: Prolouge

And in that field, he saw a tree, and a man. The tree was old and worn, like himself, but the man was not. He was young, handsome even. His clothes we're plain, and overall he appeared unremarkable. But to the old man, the pain in his face was unmistakable. In a rare peak of curiosity, he went to the him and saw in his hands a halter of straw. “Go away.” said the man. “Leave me in peace, though I deserve none.” “Why, what guilt is it you bear? What is was your crime that you should deserve no peace?” he asked. It took along time for the young man to give an answer

The Pursuit of Granduer by goblinbee, literature

Literature

The Pursuit of Granduer

Pilot Chapter – The Fool The end of the world was appealing to a lot of people. That was one of the things that Mr. Michael Stubs the Coordinating Assistant Editor of the New York office was most surprised to learn when he first started talking to the strange gentleman. Surely, he thought, if there were such people (other such people, he had begun to correct himself) they would be ashamed at their inability to be satisfied with existence, and would keep their heads down. And yet here were four standing beyond the frame of the doorway in the unassuming room on the 17th floor of the stately New York City lodge. He had just enough tim

At Long Last by goblinbee, literature

Literature

At Long Last

Surely, then, this would be enough. London lay in rubble at their feet, and Walter lay dead and discarded in the mass of bodies that stretched forever; not that she would have recognized him as he was in any case. It all seemed so utterly, undeniably perfect. Integra was walking toward him from the dilapidated zeppelin with the merest hints of sunrise glowing behind her. Her head was upright, her stride was confident and if not for the tears in her clothes and the blood on her gloves she could have seemed to all the world to be going about business as usual. But he knew better. No one but her servant could have seen the pain in her eyes,

An Uninviting Place by goblinbee, literature

All That Glitters by goblinbee, literature

Literature

All That Glitters

"You want something more?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, yes." he was suddenly awkward. "I mean, I can't just go home now, as though nothing happened..." "I thought that was what you wanted. 'I want to know,' you told me. Just to know, you keep your life, you keep your family, you go back and live within humanity. You're still part of them, but you know a truth that none of them understand. They wonder about what's out there, but you know. Wasn't that your life's wish? Wasn't that the one thing you needed to be satisfied with your existence?" "But I can't do that...I can't know about this and just act like I don't. I mean this is,