| General Fiction posted March 8, 2021 |
  |
a short story approx 900 words
Soulbond
by Bill Schott
The effect of Soulbond Contest Winner
The author has placed a warning on this post for violence.
Ivan set his notes next to the computer and began framing the final chapter to his romantic tale of the junior vice-president of the construction company and his unlikely love interest, the lunch truck lady's daughter.
The story had followed the young man, Kevin Bevins, through his days as a clean-up crewman on a few sites, then learning the skills of pouring concrete, riveting, and welding, as well as the finishing work of the interiors. His father, Evan Bevins, had insisted that his son rise up through the ranks as he had. Of course, just like him, that rise would be accelerated to get his son up in the boardroom within a year.
Along the way, Kevin had met and grown close to Kitty. Her mother ran a sandwich truck which showed up at all the sites that the Bevins Company worked. Over time they had met, gone out, and eventually fallen in love.
There had been many others in the family, the business, and elsewhere who had made the couple's relationship difficult.
As Ivan began this final chapter, hoping to make the Valentine's Day selling market, he realized how much he identified with the character in the story. He had been like Kitty, a sandwich seller on a lunch truck who had fallen in love with the daughter of the president of a huge engineering corporation. Their lives had not followed the romantic path that his characters had however, and he was devastated and nearly destroyed by her family, and operatives working for them.
"So, it's time for some payback, Ivan," came a voice in his head.
"What? Who said that?"
"It's me, Sweety -- Kitty."
"Wha -- K-K-Kitty?"
"Yes, Ivan. You and I are soul bonded. I am you in every way possible except that I'm a girl."
"You are not a girl. You are a name and a character sketch on a piece of paper."
"Wrong, Ivan. Remember how feisty I was in this story. It was I who turned everyone's opinions around. I got them to accept me, despite their bias and arrogance."
"Those are things that I wrote."
"Things you SHOULD have done to help your own relationship, Dude -- but never did."
"I did them here, on paper, for this couple."
"No! You were going to repeat the same mistakes from your own life. You thought that projecting your pitiful experiences onto me would be cathartic. I stopped you and created a sea change that has won the day for Kevin and Kitty."
Ivan cupped his head with his hands. A throbbing began in his temples which he was almost certain would blow his ears off. The pain he felt swirled in his brain, like a crazed rodent seeking escape. When his eyes opened again, the pressure made him feel they would shoot from his skull.
"We need to get you a happy ending like I have created for myself. Yours, however, will be real and meaningful. Kevin's and my story turns out well through immense effort on my part; that same force can be wielded in your life as well."
"No, no. Shari and I are finished. She's living in France with her fiance. Mom's passed and I am doing okay with these romance novels. It is all wa --"
Pain ripped through Ivan's eyes and seemingly took a lap around the inside of his cranium.
"WATER, Ivan? Like water under the BRIDGE? Is that what you think?"
Tears flooded from Ivan's eyes as he rose from his computer and walked towards his apartment door. Almost blind he fumbled for the door knob and opened the door.
Later, seemingly waking from a dream, he was behind the wheel of his car. Car horns blared as he became aware he was stopped at an intersection. Shaking his head, he pulled across the four-way stop heading away from the city.
Ivan began trembling as he felt himself becoming filled with consciousness. What had he done?
Returning finally to his apartment building parking lot, he stopped and sat silently. On his dashboard he saw a parking permit from the airport. Reading it he saw that it was for a week's parking ending on February 28. How could that be? It was January. He glanced at his watch. It read FEB 28 2022.
On the seat beside him was a boarding pass. Had he been on an airplane?
Leaving his car he walked quickly to his building. Reaching his apartment he entered to find everything as he had left it.
His computer was off, but moving the mouse caused it to come on. The blank page for his final chapter glowed like high beams shining out of the screen and through him. He sat and began typing.
The chapter was the antithesis of the rest of the story. What had been a happy, positive tale was ending with Kitty running amuck with a pastry knife slashing and stabbing Kevin's family members. She even flew to France with Kevin only to strangle him with a purse shoulder strap. Finally, returning home, she swallowed a bottle full of prescription medicine and died.
Once finished, Ivan attached the completed novel to an email and sent it to the publisher. He then opened a container of pills and emptied them into his mouth, washing them all down with a bottle of water.
