October Flasher winner - The Edge by Vee

THE EDGE
The `Lily of the Sea’ slides through the waves of the Pacific Ocean as beautifully as a Duchess sweeping into a ballroom. She is a classy lady, my Lily.
Now, though, I am terrified for her. For all of us. Because we are approaching The Edge. This means we must heave to at precisely the right moment. A minute too soon, and the ship will be torn apart by savage cross-currants.
A minute too late, and we’re over The Edge.
My Lily will see us through, I tell myself over and over again. Without realizing it, I am speaking out loud.
Johnson, the ship’s doctor, appears at my side.
“Now, Nat, stop worrying. A man with a moniker like “Captain Nathan Harlow” can’t do anything wrong. ”
He always makes me smile. I’ve never seen him lose his temper.
Back when we hit the hurricane, he patched up more green-faced men then I’ve ever seen at one time, and many of them were experienced sailors, too. The storm pummeled the Lily like a dog shaking a rat.
It was the hurricane that blew us towards The Edge.
The thought of something happening to this man chills my blood. His life, like that of the crew, is in my hands.
Johnson’s never seen The Edge, but I have. On my first sailing with the “Maria Louisa.” I looked down into the void.
It’s a black hell, so chilling and horrible that you wish you could see a monster, just to know there is life in that endless space.
I study the maps. My navigator assures me we have every chance to find our way back to port in Jamaica. The wind is NNE, which is what we want.
Johnson mutters, “Remember those old history lessons in the Sixth Grade? How we learned that people used to think the world was round? That must have been comforting……” He stops speaking and turns pale.
The Lily is bucking and heaving, rolling and shaking.
We are near the Edge.
I scream: “NOW!”
But it’s too late.
We clutch each other, Johnson and I. We can hear the prayers and hymns of the crew. No one cries or shrieks.
Like a brittle leaf in a hard wind, we are tossed against our will.
Over The Edge.

October Flasher - Dead Letter Department by Jack

Detective Hoskins stared through the one-way into the interrogation room. Inside a disheveled man in an orange prison uniform was talking, and talking freely. He had refused a lawyer, a cops dream, he had something on his mind and the cops were dying to find out what.
“Three more letters came back this week all marked return to sender,” the man said in a sad a solemn tone. "I can’t understand it everyone has turned against me. My world has turned upside down.
The interrogator, fellow detective Mark Johansen feigned empathy, an old cop trick to put suspects at ease. “These people just don’t realize how much they mean to you, do they?”
“They’re my family.” the man replied. How could they not know how much they matter to me. My own children won’t answer my letters. I know I did wrong, I admit it. I killed that bank guard. It was me or him, but it was me that caused the situation and now I’ll be paying for it for the rest of my life. Still, people that used to care about me, family, friends, even my wife and kids won’t even talk to me.”
The skinny balding, Johansen swivelled the industrial green office chair and tried his best to appear perplexed. “Finally he replied, “Mr. Laboski, have you ever asked them to forgive you?”
“Yes, yes, a thousand times, but I don’t even know if they’ve read any of my letters.”
“I don’t mean forgive you for killing the bank guard.. I mean for any other things you may have done that may possibly have caused them to act like this.
Inside the observation room Detective Hoskins stepped back and muttered to himself. “That’s it Mark, he’s getting ready to spill.”
A blank look came over the suspects eyes and tears began to stream down his cheeks.
Johansen pursued, “What’s the matter Joe? Are you thinking of something you need to be forgiven for?
“No, that’s just it. I love my wife and kids and they love me. I live for them. I taught my youngest boy to play baseball and now he’s turning pro. He just signed a contract with the Mets. My daughter is entering MIT next year and it was to come up with the money for her tuition that I tried to pull off that bank heist in the first place. I’m just a truck driver but I earned pretty good money by busting my ass. Trouble was I busted my back too and after I couldn’t sit long hours driving anymore I lost my job.” With that Joe Laboski’s head fell to the desk top and he began to sob.
Johansen leaned in patted him on the back and offered, “they’re all just ungrateful Joe they don’t understand you. Why don’t you tell me why they won’t speak to you?”
Joe raised his head and wiped snot and tears from his face with his sleeve. I don’t know, I tell you. I treat my wife Mary, like a queen. I love her more than anything in this world. I’ll do anything for her and she knows it. All these years I’ve stood by her, watched her blossom from a young lady into a dynamic and inspired leader of the community. I supported her fully when she decided to go back to college and get her degree. When she decided to pursue a career in community service instead of one that would put food on the table I supported that to. I want her to be happy and to follow her dreams whatever the cost.
Inside the observation room Detective Hoskins was growing restless. It was time to put the hammer down. This was going no-where. He decided it was time for the bad-cop. He abruptly entered the interrogation room and slammed his palms down on the desk.
“O.K. Laboski, you’re not fooling anybody. Where are the bodies?”
“What bodies.” Laboski answered.
“The bodies of your wife and kids you murdering scumbag. We know you killed them all, now just make it easy on yourself and tell us what you did with them.”
Laboski stared at the detective wide eyed. “That’s not true. My family is just fine. My sons getting ready to....”
Hanson interrupted, “your son was ten years old Laboski. How the hell does a ten year old kid sign with the Mets? Your daughter just entered First grade and your wife dropped out of college when she married you. You want to know why these letters keep coming back? Because they’re dead that’s why and you murdered them. Now where did you hide their bodies?”
Alarmed and frightened Laboski stood and shouted. “No! That’s not possible, I love them. I’ve spent my entire life raising those kids.”
Exasperated Detective Hoskins grabbed a manilla envelope, fished out a wallet and tossed it in front of Laboski. “Open it up.” he demanded.
Joe opened the wallet and stared. How did you get this he asked?
“Out of your pants joe. It’s your drivers licence, recognize it?
Yes, but it’s from years ago, when I lived in Ohio. I must have been in my twenties when this was taken.
“You are in your twenties Joe and this is Ohio. That picture was taken two years ago. Now come back to us and tell us where you hid the bodies.

