Short Story #1 (March 1, 2024)

Prompt: "An impulse buy leading to intergalactic warfare"

"I really shouldn't have bought that!" regrets were flowing into my veins, while running away from seventeen..? No, fifteen, extraterrestrial creatures.

"Bang!" a laser hit a strand of my hair as it passed my peripheral vision, it finally hit a tree, the damage was too big making the tree fall down as if it's finally taking a rest from standing up for many years.

At least the movies were right about the laser guns. Thank God! I lampooned to ease my fear of getting pulverized by countless lasers targeting my very being. Cuts and bruises were all around my body as I keep running from those wretched creatures.

Will I even escape from them them? Once this forest end, I would be an easy target, I'd be serving myself on a silver platter, as if I'm a delicacy of a fancy thanksgiving dinner!

As I was in a nonstop lampoon, the cool looking "toy" I bought from the shady store vibrated from within my right pocket. The vibration was unusual because I can see the sound waves in a physical form. I feel like something amazing would happen if I pulled the toy from my pocket.

So, I did. "Buzz" An irritating sound came out followed by a deafening sound as if a nuclear explosion is happening right in front of me. It was weird because the sounds didn't really affect me, instead the lasers following me from behind stopped.

Of course, when you're consumed by the adrenaline, your cognitive thinking would fluctuate. So I stopped running and chose to look back instead. Pretty genius of me, I'd say. But I was in awe when I saw that all of the creatures that were chasing me were gone. I was finally able to breath, gasping for air, as if my lungs was finally able to remember its role. Relieved that I was able to survive from this goofy cat & mouse chase.

It reminded me of the saying "There's a rainbow after every storm." I would forever remember this saying. I looked up, closed my eyes and smiled, as if this was the happiest moment to ever happen in my life.

You see, when you close your eyes all you see is darkness, but for some reason I see whiteness within the darkness, as if someone is flashing a flashlight in front of my eyes. Now, because my eyes was curious, it opened. And in this moment, I saw the most horrifying scene in my life.

The stars wasn't present and the night sky wasn't beautiful because it was covered by flying flesh looking ships. There were myriads of them. It was a fleet of these horrifying ships. All of them were made out of flesh. Shaped like deformed creatures. Their size were like mini titanic.

But one ship stood out the most. The titanic size. Still made out of flesh but it had a distinct form, a form that humans were familiar with. The form of a mummy, in a supine position, arms crossed over its chest, as if it's having the best sleep of its life. The scariest part is its head is deformed, facing down, with glowing eyes, as you can guess, starting at me. Providing me the most sophisticated spotlight to ever happen in earth.

The world was silent, memories were flashing through my mind. As if my brain knew that my death would be imminent. In my memories one stood out the most. It was when I saw this damned toy.

April 6, 2024. 14:23, I was having my usual walk. The same route and routine. But for some reason I discovered a new store. I've never seen it before. I know all the places from my route, it was an unusual feeling, could this be Jamais Vu? It couldn't be new as the store looked antique as if it had a lot of story to tell from its past. I had to quench my curiosity. I walked in to the store filled with wonder, and truly, the store was wonderful. It was an antique ship, with a vintage interior design. Filled with peculiar items. Some looked ancient while some looked ethereal.

"Hello?" I called, hoping a staff would show themselves. But no one showed up. Weird, I thought to myself.

They're lucky that I'm an upstanding you man! I proclaimed with ego. I could have ran away with riches but instead I walked to every aisle. In awe of the the various items. They all had price tags but there was no counter.

Am I supposed to just replace the item with money, if I want to buy one? It must be the case.

"Ting!" An irritating sound passed through my ears as if I'm having the best tinnitus of my life. My vision became blurry, but I continued to walk as if I'm drunk with no destination. I noticed that the ringing would slowly dissipate if I move to a certain route. I know I had to find the correct route. I was up for the challenge, it felt like I was in an escape room. I walked with my blurry vision. I swore I must have broke some items while I was at it. I never checked, so I would never know.

Few minutes of walking, the ringing finally stopped. My vision finally came back. With my head down and my right hand on my forehead, I finally looked straight and saw the most fascinating item in the store.

It was shaped like a Rubik's cube, the sides were made of steel with sophisticated carvings on every side. Instead of having different colors in every square parts, it was transparent with eccentric characters engraved in the middle of each square parts. Perhaps, the most interesting detail it has was the blue particles mixed with darkness inside the cube. It was truly beautiful, the particles were animated, rotating as if I'm looking at the universe itself.

"I must buy this!" thought my impulsive self. I glanced at the price tag and as expected it was expensive. 4200. Ha! I'm broke! But I have to get this! I quickly pulled my wallet and opened it, showing my only 5000 bill. "Fuck! I don't have change. Oh well, keep it as a tip to whoever the owner of this shop is" I grabbed the cube (it fits my palm perfectly, nice!) and replaced it with my money. I made sure to put the money in a crevice so it wouldn't fly away.

