May 2016 75-word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO STILLEARNING!

[Cascade]

A Greater Cause

Tomorrow, the revolution begins. Without me.

The sun is setting, and in the gathering dark, I scratch a nail against the stones. Chew the knuckle of my little finger. Outside my cell they are hammering…

I will admit to nerves, even to fear, but I am born to this part.

I have my lines, and my stage direction.


In truth, I would have been a poor revolutionary.

But I will make a magnificent martyr.

 

[Old_Man_Steve2016]

Tomorrow will be another day​

The reprocessing tube hummed to life as the slender woman climbed inside and laid down.
"I don't understand why you won't reprocess!" she complained to her husband.
"It's OK, dear," he said, "I will see you tomorrow."
"But tomorrow is 65 years from now!"
"True, But for me, it's gonna be a very long day. I won't move forward without you."
The tube slid shut and darkened as the Lorkorian walked away.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

THINGS NOT TO THINK ABOUT

I can't think about today. Of how Ma's gone. I ignore the beating at the door, and the branches tap-tapping on the panes. I daren't think of orcs and wolves, or men with swords.

The door bashes inwards. The wind eats through me.

Ma's voice and she's back. The orcs are still out there, and the men. But we won't think about that. Not tonight.

But tomorrow...we'll fight again. And we'll win.

 

[chrispenycate]

Internal memo (family friendly version)​

Thomas, wouldst thou trouble borrow
Disregarding all our summons?
And ignoring, Mr. Orrow,
Our polite 'be theres' and 'come ons'?
Have our pleas to meet offended?
Our polite requests upset you?
Social contact was intended
Planned and balanced, not impetu-
ous. We want to know your program.
Know where your research is leading
To decode oblique cryptogram.
Your lack of presence is impeding
Solos and consortiums.
Isolated, causing sorrow
Still Tom Orrow never comes

 

[Remedy]

Companions for Life and Death

Me; a sickly boy confined to a sterile tower. Only a young phoenix for company, hopping between shoulders.

“Tomorrow.” He chirps, while I draw.

***

A vulnerable man; quarantined out of sight. I count boats on the horizon to his angelic song from the perch.

“Tomorrow.” He sings.

***

A decrepit, forgotten thing. Weeping at the flash of flame and silent cinders. Remembering his final croak.

“Tomorrow.” He’d urged.

***

In the new dawn light, his ashes stir.

 

[willwallace]

Marooned



Jon gazed up at the grey sky, hating its dullness.

“God, I can’t wait to leave this planet and see sunlight again!” he cried, to no one.

For the hundredth time, he redid the control wires, hoping he had figured it out.

Zzzzttt! Sparks flew around the tiny shuttle as Jon fell on his butt.

“Damn, damn, triple damn!” he yelled, rubbing his backside.

For the hundredth time, he had the same thought.

“Maybe tomorrow.”

 

[Droflet]

Offspring

It’s Tuesday and the doctors say my boy will arrive on Wednesday. A healthy baby boy.

They’ve examined him, scanned him, but they can’t see the truth.

He’s half me, half demon.

But he won’t be like me. I’ll train him to use his power for good. He won’t be a destroyer, like me, a monster with blood and wretchedness on his hands. He’ll be a good boy.

His training starts in twenty four hours.

 

[Ihe]

Spacehog Day


We’ve lived this day before, so many times…

We entered the quantum nebula knowing possibilities would be limitless. Earth seemed normal enough upon our return.

Even death cannot release us now. We’ve all tried it at some point. Recurring space-time is inescapable.

There is no multiverse anymore—no use in trying the nebula again. All of my possible selfs have unified in me. I feel each one, and they all dread tomorrow.

 

[Dan Jones]

Yesterday

Yesterday I swam with dolphins from deep to shore.

Yesterday I usurped the tyrant king Edwin the Mad.

Yesterday I lay with my wife, holding each other like young lovers.

Yesterday I glamoured the wealthy, and took their coin for the poor.

Yesterday I showered in the golden rains of the North.

Yesterday I taught my children dark magic, and they taught me joy.

I must live in yesterday, for tomorrow comes the noose.

 

[LittleStar]

Not Tomorrow

When I asked you to travel the stars with me
you laughed and said, 'Tomorrow'.

When I asked your hand with forever-held breath
you kissed me and said, 'Tomorrow'.

When I asked how long till you shipped away
you held me and said, 'Tomorrow'.

When I asked if I could come--


We regret to inform you...


I ask, another last time, when I'll see you, Love.
I've always known though, not tomorrow...

but soon.

 

[Perpetual Man]

The Tale of Saynt and Dargon

“Tomorrow will see you dead.”

