From: hirschgm@cnsvax.uwec.edu
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre
Subject: to those who wait...
Date: 18 Dec 92 19:46:36 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

[intro to story omitted because i never wrote one]

	There were a few more ominous creakings and groanings from the stressed
supports, and just as he decided it would be a good idea to leave, the entire
building collapsed.
	He awoke an a few (hours, days, minutes?) later and found himself in
utter blackness.  His first thought was possible head injury. He didn't know 
why that should occur to him before anything else, but he decided to go with 
it, not having much else to do.

"OK, brain, who am I?"
(Jordan Robertson.)

A good start.  Now on to the more difficult questions.

"Where am I and why am I here?"
(You were poking around in an old office building.  Why you came here in the
first place is beyond me.  They had condemned it, you know; if you had any 
sense at all you wouldn't have been here.)
"All right, I don't need any lecturing from you.  Shut up or I'll get a
lobotomy as soon as I get out."
(Sorry.)
"One more question for you...  How am I gonna get out of here?"
(That's up to you.  I just do the thinking.  The moving about is your
department.)

	Jordan sighed and tried to move his right arm.  It felt like it was 
stuck under something big and heavy and vaguely wall-shaped, so he gave up and 
tried his left arm.  That one ignored him completely.  His legs were free to
move about a yard in either direction, but he didn't see what good that would
do him.
	As he lay there pondering the situation and wondering if anyone would
find him, he heard a soft sobbing from somewhere nearby.
	"Who's there?  Hello?  Someone else also stuck in here?"
	The sobbing stopped.  A small voice filtered back through the rubble.
	"Only me, and I've been here a long time."
	"You mean you were here before the building collapsed?"
	The owner of the voice seemed to find this amusing.
	"Yes, long before it collapsed.  I knew this would happen eventually. 
I'm just glad there's someone else here now."
	Jordan sensed something slightly menacing in those words, but he
couldn't quite grasp it.  His brain was still being obstinate and unhelpful, so
he decided to worry about it later.
	"Why were you crying?" he asked, although the answer seemed fairly
obvious.  Anyone who had just had a building fall on them could be expected to
cry a bit.  Still, he didn't know what else to say.
	"I am sad because the building is gone and I now have no place to
stay."
	"What, you mean you lived in this building?"
	"I used to...  Now I just stay here."
	Jordan's brain took notice at that and began poking him to get his
attention.

"Yes, what is it?"
(Don't you find it a bit strange that whoever that is 'used to' live here?)
"Well, no, not really.  I mean, they can't live here any more.  It's
collapsed."
(All right, then, ask how long they lived here.)

	Jordan saw no harm in this, and did so.  The owner of the voice replied
in a nostalgic, reminiscing manner.
	"Oh, yes, let's see now...  I think I lived here for about five years. 
That was back when it was first condemned."
	"But they closed this building twenty years ago!"
        "Yes, i know."
	"So... you lived somewhere else for a while, then?"
 	"No, I've been here for twenty years."
        "But not living?"
	"No."

(Told you so, said his brain.  Something weird is going on.)

	Jordan began to get very nervous.  He wasn't a superstitious person,
and didn't believe in ghosts, but how else to explain this?  Perhaps he was
going insane.  Yes, that was it.  He was utterly mad, and his mind was playing
tricks on him.

(Nope, said his brain.  It's a ghost.)

	Jordan gathered his scattering wits and spoke again.
	"Ummm.....  What does it mean to you to have someone else here?"
	"It means I can leave."
	"What?  Why should I make any difference in that?"
	"I need a way out.  That's you."

(I don't like this, said Jordan's brain.)
"Neither do I.  Shut up and think of a way to get me out of here."

	"Uh, excuse me, but what happens if you use me as your way out?"
        "I go free."
	"And what happens to me?"
	The voice was silent for a moment.
	"I think you die."
	"That doesn't seem very fair!"
	"Oh," the voice said quickly, "it's really nothing to worry about. 
Your body will still be fine, it's just your mind that dies."

(Whoa, hold on now!)
"Sorry, old buddy, looks like you're outta luck."

	"All right, then, that's no problem.  Come on over here and we'll get
it taken care of."

(Don't I get a say in this?)
"Fraid not.  Just hold still and don't struggle and you won't feel a thing."

	Jordan felt an odd pulling, twisting sensation inside his head.  Then
his mind was gone.

	Half an hour later (only two hours after the collapse, as it turned
out), a rescue team pulled Jordan's body out of the wreckage.  Their first
impression was that he was dead, but then his eyelids fluttered open and he
took a ragged breath.  When they asked him how he felt, he replied in a small
voice, "I haven't eaten in a long time, and I'm very tired."


					--Joachim
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