Six and Seven

By David J. Lovato

Call it Hell, call it the Underworld, call it whatever you like, a lost soul known only as Six calls it "In" and he's stuck here. The souls of In spend their time feeding or fanning flames, watched over by strange creatures called Bellows, and staring through the constant snow of ash at seven distant chimneys visible at all times but eternally unreachable.

Then another soul called Seven gives Six some interesting news: You can get Out by climbing up through one of the chimneys, and Seven figured out how to get to them. Six and Seven set off across the ashy plains toward a chimney, and they quickly learn the rules. The only way to reach the chimney is to progress toward it metaphysically, by finding objects from their lives before In. But each object is accompanied by a painful death, which is followed by a memory from Six's life, and with each glimpse of what he left behind, Six begins to wonder if he truly wants Out at all.

Six and Seven is a horror novella that includes a short story sequel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David J. Lovato
• Release date: Feb 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301701100

David J. Lovato

I live in Gladstone, Missouri, a small suburb of Kansas City, where I spend most of my time reading, writing, or reading and writing.

Book preview

Six and Seven

by David J. Lovato

Text and Illustrations Copyright © 2013 David J. Lovato

All rights reserved.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Also by David J. Lovato:

Hole

Dark Things

Permanent Ink on Temporary Pages

After the Bite (with Seth Thomas)

In the Lone and Level Sands (with Seth Thomas)

The Ones Who Follow the Water

Table of Contents:

Foreword

Six and Seven

Interword

Seven Side

About the Author

Illustrations:

One was closer.

Somewhere, Somewhen, Somewhy

Dead Eyes, Water Mouth

below everything that ever existed

Here and There

Foreword

In the summer of 2012 I was knee-deep in editing several projects. By that point writing and editing were nothing new to me. I had read all the classics like The Elements of Style, On Writing, and Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, but somewhere along the way I adopted a sense of doubt. I began to wonder if the changes I was making were to make my writing better, or if I was doing them just to do them.

That question is one of the big ones when it comes to editing a book. I think in the past what I was doing was editing for the sake of editing, making changes because other books told me I was supposed to. The alternative is to ignore the rules and do what you think is best for your story.

In the end I think it’s about balance between the two. Ignoring rules for the sake of ignoring them is just as bad as following rules for the sake of following them, so in writing you really have to ask yourself: Is what I’m doing making my story better?

With all these thoughts in my head, I decided it was time to write a story completely shackle-free. I wanted to push the boundaries, let myself write what I wanted to write whether I was breaking rules or following them. Of course I planned to edit it someday, but I wanted to cross that bridge when I came to it, and no sooner.

The end product required very little editing. I liked it the way it was, mostly. I believe I’ve struck a balance between following rules and breaking them, taking into account only what was best for the story I was trying to tell. I wasn’t always right the first time, but few people are.

Six and Seven is the story of two lost souls. It’s a story about the good and evil inside all of us, the internal struggles we have on a daily basis. In a sense it’s also about the reasons we choose to ignore or follow the paths and guidelines laid out for us. No one can see where the path leads, we’re all just trying to do our best and get to where we’re going.

David Lovato

February 2013

P.S.

Since I was already in the spirit of freeing my creativity and doing things I don’t normally do, I decided to start scribbling some illustrations. I’m a terrible artist, but I found digitally painting some of the scenes in the book to be peaceful. (There’s one scene in the story that was actually based on the painting, rather than the other way around.) I thought since I went to the trouble to draw them, I might as well include them. They’re nothing amazing, but I don’t think I lose anything by presenting them.

All of the illustrations have two forms: The basic drawing, and the same drawing made into a cover for the e-book. I’m hoping to have these up on my blog, http://davidjlovato.wordpress.com, in downloadable form, so hopefully if you like one in particular you can actually assign it as the cover of your copy of the e-book, or just keep it around on your computer or whatever you want.

Six and Seven

1

You know there’s a way Out, right?

Well isn’t this interesting?

I looked up at him. He sat across the barracks with ash smudged all over his face, beneath the always-inspirational sign reading What are ya In for? I imagined that if I looked in a mirror, my reflection would look the same, but they don’t have mirrors here. What’s a mirror? Anyway,

That’s horseshit, I said. I looked back down at the cards in my hand. The game we play is called Fate, and you basically have to out-live the other guy using your cards. It’s a terrible game, but we all play because there’s really nothing else to do when we aren’t working.

He put a three down and looked up at me and smiled.

If you win, I’ll tell you how to get Out.

You’ll tell me a lie, you mean.

Maybe that’s what I’m In for, he said.

Winning?

Lying.

Same thing. I put down a zero. He frowned and shook his head.

For most of us the word Out would draw up images. I’ve heard people blather on about fields of roses or sunsets on the beach. I’m not sure I know what any of those words mean, and usually I just keep to myself and let them go on. It makes them feel better.

So those are the pastimes: Fate, yammering on about Out, and work.

Work is hard. There are two types of workers: Feeders and Fanners. Either you feed the flames or you fan them, but either way it amounts to the same thing and either way you work all day and return to the barracks covered in ash. You’re always covered in ash, actually everything is always covered in ash. The sheets are stained with it, it’s on your clothes and in your hair and there are two types of weather: Clear, and ash falling from the sky like snow. What’s water?

Then there are the Bellows, which aren’t what you’d think they are. They don’t give air to fire, that’s what the Fanners do. The Bellows watch us and make sure we’re working. I don’t know what happens if we’re not because we’re never not. Everyone just does their job and does it well, it’s like there’s no—

What’s Free Will?

And there are also the Monitors. No one knows what they do because no one has ever seen one, we just know they’re there.

He put a nine on my zero, and I almost laughed. I played my last card, a six. Six isn’t bigger than nine but it’s an inverse since they look the same. Did I mention this game is terrible?

It’s about time to switch shifts, one of the other guys in the barracks said. There are sixteen of us total, and we stay in the barracks eight at a time while the other eight are out working, then we switch.

He stood up, for a minute blocking our motto from my view (not that I missed it) and dusted himself off, which was of course a purely symbolic gesture. Then he put his last card down, a seven. I pursed my lips, but he smiled at me.

I’ll tell you anyway, Six, he said. So that’s how it was going to be, he’d hold that over me? Well,