A Case of Birds
Ex-Ficly, new Ficlatte writer with a not-unhealthy internet fiction addiction.
It is possible to ever escape one's past life?
A question to which Jean Abelard had always known the answer but to which, as the elevator bore him relentlessly to the 15th floor of the Hôtel Pèlerins, he replied once more.
Never. Liar, thief. Murderer. Never.
~
He stopped the elevator early, as was his habit, and walked the rest of the way. The same walls that he had passed years before. The same door at the end of the corridor. Having been summoned, his arrival was foreknown; he entered without knocking.
~
An explosion of feathers, frantic wings beating dust and grime into his face. The high-ceilinged room with its ornate mouldings and heavy, Louis XIV furniture, familiar after two decades; the scroll-armed chairs and heavy bureau. All with an inches-thick frosting of guano. And on every perch and crevice in the place, the birds. Sharp talons, black-bead eyes, insect-like twitching. And the noise...
"Did I never warn you of the dangers of psittacosis?" he gasped.
The man in the chair smiled.
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Comments (6 so far!)
Average reader rating 5.00/5
ethelthefrog
Edit function now working.
An intriguing story. Sounds like any room my children have been in for an hour. Although they have, at last, stopped shitting on the furniture.
- #75 Posted 10 years ago
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ScrawlersSecret
I think this story perfectly threads the needles of giving just enough information so the narrative makes sense and not an ounce more so the story leaves you knowing the world is much bigger than what you just read. A very good use of incomplete information!
- #4180 Posted 5 years ago
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0
- 5 out of 5
- Published 10 years ago.
- Story viewed 20 times and rated 1 times.
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JonB
Damn that capital P in Psittacosis! Just ignore it, until the edit function is working...