Isn’t it interesting how a story can change when seen through the window of a hundred words? Last week’s story, Holding the Bridge generated a lot of interesting ideas about what had happened to the guard on the bridge, which fit with the hundred-word version. Click here to read the longer story about what really happened on the bridge.
copyright Douglas M. MacIlroy
The Amber Man
The lights came on, treacling back to my retinas.
“Here’s where we keep him, gentlemen.”
Humans. Real people, at last.
Squeeze their throats. Burst their brains.
“How is he not dead?
“Someone this powerful? If he could die from starvation, this setup wouldn’t have been necessary.”
Help me! For God’s sake, don’t leave me again!
Kill them. Kill them all!
“It’s a shame. His advances saved billions of lives.”
“He also slaughtered fifty million with his bare hands.”
“He looks so peaceful.”
“Thanks to the drugs. Inside though it’s a war: like an angel and demon caught together in amber.”
The Green-Walled Tower 
December 17th, 2014 at 10:33 am
I’ll have to backtrack and read what happened to the man on the bridge. There’s a lot going on here. Intriguing story, David. I really like the last line a lot.
December 17th, 2014 at 4:17 pm
Thanks, Amy. I find that often the stories I think of for Fictioneers can’t possibly fit into 100-words. Sometimes I try anyway, sometimes I write them later and think of something else. Hope you like the other Bridge story.
December 17th, 2014 at 11:13 am
This is so brilliant and inventive. Two very different aspects living in one individual. I love the direction you took this.
December 17th, 2014 at 4:19 pm
Thanks! It’s that much more too because he is very good and very evil.
December 17th, 2014 at 12:07 pm
Geez, what was in that water?
December 22nd, 2014 at 11:03 am
Do you mean for me or for the character in the story? 🙂 Either way, no idea.
December 17th, 2014 at 2:49 pm
Imagine two souls trapped like that.. actually it reminds me of the quote of Solzhenitsyn, that the border between good and evil divides the human heart in two.. an interesting symbiotic thought you have here.
December 22nd, 2014 at 11:04 am
It would be an interesting theme to explore more, someone with the capacity for extreme good or evil.
December 17th, 2014 at 4:39 pm
Chilling and intriguing, David. I want to know more about this amber man. I wonder which side would prevail if they ever let him out.
All my best,
Marie Gail
December 17th, 2014 at 10:35 pm
I’m not sure. I pictured him as kind of a superman Jekyll and Hyde, doing a lot of good and a lot of evil. So maybe a lot of both.
December 17th, 2014 at 7:27 pm
Over the summer I read Mary Shelly’s Frankinstein that was pretty awesome…this makes me think of it. Not too shabby there Stewart 🙂
December 22nd, 2014 at 11:05 am
Thanks, Bianchi. 🙂 Frankenstein was an interesting book and so different from the movie portrayal.
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:23 pm
It was a great book and to think she made no money from it and got zilch credit because in those days, women were not perceived as respected authors. Kills me.
December 17th, 2014 at 11:55 pm
I actually think this would be the eventual fate of lots of superheros – many have considerable mental issues that are overlooked because they are ‘heroic’ – with some notable exceptions like the Hulk. Then again, maybe you need to be crazy to save the world…
A cool take.
KT
December 18th, 2014 at 9:55 pm
That’s a good point about superheroes. Actually, I was picturing Dr. Manhattan when I wrote this. Not that they would ever be able to catch him, but still…
December 18th, 2014 at 1:31 am
‘treacling back to my retinas’; how I loved the images that conjured up! And I felt quite sorry for the poor character with just those two ‘good side’ phrases that you wove in – they were quite moving. Good one, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from you.
December 18th, 2014 at 9:53 pm
Thanks, Sandra. He is supposed to be a tragic character, trapped with this other demon side of himself.
December 18th, 2014 at 1:43 am
good that he is asleep 🙂
December 18th, 2014 at 9:46 pm
He is trapped in a catatonic state, at least.
December 24th, 2014 at 1:05 am
When will your christmas break finish? I mean in blog!
December 26th, 2014 at 1:58 pm
I’ll be back for real around December 30. I’m in and out now because of the holidays and traveling.
December 18th, 2014 at 2:30 am
A great idea – to be able to hear that internal struggle.
Claire
December 18th, 2014 at 9:46 pm
Thanks Claire. 🙂
December 18th, 2014 at 5:45 am
Dear David,
You delved deep into the darkness this week and i like what you came up with. A dark Sword of Damocles for humanity, locked away, yet not destroyed. Will we never learn? Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
December 18th, 2014 at 9:46 pm
I don’t know if we will learn, Doug, but thanks for your comments. I would have liked to delve more into the subject, but perhaps at a later date.
December 19th, 2014 at 2:18 pm
A bit of ying and yang? Well done, David.
December 22nd, 2014 at 11:06 am
Thanks. 🙂
December 20th, 2014 at 2:35 pm
Your story reminded me of the terrible fate of people with ‘locked-in syndrome’, where they’re fully conscious but unable to communicate. The thought of being in this predicament gives me the horrors. You’ve captured the horror really grippingly. I want to know more about him and who the others are. Great writing.
December 22nd, 2014 at 11:07 am
That does sound horrible, to be conscious but not able to act. I’ve had nightmares like that. I want to know more about him too, although he’s such a bit character it would take a novel, I think, to do him justice.
December 22nd, 2014 at 5:05 am
This is very quirky indeed. The inner voices battling with each other works very well.
December 22nd, 2014 at 11:07 am
Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
December 22nd, 2014 at 4:31 pm
Dear David, I agree that the voices were very profound and added a lot to the story. You did a good job. I hope you enjoy the holidays! Nan 🙂
December 25th, 2014 at 2:10 am
A very inspired interpretation! of that image, and so creatively crafted!!
Merry Christmas David! 🙂
December 26th, 2014 at 1:57 pm
Thanks! Merry Christmas to you too. 🙂
December 29th, 2014 at 1:00 pm
That Amber Man has done some things in his life.
December 29th, 2014 at 5:59 pm
Yes, a lot of good and bad.