106 lines
6.2 KiB
HTML
106 lines
6.2 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title> Night Watch </title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="html_resources/style.css"></head><body><svg class="hidden_filter"><filter id="crunchy_blur" x="0" y="0"><feFlood x="4" y="4" height="2" width="2"/><feComposite width="6" height="6" in2="SourceGraphic"/><feTile result="a"/><feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="a" operator="in"/><feMorphology operator="dilate" radius="1.4"/><feGaussianBlur stdDeviation="2.2"></feGaussianBlur></filter></svg><div class="back"><a href="index.html"><</a></div>
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<h1>
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Night Watch
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</h1>
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<p>
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There's the station. Michelle looks up. The morning twilight gives
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the sky a pink hue. The station's clock shows 06:41.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Shit! Two minutes.</span><br />
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She begins running for the platform. Warm air hits her face as she enters
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the station – and the all too familiar stench of piss. She looks at
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the signs. Something's off but she can't quite tell what.
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She runs along, looking for her platform, until she reaches the other
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end of the tunnel.<br />
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It hits her: <span class="quote non-speech">Wait...
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Where the hell is platform 6?</span><br />
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She runs back. Platform 6 is nowhere to be seen.
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</p>
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<p>
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Someone grabs her by the shoulder.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Michelle?</span><br />
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She opens her eyes and lifts her head, looking around in confusion.
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It's dark. A tiny bit of flickering light illuminates the room
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around her. Jack leans forward and sets a lantern with a candle on the
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table.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Don't you wanna sleep in your bed?
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Your body would appreciate it.</span><br />
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She remembers. She was supposed to be on night watch until two.
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">What time is it?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Three A.M.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Sorry.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">All good, nothing happened.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">What about the fire?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Still embers.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Phew.</span><br />
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She stands up, holding on to the table for support with one hand while
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moving her hair out of her face with the other. She thinks
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<span class="quote non-speech">When did I fall asleep?</span>
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Last thing she remembers, it was still bright outside.
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<span class="quote non-speech">8 P.M.? No, it's June. 9 P.M.?</span>
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She yawns.
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</p>
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<p>
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Their attention gets abruptly captured by wolves howling. Michelle
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suddenly feels very awake. Jack grabs a gun from the safe and checks
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that it is loaded. Michelle opens a drawer and grabs her bow and quiver
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with arrows. They walk over to the entrance and look around. It's
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still dark outside, but barely bright enough to see. The sky over the
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mountain ridge to the north-east is a faint green, the rest is deep blue
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with stars. A pack of wolves is down by the river, minding their own
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business. The two watch them for a while before concluding they probably
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aren't a concern for now. Jack puts the gun into the
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<span class="comment">holster?</span> on his belt and Michelle lays
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bow and quiver down and sits by the embers.
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</p>
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<p>
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She grabs a few sticks of dry fir, needles still attached, and pushes
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them into the embers. After a bit of blowing on them, they go up in
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flames. Jack dumps another pile of fir and other sticks onto it and they
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both blow on the flames.
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</p>
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<p>
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Soon enough, the fire is back in its full form. Jack goes inside and
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reemerges with two <span class="comment">seat cushions?</span>,
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blankets, and some snacks. They sit down next to
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each other on the cushions on the ground, facing the fire.
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Michelle feels her back getting cold and puts one of the blankets over
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her shoulders. Jack seems to have other priorities – he opens
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a preserved can of cashews and starts munching. She grabs a handful
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and starts eating as well, staring into the warm glow of the flames.
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The heat that starts radiating from the fire fills her body with a fuzzy
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warmth.
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</p>
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<p>
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She wakes up to find herself laying on her side, still facing the fire,
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with her head on Jack's lap. She feels him twirling her hair through
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his fingers. Everything around them is bright as day.<br />
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She says: <span class="quote speech">I didn't know we were close
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like that.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Sorry.</span> He stops.
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<span class="quote speech">I don't think we are. You were just very
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out of it.</span><br />
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Michelle adjusts her pose, moving the arm she is laying on to a more
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comfortable position, but stays put.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I'm fine with this. We can cringe about
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it later... By the way, what time is it?</span><br />
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Jack looks at his watch. She hears the segments of the metal
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<span class="comment">wrist band?</span> moving near her ear.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Around 04:30 A.M.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Okay, good night.</span><br />
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<span class="comment">Thank you to PineappleJoy for the inspiration
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for this wonderful dialog. :)<br />
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I'm not sure if I should keep it though, because this isn't
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gonna go anywhere.</span>
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<!--
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Jack's reaction could possibly be modified to be explicitly
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non-romantic.
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Or break the fourth wall and say:
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"Editor's note: Yup, they cringed about it."
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I would rather not do that though, at least not without it being a
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<span class="comment"> which is not part of the story.
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-->
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</p>
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<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023-2025 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.</p><script>let spans = ["<span class=\"paper green\">", "<span>"]; let pre_texts = document.getElementsByTagName("pre"); for (let i = 0; i < pre_texts.length; i++) {if (pre_texts[i].className != "paper") continue; let lines = pre_texts[i].innerHTML.split("\n"); let result = ""; for (let j = 0; j < lines.length; j++) {if (lines[j].length >= 80) result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + "</span>\n"; else result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + " ".repeat(80-lines[j].length) + "</span>\n";} pre_texts[i].innerHTML = result;}</script></body></html>
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