This is a #storygram (mini-story) from my Instagram, which you can get to via the social media links at the top of this site. I do my best to make them daily for you to enjoy! YES, many of them will hopefully be expounded upon in novels or other future writing endeavors of mine. Thank you very much for reading and sharing them! And don’t forget to check out my film Portfolio too!
The Story:
This path would be the death of him. He was sure of it. From the unnatural behavior of nature to unexplained events, Path 86 had a reputation for claiming the pipeline workers. But he had to come here. It was his job.
Path 86 was eerily quiet as usual. He just wanted to check the pipe for a blockage at the end and get back to the base as quickly as possible.
He stood beside his truck, observing the pipe. Checking the end wasn’t something he was looking forward to. A few years ago, a worker had checked for a blockage on Path 86 and returned to the base in a state of shock that he never recovered from. No one ever figured out why.
All of the birds were silent. He could see them, but they were just watching him–not flying away or singing their songs. He shook off his goosebumps and approached the end of the pipe.
Step after step he inched toward it. When he had only a couple of feet left, something caught the corner of his vision. Whipping his head to the right, he discovered the former worker who had never recovered from his mysterious incident on Path 86.
“Finny?”
“I’m sorry, Greg.”
“Sorry for what, Finny? What are you doing out here?”
Finny was covered in dirt and grime. His clothes looked as tattered as that of a man stranded on a deserted island.
“I figured out how to block the pipe.”
Finny motioned toward the end of the pipe. Greg leaned in to see more of it. Out of the pipe’s end, he saw a dangling hand. He gasped in horror.
“Finny, what have you…”
When he looked back again, Finny was gone. Acting on instinct, he focused his attention back on the pipe and jumped down off the path to see if the person crammed into the end could still be alive.
He tugged and tugged on the body until he had finally dislodged it. Rolling it onto its back, he realized he would not be leaving Path 86.
The blockage in the pipe was his own body, which was now staring back at him. Without blinking it stood up, walked to his truck, and drove away.