Chess Set

It was lonely. Only he and the king on a sea of checkered squares, red and black as far as the eye could see, stretching out in a dizzying array. Beyond that ghostly figures hovered, just beyond his control, waiting to pounce. To pounce and snatch him away to horrors unknown. Where did his comrades go when captured? He didn't know. They simply disappeared. The little white pawn missed his friend, the bishop, who was advising him on the rigors of war before this frantic altercation started. Then the blast of lighters in the sky and the slosh of red wine rivers started the mad dash of pieces in all directions. The bishop was taken with the rest; even the lovely queen was gone. The king remained at the rear, shuffling from square to square, seemingly traumatized by the events.

First his buddy to the right was taken, then the soldier to his left, both captured in a frightening display of monster machinery, a giant hairy scoop that whisked them up and away with agility to marvel at, no matter what counter-maneuvers they tried. Now he stood alone with the king and the enemy closing in. He could see the black army coming closer.

"Hey, a-hole! We're coming to get you!"

It was a voice in the darkness. A shadowy figure emerged three squares away, sliding into place with ease and grace. The black rook glared at him, an anger of war in his eyes, his parapets rattling, a well-honed war machine, reveling in the dance.

"Never!" the little pawn replied. "You'll never take me alive!"

"You're not alive, you twit! You live only in the imagination!"

The pawn took pause. "Whose imagination?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. That's like asking who God is, you know. It might be the players' imaginations or it might be the wacky mind of the writer of this piece."

"Wow, that's deep."

"Word. But hey, I didn't mean to get all existential on you...whoa, do you smell cigar smoke?"

That was when the little pawn relaxed his guard, nose extended sniffing the air, as the giant hairy machine propelled a knight through the smoky haze and scooped the little fellow away. And what happened to the little pawn next? Well, I'll leave that to your imagination.

Copyright 2008 JO Janoski