Ten Shards: An Anthology of Creative Journeys

Ten Shards

An Anthology of Creative Journeys

by

Irina Băzăvan

Irina Dumitrescu

Adrian Suciu

Veronica Preda

Ștefana Diaconu

Diana Dumitrescu

Ioana Iliescu

Loredana Jucan

Iulia Radu

Edited (on an ongoing basis) by Robin Wildt Hansen

Copyright © 2018 by the authors and the editor

All rights reserved

Contents

Foreword

The Promise of an Old Lady

The Mark of the Red Owl

How Not to Pull a Series of All-Nighters

The Other Brother

The Alternatives

Spider Skies

Nebula13

The Search

Second Chances

Vivien

Foreword

by Robin Wildt Hansen

This collection of short stories is the result of a seven-week Creative Writing and Self-Publishing course that I taught at Fundația Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania.

Each participant wrote a short story during the course. In the final session, we uploaded the book together. It was a highly climactic moment.

I am continuously impressed by the level of imagination and professionalism put forward by my students.

Extra credit goes to Veronica Preda, who arranged with patient nudging for the creation of the cover, and who wrote not only her own story but also the story that we planned together during the first sessions of the course. Credit also goes to Teodor Dumitrescu from the previous group, who created a formatting template that each participant could apply to their story. This template was used a lot also in this anthology.

This anthology is a work in progress. That means that each participant can update their story and send it to me for re-upload. It also means that my editing and feedback is something that is happening on an ongoing basis. Although most stories are written at a high level of English, none of the writers are native English speakers, so mistakes do occur. Due to time constraint, I was not able to edit the entire document ahead of the first publication; however it is my goal to edit it on an ongoing basis. The goal is to have a great, free anthology of short stories that is updated periodically. I very much hope you will enjoy it!

About me:

My main mission is to find and give expression to the realities that lie beyond the surface level of easy truths.

I am a graduate of Theology and Religious Studies and an avid student of mythology, neuroscience, modern physics and psychology. I have carried out extensive field research on the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé.

I am the author of the transcendental novel, The World, about psychiatry and spiritual initiation; the self-development book, Conscious Living, about how to boost self-discipline and consciousness; and the Danish novel, I hver vores skyttegrav, about Danish-Romanian culture shock.

Check out my website.

The Promise of an Old Lady

by Veronica Preda

Elisa was sitting alone in her cell, crying. She wiped her tears over and over, until she felt her eyelids burning. When have I become such a big whiner? These goddamn hormones! Centuries of evolution have passed by and nothing has changed! The female body is just as weak as it was at the beginning of mankind! She took a deep breath and decided to calm down a little bit. She was well aware of the fact that all this agitation was bad for the child. She was expecting a child! Three days ago, the medical exam confirmed her pregnancy beyond any doubt. She decided to return to her book. Reading had always comforted her and brought some relief to her soul. But now, she felt exhausted. She placed a pillow between her back and the wall, punching the sponge lumps until a cloud of dust rose around her. She sighed and rolled a blanket, trying to form a support for her head, but her hair tangled in the holes of the coverlet. She kept wiggling and turning from one side to another, making the old bed's springs to squeak. While holding the book with one hand, she started waving the other hand, to drive away an imaginary insect that was keeping her from focusing. She could almost touch that fog that was not allowing her thoughts to reach the light. She shook her head, determined not to waste her treasured finding. She felt so happy when she had discovered The history of sports almanac in the jail's library. The chapter was about basketball. Elisa smiled: how could somebody play this game in a sports hall with normal gravity? Well, it was apparently possible, at least in the 20th and the 21st century. Now, the gyms were low gravity based and the rules had dramatically changed, but the fun had not diminished. She could not play in jail anymore... Her thoughts returned to sports. She kept forcing herself to think about sports and nothing else. She continued to compare different games: all the team competitions had evolved dramatically over the centuries. Surprisingly though, the combat sports were pretty much unchanged. In kickboxing, she had learned the same techniques as people were using 400 years ago. What a strange thing! A question arose in her mind, making her grind her teeth: Will I ever be able to be a professional kick-boxer again? At only 14 years old, she was the junior champion of her district. At 16 years old, she had already won all the championships within her age range. At 18, she was making her dramatic debut in the senior league, by winning the Earth's Champion Title. She was going for the interplanetary championship, for the supreme title in the Galaxy. No interruptions, no inconsistency in her workout sessions, no indulgences in her diet. She was not allowing herself anything else but hard work and a total immersion into her goal. But her soar was interrupted by the meeting with Roland. She had fallen in love, with no hesitation and no regrets, unveiling her soul and allowing him to see beyond her strength. For the past 4 years, only the memory of his scent or the brief image of his hands was more than enough to make her tremble. From the first moment, she loved everything about him. Even his name sounded so exotic and masculine to her. She couldn't stop being in love with him. And she was right. Roland was proving his love for her. The jail's director had recently called her in his office and informed her that she would have a visitor in 2 days. On her way out of the director's office, it seemed to her that she had heard him saying something... maybe poor girl...", but she could not be sure, because she was singing. Only a devoted lover would have the courage to travel to a jail-planet like Khorus. The so-called jail was actually an enormous artificially generated capsule on the surface of the planet, surrounded by gigantic toxic gaseous masses. A prison-breaking was literally nothing else but suicide. Nobody could survive outside the capsule. It was the planet of the non-citizens of the Galaxy. But in this place where there was no return from and no salvation, Elisa had managed somehow to find a form of support. Three things had helped her move on: the library, her cellmate Deera and, more recently, the announced visit of her boyfriend. But she had to wait 2 more days to see him again. She had to find a way to fill the hours until the encounter. Elisa was eager for Deera to return. Deera always knew what was going on around cells. Elisa couldn't wait to find out what the other prisoners had done, who hated who and which one of the girls had had intercourse with some guardian, in search of a pack of cigarettes or clean sheets. But Deera had not returned from the showers yet. Elisa stood up and started to look at the hall, through the door's bars, while trying to keep her optimism. After all, the prison from Khorus was well-known for the violence among convicts and she could not stop presuming scenarios. She decided to ask her guardian:

