"Back To Basics"

“Back To Basics”

By Cody Williams

 

1.

She smiled satisfied as she unwrapped the chains from around her neck…

 

Sheldon typed on his computer just before the screen went black and the machine died.

            “S**t!” Sheldon shouted as he looked upon the blank screen. He tapped the spacebar a few times, but the screen remained black and the computer didn’t respond. “S**t! S**t! S**t!” Sheldon shouted again as hit the space bar a few more times very forcefully. “No! No! No! Come on! F**k!” He shouted again as he pushed the computer screen away from him and up against the brown wooden wall in front of him.

            Sheldon leaned back in his computer and sighed. He looked down at the black flash drive with San Disk printed in white at the top and a red button at the center of it that was sitting just to the right of the keyboard. Sheldon picked it up and tapped the tip of the thumb drive on the wooden desk before he held it up in front of his face and looked at it for a moment.

            “O didn’t even get a f*****g chance to save the damn thing!” Sheldon said calmly at first. “Son of a b***h!” He shouted a*s he through the flash drive across the room and up against the wall. Sheldon sat there for a moment leaning back in his black leather computer chair and putting his hand hover his face where his goatee was growing. He looked down at his cellphone that was sitting at the top of his desk. Sheldon sighed and picked up the phone. He pressed the button on the side and then swiped the main screen saver away and clicked the icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen that read CONTACTS and had a picture of a small phone book.

            Sheldon scrolled through the list of contact numbers until he finally came to the name BRANDON.

            Brandon was Sheldon’s best friend since they met in kindergarten. “The BS Show” Sheldon’s mom often referred to their friendship as it was almost as if they had their own sitcom. BS had two meanings. One was that their friendship was indeed a bond stronger than brothers; the other was because of the bullshit they sometimes would spew. More recently, Sheldon’s mother said that they were like the two goofballs from Sonic’s television commercials. Sheldon paused for a moment before he finally pressed the green button that read CALL in large white letters.

            Sheldon put the phone up to his left ear and sat there for a moment as he continued to lean his computer chair back as far as it would go and listening to the phone ring. He sat there in silence for a moment biting his lip until Brandon’s voice mail finally answered.

            “Hi! This is Brandon Scott’s cellphone. I can’t come to the phone right now, so leave me a message and I’ll get back to you ASAP!” Brandon’s voice said as the recording was followed by a single dial tone beep.

            “S**t!” Sheldon whispered followed by a sigh. “Hey man, it’s Sheldon. I was wondering if you could come over. That damn computer finally crashed. You said that it probably wouldn’t last too much longer. I guess you were right. So, if it’s no problem, come on over. Thanks man! Bye!” Sheldon said. He pressed the red END button on the screen and then dropped the cellphone down on the top of the desk.

 

2.

Sheldon sighed again and looked around for a moment.

            “What am I going to do now?” He asked as he looked around. He spotted a black composition book on a bookshelf across the room. Sheldon stood up from his chair and walked over to the bookshelf. He picked up notebook and ran his fingers along the pages and they quickly flew by. Dust was kicked up into the air and a delightfully musky smell filled the air, much like that of a library. He opened the notebook and turned to the front inside cover.

            “To Sheldon! Love Momma!” It read in a sharpie. His mom got it for him to write in. Sheldon put it to the side as he did most of his writing on the word processor on his computer.

            “You sit there glued to that thing. Why not write long hand? It’s a lost art!” Sheldon could remember his mom saying on numerous occasions when he lived at him. He put the notebook under his shoulder and carried it over to his desk. Sheldon put the notebook down on his desk and sat back down in his computer chair. He grabbed a plain black pen that he got from his insurance agency and opened the composition book to the first blank page. He clicked the end of the pen and wrote down his name in the top right hand square of the paper. Sheldon sat there for a moment and tried to think of something to write.

            My mom is Elizabeth Hagstrom. Sheldon wrote on the first line. He looked over to the picture frame on his desk that a picture of his mom was in. She was a bigger woman with black hair that reached down to her shoulders. Her face was slightly wrinkly. Her nose was somewhat large and people often joked that it looked like a potato turned horizontally. He smiled at it and then turned his attention back to the notebook.

            “Back to basics.” Sheldon whispered. He began to write again.

It didn’t take long for Shelly to know that something was going on between her husband, Brock, and their housemaid, Jessie. That’s when she found a pair of pink panties as she was changing she sheets one evening on Jessie’s day off. She would kill him. That’s what she decided. That’s what she did. She shot her husband at the intersection of Smith Road and Lincoln Avenue. Sheldon wrote down with little hesitation. He paused for a moment and smiled.

“Yeah. Oh yeah!” He said. He started to write again until he heard a loud bang echo from the streets below. “What the f**k?” He asked as he stood up from his computer chair and walked over to the window and glanced out to the streets below. There was a woman standing in the center of an intersection holding a pistol out in front of her. There was a man lying down in the street in front of her with a pullet wound on his forehead. The sound of sirens began to sound and grew louder and louder until several police cars pulled into the crime scene.

