The Pendulum

A very short story.

The pendulum oscillates like a spring observing Hooke’s Law, all the while Eldorado by The Hip is blaring against both tympanic membranes.

The flat surface below his feet is black walnut, and not the laminate s**t either.

However, the coffee smell isn’t top-shelf, but comparable to river swill that would induce cholera in any third-world setting after a severe catastrophe.

And that was the last attack on his senses before he pulled the trigger.

No rhyme and no reason.

Author's Note

Reviews

[TLK]

More reductionism of the pretend coherency of modern life into their meaningless constituent parts. It's true that you can atomise everything and make it, at best, pitiable. FPS games? Just the same thing as moving a pointer onto a square with a trackball.

There is a certain mode of thinking, endemic to the intellectual, which atomises experiences and leads to the general acceptance of futility. I think that the resulting suicide is a good shock to the reader, and, perhaps, even a reminder of when they might have skirted the edges of a similar madness.

What do you mean, I'm talking about myself?

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thank you for that review. What you say here doesn't really surprise me because I have that tendency as well. I wasn't sure what his motivation was, maybe it was because he fell into the nihilist's trap or that he's suffered enough tragedy that it made him nihilistic. Whatever it may be, nobody really knows the motivation, if they fall into that outsider's point of view considering the situation. I guess that's why I intentionally left the story so short.

[Lilly Negoi]

this is brilliant Kenneth! not one word too little, not one word too much. excellent!

[Blue Moon Ice Cream]

I like how you clearly describe the man's surroundings. It would be nice if we could see the scene through the man's eyes, rather than just reading a description.

"BUT the coffee smell isn’t top-shelf, BUT comparable..." I'd change the first "but" to "however," or find a way to avoid using the word twice in one sentence. Also, typo in the title...

I really like how the story ends with a bang. Out of nowhere, suicide. Makes you realize how thin the line is between life and death.