Sir, excuse me, is Deera OK?

Don't worry, my beautiful, she's fine!

She shrugged and snorted. 1,95 meters high, athletic, with her blue hair and her skin peculiar condition, she could not remember how many times she had heard the words shocking appearance. And those 2 words were among the gentle ones when people referred to her.

Sir, would you be so kind to check, though? She went to the showers 3 hours ago and she hasn't returned yet.

OK, if you really want to know, I'll tell you. She asked for a transfer to another section.

Why?

My God! Are you planning to waste my whole day, aren't you? You nosy gargoyle!

The guardian remembered this word from a trip to Earth. He looked around him, but the thundering applause he was waiting for did not come.

You would have been more accurate if you had said gorgon! But I suppose you don't know the difference! Elisa thought, but the guardian kept speaking:

None of our girls wants to be near a freak. No one wants to become a leprous ogre like you!

So...I think I'll stay alone...

This is against our rules, you dumb crone! We just have to find somebody like you...another monster nobody wants to stay with! Ha! Ha!

The guardian left, leaving Elisa alone with her bitterness. For the first time in her life, she believed that she had found herself a best friend. But Deera had turned out to be nothing but another disappointment. My skin disease is not contagious! How could you be so stupid? Have you never accessed a medical dictionary? Ignorant cackler... But soon after she remembered her resolution. She was determined to remain calm, no matter what; she decided to gather her strength and make an effort. She could not afford to let this kind of events affect her... and affect her child... Like she had read in an old psychology book: 1, 2, 3...4... ...5... - she started to count her respiratory cycles, while trying to increase the time gaps between them.

In the evening, her new colleague entered the small room. The woman was short, very thin and her hair was completely white. Although they were a few meters apart, Elisa could see the deep wrinkles and blue, contorted veins creasing the old lady's parchment-like skin. Without introducing herself, Elisa's new cellmate asked:

So, I've heard you're from Earth...the planet of the reach and famous...How the hell have you ended up in this forgotten corner of the universe?

Bank robbery... extreme prejudice and violent methods... stuff like that.

Elisa had a strange warm feeling, like somebody had turned on the heat to maximum. This goddamn pregnancy! I was sweating less during a training session than now!

The old lady took a few more steps towards the young woman. Her instincts acted and Elisa stood up, reaching her hand to support her new colleague. She touched the old lady's arm, lowering it a second after, frightened of crushing that butterfly wing into small pieces. What thing did she do that was so horrible to get her in here? Elisa thought.

I bet you're asking yourself how someone like me could be sent to a place like this? said the old lady, smiling.

Yes, I do ask myself that. You look so powerless. This is a high-security prison, for extremely violent convicts. You definitely don't look dangerous to me, grandma.

