'Written...'

By Benjamin Coakley

The dark meanderings of a frustrated writer living in London during the 1990's. Through misadventure and desperate attempts to gain inspiration, the protagonist Will, manages to write his next novel but also falls foul to his insatiable imagination...Society suffers as his thoughts drift away from his work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Benjamin Coakley
• Release date: Jun 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224112418

Book preview

‘Written...’

Table of Contents

Title Page

'Written...'

Reality

Controlled Loss

Jailhouse Rock

The Pub on Twin Peaks

London's Calling

Circadian Rhythm

Pulling Teeth

Thursday, November 15th

GOING...

Black is Back

A Whiff of Change

Market Research

KNIVES OUT...

THE unDEAD

By

––––––––

Benjamin Coakley

Thanks, Tom...

... Then the pencil snapped between his fingers, and he chose to leave it there for today. He drifted over to the sofa and renewed his nightly seating position, sitting with his favourite pure white fluffy cat named Oscar. Will began to reminisce. The cat had just come in from the cold, sat beside him on the sofa and as he gently stroked it, he noticed a single drop of liquid on one of its lower eyelids. Was he crying? Surely not! Then a second droplet appeared and subsequently fell onto the sofa. Being startled and a little amazed, Will looked straight into his eyes for assurance. Can cats cry? He oddly thought. All appeared normal otherwise, so Will sat back gently on his divan to eagerly watch The Tempest, at which point sweet Oscar made a strange sound. A sound of severity, faster and one that was both more energetic and loving, more so than his usual husk of deep purring. Had I given him a new pleasure, or did he simply love Shakespeare? Either way, Will loved caressing the beautiful ball of fur, with his enchanting eyes, one blue, the other yellow, all the while attempting to catch the faint dialogue from the supine delivery on screen. However, any ham could be cured without the slightest effort by the diaphanous ability of a certain H. Mirren.

Looking into her eyes, he was reminded of a sweet Danish girl he once knew and he began to remember about the extravaganza of their second date at the Natural History Museum in London some years ago. Her name was Franciska, and she was a tall, natural blonde with robust features and cheekbones like wing mirrors. The Dane had yet to visit the museum as she had only been in London for a few months and was completing her master's degree in Art & Politics at Goldsmiths College. Will had been enthused by their first date at the British Museum, followed by dinner at a trendy American-style diner in Soho and then finally to his favourite place in London, Ain't Nothing But, a live-blues bar that rocked when the bands were on stage as the place was always wild with enthusiasm. It was a venue of style, vigour and cool blue repercussion. Will felt truly at home in its bustling environment, still finding it easy to strike up a conversation of warmth with every other blues fan, which gave solidarity to his Irish roots.

And so back to the second date, at the Natural History Museum. The day was Friday. Will especially remembered this because it was the last of the month and this meant that the museum was open late, until ten. He had planned it a few days before, but it wasn't until the night before that he’d had a most adventurous idea, which he only felt brave enough to share with Ciska once they had both arrived. Will turned up a minute or two before her, wearing a check shirt over a tight V-neck plain white T-shirt. Feeling he looked mildly sexy and just attractive enough to highlight his potential interest in her should she be dressed in a similar vein. As he walked into the main room, with its giant dinosaur skeleton erect in front of him and with about a hundred young, exciting people all bustling and chatting, drinking cocktails and champagne, he swiftly circled the mayhem and then headed back to the entrance. His primary focus was to call her. As he straightened his collar, with the phone in his hand, she came through the door smiling. She looked devilishly pretty, with a thin black silk dress on and a humble cardigan covering her bare shoulders, possibly to hold on to some modesty about her feelings toward Will, or at least that's how he read it.

Nonetheless, she swooned over to him, and they tenderly embraced with a kiss on the cheek. She left a hot red set of lip marks on his left chop, at which they both giggled playfully. The lipstick she wore was fiendishly scarlet with intent, and this immediately started his heart, loins and desires rumbling. How was he going to hold on to his lust and play it cool? To have any sort of conversation would be an epic achievement over the next hour.

They both timidly walked through the crowds, gaily wandering in any direction, making the occasional comment about the million-year-old crustaceans in jars or the grand dinosaur figures, towering above them. After a short time, Will felt giddy at revealing last night's radical thought to her and what her reply would be. 'I had an idea last night...' She turned to him and looked genuinely interested. 'I think we should find a dark corner and stay in here all night... what do you think?' And in less than a few trembling heartbeats from courageous Will she simply replied, 'Okay' with a grin to match her provocative ice-blue gaze. They continued to bounce forward through the museum, and Will kept pace, thrilled at her calm but positive response. They were going to do this. They were somehow going to stay there all night, and if they failed to manage it, then at least he looked brave and confident and thus hopefully becoming physically irresistible.

