Ghostwalker by Chipka
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Description
“I’ll shouldn’t let you do this,” Karawyn said, “but I know you well enough; it won’t do any good to try and stop you. So go right ahead, Marek; I’ve unlocked the files.”
She’d gone out on the strangest and most precarious of limbs to help him; the significance of the fact was not lost on him.
All of Candice Amberlin’s files had been sealed under SAO lock: a common enough procedure whenever a xenologist died under unusual circumstances. Candice Amberlin’s case had been officially closed, implying that there were nothing unusual in her demise, but the presence of a Secure Access Only lock was proof of something else. Someone, somewhere suspected…
…something.
They’d locked Candice’s files in order to keep that particular something under wraps. Karawyn—at Marek’s own insistence—punched a hole in that silence and let him worm his way through. He’d spent the earliest parts of the day, swimming in the data-sea: grepping intel as any cop might have called the act, playing Sherlock, as Jarédo liked to say. It hadn’t actually been Jarédo’s intention to deputize Marek, but it had been Marek who made himself useful and practically demanded to help; and now, rather than continue his half-legal swim through seas of data, Marek picked his way along one of the city’s countless Whisper Paths: fine gravel crunching beneath his sandals. Errant grains of it worked between his toes, biting at the sensitive skin. He shouldn’t have been here, knowing what he knew…and yet he stepped along the meandering gravel walkway, knowing what he knew and immune (for as long as he remained here) to anyone finding out that he’d scored the means for a gray-legal SAO breech. It was easy to think and walk, easy to pick at the frayed ends of whatever mystery he’d stumbled into. There had been hysteria at the Academy, a kind of simmering paranoia. Candice Amberlin knew something, was onto something…
…and it killed her.
Someone else knew what it was, and they’d talked the police into keeping quiet about it and closing Candice Amberlin’s case. It was easy, Marek knew, to buy the police. Every human had a price, and every price was surprisingly low. And now, Marek (invisible within the alien influence of a Whisper Path) asked questions of himself and tried—desperately—to fit puzzle pieces together. They didn’t fit. He was missing something, but it was there, in the files he wasn’t officially supposed to see….
* * *
When I first conceived of the idea for The Whisper Path, posted in the Writer’s Gallery, I didn’t expect to open the little brother to Pandora’s Box. But I did. The character, Candice Amberlin is dead and two other characters (Marek and Jarédo) have taken the first tentative steps into learning precisely why she died. It’s bigger than they could possibly have imagined.
The piece written above isn’t a direct sequel to “The Whisper Path.” It’s a response to the image I’d created. As with many of my gallery postings, my images bear distinct relationships to stories, and the story of the Whisper Path came directly from this tweaked image of a guy walking through a park. It’s a digital montage, of sorts, as there was no guy walking through the park on the day that I made the initial photograph. The walker, rendered ghostly here, is an import from Chicago’s Halsted Street. He works well enough here, however.
As always, thank you for viewing, and reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great remainder of this overtly memorial weekend.
Comments (31)
knupps
Amazing shot and postwork.
Sepiasiren
gorgeous work--just gorgeous
ToniDunlap
FANTASTIC!
RodS Online Now!
Very cool work, Chip! Excellent image, and excellent writing!
MadameX
Gripping story! I eagerly await more on this.
mgtcs
Talk about a cliffhanger! And the image does convey a sense of someone walking in stealth a path he shouldn't be in. Cool.
ia-du-lin
wonderful scene, great foto
auntietk
Ahhhhh ... I like the deeper mystery, the fact that there's something MORE going on than they had thought. I DO hope you'll continue with this story! Outstanding premise, and I love mysteries.
kgb224
Outstanding post work and writing my friend. God Bless.
0rest4wicked
Phenomenal post!
durleybeachbum
A very exciting idea! marvellous!
icerian
Very accurate title, dear Chip, I like your playing, very well done!
Feliciti
great work on this scene and like the sepia touch !!...like to read this too , thanks !!
tamburro
Excellent work my friend!!!!! Hugs:)
flavia49
marvelous
jophoto
I love this. Nicely done!
helanker
SO beautifully done. It looks like a mix of 2 dimentions :) and I like the sepia.
dreampaint
excellent, like a lot the tone colors sepia and composition is perfect. well done.
sandra46
stunning image! great composition!
Orinoor
I do really like this storyline, a little different flavor from you. I also really like the photo montage, it fits perfectly.
CoreyBlack
Ooooooooh, I LIKE this! This is a fantastic spooky shot. Reminds me of one of those early 20th Century "ghost" photos, and is eerie as hell. Never thought the Belmont Rocks could look so scary. Absolutely LOVE what you've done here. Totally rockin cool!
MrsRatbag
Wonderful image, I sometimes wonder how many people are walking the same places I am in different dimensions. And I do love this ongoing mystery tale!
belasebok
Excellent work!
beachzz
I love mysteries and this one has you all over it. The foto is a perfect companion for it and I like it just as much!!
wysiwig
I really, really LOVE this! Outstanding color and light and opacity. After years of owning Photoshop I am just now learning about layers and selections and etc. This is a neat image.
evielouise
The overlay and sepia is great as the story is also very well written:
myrrhluz
I like the introduction of another character in Karawyn. I wonder if we will see more of her, and/or if she will be in danger because of her help to Marek. I like the vision of Marek spending mind numbing hours searching through data and now walking the whisper path trying to make sense of it. I love the image, as I do the ones with the tower, shown with the story. I haven't yet explored making images with layers of different transparencies. This is very inspiring to get me moving in that direction. Excellent narrative and image!
KatesFriend
It does make for a very logical preview of how this mysterious death is going to unfold. And the image works well with it. The character moves almost unseen through a restricted world of someone elses conceptualization. Perhaps looking for some any hill hidden in the grasses of some expansive park.
Blush
Great image Love the photomanuplation:)spelling? And the more going on's than one could see I love the sepia tones you used here as well and the story goes perfect with it I would love to learn how to do this But ahhhhhh I have Paintshop Pro 9 wonder if that would work.... Hugs Susan~
praep
That's so cool. Well done work.