New Project, The Collaborators [novels for beginners .TXT] 📗

Part 1

I had found comfort there among the shadows of denial and ignorance. I found solace for the first time in my life. Those shadows enveloped me, protected me. I built for myself a cocoon of safety. A warm womb of darkness filled with contentment and a sense of completion. And much like a parental figure this ephemeral place encouraged me, inspired me to greatness in my work as well as within my soul. This ever growing umbra would become more to me than an abstract or an intangible metaphorical thing. To me it had taken on a personification and had become a companion. And it knows me. The thought of leaving had never entered my mind. I could never dream of leaving this place. What animal would I ask you? In nature animals are driven to seek out a place. They are compelled to move, sometimes over long distances, to seek out a suitable habitat in which to live and prosper. And once such a place has been found what animal would then leave without great reason? Once all needs have been met in abundance, be it insect, reptile, amphibian, avian or mammal, which of them would then simply depart from that utopia without compelling cause. None I say! For it is their nature. And as a kindred spirit, do I not also bear this nature? And as such, am I not expected to struggle as they would to preserve that which so perfectly meets said needs? I fear now the inevitability of such a conflict being forced upon me. I have foreseen that it shall come to pass. My sanctuary has become vulnerable you see. The shadows that have for so long been my home may well be shattered by the piercing invasive light of jealousy and envy. They will bring to bear the scrutiny and the most horrible species of misguided judgementality borne of the smallest and least fertile of minds to be found in this world. All of their justification being moored in the foundations of absolutely nothing. They covet my accomplishments and seek to have them for their own. Unfounded and groundless righteousness shall fuel them and this baseless arrogance they wield will be turned against me in an epic movement to destroy my name and credibility. I will be met with incredulity and mockery in every quarter. But I say this false morality in any form is but a construct of lesser minds and why should I be judged by the weakest and most reprehensible worms of God’s creation? They will paint me as mad. They will claim that I suffer from the grandest and most horrible of maladies, insanity. They will use my work, the very thing they seek to wrest from my grasp, as proof of my madness. And failing that they will in desperation seek to remove me from this world altogether. They will fail. They will taste naught but the blood and dust of failure. My contributions to this world shall be legend. My words will be etched in stone, my voice will reverberate through time and the history of mankind will claim me the victor. Tonight I shall prove to the world what true genius is. I would have been content to stay here and continue in solitude but they have forced my hand. They will be coming for me. But come the dawn a new order of the universe will be seen and all of humanity will be forever changed. (Intro By Edens Ashes)

