This be my entry into week 54! of Finish the Story Contest held within the 
Ora et Labora
A fiction short prompt by 
The tapered fingers came to life, maneuvered by invisible threads, following the murderous order whispered by the woman. The blow fell on the victim, surgical and impregnated with inevitable fate.
"We took it, Agnes."
Finally, the peace of the monastery's kitchen had been restored. A fleeting veil of reproach slipped over the cook's cheerful gaze as Flynn swore triumphantly at the fly, spread on his notebook.
"But now let's get back to our business, barley soup doesn't cook itself and ... not even your thesis".
"It's a nice association, even if it's my brain to cook," said the young man with his eyes shining curiously between the pots.
"If Father Thoram saw us wasting time chasing flies, you already know he'd send you to the library," the cook remarked.
Flynn threw her an accomplice grimace, before returning to dive into the pages of his thesis. No, all in all, the friar would not have thrown him out of the kitchen so easily.
Agnes could not have known what long walks in the cloister's rose garden had slowly revealed to his confessor father. That laborious daily harmony had a different taste for Flynn than what his other contemporaries of the Benedictine community felt.
Flynn sighed as the words drifted slowly from the pages, evaporating intertwined in his thoughts. Every moment, every little ritual within the silent walls of the monastery were like prickly air that swelled his lungs, giving him life. Those were precious moments far from the creature who, just two quarters away, was waiting every night unable to satisfy his craving for pain. Far from his stepfather.
The echoes of vespers suffused in his ears: soon the refectory would have been populated. It was almost time to help Agnes set the tables.
While books and notebooks were swallowed up by the backpack in random order, Flynn found himself thinking of that strange event months ago, when he was still an occasional guest of the monks' community. There was, indeed, another reason why he preferred to study among the noise of the pans. He would have never wanted to see that internet page, hastily closed but clear enough to impress itself deeply into his retina. All in all, the friar would not have thrown him out of the kitchen so easily.
"Flynn."
The backpack fell, spilling its content onto the floor.
"Son, follow me, Agnes can set her own."
Father Thoram didn't even seem to have noticed the mountain of papers scattered on the brown tiles. Standing out from the sagging features of his face, his eyes looked blacker than usual.
******
The friar's tunic, usually immaculately clean, was disheveled as if he'd just woken up from a night of heavy tossing and turning. Coffee stains and streeks of smeared jelly splotched with bread crumbs covered his front. His appearance was contrary to his nickname, "The Cleaner."
If another monk's clothing wasn't to his standards, he would give a long-winded speech about the necessities of always looking one's best.
He paid no attention to Flynn's shabby appearance tonight.
Father Thoram, grunting every other step or so, led the way through the kitchen, through the monks' cloister where the flowers wilted as they passed, giving off a smell that was like sniffing of a bucket full of cum left out in a closed, heated sauna, and into the church. Flynn, looking for signs that the old friar's arthritis was bothering him again, noticed him limping on his left side.
As they walked in silence, Flynn looked upward to the barrel vault and then along the clerestory where the rows of square, unstylistic windows surrounded the rose window. Above it, the soffit was covered with long strands of spider webs hanging down, abandoned, forgotten, lifeless.
Each light hanging on the column that Father Thoram passed, Flynn noticed a slight shift in the surrounding light as its wavelength slowed down and went from a bright white to dull grey with a pinch of yellow. An electrical spark made his arm hairs stand on end.
Father Thoram lead them up a spiral staircase into the crossing, the place where the two arms of the church cross. At the top of the stairs, two men covered from head to toe in black suits with scanning devices stood.
Flynn had not been to this section before. It was a forbidden area unless invited. He wanted to know if he was up for a promotion or if this was about that internet image? He tripped on the last step, falling to the ground. No one moved to help him up, and Father Thoram, usually so carrying, didn't bother turning around.
"Our precepts could be boiled down to peace, prayer and work," said Father Thoram to the frigid men.
