flash forward fables third place!
By Basil Baird
The year was 2060 and the Earth was on fire. Not just a few wildfires here and there, I grant you, and not just an ordinary fire. This fire was the kind that chilled your bones until you slowly turned to ash.
I promise you, it’s not an enjoyable experience. Luckily, I’m the kind that can move between worlds, between times, so I rarely experience what you may experience every day.
All the times humans have experienced are blurred for me. All I remember is the 2020's were when people’s minds started to break, partially due to artificial intelligence and partially due to nothing going on. In the 2030’s, their minds started to break more, but they didn’t notice. They were too busy worrying about space exploration and (nonexistent) hope. The 2040’s were what I enjoyed the best, though. All those stupid humans thought everything was going to be okay. They thought their actions would be forgotten and they were wrong.
It all started with a then-young Ted E. He had always wanted to change the world. He just didn't know how.
He had never been quite fond of life.
Neither had I, stuck in the sky this way, always watching the same things happen over and over, for all eternity.
Where was I? Oh yes, he had never been quite fond of life,
so
he
made
a
wish
To make life and death inverted on themselves.
He didn’t know
it would
Actually
Come
True
He didn’t know
Time could become a
Star
That could become a wish
Of another stupid
Boy
People always be asking me things, why I can’t push them backwards into a better time and I tell them that I am time and that I can’t go backwards
either
That I am stuck burning blue just like them. And they believe me, those idiots.
Back to Teddy. He was a marvelous dude that didn’t think he was marvelous at all, thought life didn’t deserve him and he didn’t deserve life (which I didn’t agree with at all). But it doesn’t matter about me. I’ve had way too many stories about how I shine and break people.
No
No No No
No
No no no
More wishes, please, no more wishes,
No more ‘hahahahahaha’s or ‘lalalalalala’s,
please
There are things in life that exist just to exist, like me, like time, like stars, like the wind. But other things become something else if you’re not careful, like love, like light, like Mogwais before they become Gremlins. Little Ted E., like love, may have started off alright, but soon he would turn into blue fire.
He lived a grand life, with a toad and a mother and father.
“Honey, suppertime,” the Mother said.
“Alright,” said Teddy, transfixed on his toad, Tode, who must’ve gotten his leg stuck in the well again.
This, of course, was normal. Tode had gotten his leg stuck in the well many times before. In fact, that was how they met, but that’s another story. This time, however, it led to what I’d like to call INESCAPABLE DEATH. That, however, is in the future. That future is a result of him hating himself and him hating himself was a result of right now.
Now pay attention before I zap you to the 2060’s with my time-travel powers.
“Get out of there,” he said, but it was no use. Tode was already falling into the well. It was all too late. His fingers were slipping as
He slowly fell into
The well
The ditch
The hole in the ground.
Good for him. It was quite enjoyable to watch him fall and even more enjoyable when I found him. But that’s later. The water was cool and nice-feeling, the way it was before European colonization. It glistened in the twilight and shone with the reflection of caves and toads. Yes, toads. There were so many, in fact, Ted E. didn’t realize the frog leg of Tode had been completely severed from his body (probably from the sharp ends, or maybe time decided Tode wasn’t worth it).
Now he was all alone, minus the toads. His pet had died suddenly, his parents had forgotten him and the water of the well was rising. His face was covered in blood and grime. The adults were talking while Ted E. was drowning, his toad’s skin stuck to him like a tattoo. No one could save him.
Sometimes I’m such a That is, until
Gd tattoo in a slimy hand
People’s lives reached into
They wanna get me all up-done, with pretty ink, the water.
And then they realize the tattoo was If this was too early, how about
Too ugly
And that
The ink
Was
Tearing
Their
Skin apart
But
It’s
Too
Late
For them
(it always is).
A slime hand that belonged to time. Many think time has swirly eyes and wise words. In truth, time is a toad. It was this toad that decided to save him.
“Thank you,” Ted E. mumbled.
“You’re welcome. Be glad you’re alive,” the toad said.
“Hey, you’re a toad. Toads shouldn’t be talking. They’re…pets.”
“And hey, you’re a human. I honestly don’t care,” remarked the toad. “Besides, you’re interrupting my very important fishing.”
“I’m sorry… what do I do now?” Ted E. asked.
. “Exist,” said the toad, who then began to catch fish between his webbed hands.
“No,” Ted E. said. “I mean, what do I do to get out of this well?”
“You could yell, I suppose,” said the toad. “But that won’t do nothing but scare away the spiders . Can you stop? I have wishes to attend to and you’re just another little boy I don’t have time for.”
“So,” Ted E. asked. “Could you grant me a wish- to go to a better time, before I fell in?”
“I am time and I can’t go backwards. I’m stuck burning blue just like you soon will be.”
That was our first conversation, followed by many others. He taught me how to love and I taught him how to fish. When we came out, the world was on fire. Not just any fire, but the kind that is made from children’s souls just like yours. Because that is how I burn and stay in the well for so long, that is how Ted E. did as well. I really am burning blue just like you will be soon. The only difference is you will burn dead and I’ll burn alive over and over again. Because this story is for you. It is a way to get you to trust me before you become blue fire like Ted E. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll listen.
THE END