My dear, violence has many faces in this universe. Maybe one day I will tell you my story. But I'm old and uninteresting. Tell me about you.

Well, first of all, you must know that nobody wants to stay with me.

Why?

Because of my skin condition. They're afraid of getting the disease from me.

But that's impossible. Your disease is not contagious!

Do you know that?

Of course! Do you?

Yes, I've read everything about my disease!

Do you like to read?

Is there another way to gather information?

So...tell me...how a smart and powerful girl like you gets convicted?

Elisa started to share her story with her new colleague, stumbling at every word. First, she talked about the kick-boxing championships. She could talk for hours about kickboxing. She showed the old lady some movements and her new colleague laughed and applauded.

I'm tired!

Elisa sat down on a chair, wiping her forehead from sweat.

Aren't you tired? she asked the old lady.

Not at all! I like your stories! So, The Galaxy Championship Tournaments were coming and you were ready... Then what happened?

Well... nothing much. Just bad luck, I guess. We should better go to sleep.

Elisa stood up again and wanted to head to her bed. But the old lady was gazing at her, with the face of a disappointed child. Elisa continued her story by talking about Roland and how he had managed to convince her to fight for money. The illegal combats were attracting thousands of people and they were bringing nice earnings. And then Roland decided to invest all their money into a risky business that had turned out to be a... a... Elisa stumbled again. An unlucky choice!.

One second, I hope you're not blaming him for that! the old lady said. Any business imposes a risk, after all. I'm sure he decided to use the money you had earned for a better future, right?

Yes, right! I mean...I think so...

Are you not sure?

Elisa was studying the cell's floor, bending in her chair until she lost her balance for a moment.

Elisa, look at me!

The old lady's eyes had long, thick, white eyelashes. She must have been such a beauty in her youth!

Elisa, is this the most captivating rubber carpeting you've ever seen in your life?

Mmm...

You will count the cracks in the floor another day. Now... tell me more, my dear...

After that poor investment, Roland had found out that he had put them both in serious debt. That wasn't what he wanted and Elisa repeated a few times this sentence. But they needed a solution. One night, he had convinced her to rob a bank.

A usual bank? I don't think it's possible...

Of course not, Elisa responded. We had decided to rob the genetic enhancers bank. Low-level security, few guards, easy prey... Roland was going to sell those enhancers on the black market. They worth a fortune. But everything went wrong that night... At midnight, we succeeded to enter undetected into the safe chamber. You know, Roland had worked a couple of years for QAS System Corporation.

Wow, it does sound quite impressive. Never heard of this UAX Corporation...

No, not UAX, but Q... A... S. It means quantum applications for security.

How the hell can you remember such a hilarious name?

It's not hilarious. They are the biggest company in their field. They have offices on each planet and each habitable moon! I've heard they have offices on the secondary and even tertiary ranked planetoids. Gosh, how nice it may feel to work for an important organization like that! Anyway, he turned off the electronic filters. We took the genetic enhancers. But somehow, Roland triggered the alarm. The guardians arrived and I engaged in a battle with them. Roland asked me to help him. Out future was at stake, don't you see? So I stayed and fought. I killed... I killed three men that night and he managed to escape.

So, the alarm was triggered. What a misfortune!

Yeah...

The discussion between the two women moved forward easily. The following morning, Elisa gathered her strength and for the first time, she spoke about her pregnancy, her hopes and her happiness of seeing him again.

What are your plans about this baby? the old woman asked.

I have been thinking about this since I found out...I really don't know... Elisa started to cry.

Slow down...Take a deep breath and start thinking what your options are!

I don't have any options!

My dear, we always have options.

Elisa had to accept that the old lady was right. When she managed to clear her mind, she saw the options before her eyes, like a well drawn chart. There were two options: to have an abortion had been her first thought.

No, I did so many bad things in my life, I don't want to do one more!

The second option was to keep the baby. But that would mean two new possibilities. The first one was to have the baby in prison.

But as soon as I will give birth, the authorities will take away my child.

Yes, no doubt about that! According to the intergalactic laws, you have lost your right to be a parent.

The second possibility was to voluntary give the baby to adoption.

At least, this will give me the chance to choose his foster parents!

Have you considered a third possibility?

Huh?

To have this baby and to raise him.

But it's impossible! I have no more rights! I'm a non-citizen...

"It's not impossible, it's just hard! You'll