July 2022 - 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO THE JUDGE!

[Bren G]

Outside Influence



“It actually was – do it for Johnny.”

“The recording was garbled. But now that you say it, the earthling in the leather jacket had it right!”

“How so?”

“We can rumble with that gang of outworlders.”

“Strike back at the Xorg?”

A runway radio signal, broadcast from earth, showed the Zorilians a new way. Greaser’s Day is celebrated each year in honor of Dallas Winston - hero of Earth and inspiration for the Zorilian revolution.

 

[Parson]

The Outsider​

Charles hurried and worried. The earthquake had shaken Underground Central. He hoped his hideaway survived. It was near the surface but private and privacy was a cherished commodity.

Charles turned the corner. His spot was there but it was rubble. However, a hatch ladder was revealed.

Exploring was forbidden. He’d heard of terrors. He went anyway.

Outside was beyond beautiful.

“Hello?”

Charles whirled, heart thumping.

A blond girl asked: “Are you an Insider?”

“Not anymore.”

 

[StilLearning]

Echoes From Outside / Outsider Othered:​

The mountainside forest terrified the villagers downslope: Undermined by bottomless caverns and ravines, the ground there simply swallowed people. Worse, if near the biggest ravine at sunset they could hear the forest witch, inhumanly distorted, summoning her demon: The Other.
"...Othhhheee-r-r-r.... come other-r-r… feed-d-d… other-r-r..."

Upslope of the forest:
"Arthur!? Come Arthur! Food! Arthur!?" The old woman glared around her garden by the ravine: "Blasted cat, never shows up except for meals…”

 

[Stable]

The Red West

She never breathed right in the townships, her chest was always tight. Children hid, and cleaners cursed the dust she trod in. No power shower or decontamination ever caught it all.

It must have been a desperate grip, for she felt it through the suit that protected her from their pressurised air.

“My wife, her convoy lost radio contact…”

Back under the wide Martian sky, with supplies and a job, she could breathe easy again.

 

[johnnyjet]

We Watched Him from the Window

As we grew older, Father grew more distant.

One day he said, "I'm going outside."

I blocked him.

"You don't need me."

"You provide for us."

"Mother provides more. I'm empty."

"We're kept safe inside."

"Safe! I'm trapped."

He pushed me aside and headed for the portal. It sucked him through.

We ran to the window.

"There he is." I pointed. "Follow the lane."

We watched him skip and dance into the fire storm.

 

[VRlass]

The choice
“So you are death?”

“Yup” said the girl on the other side of the room

“So you want to take me away”

“Yup”

“But can I go back to my body instead?”

“Yup”

“And what is on the other side?”

“For you… heaven for sure.”

“Ok, seems like no-brainier… but who will feed my dog?”

“No one.”

“No one?”

“No one”

“How could I go to heaven knowing my dog suffers.”

Death smiled.

“You couldn’t”.

 

[Hugh]

Life Choices

There’s a door in that wall.
No one else can see it.
Sometimes it moves about.
Other times it just hangs in mid-air.

I think it’s a portal, a one way portal, and if you go through it there’s no way back.

It’s calling me. I can feel it calling all the time, especially at night.

I don’t know what to do.

I don’t belong here.

I’ve never belonged here.

But will I belong there?​

 

[Starbeast]

Grave Keeper​

I stood petrified with fear as a long arm reached around from behind me. Clawed fingers delicately removed priceless jewelry from my hands, and tossed them back into a grave I opened. The monstrous hand forced me to turn around slowly. I couldn't open my eyes, I was terrified to see the cemetery guardian. Its deep growl reminded me of everyone who warned me not to disturb the sacred burial area. All outsiders will die…

 

[Astro Pen]

The Occupier

People on the street alternate between human and vile animal.

I do too, reflected in the store windows.

Someone, or something, is inside with me. I don’t know what it is. It isn’t sharing my body, it‘s taking over my being, in waves, longer each day.

Soon the transition will be complete. It will go about its malevolent business, looking just like me.

I won’t know anything about it because I won’t exist any more.

 

[chrispenycate]

It's not even true - they can too hear you
​

Clang!, clang!

Who the? I I half woke, findngi myself strapped to my bunk, someone at the airlock.
So I wouldn't.…Bang my head freefall sitting up, I remembered.

Scrambled for escape - no use shouting. I'm in space.

Pump airlock empty, then open.

A bipedal figure, upside down to me, drags itself in, faceplate fully polarised.. As recognition goes, this doesn't.

Your neighbours, Could you let us have a cup of sugar?

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

No Kind Act Goes Unpunished

Sir Arthur watched the torrential rain through his parlour window. Outside, a sodden, cloaked figure stood motionless. 'Strange. I wonder if he's lost.' Arthur opened his front door. "Hallo, old bean, what're you doing out there?"

