Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Rock in Room Ten
    The Rock in Room Ten
    The Rock in Room Ten
    Ebook173 pages1 hour

    The Rock in Room Ten

    By Mario Fenech

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Joe Simic is struggling to  overcome gambling addiction and has frequent anxiety attacks.  Many of the residents at the rooming house were also dealing with mental health issues. The man in the room next to his, David, is in very poor  health, and Joe suspects something in that room is the source of recurrent visions of another world as well as vivid recollections of his own childhood. When David is taken to hospital with little chance of returning, Joe comes home one night intoxicated  and sees a window of opportunity to enter David's room and steal what seems to be a large, dark rock. From this point on Joe's life will never be the same again.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMario Fenech
    Release dateAug 8, 2018
    ISBN9781386320890
    The Rock in Room Ten
    Author

    Mario Fenech

    Mario Fenech has written many science-fiction short stories over the years. 'The Rock in Room Ten,' is his first book published in 2013 which includes illustrations he created for the book.

    Related to The Rock in Room Ten

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Me & Davey Waters

      Jan 15, 2023

      Me & Davey Waters
      4 min read

    • Article

      Pleasure Palace

      Sep 1, 2022

      Pleasure Palace
      15 min read

    • Article

      Heavy Heart

      Feb 5, 2022

      Heavy Heart
      6 min read

    • Article

      About Ed

      Jun 14, 2022

      I walk into the orchid show with Ed. As soon as I see the tumultuous hall I know he won’t last long. Ed walks like an old man though he is forty. After ten minutes on his feet, he vomits on some purple phalaenopsis. I get him outside through a fire e

      18 min read

    • Article

      Seven Minutes For Joan

      Apr 5, 2022

      Seven Minutes For Joan
      8 min read

    • Article

      Washing Troubles Away

      Jan 19, 2021

      Washing Troubles Away
      6 min read

    • Article

      Bald Ambition

      Dec 1, 2022

      Bald Ambition
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Stonemason’s Wife

      Sep 1, 2020

      JOLINA HAS been hearing voices of men she’s never met. Voices like water, clear and cold, eddying at the back of her mind. They’re not real. She knows this. As in, she’s not crazy. They’re only the voices she’s heard on the phone, voices of men who b

      6 min read

    • Article

      In An Instant

      Sep 24, 2020

      In An Instant
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Centre

      May 6, 2021

      The Centre
      8 min read

    • Article

      Good Guysfinish Last

      Oct 6, 2020

      Good Guysfinish Last
      3 min read

    • Article

      Nasty Streak

      Jul 9, 2020

      Nasty Streak
      6 min read

    • Article

      Look Back in LAUGHTER

      May 1, 2024

      Look Back in LAUGHTER
      6 min read

    • Article

      Timespiral

      Feb 1, 2020

      Timespiral
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Alchemist

      Apr 29, 2024

      The Alchemist
      7 min read

    • Article

      Son Of A Sinner

      Feb 1, 2023

      Son Of A Sinner
      7 min read

    • Article

      Son Of A Sinner

      Feb 1, 2023

      Son Of A Sinner
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Alien’s Tale

      Jun 3, 2021

      The Alien’s Tale
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Song For Joel

      Apr 23, 2020

      Ruth Crockett, 52, Liverpool As the ice-cream van sounded in the street, my youngest boy Joel, then 5, jumped up and down. ‘Can I have an ice cream, Mum?’ he pleaded. ‘OK,’ I smiled, handing him a fiver. But when Joel walked back, he was clutching fi

      4 min read

    • Article

      Dementia

      Aug 12, 2021

      Dementia
      10 min read

    • Article

      Someone To Watch OVER ME

      Jun 15, 2022

      Someone To Watch OVER ME
      9 min read

    • Article

      Sensory Perceptions

      Apr 4, 2024

      Sensory Perceptions
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Rock in Room Ten

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Rock in Room Ten - Mario Fenech

      mario fenech

      © Copyright 2013 Mario Fenech.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

      photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

      ––––––––

      1

      Ch a pter 1

      Dark Clouds

      This morning quite early I was vaguely aware of lying face down on the newspapers strewn over the dingy carpet. The room was lit by a flickering television screen. Flashes of my activities last night were relegated as I tried to recall a dream I was having. What struck me was the strangeness about the dream: there were no people in it; all I could remember was a view of a reddish landscape and dark objects scattered about. Heavy clouds of mist crept over the surface, glowing pink from within. As I watched this scene unfold, it occurred to me that what I was seeing was coming to me from another entity. The dream also had an eerie feeling due to the complete absence of any familiar lifeforms or signs of human activity.