"Now that's water under the bridge, Ivan."
Ivan set his notes next to the computer and began framing the final chapter to his romantic tale of the junior vice-president of the construction company and his unlikely love interest, the lunch truck lady's daughter.
The story had followed the young man, Kevin Bevins, through his days as a clean-up crewman on a few sites, then learning the skills of pouring concrete, riveting, and welding, as well as the finishing work of the interiors. His father, Evan Bevins, had insisted that his son rise up through the ranks as he had. Of course, just like him, that rise would be accelerated to get his son up in the boardroom within a year.
Along the way, Kevin had met and grown close to Kitty. Her mother ran a sandwich truck which showed up at all the sites that the Bevins Company worked. Over time they had met, gone out, and eventually fallen in love.
There had been many others in the family, the business, and elsewhere who had made the couple's relationship difficult.
As Ivan began this final chapter, hoping to make the Valentine's Day selling market, he realized how much he identified with the character in the story. He had been like Kitty, a sandwich seller on a lunch truck who had fallen in love with the daughter of the president of a huge engineering corporation. Their lives had not followed the romantic path that his characters had however, and he was devastated and nearly destroyed by her family, and operatives working for them.
"So, it's time for some payback, Ivan," came a voice in his head.
"What? Who said that?"
"It's me, Sweety -- Kitty."
"Wha -- K-K-Kitty?"
"Yes, Ivan. You and I are soul bonded. I am you in every way possible except that I'm a girl."
"You are not a girl. You are a name and a character sketch on a piece of paper."
"Wrong, Ivan. Remember how feisty I was in this story. It was I who turned everyone's opinions around. I got them to accept me, despite their bias and arrogance."
"Those are things that I wrote."
"Things you SHOULD have done to help your own relationship, Dude -- but never did."
"I did them here, on paper, for this couple."
"No! You were going to repeat the same mistakes from your own life. You thought that projecting your pitiful experiences onto me would be cathartic. I stopped you and created a sea change that has won the day for Kevin and Kitty."
Ivan cupped his head with his hands. A throbbing began in his temples which he was almost certain would blow his ears off. The pain he felt swirled in his brain, like a crazed rodent seeking escape. When his eyes opened again, the pressure made him feel they would shoot from his skull.
"We need to get you a happy ending like I have created for myself. Yours, however, will be real and meaningful. Kevin's and my story turns out well through immense effort on my part; that same force can be wielded in your life as well."
"No, no. Shari and I are finished. She's living in France with her fiance. Mom's passed and I am doing okay with these romance novels. It is all wa --"
Pain ripped through Ivan's eyes and seemingly took a lap around the inside of his cranium.
"WATER, Ivan? Like water under the BRIDGE? Is that what you think?"
Tears flooded from Ivan's eyes as he rose from his computer and walked towards his apartment door. Almost blind he fumbled for the door knob and opened the door.
Later, seemingly waking from a dream, he was behind the wheel of his car. Car horns blared as he became aware he was stopped at an intersection. Shaking his head, he pulled across the four-way stop heading away from the city.
Ivan began trembling as he felt himself becoming filled with consciousness. What had he done?
Returning finally to his apartment building parking lot, he stopped and sat silently. On his dashboard he saw a parking permit from the airport. Reading it he saw that it was for a week's parking ending on February 28. How could that be? It was January. He glanced at his watch. It read FEB 28 2022.
On the seat beside him was a boarding pass. Had he been on an airplane?
Leaving his car he walked quickly to his building. Reaching his apartment he entered to find everything as he had left it.
His computer was off, but moving the mouse caused it to come on. The blank page for his final chapter glowed like high beams shining out of the screen and through him. He sat and began typing.
The chapter was the antithesis of the rest of the story. What had been a happy, positive tale was ending with Kitty running amuck with a pastry knife slashing and stabbing Kevin's family members. She even flew to France with Kevin only to strangle him with a purse shoulder strap. Finally, returning home, she swallowed a bottle full of prescription medicine and died.
Once finished, Ivan attached the completed novel to an email and sent it to the publisher. He then opened a container of pills and emptied them into his mouth, washing them all down with a bottle of water.
"Now that's water under the bridge, Ivan."
The effect of Soulbond Contest Winner |
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