flashback

Yeah, I know, long time no post--and I'm not even completely posting all new material. The thing is, I'm scrounging around for material for my flash fic due Sept. 11 (ominous date) and I did manage to find some on my lappy. Some were previously on the old Roseboards (now deleted) or made for it; the other still unfinished one I just imagined earlier. So, enjoy.
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15 minutes

I glance at my watch the moment I step out of the classroom. 16.45hrs, it said.

The event was scheduled to begin at 1700hrs +8 GMT. 15 minutes to get home. No other choice: run.

So I break into a run. Run past invitations from friends (‘Uhh, listen, I’ve got to go home early today’) and through suffocating crowds hustling to everywhere. Run across streets of cacophonous traffic, up stairs and into trains that are full of strangers that are also in a hurry to get to wherever; and those wherevers don’t seem important now. Getting home is the only important thing.

Yes, I know, just a game. But I am a gamer (and a very proud Pinay one at that), and this is my life. We are the movers and shakers of worlds in pixel through the ethereal maifestations of ourselves; and these strangers, they wouldn’t understand. Much less care.

I jostle and push my way out of the train. Bags checked, then I try to walk as fast as I can—running would attract unwanted attention at the moment. Then the last obstacle—traffic as I ride the jeep home. Only a few minutes left.

Finally, home at last! Connected, login….wait---what the hell?!

“Prepaid game time has elapsed. Please reload your accout to continue playing at http://www.roseonline.ph.”

That was the last thing I saw before I threw the mouse at the screen.

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Annatariel's Story

You go inside an ordinary, almost empty room with off-white walls, and see a woman with strawberry blonde hair seated on the solitary chair inside the room. She was clad in armor--similar to the armor worn by the class of Hawkers--but you know that she is not one, from the way she sits and conducts herself. Slightly slouching, she stares back at you intently, her sea-blue eyes critiquing every inch of you, and you wince; she seems to be sticking probes in every inch of your body.

You come closer, and introduce yourself. "You must be Annatariel," you manage to utter, and offer a handshake.

"And for what reason am I summoned here?" she replies.

'So what they say about her is true' you think. "I'm here to ask you a few questions--it's for the city's Lore Compilation Division. They wished to know about your story."

"I'm surprised you actually exerted all that effort into looking for me, just to ask these questions. To sum it up in a few sentences, I had stopped training for the meantime--after all, the battle seems to be futile at this point. I laid down my sword then.

I decided to roam the plains beyond the Seven Realms, some beyond the reach of the Goddess herself, I presume. But I have always kept in touch, and I do drop by once in a while, though in different guises."

She looks slightly amused as you quickly grab a pen and a scrap of parchment, jotting down what she said.

"Well, I'm afraid I cannot tell you the whole story. I am sure that the city's rumor mill can compensate enough for that, and if you are not satisfied, you may ask my old clanmates."

She stands up and leaves you inside the room, wondering what you had said to wrong her.

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Unfinished -- same time as Umbrella

His letter to me lay on the pavement, unnoticed.

I'm still waiting for him. I want him to explain, face to face, not in the form of some letter. And this bird hanging from his supposedly lofty perch has mocked me enough for the past few minutes.

Now where in the world is he anyway? I'm halfway through this cheap paperback already. It's so unlike him to become late.

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Drive

How odd does this end, she thought, a taxi driver and his rearview mirror the only witnesses to a world's ending.

It was almost perfect earlier: dinner for two at a fancy restaurant, complete with violin serenade and candlelight. And him, of course, he that she hasn't seen for a long time. Then slowly the evening unraveled, culminating with a grand melodramatic phrase.

And as the Makati skyline passed her by, she realized how different now it was, now that she's all alone on the backseat of a taxi.

“Miss, okey ka lang?” the taxi driver glanced at the rearview mirror, hearing her muffled sobs.

“Okey lang po...” she replied; knowing full well that in the next few days, weeks, months she would be repeating the same phrase over and over in her head.