Both joyfully strolled along, looking at ancient fossils and having titbits of academic conversation about what they had just read or seen. They then found themselves at the far west end of the museum and in an area with no one else around. They separately walked down a few steel steps and down to the right, with the left fascia now being a massive wall of glass looking out onto the damp night sky. Will didn't want to feign interest in talking any more, and as soon as she stopped and turned on her heel, he pounced and kissed her deeply on the lips. He then retracted and paused for a moment, unsure of her interest momentarily, but was soon assured when he again engaged with her ruby-red lips. The two joyfully kissed for a minute or so in a secret romance.

As they slowly made their way back into the bustling main room, a tannoy announced that the museum would be closing in ten minutes. Franciska looked at Will for confirmation of how to proceed. He wavered briefly before taking her hand and leading them through the uncharted territory in search of that elusive dark spot in which to hide. They rushed and swivelled, turned and giggled, but could not see a potential place. They stood in the main foyer, breathing heavily and searching with their eyes for anything that might just keep this fantasy alive. It was with surprise and delight that Will heard her say, 'The disabled toilets?' As more of a statement than a question, Will rapidly gave the nod and walked at pace, trying to remain incognito as he rushed through the empty restaurant, where a handful of staff was finishing cleaning up, and into the toilets. They looked around nervously before embracing excitedly, passionately kissing against the mirror, with a broad naughty smile on both their faces and a hungry heart to pass the next half an hour engaging in sheer sensual activity once in the spacious, innocent-smelling toilet. After only a few minutes, the door opened, and a female attempted to enter, but upon seeing two partially naked people she immediately retreated, apologising as she did so with her head bowed. They both stopped and thought that the game was up, surely this was the end of their gallant attempt to defy conformity and spend the night with each other, genuinely making history a reality of epic proportions.

After approximately thirty minutes of calm and no fuss, they were surprised that no security guard had come raging at the dying of their night. They were joyfully puzzled and cautiously tiptoed out of the toilet and into the restaurant where they were amazed to be met by complete silence and not a single person in sight. Was it true? Had they managed it? Surely not, as they slowly entered the main hall and passed by a half-dozen kitchen staff and an official female talking into her radio. But with steely determination, because Will thought he had come too far now to let this wild adventure end, he took Ciska's hand and walked confidently into another hall. One that was devoid of people, and they hid behind wall and again began kissing hungrily. The two giggled and in true male adventurer style Will repeatedly assured her they were doing nothing wrong, and would not be in trouble should anyone catch them.

The two began to relax after about half an hour, as it was now half-past eleven and all seemed fine. The pair of relic-surrounded lovers remained in an interactive room and engaged with the science-based games, testing memory and powers of observation, as this room was about human biological make-up and all its beautiful force. Still unsure if the museum had closed, since the electricity in the machines and the lights were still on. Will gave the impression he was calm but was instead giddy with trepidation. They gingerly walked out into the hall, and when they looked left, back into the main entrance, they saw a security guard walking through and twirling his flashlight. They jumped back into the room, hugged one another and hysterically giggled. 'God! That was close,' she said, and the thrill level revved again up to the maximum. This was a well-needed break from the norm of what he often thought was a pretty mundane life, and to have found a girl who shared his love for excitement was a big thrill.

The two scallywags roared on, finding a modern section for academia and school pupil visits, with a cloakroom and class seating area. The electricity had only just gone off now, some ninety minutes after closing time, and Will felt peaceful, amazed at this new outing and its execution. He truly felt as if he was at last in the initial stages of falling in love. It was one of the best ideas he had ever had. There was a section over in the west wing, slightly further out than the quiet corridor and surrounded by glass, where they could rest for a while, feeling it might be an ideal spot to sleep when such a time came round. Feeling calm and triumphant, they lay down on a wooden bench that protruded from the wall, next to the cloakroom. It was wide enough for both of them, and she lay on Will's arm as he exhaled looking at the ceiling, feeling joy in his head and his heart. She was a girl of few words, and this suited the moment, as he noticed 'Darwin' written in big letters adorning the section of the wall above and immediately to their right. Will mostly spoke about nature and the little he knew of it, attempting to impress her. After a few minutes of rambling, he felt a little foolish and overly zealous, and so apologised for talking excessively. She simply said it was okay, that she liked listening to his voice and encouraged him to continue. Will was relieved and jubilant at the apparent perfection of this girl, and so he informed her of his knowledge of a Shakespeare monologue and would she like to hear it? She whispered affirmatively in his ear, and he gave a tepid rendition of Hamlet's first soliloquy. They remained in one another's arms, each drifting in and out of sleep for the next hour, listening to the raindrops rapping against the brickwork outside and each other's smooth breathing.

