Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Cellar Door

"Certain words or phrases are infinitely more lyrical than others,"  Nigel was talking to himself again. Nobody else would respond; it was his house, and Nigel was a mean drunk.   It was all about the image with Nigel, and we were happy to play along.  We were all so full of ourselves that a sort of ennui had settled, so that all the days and nights seemed exactly the same, stretching out in a never ending nothingness. 

Until Charles brought a date to the party.   Some girl he'd met at the speakeasy he'd been frequenting of late; a perky, cheerful girl with an easy laugh. She wasn't really dressed for dinner, but we enjoyed our new plaything. She found Nigel's piano in the study, and began to play.  We all gathered round, grateful for the change of pace.  Nigel stood rigidly in the door, staring at Charles' date while she played, jaw muscles clenching.  The piano player was oblivious, but Charles had a smug look, as if he had bested Nigel at some sort of contest.

Nigel moved quickly to the piano and before anyone knew, he struck the girl hard on the side of the head, knocking her away from the piano.  She hit the ground hard, and Nigel kicked her in the head repeatedly, occasionally stomping on her.  All this with his martini in hand, and we just watched. Nobody moved. When it was obvious that the perky girl was dead, Nigel just stopped, breathing heavily. He gulped the last of his martini.

Nigel pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and threw toward Charles.  The rain of money startled us all, though none of us were so crass as to pick any of it up. Charles and Nigel stared at one another for a long moment, and we wondered why.

"The cellar door is at the end of the hallway," Nigel finally said, as he turned to leave. "You need to throw your trash in the incinerator." 





THIS IS FICTION.  I don't know a soul named Nigel, and would feel compelled to mock him if I did. Such things never end well. 



Prompt: Third definition of  "rain": 3: to take a lot of money in bill form and toss it up in the air. This is most effectively done at a strip club for the effect of raining one dollar bills on the dancers (and it makes them feel so pretty), or to snub a hater by throwing money into their face that then falls to the floor like rain (use this when paying a debt to a punk bitch who keeps asking for their money to the point that they are ruining your friendship or when dumping someone who has been bankrolling you for a while now that you're making money). 





The password is "cellar door" or a picture of a propeller.

17 comments:

  1. Oh my... what a shocker. Great little story though and raises a lot of questions. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well that took a violent turn o__O Intense story-telling.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, this is horrible. Of course I want to know the reason behind the violence and the apathy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How horrible!Not only is Nigel a beast but also the others who just say nothing!Poor girl!It made me wonder about the "we" though-are they by chance ghosts who cannot do anything but watch helplessly?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! This is terrifying that Nigel is such an SOB and his guests are so helpless. I like Atreyee's take on the guests. Well done!

    Katie atBankerchick Scratchings

    ReplyDelete
  6. What, what, what?!?!?! You outdid and outdarked yourself this time!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is so horrific and real. Very well done. Are you sure sure this is fiction? :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Whoa, that was nasty... but in a well-written way. I knew there was a reason I avoided parties.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love the atmosphere of decadence.

    I must say, I'm a bit at a loss as to why Nigel turned so violent, and why the guests blithely accepted it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's really interesting that no one did a thing to help the girl. It makes me wonder who the "we" in the story are. I really like the intrigue.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I liked this, a lot. I normally don't go for this kind of fiction, but it was so well done that I couldn't tear my eyes away. Made me think of a FScott Fitzgerald character or "The Talented Mr.Ripley".

    I never come here and am disappointed.
    WOW.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Waaaaaaah. Totally Fitzgerald. Totally surprising and sad.

    ReplyDelete
  13. WOW. That was totally surprising and absolutely my favorite piece that I have read all week long! There was nothing not to like and that last line rings nicely with the ennui that stretched into never ending nothingness.

    Seriously. Wow.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Holy crap, that rocked me. It was so quick and out of nowhere. Like violence often is.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Very intense. It was so proper... until it wasn't.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh my. Grabbed me.

    ReplyDelete
  17. OK, I knew that was going to end badly, just not that badly! Strange how bad things can make good writing and good stories. You did a really good job with both prompts.

    ReplyDelete

I welcome comments, but reserve the right to correct your spelling because I am OCD about it!