Finish the Fiction Story Contest - Week #23 - @bananafish

Even the Clouds Smile

The bedroom was a sealed Fort Knox. An old black fan stood in a corner: the last bulwark of defence against the terrible heat of that day of August. The heat from its engine was exceeding by far the supposed cool that it should have been producing from the movement of the scorching air.

"... I’m going down to the store to help mum."

"Recently, the young dandy is getting his ass busy."

"You could do something too, every now and then," Santiago thought, managing to keep his mouth with a bridle at the very last moment.

"There is an article on the International on how bad news are preferred to positive ones and their effects on society," he chose instead to answer.

But the 15:00 news were now efficiently irrigating the paternal synapses and absorbing his whole focus.

"After 3 months from their first appearance, the research on cumuloids continues by the international expert pool led by Dr. Venters. All the analyses confirm that their molecular composition is not different from that of any other type of cloud: minute particles of condensed water and / or ice crystals. In the meantime, yesterday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the resolution requesting the member states of... "

"Chemtrails were not enough, eh Tiago?"

"I do not know, I try not to look at them. Those faces in the sky might also be harmless but they frighten me," Santiago cut short.

The quasi-dialogue would have certainly not produced anything positive in its prolonging, thought the twelve year old son. On board of his Zanella Motoneta, Santiago darted away from home, heading for the beach.

Down there, among the umbrellas reserved for the guests of the Los Reyes hotel, there were Vicky's deep black eyes waiting for him. Maybe today they could have been alone, maybe there between the waves or under the umbrella, he would have finally told her words that, for long days, had been banging in his head like the ocean’s backwash.

He still thought of those enigmatic clouds, the cumuloids, whose immense faces had formed and flaked in the skies for months now. With no exception, their eyes were covered and they displayed a subtle smile, similar to that of those Greek statues he saw in one of the rare occasions he opened his school books.

"What an idiot." Two rosy dawns light up on Vicky's cheeks to contradict the apparently cynical exclamation.

In front of her, two hearts drawn with a wooden stick on the sand of the shore with their initials inside. Tiago floundering.

A sharp cry pierces the silence. Dazed looks of the two twelve-year-olds jumping first on Vicky's younger sister, then, through the kid’s expression of terror, bouncing on the celestial vault behind them.

A cumuloid, alone, stands out clearly in a fake turquoise sky like the wing of a theatre stage. There is no trace of a kouros smile on the gargantuan cloud, which now seems about to drift on the sea shore. The ivory jaws widens deformed, vomiting a myriad of other faces. Distorted mutations depart ferociously from the obscene atmospheric funnel just to pierce back the smooth nimbus’ face, devouring its ephemeral flesh.

Time slows down around Tiago and Vicky, holding hands together without even realizing it.

My Entry:

Dr. Venters, the so called Wizard of Oz, the man behind the curtain, the eye in the sky, reading your mind, Big Brother is watching you, kind of guy, had planned this thing all along.

Face cloud features meant to evoke emotional responses then captured on face recognition cameras to be analyzed for peoples’ hidden emotional state.

He watched Tiago and Vicky with intense interest as the cumuloid drifted toward them. In astonishment he could see the two holding hands, standing together for love, as if they could see his face behind it all, and knew that he secretly ruined things for others to make his research amusing.

Only their pleasant walk to the beach could not be denied. The cloud dissipated drifting around them in the air.

“Will you marry me when we get older?” Tiago asked Vicky still holding her hand.

Vicky looked to the sand, their initials drawn inside a heart, and thought for a second. She said, “You’re the first person to ask and I like you. So yes I guess.”

The two smiled at each other with a sudden wince of pain. Dr. Venters, watching the CCTV feed in his office, yelled aloud in disgust “now they’re smiling! They should be running down the beach in fear!”

“Did you feel that? Like someone got upset. Just pure hate,” said Vicky.

“Maybe it’s just the sun or something. We should go back to the Los Reyes hotel and drink Italian sodas under umbrellas,” said Tiago.

As they started to walk back along the beach they dropped each others hands. Vicky kept looking out toward the sea at the faces watching them. Their eyebrows crossed with clenched teeth. Menacing faces of loathing that struck deep into Vicky’s heart. How could real love flourish here with those foreboding clouds so near?

Tiago, oblivious to the thoughts running rampant in Vicky’s mind, felt that things were going fine. The thought of an Italian soda on such a hot summer day seemed the perfect exclamation point to Vicky wanting to be with him for the rest of their lives.

Now seated in beach furniture under an umbrella; the two waited for a server to bring them ice cold refreshments.

And while in the sky above them another repugnant face loomed; somewhere else nearby Dr. Venters concentrated on Vicky’s face on the screen in front of him.

“I can’t stand it!” Shouted Vicky as she got up and ran away.

“Vicky!” Tiago yelled as his voice fell mute to the sound of the Zanella Motoneta that pulled up to the curb. He turned to look, and saw Santiago waving at him.

Vicky ran through the city streets. She turned down the alley to her home and found herself alone. Through the slice of sky between two buildings a smiling cloud like a familiar friend looked rather jovial. Vicky couldn’t help to smile.

“Good.” Said Dr. Venters. “You don’t need him.”

Kali Uchis – Your Dead to Me (acoustic)

Thank you,
Cyrus Emerson

Red Roses the audiobook for your consideration at the Voice Arts Awards (NYC), and the Grammys (LA).
https://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Red-Roses-Audiobook/B07F2LWHPN

Red Roses narrated by Kira Omans
www.kiraomans.com

Red Roses music by Rike Luxx
www.rikeluxxbeats.com

Red Roses sound by Pond5
www.pond5.com

Also, available from The Author:

Fear and Loathing in the State of Jefferson - ebook
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B079R5KLPN&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_GsURAbAVDYNEM

Lost Angel – Introduction with Ray Manzarek of The Doors
https://www.downpour.com/lost-angel?sp=249812