While I was ready to leave the shop, I noticed that at the back of the price tag, a text was written. Sýmpan. Huh... This must be the name of this toy.

Bam! A screech inundated my body. Gasp! Back to reality, as if I woke up from a nostalgic dream. The mummified ship was still staring at me with its deformed teeth, cackling as if its trying to curse my very being.

"This is it." my hopeless thoughts came in.

"Rainbows huh? In the end, the saying was utter bullshit!" I guffawed at my last lampoon. A cacophony of screeches was living in my ears.

The ships were moving closer to me. My fear was beyond this world. I clenched my right first but couldn't. I realized I'm still holding the cube. I looked at it with remorse. Because of my anger, I held it up high, as if I was performing in a theater, representing as the unfortunate earthling, I shouted my last line from earth: "FUCK YOU, SYMPAN!"

A buzz, and another buzz.... It was the the irritating sound again. Getting louder as if it was having the most cursed orchestral duel with the screeching ships. The mummy ship's face was changing expressions every milliseconds, as if it was glitching. The cube finally let out a physical sound wave. Then the blue particles from the inside expanded to the point that it engulfed my body.

Silence.

Everything was silent. The ships flying with utter confusion. Maybe even the animals in the forest must be confused too.

As my very being was gone.

Not a trace of my body.

As if I never existed in the world in the first place.

Where am I?

Maybe that's a question that can be answered in a different story.

---

My Notes

This was written in my notebook so I had to encode it. Surely, there's a lot of grammatical errors(I checked it had 33 mistakes) but I wanted to make it genuine and didn't want to use AI to correct my grammar. But I would definitely ChatGPT my stories after I encode it to see what I can improve and what grammars I need to fix. This was a fun story, I literally spent 4 hours making this story. Full on the zone and sht. I still struggle when it comes to describing a full detail of what I'm imagining. But hey, one can improve with practice!

AI VERSION (Grammar + writing style is slightly improved)

"I really shouldn't have bought that!" Regrets flooded my veins as I sprinted away from the seventeen... no, fifteen, extraterrestrial creatures.

"Bang!" A laser grazed a strand of my hair before striking a tree, causing it to topple as if finally succumbing to exhaustion after standing tall for so many years.

Thankfully, the movies were right about the laser guns. Thank the heavens! I chuckled to myself, trying to ease the fear of being pulverized by countless lasers targeting my very being. Cuts and bruises adorned my body as I continued to flee from those wretched creatures.

Would I even escape from them? Once this forest ended, I would be an easy target—serving myself up on a silver platter, like a delicacy at a fancy Thanksgiving dinner! Amidst my frantic flight, the cool-looking "toy" I had bought from the shady store vibrated in my right pocket. The vibration, accompanied by visible sound waves, hinted at something extraordinary within. Feeling like something amazing would happen if I pulled the toy from my pocket, I did just that. "Buzz!" An irritating sound emanated from it, followed by a deafening noise as if a nuclear explosion were happening right in front of me. It was strange because the sounds didn't really affect me; instead, the lasers pursuing me stopped. Of course, when consumed by adrenaline, cognitive thinking fluctuates. So, I stopped running and chose to look back instead. Pretty genius of me, I'd say. But I was in awe when I saw that all of the creatures chasing me had vanished. I could finally breathe, gasping for air as if my lungs had finally remembered their role. Relieved that I had survived this goofy cat-and-mouse chase, I was reminded of the saying "There's a rainbow after every storm." I would forever remember this saying. I looked up, closed my eyes, and smiled, as if this were the happiest moment to ever happen in my life.

You see, when you close your eyes, all you see is darkness. But for some reason, I saw whiteness within the darkness, as if someone were flashing a flashlight in front of my eyes. Curiosity led my eyes to open, and in that moment, I witnessed the most horrifying scene of my life.

The stars were absent, and the night sky was devoid of beauty—it was shrouded by flying flesh-like ships. A fleet of these horrifying vessels, shaped like deformed creatures, filled the sky. Their size rivaled that of mini titans, but one ship stood out the most—the titanic-sized one. Still made of flesh, it bore a distinct form, one that humans were familiar with. The form of a mummy, in a supine position, arms crossed over its chest as if it was enjoying the best sleep of its life. The scariest part was its deformed head, facing downward, with glowing eyes fixated on me, providing the most sophisticated spotlight ever to grace Earth.

The world fell silent, memories flashing through my mind as if my brain knew that my death would be imminent. Amidst my recollections, one memory stood out the most—it was the day I encountered that damned toy.

