Not much is going on in the old BB house. Paul and Victor are conspiring to try and save Victor by making it look like Paul is hooking up with Corey and Nicole to get Corey voted out. They're trying to convince James that Victor will turn on Paul and work with James, Natalie and Michelle to get out Paul. James isn't that stupid. He's voting out Victor. One of their big selling points is that Paul and Corey together would be guaranteed to get the Care Package. Of course, if they keep Victor, Victor and Paul would be guaranteed to get the Care Package, so that's largely a wash as far as James is concerned.
We'll see the HOH comp live on the feeds tonight after the show according to CBS. That implies an endurance comp of some sort, likely the wall comp given the set up time they've used.
With little going on in the house, I took the opportunity to write a couple of short BB stories. The first is in my medieval style and the second is a more supernatural one.
The Medieval story.
The hour of reckoning is drawing near and a general unease and chill has swept through the Big Brother kingdom. The citizens sense a disturbance in the air, much like the air feels before a big storm, but there are no clouds on the horizon. All can sense it, but what does it mean? Have the Gods grown tired of them? Is a great evil soon to descend upon the house?
The apprentice seer Victor, soon to be dismissed from the kingdom for his alliance with the jester Paul, is consulted. Victor is wise beyond his years, but lacks the depth of knowledge of the holy seer Michelle, who having grown tired of the jester Paul, conspired with Queen Natalie to have him banished. But Paul through a trick of fate has managed to stay in the kingdom, while his co-conspirator Victor is to be expelled.
The residents find Victor at work, cleaning the royal bath as penance for his crimes, and consult him.
“Oh great seer, can you foretell us of what is to come so that we may prepare ourselves?”asked Nicole, the concubine of the warrior Corey, who having suffered one too many blows to the head in combat is now somewhat befuddled. So severe is his befuddlement that he will often walk in his sleep, though truth be told there is little difference between his wakeful state and sleep state.
“The future is cloudy to me today as my mind is greatly troubled. But, I too sense a disturbance,” said Victor.
“Have the gods tired of us?” asked Nicole.
“I think not,” said Victor. “They’ve been giving us a gift each Friday and each gift has been more valuable than the one before. Surely if they were tiring of us they wouldn’t have bestowed upon us such gifts. No, there is something else afoot, but with my exile so near, my mind is clouded. We must consult the royal seer herself.”
“Dare we wake her from her slumbers?” asked the jester Paul, already fearful for his future in the kingdom.
“I dare say it is a risk we must take,” said Victor. “She’s had nearly her normal twenty hours of sleep so far today, so she would be arising soon in any case.”
“But who among us is brave enough to disturb her rest?” asked Nicole.
“I shall do it,” said Victor. “I am already to be exiled this very evening, so what more could she do to me?”
Victor slowly climbed the twisting, curving staircase leading to the royal sleeping chambers and found the royal seer asleep alongside Queen Natalie.
Queen Natalie heard the lad approach and raised her head. “What is it you request lad?” asked the queen. She had a genuine affection for the lad and wished he’d not been sentenced to be banished, but the threat posed by his alliance with the jester made keeping him too risky for her reign.
“We fear there is something ominous building and my vision if clouded. Could you awaken the seer Michelle to find clarity for us?”
“I shall try,” said the queen, knowing all too well how hard it could be to rouse the sleeping seer. “Go and prepare coffee for the seer for when she awakens. It will help to sharpen her senses.”
As Victor scurried down the steps to the royal kitchen to prepare coffee for the seer, Queen Natalie attempted to awaken her.
“No, go away!” muttered Michelle.
“We need you to get up now. There is something wrong.”
“I need more sleep,” muttered Michelle pulling a pillow over her head.
“I know you do my dear,” said Queen Natalie, “but duty calls. We need your gifts.”
“Duty su*cks!” muttered Michelle finally sitting up in bed. “What is it now? Don’t tell me that idiot Paul wants me to tell him what the gift that is coming tomorrow will be again? I’ve told him a thousand times it won’t save him from his fate.”
“No,” said the queen gently. “There is something else going to happen, we just don’t know what.”
“
Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Let me get my robe on and get some coffee and I’ll see if I can’t sort this all out.”
The queen, already adorned in her light blue royal robe, waited while Michelle shook the fleas from her red robe and slid it on. The two then slowly descended the stairs to the royal kitchen where the house awaited their presence. All stood by in silence as Victor handed over a cup of coffee to Michelle who gulped it down and then took a refill.
“Okay,” said Michelle after finishing the second cup of coffee. “So what’s the problem?”
“
We can sense a disturbance coming.”
