{"id":1738,"date":"2021-07-13T17:41:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T00:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/?p=1738"},"modified":"2021-07-22T17:40:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T00:40:42","slug":"buzz-classic-unfinished-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/?p=1738","title":{"rendered":"Buzz [Classic] (unfinished story)"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

I have no idea where this was going. It does seem that I was bored in math class, though…<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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I had come here looking for Death; now Death has found me. The burden of knowledge is too heavy, and the thought of continued existence too unbearable to turn back now. I have made my decision, and I open the door..<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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It all began back in math class when I was minding my business, lost in thought at the back of the room. I was quietly listening to the professor drone on — allowing my gaze to drift around the room with a complete lack of conscious interest.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A few students were actually taking notes, but most were patiently waiting for the bell, with the ability to sit and do absolutely nothing but breathe — that most students develop over the years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One fellow to my right was reading the newspaper, and the two red hot lovers a few seats down from me in the corner were paying more attention to each other than to the instructor.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A fly was crawling on the desk in front of me and, as it took off, I found myself following it with my eyes — imagining myself in its place, flying around this gigantic room amidst these monstrous creatures — to no avail except probable annihilation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It landed on the head of Mark Crowell to my left, but he was asleep and took no notice. I looked again at my wristwatch and noted that there were still 14 minutes and 40 seconds till the end of class. I watched the second-hand on its slow sweep of the watch face. Time crawled along, and the second-hand seemed to move slower the more I looked at it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The fly buzzed at my ear and, annoyed, I swung at it — and it darted away. I found myself doodling on the paper in front of me, and I froze as the fly landed on the corner of my desk. Slowly, I withdrew my hand and then cupped it behind the fly so that I could catch it as my hand would pass over it. I swept my hand so that it passed about an inch and a half above the fly, knowing from experience that this technique works 4 out of 5 times. My hand swished past, yet the fly remained exactly where it was, and seemed to be looking up at me. It then took off and angled away so that I lost track of it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

5 minutes to go. 300 seconds, I considered counting to 300, but thought better of it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The fly was back again, buzzing on and off in my left ear. I went to brush it away. but was stopped by the curious tone the buzzing had taken on. It was buzzing on and off, and the staccato rhythm of the sound brought about the effect of words.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

“Nock ih offff.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Knock it off? <\/em>Yes, after a moment, I was sure that the fly was actually speaking.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

“Nock ih off,” it repeated in a voice that sounded like someone trying to speak through a kazoo. \u201cNock ih off and lissen noo me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After a pause in which I did nothing because I could not think of a rational explanation for what was happening, it continued, \u201cNod unce if you unnersand.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I nodded.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

“Doan nod zo fass!” it cried.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Other interesting tidbit — I was searching for a clever title for this, and found an Emily Dickinson poem titled ‘I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died’ — which sounds weirdly related.<\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have no idea where this was going. It does seem that I was bored in math class, though… I had come here looking for Death; now Death has found me. The burden of knowledge is too heavy, and the thought of continued existence too unbearable to turn back now. I have made my decision, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Buzz [Classic] (unfinished story)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1738"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1769,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions\/1769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}