So sorry I didn’t post this yesterday, I had posted on Tuesday and I didn’t want to post to days in a row. Also, I completely forgot until like 10 at night in bed. So. Yeah. Short story time.

When I was a child, I was given the choice. I sat at a table, a single light shining down upon me, the rest of the room in pitch darkness outside the pool of light.
In front of me lay a brown, leather backed volume, with ancient Parchment inside, and to its right lay a simple fountain pen which was lying on top of a piece of paper. I was told to choose the Book or the pen, to determine my destiny. To choose my path and my life. I was allowed to pick up each object, and I picked up the book. 

Inside to my dismay, was page upon page of mathematical theorems. Numbers and charts in ancient ink filled the parchment which crinkled as I turned the page. The parchment was yellowed and I marveled at how they remained intact. I shut the book and smelled it, the book entering my very being as I sniffed the parchment, and the leather book, stroking its cover with my fingers. The sensations were pleasing, but I set it down. This book was not for me.

I then picked up the pen and rested it upon the paper, and I hadn’t moved it before I saw wonders. A four-masted Ship rose on tall waves, which crashed back into the water, threatening to break the ship, I could hear the creaking and moaning of the boards, the howls, and shouts of the sailors above the wind and water. Thunder crackled and lightning flashed, and I blinked rapidly as the light engulfed me.

I was standing next to a fat old king, in the grandstand of a tournament. The knights below shimmer in the noon sun, their horses pawing restlessly on the ground. The crowd placing bets, and cheering even before the joust begins. As the knights run together, they rattle and clank, the horse’s hooves pound the dry ground sending dust into the air. The crowd goes silent and then a cheer as one of the knights is thrown from his horse, onto the ground. I begin to clap and cheer when the sun is obscured by a large object.

I was drawn up to the shape, captured by a bright green light, floating up to the object. I was dropped in a white sterile room, robots walked around, probing here, repairing there, even cleaning the already pristine floor. A man in a shiny silver space suit walked up to me and handed me a space suit. I stepped into it and we walked into what was obviously the cockpit. I sat next to the man, who was clearly the captain.

“All ready for launch?” He asked. I tugged on his sleeve, and asked,
“What’s out there?”
He laughed, “The great unknown.” And the ship lurched forward, and the pinpoints of light visible through the glass like a window, became streaks and the entire cockpit became white.

Multiple colors, images, feelings, sounds, and smells raced past me. I felt worlds built from dust rise and fall. Kingdoms conquer and thrive. People, living their lives, just to have it destroyed by an unknown voice. Weather, changing on a whim. All of these sensations rushed upon me and everything turned black.

I blinked and I was back in my chair, in the pool of light lit by the lamp, the pen still hadn’t made a mark on the clean page.
I wrote a few words upon the page, and left it for all to see,

   ‘I choose the pen.’

Thanks for reading! What do you think?