Live Node (An ongoing horror story by Gregory Prince)

-Live Node-

The illusion that most 32 year old men had was that life would somehow magically turn around. Riches would pour forth without one having to actually put much effort into the making of this wealth. Men like Charlie. Guys living in their parent’s house. Having a degree in business management meant he could find a job directly out of college. Charlie’s parents told him he chose the right path getting his MBA but six years following university life, $90,000 in student loans, and having no real promise of making enough money to live independently left Charlie feeling despondent and restless.

Charlie didn't mind his Mom burning incense seemingly every hour of the day. She thought of herself some kind of witch. The incantations she recited and the weird music she played on her Amazon Alexa were a slight distraction in the background but Charlie managed to stay plugged into learning how to become a coding engineer.

The wafting smoking trails of molten, pungent, floral scents lulled him to a relaxed state at his computer. He had to use the hard connection, the ethernet at the table in the kitchen because that was the only place in his parents house close to their modem he could plug in to. His Mom was always moving through the house practicing her spells and enchantments. Charlie did his best to concentrate on his online learning. The coding bootcamp STRINGCAMP required him to attend 3 hours a day of live instruction and there was many more hours to complete for offline work.

Sitting at the kitchen table and working for hours on end while breathing in incense occasionally led to Charlie gradually falling asleep. He would drop his head to his folded arms beside his laptop and take a nap. Often during this time Bernice, Charlie's mom, left the house to meet friends or go about her shopping and other social habits.

Inside of a deep chasm in an electric storm of spiritual chaos brewing in the circuitry of Charlie's laptop there originated a spark. Dripping in this tiny explosion of energy a sinister rage awakened. Incense combined with ancient spell igniting a born consciousness. This new living stream of thought had no bearing, no direction but it fed on the pulse remaining in the boards inside the laptop it infested.

(Stay tuned for another installment of Live Node coming very soon)