The look on the woman’s face was strange. It was as if she was surprised to see the officers arrive.

“Drop your weapon!” One officer shouted.

“Put your hands where I can see them!” Another shouted. The woman began to cry as she dropped the gun on the ground and raised her hands up above her head.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me! Something made me do it! He was cheating!” She said babbling as she sobbed. “Brock! Brock! I’m so sorry!” She said. Sheldon looked over to the composition notebook. He walked back over to his desk and sat down.

Just a coincident! He thought as he picked up the pen and marked through all the writing on the page. Suddenly the sirens from outside stopped and all was calm again.

“What the f**k?” Sheldon said as he stood up again and quickly hurried over to the window. He took another glance outside. The police cars were gone and there was no dead body lying in the streets. Sheldon looked back over at his desk at the notebook and walked back over to it. He picked up the ink pen and sat back down in his computer chair. “Let’s see if this is really happening.” Sheldon said as he began to write again.

On my desk next to my computer screen is a brand new Rolex wristwatch. He wrote down. Sheldon looked up from his notebook only to see a brand new Rolex wristwatch still in it’s case in front of him. He smiled. Sheldon began to reach for the wristwatch when a beep sound came from his phone. He looked down at it. The screen read: TEXT MESSAGE FROM BRANDON. Sheldon swiped his phone and pressed the VIEW NOW button on his screen. The text message read:

Hey man, just got your text message! Sorry to say this, but I really can’t come over. I’ll be at Cindy’s house all night and probably tomorrow as well. Sorry man. I hope you get the computer taken care of.

Sheldon sighed as he picked up his phone.

“How did I guess? He spends almost all of his f*****g time with that damn w***e! In fact, I don’t believe anybody f*****g sees him anymore.” Sheldon mumbled. He sat there for a moment when grin arouse on his face. “That’s it!” He said as he picked the ink pen back up.

My best friend is Brandon Scott. His girlfriend, Cindy, was just brutally murdered while she was at the BP service station getting a gallon of milk. Sheldon wrote on the notebook. He pushed himself away from his desk and sat in silence for a moment. That was until his cellphone began to ring.

CALL FROM BRANDON! It said. Sheldon smiled as he reached down and answered the phone.

“Hello?” Sheldon asked.

“Sheldon? You need to come! It’s Cindy!” Brandon said. Sheldon could tell that he was crying.

“Sure pal! I’ll always have your back. What are best friends for?” He said with a wicked grin.

Copyright 2014 by Cody Williams
Courtesy of TRUE TERROR PUBLICATIONS
A division of TTP Entertainment

Author's Note

This has been an idea that has been knocking around in my head for quite some time now. Sometimes we get caught up in technology that we forget that things were once done in a much simpler way. I went completely old school with this story as I actually hand wrote the entire story at first. It is "Back To Basics" isn't it? I began to think that with technology, people often forget that they can simply just grab a piece of paper and write down a pretty good story. Sometimes, there is a magic to handwriting a story. Sheldon found his magic.

Thanks for reading. Reviews and comments are welcome as always.

-CW

Reviews

[Dalton Holt]

The idea of the story isn't all that original, as I've seen it used multiple times before, even in comedies and YouTube videos. Regardless, I find this story quite intriguing and well written. There were a lot of spelling mistakes, but I don't care much for spelling myself. I thought this story(or is it a chapter?) was pretty good until the end. You just made the 'protagonist' the antagonist, you just can't do that. He killed an innocent person just out of pleasure, which makes the reader loath him and go completely against him. This could have been such a good piece if it weren't for the ending. I highly advise that you fix this.

Also, you did not need to separate this story or chapter into two parts as you did. You only should do that when there is a sudden, brief change in point of view or setting, in which a simple double space works just as well as '2' or '3,' etc. There was nothing of the sort there, just a turn of events.

[ANTO]

Wow ! now thats what I call a constructive review - kudos Justin !!!

[Dayran]

I'm not unfamiliar with coincidences. Its like the way they design Italian restaurants ... with glass ... frosted glass and mirrors ... until you begin to say ... they know why I come here often.

Your style has certainly grown ... CW ... I can see what the monsters with teeth ... were guarding. But its nice to see you in such a cafe ... and you should stay for the chef's special. It might be a bit of a wait though ... but its worth it.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Dayran!

-CW

[NoelHC]

You have a good idea of what I am going to say, so many spelling mistakes and grammar errors. The tale itself was interesting, but I agree with much of what Justin wrote.
Your description gets long winded, and often is unnecessary, for example after the computer crashes you write:
Sheldon leaned back in his computer and sighed. He looked down at the black flash drive with San Disk printed in white at the top and a red button at the center of it that was sitting just to the right of the keyboard.
I suggest:
Sheldon leaned back in his computer (chair) and sighed. He looked down at the black San Disk (if that is REALLY required) flash drive that was sitting just to the right of the keyboard.

43 words vs 28, and the flow is easier for the reader.

[Cody Williams]

I'll go back and take another look at it. Thanks for reading Noel!

-CW

[Ruth]

Well thought out, I enjoyed the promise of this...you have my attention :) xo