The men held up their scanners and scanned the friar and then Flynn. Satisfied, one man pointed to the retina scan machine. The friar held his eyelids open as the machine scanned his eyes. Once the verification was complete, doors opened.
"Follow," Father Thoram commanded.
Flynn, trusting by nature, did as commanded.
"Sit down in the chair." The friar's voice was caught by phlegm from the milk he drank earlier.
Meekly, Flynn did as commanded.
Before Flynn noticed what was happening, his body was riddled with black wires that came from behind the chair, plugging themselves into Flynn, connecting with his skeleton, implanting microchips in strategic locations. With a questioning look on his face, Flynn's eye bulged as he stared at the man he trusted.
Flynn's face relaxed and his eyes went dark like the father's.
"634985B" said a robotic voice accompanied by a hail of clicking sounds followed with light screens brightening up the place, "You have done well. 634986C will make a great addition. Grab me another one, 634985B. The mark of the beast shall be inserted into all who are here tonight."
THE END
| Previous | Finish the Story Contest | Entries | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Town That Changed | Even the Clouds Smile | The Border | Horror Vacui | |
| Black Star | Quitting Life | LER | It Awakens | |
| Apocalypse and Pretzels | Metallic Kisses | Curie upvoted The Battle of Bloodneck Valley | Awakening | |
| Curie Upvoted Obstinancy | The Last Will and Testament of Geralda Connors | Curie Upvoted Pirate Hunters | Spoon-fed Memories | Lucid Dream |
| The Taste of Chicken | Curie upvoted Hunt More Precious Than a Green Stone | Kayla | Curie Upvoted The story of Mr. Renhe Ren | Second Prize Winner Blue Inferno for Tres Culos |
| Leitner | Collaboration A Game in the Hall | Curie upvoted The Extraodrdinary Café | The Package | Curie Upvoted The Abysmal Biscuit |
| The Devisal of Mr. Dankworth | Pointy Eyes Shine in the Dark |
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Ongoing Contests
twenty-four-hour short story - You gotta be quick to get this one posted in time. He posts the contest on Sunday (usually) and ends it about 48 hours later. This contest has a 2000 word limit.
Finish the Story Contest - The contest begins on Wednesday (usually) and ends 5 days later. This contest will test your write skills with something a little different each week. Plenty of time to write something around the 500 word mark.
Steem Monsters Common Card Fantasy Story Contest! - Coming out roughly every week. If you enjoy card games like Magic, Yugio, and others like it, you might like this game. Write a fictional tale about the card they present in the contest and your entry just might be the one they choose to showcase.
Tell A Story To Me, And Win 5 SBD! Writing Contest - Kind of random when it comes out but don't worry. You will have two weeks to complete your work of art from the given prompt. Have fun!
Haiku - These are coming out every couple days or so. If you struggle with rhymes, no worries. Haikus don't have to rhyme. All you need to make a haiku is five syllables on the first, seven syllables in the second line, and again back to five syllables for the last line. So easy it makes me think I'm being super productive. LOL
Mizu No Oto - Every Image Has Its Haiku Contest - By reading the title, you should be able to guess how this haiku contest works. You're given an image and you write. I've really enjoyed this contest because there are people here who've actually gone to classes to learn how to write haiku's; so if you want, you also can learn how to write quality haikus from reading the comments and critiques they and others give.
Micro-Fiction Writing Contest - This is a fun challenge. You get two-hundred and fifty words to tell a story or vignettes. Here is a great post that will explain the difference between the two concepts. Here is another post explanation of what a story is. Good luck, Brave Story Writer!
Vocab-Ability 1x1 - What happens is you are given a list of roots and the words they can be found in. You create a sentence using those words and post in the comment section of the post. Your upvote for your creative work will come soon. One of the best ways to increase your vocabulary is by doing these 10-15 minute exercises almost daily. What craziness will you create?
