3-Part Disharmony

**Note: This three part story was inspired by a friend, who challenged me to tackle different tenses, genres, POVs, and styles simultaneously, based on an image he supplied (above).

Part 1: Marino

Erin Dalforth knew too much, and Marino had a feeling he was going to have to deal with her, in an extreme way.

She had stopped by his office this morning, and the heads-up display built into his glasses showed she was carrying a holoprint in her bag. She and her boyfriend, Jack Waltham, had been employees of his for over three years; Hell, they’d even stood by him when the cyber-patrol had eliminated the internet and confiscated all of the personal and business computers.

Conversion to the UCS Mind-Matrix hadn't been very popular when it was implemented, but Marino managed to find a way to profit. Ethics sometimes had to take a back seat to survival, and laws were written to be broken.

Unfortunately, the holoprint Erin intercepted contained enough information to put him away for the rest of his life, and the little bitch had actually tried to blackmail him.

He gazed out his office window into the rain and watched a hoverlift carry the meddlesome snoop and her traitorous lover off into the dark.

He made the call.

The mercenary he was hiring would cost him a month's profits, but the results would be guaranteed, and while it was expensive, it was a small price to pay for peace of mind.

Part 2: Erin

I gaze down through the driving rain I can no longer feel, and I see Jack cradling my body. I so want to be able to comfort him, to kiss him one last time, to say goodbye.

It’s too late now. I can already feel the pull of the light that is shining from behind the cold gray world of rain and grief.

I hope that Jack will be able to face his new life without me. I know he will probably try and seek out Marino and take revenge for my murder. If only he knew that I am free now. I hadn’t been able to tell him about the cancer that had been growing inside me. I didn’t want to break his heart, and now it is broken anyway.

They are calling my name now, and I think it’s time to cross over.

I reach out and try one last time to make contact with my love, but all I do is make him shudder, as if a cold breeze has touched him through the downpour.

(I love you, Jack. Please know that I always have, and I will wait for you, wherever it is that the light is taking me.)

Part 3: Jack

Can you hear me

screaming for release

as her sweet voice echoes

in the silence behind the night?

If only she were here with me,

then you would see

my darkness become complete.

Instead, I search

among the props backstage--

looking for her light

within the well of my fear.

Are you real?

Am I home,

or is this just

a passing dream?

Ahhhh, finally there is no pain

I think I’ll see her

soon.

------------------------------------

© 2023 - dustygrein