Invasion – Part Three – Short Story

Posted on March 2, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

In the three years since Lukas had last been into the office, everything had changed. The entranceway was sparce, with less seats scattered about. The vending machines under the stairs had been replaced by a coffee machine that was free to use. Busy corridors and loud workspaces had been replaced with barren rooms and empty desks. It all looked cleaner than Lukas remembered, void of personality.

As he shuffled down to the old office, Lukas held onto the bag containing Gloop tightly. He could feel sweat bubbling from the nerves, as he walked past the scattered few people who still used the office. He thought they somehow knew that Gloopy was with him, and he had to protect it from them. Waiting for him at the bank of desks was Stu, his manager, coffee cup in one hand and chatting with someone a few desks away. They hadn’t met in person in three years, but Lukas could see that lockdown had aged him. His belly was bigger, hanging over his belt. His shirt tight, and clearly in need of being replaced. Receding hairline and bags under his eyes. To Lukas he looked like someone who had given up and accepted that this was his lot in life. Lukas thought he was probably just one belt size away from doing the same.

Gloopy was almost weightless, but Lukas was sure he could feel it shifting around in the bag as he carefully placed it on the desk next to his monitor.               

“Howdy Lukas,” Stu said once he was finished catching up with the person he was speaking to.

“Hey,” Lukas replied and started to log into the computer.

“Is this your first time back in the office?”

“Yeah. It’s strange, isn’t it?”

“It is. A little bit different nowadays. The coffee is free now though if you haven’t already gotten one for yourself. We can take a walk down there together in a bit. I was hoping to go for a walking meeting with you if that’s okay?”

“Yeah sure. Sounds good.”

“The weather isn’t great, but as we’re together in person it makes sense to make use of the outside together.”

“Definitely. I just need to log in and I’m free to go whenever you are.”

“That’s good. I want today to be a bit more relaxed than normal. Just a good time to catch up and realign everything, you with me?”

Lukas nodded at his manager and wished that doing this every other week would be forgotten within the week. As he watched the little icon spin around and around on the screen, his eyes kept darting to his bag that was shifting slightly on the desk. It was subtle, but it was clearly happening. The desktop on the computer booted up and Lukas quickly opened up the system that tracked his whereabouts to log into that. It wasn’t enough that Stu had seen him in person, if he wasn’t logged into that on the hour then he would owe them time. He’d gotten used to being able to log in early at home, get his breakfast and coffee sorted and then start work when he was supposed to. It made no sense to him why they needed to check when he was on the computer when they could see when he started doing the actual work. But as always, he knew not to reason why.

“Are you ready then? We’ll get a coffee and head out to walk around and have a chat about how things are going and catch up a little bit. It’s been a while since we’ve actually been in the same room together.”

“Good to go.”

As Lukas stood up he picked up his bag and started to place it on his shoulder.

“You can leave that here,” Stu said. “No one is going to take your lunch. Just leave it on the table.”

Lukas hesitated, not wanting to be away from his new friend.

“Come on, mate. Let’s get going.”

Lukas placed the bag back down on the desk and it felt like he was leaving a part of himself behind. His steps became heavier as he walked away from the desk and followed Stu down the corridor back to the entrance of the building. His manager’s words sounded echoey and distant, as if he was hearing him while underwater. They walked out of the building, coffee in hand, and walked around the surrounding streets. There were a few people around, but not many. Lukas wasn’t paying attention to a word that Stu said, and Stu didn’t seem to notice that he was talking to no one. He could hold a conversation by himself without any problems. They moved through the streets and Lukas was on autopilot the whole time. Every so often he threw out a word or a phrase, but he didn’t really know what he was saying.

As they reached the end of their journey, Lukas started to snap out of the daze he was in and realised that he was a little closer to seeing Gloopy again. His heart was beating faster as they walked through the corridors. As soon as his bag was in eyesight his was able to relax. He dropped back into his seat and put his hand out to the bag.

“It was good to catch up Lukas,” Stu said, leaning on the back of a vacant chair. “I feel like it’s done us both some good to catch up. It’s easy to forget that we’re all trying our best, and it’s good to take things slow every so often.”                

