One Page Stories: Thomas Stormcrowe

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February 16

The Nightmare

Buckley woke with a start, hearing something moving around in the surrounding woods. What now, he thought! Whatever it is it's big, and noisy. Now Buckley wished he had thought to start a fire. Needless to say, with this wish, his fire started, as wished for! The Fire light revealed what looked like nothing more than the Teddy Bear he had when he was a child. Unfortunately, it appears, even his dreams now came into reality. Fortunately, this time, Buckley had had a relatively harmless dream about his childhood, manifesting a version of his old friend!

“Hello Joey” the bear said, “It's been a long time!”

“Theodore Q Bear” Buckley said “I am glad you are here, I was wondering how I was going to stay sane with no one to talk to!”

“You have gotten big, Joey!” Theodore said, “You grew up.”

“These things happen, Theodore”, Buckley said, “It can't be changed”

“Then why didn't I change, Joey?” Theodore asked.

“I'm not sure, Theodore, but I'm glad you didn't.” Buckley said, “At least there's one thing that's something to hang on to right now!”

“Well, I'm glad I found you too, Joey, there is something in the woods that is big and mean!”

“What is it, Theodore?”, Buckley asked.

“I don't know, Joey, but it used to scare you real bad when you were little! It used to hide in your closet and under your bed!” Theodore said.

Great, Buckley thought, Now I'm going to have to deal with all those childhood fears again, this time they will be real though. “Theodore, stay here by the fire then, you'll be safe.” Buckley said.

In the night, Buckley would see a half shape in the dark on the edge of the firelight, but it would never come close enough to be seen clearly. Eventually, Buckley was so tired he finally started to drop off..............

He woke with a start, the fire had burned low and the circle of light was nearly gone. He was startled to see the shape he'd seen on the edge of the light, but much closer. He looked around, and Theodore was gone, but the shape was now clearly visible, and he found he was looking at himself!

“Hello Joe”, the other Buckley said, “Surprise!”

“Who are you?”, Buckley asked

“Why I'm you!”, he replied, “But I'm not! I guess you could call me your opposite number!”

“Really?”, Buckley said, “How's that?”

“Simple, I exist to oppose you, no other reason! I'm only here to serve notice, it's you or me.” The other Buckley said, “So be warned, we are doomed to oppose each other.”

“But why?”Buckley asked

“It's in each man's nature”, the Other answered, “To be good and evil both. I'm your dark nature. One of us must overcome the other in the eternal Struggle. I'll give you till tonight to be ready”. With that he vanished.

Submitted by Thomas Stormcrowe

Genesis... A Buckley Story

DAY ONE

In the Beginning there was void. Buckley floated formless, but aware. As he pondered his situation, the thought came to him that he wanted some light. He shouted let there be Light!” At that point a point of light formed and built until it flooded his universe as far as he could see. As he floated in a sea of light, he found he wished for a place to stand upon, and said “Let there be land” and it formed from the sea of light. Standing upon his firmament, Buckley felt thirst and said “Let water flow forth and form rivers, lakes and seas!” As the rivers, lakes and seas formed, Buckley was happy, for now he had a place to stand and water to cool his brow. Unfortunately, his view was as a desert, barren and empty. He missed the trees and plant life of his home. “I’ll tell ya”, he told himself; “I might be crazy, but I’ll give it a try! Let trees and plants cover the land and enter the waters of the land!” and they did! Buckley was now happy! As he lounged around in the soft grasses in the shade of a tree, he napped. He slept the satisfied sleep of one who has accomplished great things that day.

DAY TWO

Buckley Woke up that morning and was hungry, and he thought mournfully of the half of a peanut butter sandwich that had disappeared with everything else in his lab when the sphere had collapsed, and he said to himself “I wish I had some food!” and the tree he was under gave forth fruit. He plucked one of the fruits and bit into it and was surprised that it tasted exactly like his peanut butter and honey sandwich! “Wow!”, He said, “This might be an hallucination, but it’s certainly fun!” As the day progressed, Buckley started to miss the noises from his childhood, like birds singing, and decided to try to bring forth animal life. He said “Let there be birds flying and singing gaily!” As he finished his last word, a robin landed and started hunting for worms. A swallow flew searching for insects and a dove landed and started searching for seeds. Buckley thumped his forehead and realized he needed to provide food for his birds! “Let there be worms and insect life”, he cried! “Let the trees and plants bring forth seeds for food and also to bring forth new plants to replace those that pass on!”