April 6, 2024. 14:23. I was on my usual walk, following the same route and routine. But for some reason, I stumbled upon a new store I had never seen before. Despite my familiarity with all the places along my route, this store felt different—as if it held countless stories from its past within its antique walls. Curiosity piqued, I entered the store, filled with wonder. It was housed within an antique ship, boasting a vintage interior design and brimming with peculiar items—some ancient, some ethereal.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping a staff member would appear, but no one did. Weird, I thought to myself. They were lucky that I'm an upstanding young man! I proclaimed with a hint of ego. I could have run away with riches, but instead, I explored every aisle, in awe of the various items. They all bore price tags, yet there was no counter in sight.

Was I supposed to simply replace the item with money if I wanted to buy one? It must be the case.

"Ting!" An irritating sound pierced my ears, akin to experiencing the best tinnitus of my life. My vision blurred, but I continued to walk, feeling as if I were drunk and aimless. I noticed that the ringing slowly dissipated as I moved along a certain route. I knew I had to find the correct path. It felt like I was in an escape room, up for the challenge. I walked with my blurry vision, swearing I must have broken some items along the way. I never checked, so I would never know. After a few minutes of walking, the ringing finally ceased, and my vision cleared. With my head down and my right hand resting on my forehead, I finally looked straight ahead and saw the most fascinating item in the store—a Rubik's cube-shaped object. Its sides were made of steel with intricate carvings on every side. Instead of different colors on each square part, it was transparent, with eccentric characters engraved in the middle of each square. Perhaps the most intriguing detail was the blue particles mixed with darkness inside the cube. It was truly beautiful—the particles animated, rotating as if I were gazing at the universe itself.

"I must buy this!" thought my impulsive self. I glanced at the price tag and, as expected, it was expensive. 4200. Ha! I'm broke! But I had to have it! I quickly retrieved my wallet and opened it, revealing my only 5000 bill. "Fuck! I don't have change. Oh well, keep it as a tip for whoever the owner of this shop is," I muttered to myself. I grabbed the cube—it fit perfectly in my palm—and replaced it with my money, ensuring it was securely placed in a crevice so it wouldn't fly away.

As I prepared to leave the shop, I noticed that the back of the price tag bore a text: Sýmpan. Huh... This must be the name of this toy.

Bam! A screech enveloped my body. Gasping, I snapped back to reality, as if awakening from a nostalgic dream. The mummified ship still bore its gaze upon me, its deformed teeth seemingly cackling as if attempting to curse my very being. "This is it," my hopeless thoughts echoed. "In the end, that saying was utter bullshit!" I scoffed, a cacophony of screeches assaulting my ears as the ships drew nearer. My fear transcended this world—I clenched my right fist in frustration, but then I realized I was still holding the cube. I looked at it with remorse. Fuelled by anger, I held it aloft as if performing on a theater stage, representing the unfortunate Earthling. With a final, defiant shout, I uttered my last line from Earth: "FUCK YOU, SYMPAN!"

A buzz, then another... It was the irritating sound again, growing louder as if engaged in the most cursed orchestral duel with the screeching ships. The mummy ship's face contorted, its expressions flickering every millisecond as if glitching. Finally, the cube emitted a physical sound wave, and the blue particles inside expanded until they engulfed my body.

Silence.

Everything was silent—the ships hovered in confusion, and perhaps even the forest animals were bewildered.

As my very being dissipated—leaving no trace of my body, as if I had never existed in the world in the first place—I pondered:

Where am I?

Perhaps that's a question to be answered in a different story.

Grammarly Version (Only Grammar is fixed)

"I really shouldn't have bought that!" regrets were flowing into my veins while running away from seventeen..? No, fifteen, extraterrestrial creatures. 

"Bang!" a laser hit a strand of my hair as it passed my peripheral vision, it finally hit a tree, and the damage was too big making the tree fall down as if it's finally taking a rest from standing up for many years. 

At least the movies were right about the laser guns. Thank God! I lampooned to ease my fear of getting pulverized by countless lasers targeting my very being. Cuts and bruises were all around my body as I kept running from those wretched creatures. 

Will I even escape from them them? Once this forest ends, I would be an easy target, I'd be serving myself on a silver platter as if I'm a delicacy of a fancy Thanksgiving dinner! As I was in a nonstop lampoon, the cool-looking "toy" I bought from the shady store vibrated from within my right pocket. The vibration was unusual because I could see the sound waves in a physical form. I feel like something amazing would happen if I pulled the toy from my pocket. So, I did. "Buzz" An irritating sound came out followed by a deafening sound as if a nuclear explosion was happening right in front of me. It was weird because the sounds didn't really affect me, instead the lasers following me from behind stopped. Of course, when you're consumed by the adrenaline, your cognitive thinking would fluctuate. So I stopped running and chose to look back instead. It was pretty genius of me, I'd say. But I was in awe when I saw that all of the creatures that were chasing me were gone. I was finally able to breathe, gasping for air as if my lungs were finally able to remember its role. Relieved that I was able to survive this goofy cat-and-mouse chase. It reminded me of the saying "There's a rainbow after every storm." I will forever remember this saying. I looked up, closed my eyes, and smiled as if this was the happiest moment to ever happen in my life. 