“That’s all? Jeez! I’ve been telling you guys for weeks that someone is coming back to rejoin the kingdom. It’s probably happening tonight. Victor is going, there will be a trial of some sort and someone will return. Paul will try to find a new ally, most likely Corey and Nicole, though in fact he'll largely be alone. Can I go back to bed now?”
“But who of the banished is returning?” asked the jester Paul.
“That is for the Gods themselves to decide. There will be a trial of some sort and the one they decide is most worthy will return. I’ve been telling you people this for weeks. Doesn’t anyone listen to me?”
“The royal timekeeper James said there was no time for a returnee,” said Paul.
“The royal timekeeper is nearly as befuddled as Corey,” said Michelle nodding to a corner where Corey and his concubine were engaging in foreplay before the whole house. “Jeez, why don’t you two get a room instead of doing that out in plain sight all of the time?”
Corey merely looked up with a blank look on his face and asked “What?”
“Coreeeeeeee!” squealed Nicole. “We aren’t done yet!”
“We aren’t?” asked Corey.
“Noooooo,” whined Nicole. “Now give me back that finger of yours.”
“Okay,” said Michelle. “That does it. I’ve had all of you people I can stand. I’m going back to bed.”
“But who among the exiled is to return?” asked Queen Natalie.
“Who knows?” asked Michelle. “It could be Victor for all I know. That is a decision for the Gods to make and even I cannot foresee their actions.”
“But the calendar says there’s no time for a returnee!” said a clearly befuddled James.
“The Gods will alter the calendar to suit their wishes. Someone’s coming back. Get used to the idea. Now I’m going back to bed. Jeez, what a pack of losers I’m saddled with. Victor, pack your bags you’re leaving tonight! Corey, oh for God’s sake, will you two get a room? Corey you’re staying this week, God only knows why. Me, I’m going back to bed. That’s it for my seer duties for this week.”
The horror/supernatural version.
The house looked much as it had in previous seasons. From all outside appearances it was no different than any other BB house. Then, just before the season, strange events started to occur. Nine volunteers entered the house for a week only to disappear and never be heard from again. No one knows what’s become of them. A thick layer of sand appeared from nowhere covering the bathroom floor only to disappear mysteriously and be replaced with a sand colored carpet.
The first twelve to enter the house for the season were stunned to find four former players emerging mysteriously from a suitcase that seemed impossibly small to hold them. The returning house guests seemed surprised to find themselves back in the house and told of being in darkness then emerging to find themselves in the house. None could explain how they’d gotten there.
Almost immediately after entering the house strange things started to happen. Glenn, the oldest of the house guests vanished just twenty nine hours in, never to be seen again. Then a blood curdling scream wracked the house one night as one of the girls awoke to see a ghost hovering over her bed in the London bedroom. So frightened was she that she vowed to never sleep there again. About ten days after Glenn’s mysterious disappearance Jozea, a man who considered himself the Messiah, vanished without a trace. A pattern soon developed where each Thursday night another house guest would vanish.
Strange sounds emanated from within the walls of the house. Footsteps could be heard, but no one was walking nearby, or could be seen. Voices could be heard coming from within the walls and even electronic devices like cell phones could be heard to vibrate, but clearly there could be no such devices hidden within the walls. Objects fell from the wall for no reason. Mysterious messages appeared. One offered vague clues that led to the discovery of a hidden room within the house. It was hoped this mystery room might reveal a secret of what was happening, but it didn’t.
Mysterious injuries occurred. Paul nearly had his nose broken when an awning came loose and hit him. Bridgette was nearly crippled with multiple leg issues. A basil plant acquired human characteristics and became a Mr. Jenkins. An inflatable pool toy came alive and was called Pablo. A talking Eagle named Baldwin appeared demanding repayment from James first of five hundred dollars then five thousand dollars.
The powers that be finally conceded something odd was going on and called in a psychic investigator by the name of Ima Loone to examine the house.
Ima Loone had examined many strange events in her years as a psychic investigator but nothing she’d seen could prepare her for the Big Brother house. She entered the house with her equipment to get to the bottom of what was going on, certain there had to be a logical answer. She was welcomed by James who offered to take her on a tour of the house. As they headed towards the Tokyo bedroom, a sound unlike any she’d heard before chilled Ima to the core.
“My God!” muttered Ima listening to the high pitched whine. “That sound is definitely something inhuman!”
James paused and listened for a second as the mournful whine repeated, “Coreeeeeeeeee!”
“Oh, that’s just Nicole,” said James. “She’s human. She’ll be in bed right around the corner.”