      Joe Simic combed his dark hair back with his fingers as he checked the latest entry to his journal. Up till now he had been unable to put into words the strange dreams which had begun recently. David in room ten turned up the volume on his radio almost to full, so that the music came through the walls of Joe’s narrow room loud and

      2     mario fenech

      clear. Joe never complained, partly because he sympathised with David’s situation. Since coming to the rooming house, David’s obesity and general health had become worse. Joe often thought that most of the men at sixty-six should be in care, but he had troubles of his own to deal with.

      He got up from the bed, which did not offer much resistance to his body. He made a mental note to do something about the useless springs before they ruined his back. Somewhere in the room on a piece of paper were the measurements of the bed so he could get a board cut up to place under the mattress. All around the room Joe had placed notes for things he needed to do and sketches for sculptures he planned to make. On the old wardrobe rested the wire frame of a sperm whale, spiderwebs gave it a ghostly skin.

      Footsteps and voices could be heard in the corridor. It sounded like Werner, the caretaker, talking to one of the residents. Joe checked his mobile phone for the time. It was 7:09 am. He swiped the face of the phone to get the calendar to check if there were any appointments.

      There were no entries for today. Suddenly Joe felt a kind of darkness descend upon him, even though the morning sun shone through the flimsy orange curtain. He became agitated, yet experience told him he should act to stave off the panic attack before it got out of control. He took deep breaths as he tried to focus on something. Deciding to go to the bathroom to freshen up, he collected his toiletries and stepped out into the corridor. Werner stood looking into the bathroom with a puzzled expression. ‘Good morning Werner, is something wrong?’ Joe asked.

      Werner motioned to something in the room with outstretched hands, ‘The peoples is crazy,’ he said sibilantly with an accent. Joe peered into the room and saw straight

      ahead what at first appeared to be a body in the toilet bowl. After a short time it became apparent the object was actually an inflatable sex toy, slightly deflated and stuffed into the bowl in such a way that one leg pointed at the ceiling. It was a strange start to the day, helping Werner remove the doll and place it into a large plastic bag so he could use the bathroom.

      Walking to the main road to catch a tram Joe’s anxiety had lifted, he was living in the moment taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the morning. He managed to catch a city bound tram and validated his card.

      When he sat down he noticed the man in the seat next to his, possibly Chinese, holding brownish Buddhist prayer beads in his right hand, the left hand was closed and rested on his knee and he lent forward a bit because of his backpack. Also he seemed poised to catch the little girl bouncing on the seat in front of him. The man recited the mantra when he was not talking to the child. The elfin little girl dropped onto the seat and promptly bit into something. Her tiny fingers took something from her mouth and she peeled invisible layers from whatever it was, then placed it back in her mouth. The man opened his left hand and offered the girl what appeared to be small seeds. She went through the process of biting, peeling and eating. There was something about this exchange between father and daughter, or was it grandfather and granddaughter? Without speaking, the child seemed to exude wisdom and tranquillity. Was she like that because of the man’s influence, or was it due to something intrinsic? Questions often branched out into other questions and would sometimes lead to something unexpected, something hidden in the detail.

      4     mario fenech

      The tram made regular noises as it braked, slowed down and gradually got back up to speed. Joe’s mind searched for patterns, rhythms of everyday experiences. The tram was approaching Joe’s stop, near the entrance to the arts centre. Although he intended to go to Guildford Lane Gallery in the city, he thought a long walk would be good for him. The sun was like a tonic for his tortured mind, and for now at least, anxious feelings were held off. A voice brought him out of his thoughts. ‘Hey Joe, how are you?’ The woman with the short, shiny dark hair asked, sounding genuinely pleased to see him. It took a few seconds before he placed her sharp features and the slight huskiness in her voice. ‘Hey, Breehan!’, he replied, a little drawn out, as her name came to him. Joe’s first impression, that Breehan was genuinely excited to see him, was confirmed when she talked him into going to Young and Jackson for a drink upstairs. They found a table near the window

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1