Paulo Gallian

The Woman Who Sold Stillness [chapter 6]

She arrived at the address, after running for about twenty blocks. Gulliver was still desperately screaming and scratching, trying to make his way out of the small bag.

The place was an abandoned house where drug dealers received and distributed their products.

Lilly reached for the door knob but, before she turned it, she felt a pressure on her back. A woman whispered in her ear, telling her to stay quiet, or else the gun pressed against her would be discharged. The woman then opened the door, and they entered the house.

The moonlight, coming through the broken windows, was the only thing guiding her eyes at that moment. Lilly could see there were three men holding guns in different corners of the room, and one man in the middle, standing next to a chair.

Gulliver suddenly stopped moving, so she quickly asked them where was the key to the bag’s locks.

The man in the middle of the room told her to come closer and take a look at the person seated on the chair beside him. The woman behind her took the bag from her hand and threatened to shoot it, should she try and harm anyone.

Lilly walked three steps forward and got a glimpse of the man’s smirk. Two more steps and she felt something, an energy pulsing within, connecting her to the person on the chair. She knew this feeling.

When she finally got close enough, she recognized who it was. Hours before, she had trapped that man in her stillness. He was paralyzed and alive, probably in a lot of pain and listening to everything they were saying. Although he couldn’t move, he was aware of who she was.

She looked at the man standing beside the chair, and told him she didn’t know who that person was, then asked him for the key to the bag’s locks, once more.

He gave a sign with his hand to the woman at the door. She dropped the bag then took a shot at the floor. The cat screamed and tried to jump, but couldn’t quite move. The woman put her left foot on top of the bag and charged her gun. The man told Lilly to “fix” the person on the chair, or else her cat would get the next bullet.

She could’ve tried to make them all stay still, but Gulliver would not survive much longer, and if she had a chance to save him, she would take it. Her only concern was the reaction of the man on the chair, once he was able to speak and move.

the man and the fly, the dog and the duck

The itching was being caused by a fly inside his ear.

He ran, jumped and screamed, but the fly remained there, buzzing.

He dove into a lake, hoping it would die. It did not.

A dog and a duck pointed and laughed at the crazy man.

The fly stopped buzzing for a moment, so he tried not to move.

He could feel it leaving his ear. It was almost there, just a few more tiny steps.

But the fly was not ready yet, it was determined to drive him insane.

It went back inside and started buzzing again, as loud as it could.

The duck felt bad for the man and decided to help him.

The dog, however, couldn’t care less.

The duck started pecking at his ear.

The man twisted on the ground like a worm, as the fly buzzed and the duck pecked.

Finally, it all stopped. Everything was quiet again. The man stood up and walked to his house.

The dog asked the duck if the fly was dead.

The duck did not say a word.

The dog repeated the question.

The duck started shivering, its legs were trembling.

A few seconds later, it laid an egg.

The dog presumed that the fly was inside the egg.

The question remained unanswered.

The duck started humming.

The dog moved two steps away from the duck and said:

“Freak.”