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[FICTION] Tales from Port Astor | Plague Journal

 

This is part 2 of this year's 3 part mini series! You can read part 1 here if you missed it.

October 10th, 1929

It’s with great resignation that I begin this diary, in the hopes that I can one day look back upon it in happier times. I have lost my employment as an accountant, as the clients I oversaw have themselves gone out of business. With fewer and fewer accounts, the firm of Fuchs & Royce chose to let me go, as I am was a junior member. Tomorrow, with great vigor, I will begin hunting for new work.

 

November 29th, 1929

I went to my cousin Edith’s this holiday, out in Fields across the Channel. I thought that perhaps some time out in the country with family would do me some good, and perhaps it did. I had a wonderful series of conversations with her, about family history no less! It was curious as the topic had never garnered such interest from me before, but with so little else in my life at this moment, I suppose that it just struck the right nerve at the right time. Our grandfather came from a remote part of the Carpathian Mountains, in Serbia, and from what she told me is that the village from which he hailed had peculiar customs from being isolated so long. Due to lack of natural resources or other reasons, it had seemingly been forgotten or overlooked by the Lord and Prophet alike for most of history. After our lively chat, she offered to let me borrow a journal that had come from our grandfather, which she had inherited after his death. I eagerly accepted!

 

January 3rd, 1930

In between menial day-labor work, I have devoted my time and thoughts into that family journal, hampered only by my ignorance of the Serbian language. One thing I have managed to decipher, however, is the word  “Aerico”, which seems to be some sort of focus of worship or other veneration. I consulted the city library for more information, but could not make much progress there. It seems there is little in the way of accumulated lore regarding Serbian myths and practices.

 

Janurary 15th, 1930

While looking for steady work, I stumbled across a small bookstore a short walk away, in John’s Landing. I spoke with the gentleman working the counter, who turned out to be the owner! He is to go traveling, and was looking to hire another clerk to help while he is away. I explained to him my own situation, and after some brief chatting, he offered me the job—which I obviously accepted! While there, and after speaking with Arthur, I met the other clerk, Sandra. Such a beauty I have never before met. Her hair a deep brown shone a heavenly glow in the window light, and eyes such a radiant green to evoke pastoral paradise. I do believe I look forward to working there.

 

February 14th, 1930

Damn that harlot! The bitch, she told Arthur’s wife. When I first saw that special order come in, I knew I had to have it. When I peered inside it, it had an entire section on Serbian folklore. An entire section on the Aerico. The person who ordered it, a "Lorem Ipsum", hadn’t arrived to pick it up for several days after it had arrived, and they were going to SEND IT BACK. I had to take it. I HAD TO. With all the time in the world now, I poured myself in to the hidebound tome. I came across on what appeared to be an invocation, or curse, calling upon the Aerico. I know just where to direct it.

 

February 19th, 1930

Sandra is dead. I heard from the neighborhood talk that a sudden illness took her. Did I do that? Am I a murderer? I can’t. I just can’t. I’m going to be sick.

 

March 30th 1930

Hundreds dead. I haven’t left the apartment in weeks, and food ran out some time ago. I saw people in the streets yesterday. I saw them taking bodies and burning them. I remember the smell of cooking meat and hair. I hated it. Today, I heard explosions coming from near the Channel, rocking my building. I thought it was the end of the world. I hoped it was. I’m so sorry.

 

 

 

 

Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice of thunder “Come and see”, and I saw, and beheld, a white horse, and he who sat upon it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering, and to conquer.





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From the author: Thank you for catching the second part of a three part series! Make sure to check back in next Saturday for part three!

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