The bag was empty. Lukas’s heart skipped a beat as he opened the bag and found there was nothing inside. He looked around the office and there was no sign of it. Nothing else Stu said sounded like words to Lukas, it all blurred into a mess of sound.  

Thanks for reading! Part four will be available Monday!

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Invasion – Part Two – Short Story

Posted on March 1, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Lukas backed away from the sink, falling slightly against the door to the bathroom. The goo rolled up to the edge of the sink and its eyes peered over the edge towards him with a look of innocent curiosity. Lukas couldn’t speak. His heart was beating fast. His mind raced. The goo oozed over the side of the sink and started to fall to the floor. It stretched out at first and dripped down to the floor and recomposed itself on the tiles. The whole time it was staring at Lukas. Slowly, it started to move towards him. It got closer and looked up at him like a child look at its parent.

Even though he knew it made no sense, and there was a large part of him that thought this was all part of a delirious dream, Lukas’s heart warmed quickly to the gooey creature that had spawned in the sink. He couldn’t quite understand it himself, but he wanted to look after it and keep it safe from the outside world. After the initial shock started to subside, Lukas bent down to pick up the creature, almost instinctively. It was sticky and cold to touch and was almost weightless as he raised it up to his face. The thing moved and wriggled around in his hands, seeping slightly through the gaps between his fingers.

Over the next few days he kept his new friend in his bedroom, letting it explore the space around his bed. He called it Gloopy. At first, he brought food and drink into the room, to try and feed it like it was a pet, but it didn’t take any notice. It didn’t take long for Lukas to notice that Gloopy was collecting the pieces of dust and hair that was scattered around the room, hidden in the corners of shelves, and under his desk, and was consuming them. It didn’t care for food, but it seemed to love everything else. His room had never been cleaner. He would let it roam about the room as he sat at the desk for work. It would slide over his feet as he sat at the desk, and every time it did Lukas felt a cold sting through his socks. As he ate his dinner, laying on his bed with his laptop playing some videos on an endless cycle, Gloopy would move over his bed, exploring everything. It moved almost constantly, with a never-ending curiosity as it did.

There was no question that no one else could ever know about Gloopy. Lukas didn’t understand its existence, but he knew it would scare others. Tony would never find out. Lukas knew that someone else would try to take Gloopy away from him, that they would think he was a freak for wanting to look after it. They could never know.

It didn’t take long for Lukas to become obsessed with his new friend. It absorbed all of his free time. Watching Gloopy explore the room, letting it run over his bare feet, or studying it as it started to climb up the bookshelf in the corner. He could do nothing but. His productivity started to suffer quickly at work and his manager asked him to come into the office to discuss it further, thinking that it was something to do with Lukas’s mental health. Lukas didn’t even realised he was being summoned at first, he was too busy watching Gloopy as it moved across the books that were piled up behind the laptop. It was only when the calendar invite arrived in his inbox that he realised what was happening. For a few minutes the idea worried him. How would he get there, what would he wear? Should he shave for the first time in six months, or just go as he is? Most importantly, how would he get Gloopy there and would Gloopy be okay while he had his meeting. He read through the email and realised that he would have to visit the office once a fortnight going forward for a meeting with his team and some supervision. He thought about putting Gloopy in a jar, so he couldn’t escape, but the thought of it being stuck distressed Lukas. Maybe in a little box, with an open top that he could leave in a locker, or maybe it would just be good in the bag for a little while and then Lukas could carry him around with him for a while.

All his thinking stopped almost immediately as Gloopy fell from one of the books into the half-eaten bowl of cereal on the side, splashing mushy chunks and milk in every direction. It rolled about in the bowl, with a look of confusion and interest at the soggy mush it was stuck in, pushing it up the sides of the bowl as it did and letting it fly. Lukas couldn’t help but laugh as he watched his new friend play around as if it was in a pool. He was glad that Tony was out at work, happy to know that he was completely alone and no one would find out about Gloopy.