They now felt well rested, and their energy levels renewed, once again ready to discover new-found lands. They cautiously peered around every corner and listened intently before stepping into each new room. After travelling through a few places and corridors they stepped into a grand hall, consisting of two levels joined by stairs at either side of this oval space, spanning approximately eighty feet long by fifty wide. The upper level was a six or seven foot wide walkway that ran all the way round the space because suspended in the centre of the room was a great sperm whale, stuffed and hanging majestically by thin wires, engulfing at least thirty per cent of the entire room. Will stood in wonder, taking a deep breath and smiling at his pure adventurous self and the fun ideas his lonely mind often had. Ciska raced up the stairs without Will, and this pleased him. It demonstrated that she was indeed an individual and was just as excited as he was. He raced after her, and they studied the many stuffed animals before sitting down at the far end of the room on an iron bench. Will sat and urged her to join him, and so she sat next to him, looked him in the eye, kissed him kindly before swivelling her legs around and sat in his lap with her arm around his neck. They embraced for what seemed like an eternity, gazed at by the motionless whale, ten foot in front of them.

As they became more comfortable, she took off her shoes and placed her leather satchel on the floor. The room was silent, and their voices carried effortlessly. As a result, they kept conversation to a minimum and instead gave way to passion, finding all they needed on that night in each other's physical delicacy. In one another's touch, and tickle, presence and poise, meaning and longing, for the need to verbalise was overtaken by every embrace and exchange of stuttered breath. They were signalling each other's tempered state or surge of sexual excitement, elation and happiness. It was a timeless period, when lovers of equal ferocity gave way to the freedom of lust amidst a historical setting, to die and become a relic here themselves, now and in this ever-engaging state they were both content to do so, should this be their fate.

Instead, their blissful spell was broken by the noise of conversation coming from beneath their feet. They quietly stood up and edged forward, waiting for the sound to emerge and confirm its existence. Two men with flashlights walked across the room, chatting boisterously about nothing in particular. Ciska panicked and went running off, but Will grabbed her and assured her it was fine, 'Just duck down and sneak gradually around the upper level with me and let them pass through'. The plan was to remain hidden until the museum opened its doors the following morning and the pair would then simply float out with the stale night air, but she failed to hold her nerve, parting from Will, heading down the stairs in panic and out of the room. Will continued to edge around the room's top tier, crouching and watching the guards as they stopped at the iron bench, sat down and laughed. Will received a text from her a minute later (a good job his phone was on silent), telling him she’d left her shoes and bag behind and had the guards found them? After some ten minutes, the guards left the room and Will edged back around to the bench where he found no shoes or bag. He was a little baffled about the guards and how, upon finding such items, they did not assume that there may have been stowaways, hiding from them in the ship, below deck. Will sent a reply. She was back in the Darwin section again, hiding in the toilet and too scared to come out. So he agreed to rescue her, and after an S.A.S.-style operation they were soon back at the steel bench, looking at Mr Whale and feeling unsure of what to do, as she needed her shoes and bag. The hour had just passed four a.m., and the thrill had taken its toll, as the pair of them were exhausted from the danger-dodging and it was decided they would hand themselves in. So Will, being the mastermind behind this venture, was undoubtedly the one to conclude it. He strolled out to the main foyer, saw the guards in the distance down the dark corridor and simply raised his voice saying 'Hello' in a non-threatening tone while holding his hands aloft. The two guards quickly turned and looked poised, ready to physically engage with the silhouetted figure in the distance who was neither a raptor nor a T Rex that had magically come back to life. It was late at this point, and Will felt drained.

They approached Will and asked what he was doing in here, to which he responded in a half-truth. 'Hi, guys... I'm with my fiancé, and we really want to go home. I thought it would be romantic to stay here all night, as it's our fifth wedding anniversary and I wanted it to be special, but it's not any more, and we are very very sorry.' The guards were disarmed by this charming piece of soppy drivel and simply asked Will to show them where the girl was. The two bandits were then escorted downstairs to a sub-level, where they were held in a brightly lit security room. Ciska was fretting about what might happen to