Dargon the tyrant took the prophecy as a blessing, won every battle, beat every foe, claimed maidens, spinsters and brides.

It did not matter that in character he was a priggish ass, his belief was his shield: ‘tomorrow is always a day away.’

***

Saynt claimed his newly forged blade. “I name you for hope to come, a brighter future, the light of a new day.

“I name you Tomorrow.”

 

[Wruter]

An Other

You think you know me.

I have lived on your world for eons, watching you grow. I was the spark which created human consciousness; the director of evolution. I have guided and nurtured you through wars and plagues and revolutions toward true sentience.

It has not been an easy path and there is still much you have to learn. But your race has grown, and I am glad.

Tomorrow, thank Cthulhu, I go home.

 

[StilLearning]

Tomorrow is.....

Einstein and Hubble relaxed on the grass.

"Albert.. is the future fixed?"

“Indeed! But, as time travel is impossible, tomorrow is unknowable – an adventure!"

A shadow fell over them.

"Gentlemen… ‘tomorrow’ is quantum."

Einstein paled: "Schrodinger – ! Run Edwin!"

Schrodinger cackled: "He cannot know his speed and position, hence he cannot navigate!"

Hubble ran headfirst into a tree as Schrodinger held up a box, grinning maniacally: "Guess what I've done to your cat!"

“Nein!”

 

[Mr Orange]

Tomorrow’s Yesterday Outside a Dark Tavern


“So, Sophus, tell me again?”

“You can’t change what happened yesterday, right?”

“Right.”

“But you can change what happens tomorrow?”

“Well, yes.”

“On the day after tomorrow, tomorrow is yesterday.”

“Ahh… Yep.”

“And you can’t change what happens yesterday. So you can’t actually change what happens tomorrow. It is as it is written.”

“Bit fatalistic isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s… eeeuurghhh… you stabbed me!”

“It was written.”

“Oh… Fair enough.”

“And, I want your shoes.”

 

[sinister42]

The Next Time I Open My Eyes


The cryochamber sealed shut, and I closed my eyes.

Tomorrow.

Two light years and three centuries away, but still, it’d be the next time I opened my eyes.

If I open them again.

Tomorrow.

A hiss, a spike of cold. My consciousness spiraled away from me. I forced the fear to spiral away with it.

Tomorrow.

I willed myself to see it.

 

[ratsy]

Three days

Yesterday they came from the sky. The landscape was still ablaze and smouldering; cries could be heard from beneath the rubble.

Today I found her, wounded but alive. My love.

The ships left, but we knew they might come back.

We gathered those we could find, the rest we burned. A homage to the fire gods.

We plan for the future.

We must live on.

We must get revenge.

Tomorrow we start again.

 

[Zoe Mackay]

Time At The Bar

Yesterday nursed an ale, telling bitter stories. Once – who likes nostalgia – was the only listener.

I was at the counter, ignoring Sometime’s pleading for money. Always and Forever argued about prediction and the substance of permanence. We were all waiting.

The door opened; Old Father squawked in surprise.

For the first time, I saw her clearly: blindingly bright, fringed with disappointment. On a cloud of wishes, trailing possibilities, she arrived early, and trashed the place.

 

[mosaix]

Office Politics at Time Travel Inc.

"There's a problem."

"What is it this time?"

"Phillips will make a mistake. She'll accidentally delete some employee contracts from the company's temporal database. Including yours."

"What! Stop her - now!"

"Well we could try, but it won't make any difference. It seems she makes the mistake tomorrow - no matter what. You'll be out of a job. Never worked here in fact."

"Can you fix it?"

"Don't think I'll bother. I've been your deputy long enough."

 

[Phyrebrat]

The Lament of Janus
From our yesterdays comes knowledge’s successor; wisdom, which brings a better future. But my laddered brows are not caused by wisdom’s teachings; they are tattoos coloured by the inks of pain, itself smoothed by an ennui of ambition: the absence of hope’s arrival.
Even love and hate avoid me.
Look back. Look forward… am… be…
Hope is purgatorial without the march of time.
The past is done, why look forward when tomorrow shall never come?

 

[Johnny Appleseed]

How the Creatures of the Muffincake Kingdom Suppose Their World Will End

The world will become overcooked. The flour and the eggs and the butter and the sugar that the Great Bakers used to create the Muffincake Kingdom will spoil.

The Balloonicorns of Birthday Cake Island will pop. The Groom Ravens of the Wedding Cake Kingdom will celebrate no longer. And all the people and creatures will break down into their base ingredients.

No pastry can last forever, not even the muffin cake on which we stand.