October Flasher - All You Need is Love by Steve

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
“It’s moving at the speed of light!”
Okay, so maybe I should have thought of something more poetic for such an historic moment, but gravitas has never been my strong point.
I did attempt a degree of solemnity, leaning against the bulkhead with my eyes resting, unfocused, on the vidiot, in a pose I imagined resembled Noah, highlighted by lightning at the prow of the Ark as the storm raged round him. Not that there was any storm or much of anything to see. Black mostly filled the screen, with the odd, ghostly flicker of electrical discharge on the rapidly disappearing horizon.
“The speed of light!” I said again, for dramatic effect. Ray looked interested.
Ray has an advantage when it comes to looking interested. His long, sad face hints at great depth of spirit. His aquiline nose speaks of intelligence and dignity. His delicate, almost feminine mouth tells of sensitivity and understanding. His soulful, mismatched brown and black eyes reveal infinite tenderness and compassion.
“Great,” he nodded, “now can we get back to Endport? There’s some hot mushy there I’d like to get moving at lightspeed, if you know what I mean.” Looks can be deceptive.
I bit my lip.
“What’s the matter with you?” I said, “Don’t you understand how momentous this discovery is? I sometimes wonder why you came along.”
“You said it would help score chicks, that’s why. What else is there?”
Ray has one overwhelming interest in life. Some see it as an outrage, a few as a redeeming feature. He has an unswerving dedication to the act of procreation no matter what the prevailing circumstances. Considering how far the human race has come, it shows steely determination in the face of increasingly negative public opinion. Still he worships at the shrine of the sleazy bar and the easy lay. He’s charmed his way from Andromeda to Abell 1835 IR1916, and scattered his seed freely along the way. Ray would happily populate the universe until it burst.
It was beginning to look like he had a point, though. The universe wasn’t going to burst any time soon. Still, something inside rebelled at his tunnel vision, especially when we’d reached such a pinnacle. The ultimate dream of every explorer since the idea of seeing what lay over the next hill first popped into some grunting hominid’s mind.
“Could you tear your mind away from the pleasures of the flesh for just a minute? Doesn’t it mean anything to you that we’re seeing something that nobody, not one person in the history of the universe, has ever seen before?”
“I don’t see nothing.”
“Yeah, well not at the moment, but that’s because it’s receding at the speed of light like I said.”
Ray twitched his nose like he smelt something odd, “Then lets go after it sharpish so we can get back to booty town.”
I stared at him. He looked back with his soulful, sensitive face.
“Didn’t you ever do relativity two?” I asked, “Or are you just deaf? I told you, it’s going at the speed of light.”
He sighed heavily and pushed himself back on the lounger. Heavy feet clunked on the instrument panel. “Yeah, well we can do that too, so let’s haul ass my friend. Time’s a-wasting.”
I spun on my heel and resisted the urge to smack my head against the wall a couple of times. “Let me spell it out once more,” I said, breathing deep, “it’s running away from us at the speed of light. Our top speed is the speed of light. Ergo we can never catch up.”
His forehead creased briefly, and he laughed. “You’re pulling my chain, ain’t ya, Bezo? Just bang in the clutch, shift her down into hyperdrive and come out the other side. What’s new there? It ain’t rocket science.”
I could feel my face redden with frustration. I paced to the back of the cabin, then returned. I began to speak, then stopped as he peered at me innocently. I did another lap before finally beginning again. I spoke slowly and clearly to make sure something would stick in that virtual bordello he called a brain.
“This is no ordinary circumstance. We can’t just go into hyperdrive and jump somewhere past it. There is no somewhere past it.”
The frown made another momentary appearance, then he shrugged, “It’s not the end of the universe. Come on, we can get back in time for happy hour.”
I couldn’t control myself any longer. I screamed, “But that’s exactly what it is! It is the end of the universe you fool! We’re here at the very edge. The first people ever to come near it. The first people to see how it’s behaving, and all you can think about are your carnal urges.
He relaxed back into the lounger and closed his eyes, “Whaddya gonna do?” he said.
I took several hurried breaths, and held tight to the guard rail as I counted to fifty. My eyeballs felt as though their individual veins had begun to pop one by one. Slowly, my heart slowed its thunder, and I prepared to reason once more with my cosmic idiot friend.
“Look, Ray, this is important. If the edge of the universe is expanding away at the speed of light, no light can escape, and it will be impossible ever to see what’s outside. Given that, it seems reasonable to assume that it isn’t the edge of the universe that’s travelling at the speed of light, but the speed of light is defined by the speed the edge of the universe is moving. This is sensational! Don’t you see? We’ve discovered something enormous.”
He leaned on one elbow and fixed me with his doleful stare, “Yeah? Great. Now let me see if I got this right. Bear with me a moment. This edge is moving out faster than we can catch up. Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“The universe will keep on getting bigger and no matter what we do, we’ll never keep up, right?”
“Right.”
A tiny smile crossed his lean features. He pushed himself up out of the lounger, stretched his arms above his head, then cracked his fingers.
“So there’ll always be more room. And where there’s more room, there’s more girls.”
“Well . . .”
“Well? What are we waiting for. We got work to do. Let’s partay!”