Tony couldn’t believe that Lukas was leaving the house when he told him. It had been at least two months since Lukas had stepped out into the real world, leaving behind the safety of his monitors. And yet, he had to leave. Knowing it was only going to happen twice a month, and not wanting to ride on the disease filled bus, he took a taxi, holding onto the bag that contained Gloopy for dear life as he did. In the end, he’d chosen for his friend to go inside his waterproof bag. It was the only thing in there, sliding about with every twist and turn the taxi took as it headed towards the office.

Thanks for reading! Part three will be available tomorrow!

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Invasion – Part One – Short Story

Posted on February 28, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Lukas hadn’t been feeling well since going to see family at Christmas. He was sure that one of them had given him something, and he was still suffering from it weeks later. When it wasn’t a sore throat he was coughing up more phlegm than he’d ever seen before. He had to carry around tissues everywhere just in case he had to cough up a gloopy mess. It would build up inside and he would blow his nose and long ropes of snot would dangle down that he would have to pull out with tissue covered fingers, and he could feel it being pulled through his insides like a never ending magic trick. Every time he thought he was done, it continued.

Still, he continued onwards. He worked from home most days, so was able to hide his illness from most of his co-workers. Shopping was delivered straight to his home, so there was no worry he wouldn’t have enough supplies or have to venture out and contaminate the next person. He barely saw his family, but that wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Even after a month of coughing and snot, it wasn’t showing any signs of letting up and his flatmate, Tony, was avoiding him as if he had the plague. They had only spoken to each other through closed doors for weeks, and Tony was cleaning every surface he suspected Lukas to have touched with every cleaning chemical the had in the cupboard almost daily. He was scared of getting ill and missing work. That would mean lower wages, which would mean missed rent payments.

Every morning Lukas woke up and logged into his laptop that was kept on a table in the corner of his bedroom. He would get ready for work, sitting on the little stall that had followed him from his parents house when he moved out five years prior. It wasn’t the most comfortable seat, but he wouldn’t admit that to anyone, not even himself. As his laptop kicked in and everything was getting warmed up he would hope that no one would randomly call him, not wanting them to see his pyjamas that he only changed out of when he showered twice a week, or hear his voice that sounded like he hadn’t had a drink in a week.

This isn’t what this story is about though. This isn’t the story of a sick man slowly overcoming his illness while the world moves on without him, leaving him behind as he struggles to get enough sleep as he continues to work and pretend that everything is okay. This story begins on the first Monday in March, where after two months of living at death’s door, Lukas was once again bent over the toilet coughing up more phlegm than he could imagine. As the retching stopped he stood up and could feel it all bunged up in his head, pushing against his ears and causing pressure all over. He could feel it constricting his airways, and with each breath he took there was a tightness in his throat. He took some toilet paper, as he’d done daily for the previous two months, and blew his nose. Long strands of snot stormed out of his nose and he started to feel sick. He could feel it moving inside, snaking through passageways. He pulled the soaked tissue away and could still feel it drooping down his face and chin. He was glad he couldn’t see himself in the mirror, his puffy eyes blurring out the vision. With fresh tissue he started to clear up the mess on his face. It was still steadily streaming out of his nose. At first, he thought it was a nosebleed, but it was more viscus than blood. It was painful. He pulled more and more tissues, but he could never get to the end of it. Pinching his nose did nothing except make him feel dizzy. He stopped using tissues, and in defeat just dropped his head over the sink. Maybe this was everything that had been building up over the last few months all coming out, he thought, and he would feel miraculously better as soon as it stopped.

As soon as it stopped pouring out, Lukas’s head immediately felt clearer than he’d ever remembered it feeling before. It was like getting rid of food that was stuck between teeth. It was complete and immediate relief. He pulled more tissues from the side and started to wipe away his eyes so he could see the mess he’d made in the sink. There had been many moments in Lukas’s life when he thought he’d felt true fear. Being chased by the school bully all the way home, only to be told off by his parents for brining trouble to the front door, was the first time that he’d truly felt like he was getting close to being scared to death. There were plenty of other times since then that he’d felt something similar. The first time he was confronted by a drunk person at a pub, the time he was mugged on the way home from the late shift when he still worked at a restaurant, and the first time he was in a car accident. At all of these moments his heart would race, and the world around him would slow to an almost stop. His legs would start shaking and his hands would shortly follow suit until he didn’t think he’d be able to stand any further. That day was no different. After clearing his eyes he saw in the sink a puddle of goo, that was looking up at him with dark little eyes and a smile that could melt a witch’s heart. It moved around in the sink, rolling over itself, like a baby discovering the world. It rolled around on top of itself, moving around the sink as Lukas stood watching, feeling like he was going to fall over at any moment.