Part 2
The beautiful young woman stood solemnly in the parlor of her family home staring out the window in hopes of seeing her fiancée hurrying up the drive excited to see her. But she knew he would not be coming. But the momentary fantasy persisted. He would be carrying a bouquet of her favorite flowers as he always did. Once, upon the eve of their engagement he had been so flustered he stumbled in front of the stables and had fallen to the ground giving his knees a good scraping and had crushed the bouquet beneath his own weight. He did not know she had been watching and she had never told him. She desperately wished she could tell him today. When he had gotten up and dusted himself off, he examined the remnants of the bouquet with a look of true sadness upon his face. But for the moment she had still been giggling. She could see from his demeanor that he truly loved her and did not want to disappoint her. But she had never been a girl of material desires in spite of being from a wealthy family. She could see the whole scene playing out again and it made her smile. But the scene faded and once again the pain and sadness of loss rushed in upon her. “Susannah, are you alright dear?” Her mother asked lovingly walking up behind her. In spite of their seemingly never-ending differences her mother loved her dearly and had no desire for seeing her child sad. She turned to her mother, "What do you think mother? She said in a somber tone. "Her mother reached out to her "Come sit with me in the dayroom, would you? We can have some tea and talk for a while. "Susanna relented and walked with her mother clasping her hand. She sat in her favorite chair and tried to pretend for a moment that all was well. She looked down at the coffee table and saw her father’s daily copy of the New York Times. It read Wednesday May 25th 1898. The front page headline read, Renowned Scientist Missing. She promptly picked up the paper and began to read overlooking the fact that her father would have never left his paper in the day room.
The article began. Dr Reginald Emsworth of Yale Universities Science department was reported missing by the University on Monday. A professor of physics at the university his research into possible new energy sources for the US war department is believed to have last been seen leaving the university the week prior to his disappearance. The university has expressed concern both for the professors safety but also for a great deal of missing equipment being used in the experiments conducted by a team of scientists consisting of Professor Emsworth, who was the lead scientist on the project, as well as Professor Nigel Wentworth and renowned mathematician Charles Cromwell neither of whom could be located for comments. The professor’s personal residence in the Connecticut countryside has been thoroughly searched and deemed off limits by the US Army. However inside sources told this reporter that even though the professor was not found his home laboratory looked as though a bomb had gone off inside. A neighbor of the professors who wishes to remain anonymous has reported that they witnessed Bright balls of light and what sounded like thunder both from within and in the air above the doctors laboratory the very night before the doctor was finally reported missing.
Susannah felt something wet run down her check and wiped it away. I know what happened
to him, she thought. But no one would believe me. They would lock me up and throw away the key if they heard what I have to say. She placed the paper back down on the table.
"I know this is a difficult time for you Susannah, with what happened to Reginald, but you will get through this." Her Mother said. "There are many Fine young men who would love to marry you." Susannah glared at her mother with hatred. "How dare you, He hasn't been gone more than a week and you are already setting my wedding to someone else." How can you be so cold mother? I know you and Father did not approve of him because he does not come from money, but I love him and I thought my own family would want me to be happy.” Her mother tried to reach out to her and said “Dear, please….” But Susanna abruptly jerked away like an animal that had been betrayed one too many times by its master and threw up her hand. “No mother.” Her teeth clenched as she slowly spoke “If you will excuse me mother. I am tired and will be retiring to my room.” As she climbed the stairs her mind was drawn back to the night Reginald had taken her to his home for the first time. She whispered into vast emptiness of the house. “I suppose you did it my dear. Your experiment worked. But where did it take you my love?” He had spoken often of alternate universes and dimensions, other planes of existence. But she had never fully grasped the depths of his theories. After all, most men she had ever met tended to be grandiose when trying to impress a beautiful young woman and she saw no reason to think this one would be different. At the moment she wished she had paid more attention to those flights of fancy. She had had always known he was brilliant but the things he spoke of bordered on fantasy and at time they simply seemed absurd. When she toured his laboratory at his home, he seemed so excited and enthusiastic to be sharing it with her. And it had been a sight to behold. Great copper coils in columns stretching to the glass dome twenty feet high were placed around the room creating a circle. Within that circle were metallic spires which reached even beyond that through the ceiling and far into the air. Directly in the center stood a gold tinted archway linked by large cables which snaked along the floor in all directions. She had not understood but it had been an impressive site. She would not believe he was dead. But she knew if he had succeeded, he was no longer anywhere nearby.
By the time she reached her bedroom door she had once again begun to feel the sadness. But those thoughts and feelings were abruptly put on hold when she heard a loud thump coming from inside her room. She swung the door open. At first there was nothing unusual but just as she was starting to curse her own imagination a swirling wind filled the room. The air crackled with arcs of electricity as the heavy drapes and tapestries lining the room began to float as if they were being sucked to the center of the room. There in the air directly above her bed a sphere of brilliant white light formed. It quickly grew into a black aperture stretching the width of the bed. A dark window hovering above the very place she slept. Her mind reeled and for a moment she was frozen when she heard a faint and distant sound. No, not a sound, a voice. It kept repeating something. She strained to hear over the vortex of wind. Against all instincts she moved closer to it shielding her eyes with her arm. The voice sounded as if it were coming from a cavernous void far away. “Susanna! Can you see me? Can you see me?!” She peered into the void and saw a faded figure, ghostlike yet visible. As the face came into view she screamed and cried out “Reginald! Dear god Reginald where are you? I will come find you! Please just tell me where you are!” The air began to spark again and the window vanished in a sputtering ball of electricity. She dropped to the floor in yet another moment of loss. All fell silent once again save for her faded sobbing and strained whispers. “Just tell me where you are.”                 Nicole-Willow626