As they prepared to turn the corner a large seemingly zombie-fied man approached the two, clearly lost in a trance-like state. The sight of the zombie produced a scream from Ima as she backed away in terror.
“That’s just Corey,” said James. “Don’t worry about him. He sleepwalks from time to time but truth be told he’s pretty much the same asleep or awake.”
“He’s always like that?” asked Ima as the hulk lumbered past her.
“Yeah, pretty much,” said James. “Come on, I’ll take you into the London bedroom where the ghost was seen. Maybe you can pick something up on your equipment there. A couple of the other house guests are in there now.”
James led Ima into a phone booth that seemed to change in appearance midway through and then into the
Tokyo bedroom where a man and a young woman were waiting.
“Guys, this is the psychic investigator sent to look into what’s going on.”
“America!” shouted the young woman named Natalie. “Thank you America for sending me a psychic investigator. I love you America and I know you love me! Yea!”
“HEY!” shouted the man. “I’M YOUR BOY PAUL. I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING WEIRD GOING ON HERE. IF YOU NEED ANY HELP, I’M YOUR BOY. YOU JUST GIVE ME A YELL AND I’LL TELL YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT TO HEAR THAT WILL HELP KEEP ME IN THE HOUSE. SURE IT MAY NOT BE TRUE, BUT THAT’S OKAY AS LONG AS I GET TO STAY.”
“You don’t have to shout,” said Ima.
“WHY DOES EVERYONE ALWAYS SAY THAT? I’M NOT SHOUTING.”
“Okay then,” said Ima. “So this room is where the ghost first appeared. I sense a bad aura here.”
“PABLO WAS JUST SAYING THAT TOO!” said Paul nodding toward the inflatable pelican at the foot of his bed.
“Oops!” said Natalie. “That was me! I farted. Sorry!”
“Let’s go take a look at the living room where the big sign nearly fell off,” said James as he hastily fled the room. As they passed by Tokyo room strange movements and sounds could be heard coming from under the covers where Nicole had been.
“Oooohhhh, Coreeeeeeee!!!!!” came an inhuman whine as the bedding moved in a suspicious manner.
“Are you sure she’s human?” asked Ima as she hurried past the bed.
“Yeah, she’s as human as the rest of us,” said James.
“There’s the sign that nearly fell off.”
Ima looked up to find an airport departure sign mysteriously placed on the wall of the living room. She seemed more than a little confused.
“Was this an airport at some point?”
“No.”
“Why is there an airport departures sign in the living room then?”
“Um, I don’t know. I guess someone thought it was a good idea. It was here when I got here.”
“And you emerged from a suitcase?” asked Ima.
“Yeah, it’s right around the corner here. Come on, I’ll show you.”
James then led her to the suitcase where he’d emerged.
“Tell me what happened again.”
“Well, I was down in Texas and the next thing I knew I was in the dark and emerged here to be greeted by twelve strangers. It was a little bit weird.”
Ima tried to move the suitcase to examine it to find it bolted to the floor.
“Why is this bolted down?”
“Everything here is either glued down or bolted down. It’s just the way things are done.”
“You said someone here had disappeared and returned?”
“That was Victor. He’ll be in the kitchen cleaning. Come on.”
James introduced the two and then Ima asked Victor what had happened and he related the tale to her.
“We had figured out that someone disappeared every Thursday,” said Victor, “so we were all gathered together in the living room. Then I was no longer in the living room but in another space surrounded by strangers who all seemed to be happy to see me. Then this dark haired, goddess like creature appeared and had me sit beside her while she questioned me on my experiences here. She then told me I would face a series of trials and if I survived I would be returned to the house and a few weeks later here I was. I’ve been pretty safe here since then, but now I feel a danger very nearby. I fear I may be the one going tonight. In fact, I’m nearly sure of it.”
“I see,” said Ima. She looked at the plant on the table and the eagle puppet nearby and asked, “Are they Mr. Jenkins and Baldwin?”
“Yeah,” said James. “Mr. Jenkins doesn’t say much but Baldwin is quite the talker when he wants to be.”
“And he threatens you for money?”
“Yes, but I don’t remember borrowing any money from him,” said James.
“Have I met everyone?”
“You haven’t met Michelle, but she’s upstairs asleep. I wouldn’t wake her up if I were you.”
“And she’s normal?”
“Well, as normal as the rest of us.”
“I think I might know the problem,” said Ima.
“What is it?” asked James. “Poltergiests?”
“No, my instruments show nothing supernatural is going on here, you people are just crazy! I’m out of here!”
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Blogs & Forums