“Let there be squirrels and rabbits to amuse me!” Buckley said, and they came to be. “Yes, Buckley thought to himself; “This will be sweet, a whole new world that I can build to what I want it to be! He spent the rest of the day watching the squirrels playing in the trees and gathering nuts as well as watching the rabbits doing rabbit things. He dozed off to the sounds of his birds chirping and rustling in the trees as the day ended and night fell.

Buckley woke up and everything was pitch black and totally silent. He realized he missed the night sounds he’d grown up with and he thought to himself, “Hmm, I guess I need to do something about this.” “Let the stars and the moon shine forth in the night!” He said and the stars and the moon came into being as he remembered them. “Let there be all the insects and animals I remember from before!” Buckley said and the first thing that happened was a mosquito buzzed in his ear and bit him! Buckley chuckled and said to himself “Such is the law of unintended consequences!” He couldn’t bear though to wipe out the mosquitoes though since his swallows would enjoy the new food source. He listened to the sounds of the tree frogs calling and the cicadas singing in the trees and went to sleep for the rest of the night, satisfied

Submitted By Thomas Stormcrowe

February 11

Buckley's Universe - Thomas Stormcrowe

Dr Buckley was having a bad day. It started when he initiated his experiment into Zero Point Energy. When he started up the equipment, all the sounds outside his lab suddenly quit. When he decided to take a break and get a cup of coffee, he got up to leave the lab. When he opened up the door to go to the coffee machine, he encountered a silver wall across the door.

"What the hell?" Dr Buckley exclaimed! He turned and ran back to his desk and tried to shut down the equipment, but to no avail! "HMMM", He thought, "What have we here?". Dr Buckley turned to his notes to try to figure out what was going on and thought about that little section of the equation that had been bothering him. "Well, I guess I have something to worry about after all!" He said with a rueful smile.

Journal of Dr Joseph Buckley, September 15, 2036
I initiated my experiment into tapping Zero Point Energy today. I seem to be trapped in a pocket universe created accidentally when I started the equipment. All the tests I have run show absolutely nothing outside of the silvery surface outside of my lab door. I can't seem to shut down my equipment and am currently drawing power off of reserve batteries. I'm not sure what will happen when they die. I figure they will crap out in about two hours. It is 10:00AM now. With any luck I'll be out by lunch

11:00AM September 15, 2036
The air is getting a bit stale and smoky, but without cigarettes I'd go nuts! Batteries are at the halfway point now. I'm really getting nervous now as the corners of my lab are showing the same silvery encroachment. Apparently I'm in a sphere and it's shrinking! I tried to get an image of what's outside of the sphere, but when I pushed a webcam through all I got was absolutely nothing, literally! I tried to retrieve the webcam and got back a cut off USB cable. I think I have a problem!

11:30AM September 15, 2036
I'm surrounded by the sphere now. My lab walls are no longer visible anymore. The batteries are below one quarter charge and I'm at a loss how to conserve power. I'm writing by the light of a candle now as I've lost the emergency lights to the sphere. Worst of all I only have one cigarette left! I've been working the math and have come to the conclusion that I'm screwed! I think I might have wiped out the Universe when I tried to tap into the Zero Point. I believe I might have interrupted the quantum flicker cycle.

11:45AM September 15, 2036
The sphere has contracted to about ten feet in diameter now. It's also starting to vibrate. My desk is half engulfed and my computer quit functioning when the sphere ate my tower. The batteries are going to die any minute now and I'm smoking my last cigarette now. It's the best tasting cigarette I've ever had! The batteries are dying now and the sphere is collapsing! Oh Lord, I think I'm going to die..........................................................

The sphere collapses into a quantum point and explodes.........Creation begins.

Submitted by Tom Leonard aka Thomas Stormcrowe