You see, when you close your eyes all you see is darkness, but for some reason, I see whiteness within the darkness, as if someone is flashing a flashlight in front of my eyes. Now, because my eyes were curious, it opened. And in this moment, I saw the most horrifying scene in my life. 

The stars weren't present and the night sky wasn't beautiful because it was covered by flying flesh-looking ships. There were myriads of them. It was a fleet of these horrifying ships. All of them were made out of flesh. Shaped like deformed creatures. Their sizes were like mini titanics. But one ship stood out the most, the titanic size. Still made out of flesh but it had a distinct form, a form that humans were familiar with. The form of a mummy, in a supine position, arms crossed over its chest, as if it's having the best sleep of its life. The scariest part is its head is deformed, facing down, with glowing eyes, as you can guess, starting at me. Providing me with the most sophisticated spotlight to ever happen on earth. 

The world was silent, memories were flashing through my mind. As if my brain knew that my death would be imminent. In my memories, one stood out the most. It was when I saw this damned toy.

April 6, 2024. 14:23, I was having my usual walk. The same route and routine. But for some reason, I discovered a new store. I've never seen it before. I know all the places from my route, it was an unusual feeling, could this be Jamais Vu? It couldn't be new as the store looked antique as if it had a lot of story to tell from its past. I had to quench my curiosity. I walked into the store filled with wonder, and truly, the store was wonderful. It was an antique ship, with a vintage interior design. Filled with peculiar items. Some looked ancient while some looked ethereal. 

"Hello?" I called, hoping a staff member would show themselves. But no one showed up. Weird, I thought to myself. 

They're lucky that I'm an upstanding you man! I proclaimed with ego. I could have run away with riches but instead, I walked to every aisle. In awe of the the various items. They all had price tags but there was no counter. 

Am I supposed to just replace the item with money, if I want to buy one? It must be the case. 

"Ting!" An irritating sound passed through my ears as if I was having the best tinnitus of my life. My vision became blurry, but I continued to walk as if I was drunk with no destination. I noticed that the ringing would slowly dissipate if I moved to a certain route. I know I had to find the correct route. I was up for the challenge, it felt like I was in an escape room. I walked with my blurry vision. I swore I must have broken some items while I was at it. I never checked, so I would never know. Few minutes of walking, the ringing finally stopped. My vision finally came back. With my head down and my right hand on my forehead, I finally looked straight and saw the most fascinating item in the store. It was shaped like a Rubik's cube, the sides were made of steel with sophisticated carvings on every side. Instead of having different colors in every square part, it was transparent with eccentric characters engraved in the middle of each square part. Perhaps, the most interesting detail it has was the blue particles mixed with darkness inside the cube. It was truly beautiful, the particles were animated, rotating as if I were looking at the universe itself. 

"I must buy this!" thought my impulsive self. I glanced at the price tag and as expected it was expensive. 4200. Ha! I'm broke! But I have to get this! I quickly pulled out my wallet and opened it, showing my only 5000 bill. "Fuck! I don't have change. Oh well, keep it as a tip to whoever the owner of this shop is" I grabbed the cube (it fits my palm perfectly, nice!) and replaced it with my money. I made sure to put the money in a crevice so it wouldn't fly away. 

While I was ready to leave the shop, I noticed that at the back of the price tag, a text was written. Sýmpan. Huh... This must be the name of this toy.

Bam! A screech inundated my body. Gasp! Back to reality, as if I woke up from a nostalgic dream. The mummified ship was still staring at me with its deformed teeth, cackling as if it was trying to curse my very being. "This is it." my hopeless thoughts came in. "In the end, the saying was utter bullshit!" I guffawed at my last lampoon. A cacophony of screeches was living in my ears. The ships were moving closer to me. My fear was beyond this world. I clenched my right fist. I realized I was still holding the cube. I looked at it with remorse. Because of my anger, I held it up high, as if I was performing in a theater, representing the unfortunate earthling, I shouted my last line from the earth: "FUCK YOU, SYMPAN!"

A buzz, and another buzz... It was the irritating sound again. Getting louder as if it was having the most cursed orchestral duel with the screeching ships. The mummy ship's face was changing expressions every millisecond as if it was glitching. The cube finally let out a physical sound wave. Then the blue particles from the inside expanded to the point that it engulfed my body.

Silence.

Everything was silent. The ships flying with utter confusion. Maybe even the animals in the forest must be confused too. 

As my very being was gone.

Not a trace of my body.

As if I never existed in the world in the first place.

Where am I?

Maybe that's a question that can be answered in a different story.