Thanks for reading! Part two will be available tomorrow!

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Cocaine Bear – Film Review

Posted on February 27, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Writer: Jimmy Warden

Starring: Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Brooklyn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margo Martindale, and Ray Liotta

Rating: ★★★

Comedy horror Cocaine Bear is based very loosely on a true story from 1985 where a bear that ate a ton of cocaine that had been dumped from a plane and died. This film is a ‘what-if’ story about if the bear hadn’t died but instead went on a rampage killing people who just happened to be nearby while hunting for more cocaine.

Basically there’s a bunch of characters in the forest while the bear is getting high and killing almost everyone it encounters. Drug lord Syd (Ray Liotta) sends Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and his son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) to find the drugs that were dropped from the plane. At the same time, Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and Henry (Christian Convery) skip school to head out into the forest. There’s also a detective, Dee Dee’s mother, a gang of thugs, a ranger. You get the picture. There’s a lot of characters so the bear can kill as many people as possible. Some of the characters, such as Eddie and Daveed, are really great, while other characters are forgettable even when you’re halfway through it.

Considering the film is about a bear high on cocaine, it does seem quite tame compared to what you’d expect. It’s never quite lives up to the craziness of the premise. There’s a fair bit of gruesome moments, but nothing too extreme. It keeps things a light as possible, with a lot of cartoonish violence. There are a few moments where it’s really great, and very funny, but there’s also a lot of bits with uninteresting characters and it really drags. The bear is always fun when it’s on screen though, which is the main thing.  

Cocaine Bear isn’t as crazy as it could have been or live up to the trailer, but it’s still fun while it’s on. Watchable and entertaining, but definitely works better as a trailer than a full film.

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More Wanderings Around London

Posted on February 26, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

I’m sure it’s no surprise that I enjoy walking around London. I try to find an excuse to go to London at least once a month and always find exciting and different things to do. Yesterday we travelled down quite early, arriving at Euston around 8:20 and set of to get breakfast. The trip was for my mum’s birthday, and we started by heading towards Covent Garden Market, and walking through it as everything was opening and being set up. There weren’t a lot of people around, and it was easy to get around at that point. Then we set off in a random direction, as mum liked the look of a building down a street and we just followed that along until we came to Holborn underground station, which we needed to jump on to get to Liverpool Street. We had a table booked at a restaurant near the station for noon but wanted to explore Spitalfields Market and the surrounding area beforehand.

I’ve been to the market before, and it’s a really great place to walk around, buy food, and various things. I bought a few books from a stall, and I’m looking forward to reading them. After that we still had some time before noon so decided to take a walk to see the Gherkin up close. It’s one of my mum’s favourite buildings and she always points it out in the skyline when we see it. We turned around and could see that it was pretty close so just headed in that direction until we found it. By this point I was getting pretty cold and I hadn’t brought gloves, which was a regret. The buildings were all tall and imposing, towering over us. There was also a distinct lack of people walking about. It was quiet, sunny, and cold.

The picture above is the Gherkin to the right and then the street we walked down from. The buildings are all stunning in this area. Nearby is another building that looks like something out of a dystopian sci-fi film. If it was night time and raining it’d be like something out Blade Runner. Looking it up online I found out it’s called the Lloyd’s Building or the Inside-Out Building due to its design. It’s definitely something unique to see without knowing it’s there. I’m sure all of this area is rammed with people during busy working weeks, but on a Saturday it was nice to stroll about. I also found out that my phone camera is pretty much broken after I dropped it twice last week. The pictures I’ve taken here were on Tabby’s much better and newer phone. I definitely didn’t drop it just to get a new phone… promise.

Thanks for reading!

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