All Alone

One common thread through all of humanity is the occasional desire to be alone.  Even the heartiest of party animals desires a moment now and then to collect their thoughts.  For some people, this desire is much more powerful.  They avoid society at large except when absolutely necessary.  In this instance, the desire to be alone seems to become extremely dominant.

I've always felt a little lonely.  Even when in a group of people, I was still by myself.  Out at the club, I could be found in a quiet corner sipping on the one or two drinks I would order all night long.  If I attended an "intimate" party at a friend's apartment, most of my time would be spent looking out the nearest window or conversing with the resident cat.  At the few concerts I could be convinced to go to, everyone else would be standing up and singing their throats raw while I would be quietly sitting in my seat checking my social media feeds.  Honestly, most people didn't even notice my presence or absence in these situations.  I go more to avoid any awkward questions than out of any actual desire to party, dance at a club, or sing along with a band.

This weekend I took a chance to be truly alone with myself for a change.  I packed up some supplies, requested a week off from work, and headed up into the mountains for some camping.  Nobody for miles around.  No cell phone signal to interrupt my thoughts with calls or alerts.  No traffic rushing by outside my window.  Just me and my thoughts.  It was ideal until I woke up with a view different than the one I had fallen asleep with.

Plains roll out before me instead of the mountains.  Small flowers have replaced the old-growth forest.  The blue sky seems the same, just a different shade of blue than I'm used to.  A few puffy clouds drift near the horizons, not close or large enough for me to imagine any interesting forms out of their wispy shapes.

It takes me a minute to realize the complete lack of noise.  No chirping birds.  No insects buzzing by.  No animals growling as they rustle through the underbrush.  Even the wind seems to be particularly silent in the trees.

I have the feeling that I am so alone that even the Earth itself is ignoring me.  For once in my life, I am truly comfortable.  If only there was some way to tell exactly where I am and how I got here in the first place.  I'm less concerned with being able to get home than I am with getting back here to decompress later.

If you had one place to be completely by yourself, how often would you go there and how long would you stay?

More to come

It seems like I have had a number of projects all hitting me at once.  Finishing editing on a book and sending it to the publisher, working on ideas for longer Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style stories, family adventures, life in general, and many other things.  

One project required quite a bit of research and study.  Now I'm doing a preliminary writing of a story for a comic book.  The tricky part of it all will be the art.  Anyone that's seen my digital graphics knows I have little to no artistic talents.  Once I am done, I will be handing off the work to another to bring my ideas to print.  To aid them, I hope, I have began doing some rough layouts.  This is the idea I have for the first page.

Once I get things more polished and in process, I will let you know.  In the meantime, here are some of the stories from the group I'm working with.

Guard Duty

Aspects of this story have been plaguing my mind for about half of my life.  While this particular scene takes place deep underground, I have a specific physical location in mind.  There are still many aspects of the story itself still missing, but I believe I have one major character and a starting location all sorted out.

I sit here on my throne, at least that's what I consider it. It's truly little more than a stone that happens to be the right height for me to sit on comfortably and offer my aged back some support. On cold days, I am not above placing a couple layers of skins on the seat. Just to keep the cold stone from sapping too much of my strength, not out of a desire for padding. My time here is one of duty, comfort has no place when discharging a responsibility.

Here, I watch. Here, I observe the happenings around the world. Here I sit and see all that is to be seen and contemplate how I would go about solving the problems of society. There are many things I could do to solve those problems. Things I could move. People I could assist. Other people I could eliminate entirely. So many things I could do to solve all the problems there are and everyone alive would be better off afterwards. However, I am not permitted to do so until the time is right.

Such are my orders. Orders that were given to me at the same time as the powers I now possess. Powers that are granted by the very crystal that I now watch over. Powers that would forever solve humanity's problems, if the person wielding them didn't mind becoming the subject of adoration of hundreds of thousands of people and the hatred of millions more. Such is the reasoning of those that instructed him when he first accepted his post. Now, he just sits and watches the world go by without acknowledging his existence. Just as he likes it.

Not for the first time, I look around this place that has been my home for far too many lifetimes to count. It is a large underground chasm with more open space inside that many cathedrals. My chair sits on a 10 foot high ledge at one end of it. Along each side in front of me is two rows of statues. Four of them to each side, all facing towards each other. The statues are of humans wearing majestic hooded robes. From the area the robes pool around their feet to the top of their hoods is easily 20 feet. The faces on the statues all appear similar, but I have looked each of them over enough times to know the differences between the individuals. To a casual observer, the different figures would appear to be close cousins. After such a long time in the company of these stone-faced individuals, I know how unrelated they really are.

On the floor of the cavern, between the statues, is the only source of light I have had for my entire time here. It is a giant crystal that shines bright enough that I think the sun would seem pale in comparison, should I ever see it directly again. This crystal was created by the people that assigned me to sit here and watch. The same people that made the statues that stand in observance with me around the crystal. They imbued the crystal with its power and created it to continue to collect power over time. For generations I have sat here and watched it gather the light energy of life itself. I will continue to do so until the timing is right and the power is ready to be released, however many more generations that will take.