B is for Stealing

Guy walks up to girl’s apartment. Girl’s landlady seems perturbed that she’s entertaining a male companion. Guy turns to landlady and says, “Oh, don’t worry, I’m her Rabbi”  – TISS t otally i nsidious s hort s tories @tracy j hutchings. ..... ..... ..... .....   APARTMENT. COMPLEX. He held a secret fantasy.  It involved a cutting board, a bottle of wine and a knife. For that to play that out, he’d have to be near her. For that to happen, he’d have to be at the apartment. Easy enough. Except it wasn’t. It should be. It wasn’t. "Look," said the left voice. "There is nothing better that standing next to a naked flame." Even if the scent of her causes the ceiling alarm to go off Even if the landlady must come And remind you BOTH of the terms of HER lease Even if lunch is abandoned in favour of dinner as the two of you realise  A healthy snack can satisfy till supper... Even if absentmindedly, the pipe is left on and water tak...

[ Part Seven Can Be Found Here ] The sky still burned flashes of white as they all gathered round the lifeless body of Soul even as the ground shook around them. “Who did this?” The cold stare of Heart was upon them all. “You did. You all did.” Lord Luz had returned. “This war cost her most of all. And I hold each of you responsible.” “But why?” Body whispered, “Of all of us, she stayed neutral  in this.” Mind’s eyes moved swiftly looking for an answer to this  illogical action of Soul’s. “ We were supposed to protect  her. ” he whispered and slumped all the more before her. “You four were supposed to be older and wiser than she was. You were to guide her into all truths but your actions…. Your actions have led her to this point; back to the Eternals.” The ink flowed freely from Soul. A permanent stain would fall over the continent. It had lost its Soul in this war. Spirit took up the blade and brought it before Lord Luz. “Kill us.” He ...

(in case you missed it, here's prt 06 ) Soul pondered Lord Luz’ words. There was sense to what he said. How long, she had often asked herself, before the turmoil and the inkshed took over her borders? How well could Soul protect her interests from The Four and at what cost? Yes. This was best. Soul would leave the corrupted continent and go back to the Eternals while this place sank to the deepest depths of despair. Maybe, it is what is best for Spirit, Body, Heart and Mind to fall. In the next cycle, maybe they would be better. Yes, she would gather her people and together they would… No. She couldn’t. “I will not!” she said emphatically. But the Lord was right. She knew it. This would only end if one of them ended. But  the only one who possessed such a weapon… “I know your thoughts, Soul. I will not give it to you.” Soul’s eyes flashed angrily. “This place… is in a constant state on unease. There are  rumblings around the continent and still they wi...

(here's what happened last time ) Every refugee –so to speak – that she took into her self brought with them the scars of a war that won’t end. It was not unheard of to hear Mind’s defector telling Spirit’s defector how self righteous his leader was; who did nothing while Heart’s forces tore them apart. “How long?” Soul wondered, “How long before we are forced to really pick a side? To fight against our siblings in this near-thirty-year civil war?”      “Twenty one days.” Came the answer. Soul need not turn         around; the voice was of the strong voice of Lord Luz, a wise       and statuesque man from a land across many winds. It had been       some time since he visited the continent. His emissaries did       his work for him; that is… when they weren’t trying to kill      themselves. “Twenty One Days?!’ Soul exc...

( previously on part four of The Unification ) And it was Heart’s fault. She had not expected a betrayal from Mind. Or else, she would not believe it. And now she has rallied her forces and her inconsolable rage and has swept over the lands of the other three with the force of a thousand monsoons and she was still not appeased. Although I stated that Body was deemed the most powerful because of what I will now call his ‘earth magic’, Heart proved to be most destructive and the most potent in her resolve. Her territories were coastal and water coupled with retribution proved to be devastating for the continent. The coldest winds, the darkest rain… the intensity of the erratic monsoon was of her scream. And then came the silence. Cold and silence and endless war on her enemy and the enemies of her enemy (for there was still something akin to love under her cold armor reserved for the Mind). As stated before, Soul remained neutral and her territory was a refuge to whosoever gre...

( previously on The Unification ) And it was Mind’s fault for this war. The strategist with the broken right arm. He had seen a better way to LOVE. A way that appealed to two of The Four minus the one slight addendum… Mind would have to take charge of the situation. The territory of the Mind would have to be the leading state over those ruled by Soul, Body, Heart and Spirit. Soul and Body understood the path but they were not prone to be led by a statistician. Spirit’s pontification was a rebellion of itself but it was Heart who pushed furthest from Mind’s plan. Not because of his rigidity but because She felt, no, she knew that she would be relegated to a vagabond. Heart would have none of that. Mind realized that Heart would be the key. He knew that as much as they all resented it, Heart always found a way to get them to listen. Some of the time. He could not risk THIS being one of those times . So being the strategist he was, he went about his plans to get rid of Heart. He c...

     ( part two can be read here )   And it was all Body’s fault. He would not admit that Spirit had a point to his sense of morality…. His sensationalist morality. Body often sat with his knuckles upon each other, laughing at his brother who would never take a risk to save his life except when it came to the preaching, except when it came to the pontificating in quiet moments when they laid under the stars talking about tomorrows and day afters. But the war had changed all that, Spirit was now actively pursuing Body to crush him and burn him from the memory of the continent. Body could not help but be impressed with his drive but HIS drive was stronger. His troops manipulated the temporal and were perhaps the most deadly of The Four. They could raise the earth beneath their feet; they could pull the roots to where they demanded. They were brash and often without strategy. For truly if the move felt to be right, Body’s forces would surge forward...