"Waiting."

"Well you look like you need drying out and a warm drink. Come on in."

The stranger entered.

"So, what're you waiting for?"

"Someone to invite me in. Now, about that warm drink..." snarled the stranger, fangs glistening.

 

[BT Jones]

Therefore by their fruits you will know them​

“Well?” asked the angel.

God trudged into the room. “Well… I manifested to my warring, divided flock. ‘God is angry,’ I said. ‘Wars, women’s reproductive rights, squandering nature's gifts… No more! My job was solely to teach,' I told them. 'Humanity has now reached adulthood; you no longer need me.’”

God sighed, shoulders slumped. The angel goggled. “And???”

God – ageless, genderless, all shapes, colours, and creeds simultaneously – looked up and sighed.

“They didn’t recognise me.”

 

[therapist]

Thermotaxis

In the cold of night he stood in their yard, spying on the family inside as they dined and laughed and smiled as happy families do.
A warmth spread inside him.
As night grew darker and colder the family went upstairs to sleep.
He entered their house.
Sitting at their table he imagined the empty seats were full, but couldn’t picture the warmth.
He crept upstairs, knife in hand, to where the warmth lay sleeping.

 

[Luiglin]

Gerald​

They watched him stride across the street.

“We need to talk about Gerald,” said the Barber.

“He’s... different,” agreed the Sheriff.

“Comes from good stock though,” said the Mayor. “But, I agree, he should have shown by now. When was our last throwback?”

“I believe it was in Obed’s time,” proffered the Sheriff.

“A gift to Dagon?” queried the Mayor.

“Indeed, Y’ha-nthlei expects,” said the Barber, watching the retreating, impure, very human silhouette of Gerald.

 

[mosaix]

A Matter of Perspective.

As far as I know, I’m the first shapeshifter to make it into the White House.

Some crisis, apparently. We’re all here. The President, advisors, experts – including me. I’m outnumbered of course, but one day…

Just in case, I look around for my own kind. Easy when you know how. Not expecting much but, surprisingly, there’s one. Two! Another. And another. All of us! Except for the President. Now who’s the freak?

It’s our time!

 

[leorising]

The Outsider
—
I stroll down sidewalks, feet hovering on concrete
on steps not my own, they don’t take me home.
I gaze from within the shell moving me
My hands work their synchronous melody.
My lucid eyes are not my own.
The sky bright and clear, looks copy/pasted
upon an endless, churning void
shining with such clarity. I am certain
I am a wrinkle in its silken fabric,
a rusty nail in a well oiled machine.

 

[MatthewKusza]

The Devil Is In the Details


Desperate, Brody hastily inputted coordinates to escape back into his own dimension.

Frazzled, he sought solace at a favorite café.

A couple approached to join him. Before he could protest, eddies of nausea swept him onto the floor.

Brody stood up, hands on his hips.

“Excuse me! But this table’s mine!”

“What, Mario?”

“I didn’t say anything, Harriet.”

Disquieted, Brody checked his transporter. He blanched, observing the error message.

[INSUFFICENT DATA. TRANSFER OUTSIDE DIMENSIONAL PARAMETERS.]

 

[Phyrebrat]

Ugly Snowball

‘Do you love?’ I called through the Pillars of Creation.

None answered.

I’m a solar sailor who’s seen ancient come and go; the galactic plane’s just an eddying hamlet to me.

I ask the stars, ‘Do you love?’

‘I’m hot!!’ the self-obsessed fools gush, because they’re idolised by sycophantic, inert lumps orbiting them.

‘Do you love?’ I’ve called to nebulae, for aeons.

But, as yet, none reply.

My soul hosts only a cosmic wind.

 

[paranoid marvin]

An Outside Chance



Had a bet?"

"Yeah, 'Hoof Hearted'. Ahh, the sweet smell of success."

"Not with a name like that! What odds?"

"A 100-1 shot."

"You should be for wasting money that way."

"Shhhhh... they're off!"

"Where's yours?

"He's err... giving them a head start."

"He's giving them a week's start; the rest have already finished!"

"I don't understand; look at the form: F...F...F... - First, First, First."

"Fell, Fell, Fell - all on the flat."

"D'oh!"

 

[The Judge]

The Eternal Scapegoat ​

​

​

The verdict’s a foregone conclusion. Sentence, too. It’s a small town – innocence is irrelevant.​

​

It’s less disturbing, less disruptive, less distasteful to blame someone who doesn’t fit, someone already in the wrong – wrong colour, wrong accent, wrong tribe, wrong beliefs.​

​

They hang their victim at dawn.​

​

But his spirit is already in another man, trudging ever onward. To another town, another false accusation, another mob, another lynching. Always for the one true crime. Being different.​