Tin Doom 😑

Just a very normal guy sharing surreal visions and odd microfiction short stories from a universe not too different from our own.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

We wake the next morning to find the graves are all gone. No more headstones. No more mounds of dirt. Just a grassy field full of strange children playing.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

"Did you see it?!" your mother's voice wakes you from a terrible dream.

You turn on the television and- there it is. An image of a tree on a hill. A tree so perfect and so beautiful that everything else stops and we all just stare, longing to touch it, longing to eat its fruit.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You pass your hand over the flame. You feel the heat burn as your fingers start to glow dark orange.

"Now read it," says the witch. "learn the truth."

Hesitantly, you turn your hand over. There are black words like soot on your palm. A date of fabrication. A date of expiration.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You accidentally switch your phone to something called an "Internally Facing Camera". Your friend is posed kissing the Statue of Liberty, but you are transfixed by the dark images on the screen. Grotesque shadows are writhing in a lake of flames as your friend awkwardly waits.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You teach the crow to speak in her voice. You train it to say it will stay forever. But the first time you take it out of the house it flies over the stone wall. Just like the others.

You can hear them there talking to each other about how easy it is to get away from you.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You wake up to find your phone melted on your bedside table. Like a bar of chocolate left out in the sun, your fingers sink into it. You pull away and find it is stuck to your hand, crawling up your arm. The black goo flickers and words appear on your forearm: "Update Complete".

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

"You should talk more," she says.

I smile shyly and open my mouth to respond but all that comes out is a flood of bats. An endless shrieking river of terrified creatures billowing skyward, blacking out the moon and the twilight sky like the fingers of an ink-covered hand.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

"Computer, give me the aesthetics of books, without the burden of knowledge."

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

Relationships are fickle. Every night they come apart and drift about like strings in the breeze, disconnecting from one person and reattaching to someone else. We wake up unaware that the neighbor we now hate used to be a lover, our children now distant used to be friends.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You wake up from a restless night unaware that at 3:46am the blood in your veins stopped moving and nine seconds later it started again in the opposite direction. Now everything you feel is reversed. Joy is now repulsive. What once was unthinkable is now your greatest desire.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

Your picture is in the news again. They say you are missing. You call your mom to laugh about this, but she doesn't answer. Your mailbox is still empty. Your neighbor's grass has still not been mowed. You sit in the street for rest of the day waiting, but nothing happens.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You gaze into the dark water.

"Reach in," The bearded prophet in the red suit says, "and find your gift."

You slide your hand deep into the icy liquid. But the pool is empty. All that is inside is your reflection, now distorted and ugly from the waves of your reaching hand.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

A mournful whale-song moan vibrates up from the Earth, immediately silencing the crowds and waking families in their homes. Everyone stares into space as the strange noise echoes away. Then they hear a new song, somewhere out in the universe, drawing closer. And it sounds angry.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

A man stoops over a table, alone in a room, frantically writing with a quill pen, desperately trying to finish his story while the top of the scroll is already in flames and the ashes are growing closer.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You are reading a book about death when four men in black overalls enter through your front door and begin removing your things. You protest, but they ignore you. When your home is empty, the men gently fold you into a box and place it inside the truck and drive away.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

@PonchoRebound I Meant to Write a Story but Instead Wrote a Stone: A Memoir

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

Something hot and dark is dripping from the ceiling into the mug next to your keyboard. The rich fragrance fills your mind with images of ancient Turkish streets and exotic markets. As you sip it, you feel yourself grow warm and strong and you refuse to look up.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You wake up in the night, alone in your dark bedroom.

"Do not be afraid," says a gentle voice.

Something moves under your bedsheets and a hand takes yours. You are suddenly filled with a warm feeling of peace.

"I love you," you say, not knowing why or who you are talking to.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

Morning traffic slows to a crawl as frightened commuters stare into the forest where a small orb casts a yellow glow onto the highway. The drivers see visions of the future: grown children, gravestones, loneliness. They stop on the side of the road and weep before continuing on.

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

You wake up Christmas morning to find excited children leaning over you.

"Our wish came true!" they cheer as they pull you out of bed. "He's candy! Look, his arms are peppermint! He has gummy worm hair!"

They tear at you like animals.

"I call his licorice eyes!"

[Tin Doom 😑 @PajamaStew]

@PonchoRebound Bringing Axis and Allies to the family Christmas Party is my Pearl Harbor.