Floating Ink by James Livingood Page B

guitar case. The guitarist, who had
been so coordinated with his fingers a moment before, now fumbled
at the latches. The floating device shined its light on him, and he
exploded into a heap of red splotches. Ruth decided that new boots
could be found later and that comfort was something to be concerned
about another day. She turned on her naked heels and began to run
with the crowd.
    As she ran, she saw more black ink dots
falling slowly from the sky. The dark rain stopped several feet
from the ground and slowly bobbed in various directions. If this
were a stunt of some sort, it was done on a massive scale. Luckily
for the citizens, no other black ink floaters were shining any
lights. They were just slowly moving from one point toward the
next. They didn’t seem interested in the running crowds flowing
around them.
    Ruth finally got to her home and closed the
iron gate. She ran down the tunnel, suddenly stopped, and decided
to stay still for several seconds to listen for sounds of being
followed. She was the one who had angered them, so it made sense
that they would chase her. Slowly, as fear started trickling down
and the quiet of a mundane world reasserted itself, she wondered if
the whole thing had been a dream or joke. It was a cruel joke to
make her think that a person had died.
    Paranoid, she grabbed several nearby trash
cans. She assembled them into a makeshift barrier between her and
the tunnel opening. They were like a line of metal soldiers
standing guard. As she grabbed a lid off one of the cans, she
spotted the inky blob of a device floating toward the home. She
couldn’t tell if this was the same one as in the park or a new one
that she had not seen before. It started a low buzzing noise, like
a fly stuck in a windowpane. The device sent its light toward the
nearest trash can. Ruth jumped away from the trash cans a moment
before one exploded into a heap of refuse and metal bits.
    Lying on the ground, Ruth scuttled away from
the slowly floating device. The buzzing continued until the device
was above her. It then went still, and the buzzing was cut off with
a click. A few moments later a whisper sound started to fill the
alley. The sound increased with volume in a gently way.
    “Hello? Hello?” said the metallic voice. The
voice sounded like someone was talking into a soup can phone. It
also had a gravely kind of tone, as if rocks were in the soup can
as it tried to talk.
    “Hello?” She responded back weakly. She
wasn’t sure why this device was trying to communicate with her.
    “Good! This one. This one is good. Can she be
a caretaker? Yes. Good. Setting power to high.” continued the
voice.
    Ruth grabbed the edge of the wall to pull
herself up and run. As she turned her back, she saw her silhouette
against the bricks. The device was shining a light on her. She
froze and prepared to be exploded into a million pieces. Instead,
the world slowly went black. It was as if a curtain was pulled from
the sides of her vision. She crumpled into a ball on the damp
stone. She wasn’t sure how long she was on the cold floor.
    Then a strange feeling of detachment
happened. She felt as if everything she once knew no longer
mattered. Every person, every thought, every piece of who she had
once been no longer mattered. She began to sit up and wonder how
she got here. She saw the metallic ink blot moving inches at a time
towards her place on the floor. She couldn’t remember why she was
afraid of this thing. She turned around and saw herself still lying
on the floor. ‘Did that light kill me? Am I dead?’ She wondered. It
wasn’t a passionate fear, but more of a resolve. If she were dead,
there was nothing to be done. She moved around the thing invading
her home, but it did not seem to notice her ghost self. She stared
back at her body, thankful for the life it had given.
    It was at that point she saw a ball of light
near her head. She bent over and examined the light, just as the
creature moved closer to examine