Preview Issue #15
The Eldridge Horror
The long night of The Leper King finding his space in a city casting him away for have less and hurting more. Hunted by the enigmatic Eldridge Horror, a sight only to him in the crevices and distances of urbanism. Lamenting a soliloquy of his damnation by the people of the sodden city for being less fortuned and scrounging for survival, from them and himself.
—“The sun lowers its embrace. What a joy at the chance to feel such shame, grief, and hope. What a lovely night for a curse. Here I am, shunned from the people as a vagrant. They claim to want to help the wanderers, yet stifle us into exile.”
—“Something lurks for them. Driving them into fear from lack of comprehension.”
—“Perhaps the bogs have nothing left to hide. I have seen surrounding this place, stone walls and fallen structures. Protected by history but left to rot, as my brothers and sisters shelter from the cold in what is left. I am left with worn and beaten gold, but these symbols no longer have meaning, if they ever did.”
—“The mire calls to me, but the mangroves warn me.”
The Frenetic Sermon of The Reverend Hym
A rousing sermon of The Reverend Hym and his glory of rock and roll. Him, and little music, and the counter of a devil over the shoulder.
They crowned a new king today and he is playing rock and roll, with a golden guitar and panties made from lace.
I hear him saying something to me!
I rejoice without waver and fear, should I believe? But I have faith in something and that’s all that’s asked of me.
For a long time I have dealt with emotions of anger…envy, and pride. They have told me to not feel that way. But how do I not feel these emotions?
I have been given a gift to experience the woes and joys of freedom and they tell me that is wrong.
They feared what would happen if we gave them anything, now we are a people that’ll die without it. They claim that corruption is checked, yet these powers horde, and circumvent judgment. Hiding between cracks in the law, finding ever ways to make their gold pile more disgusting.
Bribing and extorting the men they select to take a seat in power, acting as puppets to stop anything that threatens their positions.
A Bit of Eerie Photography
Courtesy of Joshua P. @joshpoltergeist
Smothering Tithe
A short form play from our very own Budget Savior, telling the age old curse of man. Greed.
[We open on a man making his way down cobblestone streets, towing a large wagon behind his horse. There is silence except for the slow, unhurried steps of his horse on the ground. Evening is falling, and there no people milling about the market. He coughs periodically, violently.]
Godfrey: All people to the streets! On order of the king, the hour of tithing is upon this town. Bring forth your coin or face the gallows!
[He smiles as the people come running into the streets and lining up before his horse. He accepts the coins, trinkets, dried meats and fruits, and whatever else the people can conjure up for the tithe. As he takes the wares, he loads them in the wagon and tallies each item with the name of the person who brought them. Again, he coughs violently throughout. We hear unspecified whispering from the townspeople.]
Peasant: I can’t believe Sir Godfrey has made it to our town at last… what a vulture he is for doing the king’s bidding. The king is fat from our wares whilst we suffer and cower at the mere sound of the king’s horses.
Godfrey: You best hold your tongues, you foul creatures! Such treason will not be tolerated against myself or the king. What an absolutely ghastly town - not only are you ungrateful for the protection of the king, but I cannot even breathe. The air must be poisoned to have turned your thoughts in this way.
Dynamo Dan: The Electric Man
Another play from our Budget Savior. This horror filled story of the curse place upon man when addiction and carelessness go too far. Dan’s attempt on keeping his life straight and the woes of monotony as the desperate need for more returns in kind. Dan getting the life he dreams of? Or will it come with a catch dooming him to myth?
[We open on an empty room, a man sleeps soundly on a bed centered in the room. It is dark, except for illumination from one window. It is a noticeably sparse room. Dan is sleeping, but begins talking in his sleep. He snores between each word]
Dan: Current… connection… watts… power…
[He wakes with a start and a screech, bolting up out of bed. He looks blearily
around the room, remembering where he is. He reaches over and turns on a
lamp, filling the room with light and he runs his hands through his hair with
frustration.]
Dan: Not even in my sleep can I escape the factory… I can’t feel my fingers, my hair stands on end, and now… I can’t even rest.
[There is a long moment of silence as Dan hangs his head, and a knock on the
door disturbs the quiet. Dan does not answer or move]
Eddie: Hey, Dan? Everything okay in there?
[Another long silence passes before Edison enters the room.]
It’s the dreams again, huh? I get ‘em too from time to time… cogs in the
machine syndrome, I guess.
[Edison laughs, and Dan remains silent.]
Dan: I don’t know if I can do this, Eddie. I know we need the money and that we’re trying to build something here, but I didn’t know this would be the price of moving to New York. We’re selling our souls in that factory, man. Everyday all I do is stare at wires on the assembly line. Did you know I’ve been shocked so many times I can’t get my hair to stay down? It stands on end constantly and I look fucking crazy. Now I can’t even sleep - I just picture the endless stinging in my fingers and the rows of endless circuits that we have to wire. Is anything worth this? How can I even enjoy a retirement in paradise when I’ll still be mentally in hell?