IBMC #06: The Mass Media Challenge

Ssssssshhhhh!!

I stood there, stunned. Too stunned to speak, too weak to stand.

I was in the corps and it had been two days since we returned home from Vietnam. We- me and many, the corps brothers. We lived in Arizona and had returned back after surviving 6 months of bloodshed in war ravaged Vietnam. “A relief to be back, isn’t it?” I sighed and gulped down my beer. “Yeah. A relief indeed,” replied Manny. We were sitting on our favorite spot, on the banks of Campbell blue creek, having beer, just the two of us. I noticed Manny. He had been staring blankly either at the small rescue shelter in the middle of the creek or something beyond that in that twilight. I couldn’t make out what.

“The shelter still looks damn scary!” I joked.

“Yeah, scary as ever.”

And he just kept on staring. His beer too was half finished while I was about to finish the second pint. I tried to make conversation.

“But this sky! Ah! This orange-pink sky is as beautiful as ever!”

“The pink sky? Yeah, yeah. Beautiful.” A startled Manny replied. It seemed as if he was lost.

“Hey Tom, I will head back home. Actually I am not feeling so well!”

“Yeah, sure. See you later.”

Manny got up and left. I sat there for a while wondering what exactly he was staring at but gave up eventually and left.

Later that night, my telephone rang. It was Mrs. Fernandez, Manny’s mother. I rushed to his place. And there he was. Hanging from the ceiling. Mrs. Fernandez handed me a note. It was addressed to me. It said- “Dear Tom, I no longer see orange or pink or the orange-pink. All I see is RED.”

And then something happened. I felt a sensation. I could see everyone. Every corps brother that I had lost and every victim of my bullets. And over them was a figure less entity. It smiled at me and whispered-

In,

Search of skin,

Color no matter,

Brighter or darker,

And then it placed a finger on my lips and continued-

Tell no one,

I will take someone,

Ssssshhhh!

-ghost, me!

Everything vanished. I stood there, stunned. Too stunned to speak, too weak to stand.

 

 

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