Ernest Burroughs pulled the well-thumbed life manual close to his face. His cataract eyes failed him; so he sniffed out the written words with his white-haired nostrils. The words travelled his nasal paths to his brain; where he chewed on them vigorously, squeezing them of their collective meaning. Billions of random words danced atop his eyeballs like small dazzling clouds, when his chest tightened. And before he could impart the revealed recipe of immortality to mankind, a force pulled him through a white tunnel.
©2014.alittlebirdtweets
a little bird tweets 
Hi there… Just dropping by to tell you that I have nominated you for an award. Check out the nomination here (scroll down the page):
http://aquileana.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/mythology-philosophy-the-lost-city-of-atlantis-according-to-plato/
Congratulations and best wishes!!!, Aquileana 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Liked this a lot.
Thank you 🙂
Hmmmm… shades of Kafka, perhaps? I enjoyed ‘Life’ in a strange sort of way! Well done, Donna.
Cheers,
Paul
Wow, that’s a compliment and a half! Thank you so much. I actually have Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ sitting on my bookshelf, which I plan to read very soon.
Thanks again 🙂
Donna
Nice one Donna, I enjoyed that. Strange; I also have Metamorphosis & other stories yet to read, from my last trip back home.
is it possible he was vaping? just kidding … this was great! nothing wasted, every sentence full of imagery … wull … billions of words didn’t flash into my brain but, i went to a lot of places …. thanks for coming my way, i’ll be coming yours … ks
Thank you for your awesome comment, Kurt. I shall look forward to following your work 🙂
I’m puzzled by this one. I keep re reading it, hoping to find meaning. I’m getting a strong David Lynch vibe from it. It just feels like a surreal nightmare. Yet one you want to keep experiencing – or at least am drawn to.
Thanks! I do like to be surreal in my writings. In this piece, it was more about capturing a character and placing him in a moment. Sometimes I like the reader to have their own interpretation of a story, just as they do poetry. David Lynch is wonderful, so thank you for the compliment! I saw a photo exhibition of his in London last year – monochrome photos that were taken in a building that could have easily been a location in a horror film – a marvellous display! Thanks for your comment and feedback. Have a great day!
A little bird does tweet, indeed. Wonderfully evocative prose!
Aw thank you, Nina 🙂
Excellent! Such vivid, strange imagery that Edward Gorey is illustrating my thoughts while I read!
Thank you, Sarah. I am going to google his name now as you have left me very intrigued 🙂 Thanks for inspiring x
A childhood favorite of mine!
Sarah, I just looked up Edward Gorey, and what a fantastic writer and artist/illustrator. I love his work! Again, thank you so much for mentioning him to me – I probably would have never encountered him otherwise. Have a great weekend!
Yay, glad you like him. He’s so dear to my heart. You have a great weekend, too 😀
AnElephant loves this.
Succinct to the point of sparseness.
Cool.
Thank you so much for the lovely comment 😀
It happens like that. You think you’re about to make it and then, finally, you see the light.
So true, Justin. Thanks for your comment.
Very eerie and interesting.
Thank you 🙂
You’re welcome. Do you know of any good places to send full length stories or short stories? Thanks.
Most of the submissions that I have made have been through ads and contests in the back of Writers magazine, that gets published monthly in the UK. Or I see requests through social media from time to time. The best place to look would be the writers and artists yearbook. You can read a blurb of the agents/publishers to see if they are a good option for your writing format and genre.
Okay, thanks!
Very nice, and really like this: “…squeezing them of their collective memory…”