An End

By Nick Stokes

The last survivors of the Community fight to live and die in authenticity and love while Others thrive: an account of an end of our species. An End, a short story, was first published by Mixer Publishing.

From An End:
"When Matthew returned there were twelve. He found the eleven others pressed shoulder to shoulder under a corrugated metal roof like thick lines of Others waiting to plug in and make their dull eyes bright. He listened to the rain on the roof. Twelve seemed too many. No matter, all love. The rain stopped and the twelve dispersed to their digging, planting, hoeing, picking, macheteing, cooking, eating, conversing, excreting, to their coffee, to their macadamia, and to their cane.
Matthew returned to the routine of the days. He forgot to count them. It did not take him long to not think anything of note. The other Community members spoke often, but often without expressing clear thoughts. He occasionally spoke to Mary of nothing. He had a conversation with Maggie that caused him unhappiness. He did not think about it. It was forgotten. He worked in silence."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Stokes
• Release date: Mar 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310560194

Nick Stokes

Nick Stokes is the author of the novel AFFAIR, first serialized by The Seattle Star, the (anti)-choose-your-own-adventure YOU CHOOSE, and the attempt to consciousness ARTIFACT COLLECTIVE. His short prose and fictions and nothings have been published by Bumf, Paper Darts, Crab Orchard Review, Mixer, Waccamaw, Prick of the Spindle, Knock, and others. His plays have been seen in various venues: DUELS in a built garden at 12th Ave Arts in Seattle and On the Boards NWNW Fest, WAS IS WILL BE MUSIC in a Seattle hotel room, and THE SOUND WE MAKE in Tacoma's Old City Hall. DUELS, produced in 2016 by amador/stokes, received reviews that said such words as "an absorbing work of agricultural absurdity" and "a vibrant, surreal production" and "DUELS presents a cornucopia of senses, languages, themes, and genres ... reminds us what it means to be human" and "Come the f*** on with this s***." He once-upon-a-time packed mules in Montana, lives in Tacoma, and is virtually sometimes at nickstokes.net.

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An End

by Nick Stokes

Copyright 2014 Nick Stokes

Smashwords Edition

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.

An End was first published by Mixer Publishing.

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An End

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An End

WHEN MATTHEW RETURNED there were twelve. He found the eleven others pressed shoulder to shoulder under a corrugated metal roof like thick lines of Others waiting to plug in and make their dull eyes bright. He listened to the rain on the roof. Twelve seemed too many. No matter, all love. The rain stopped and the twelve dispersed to their digging, planting, hoeing, picking, macheteing, cooking, eating, conversing, excreting, to their coffee, to their macadamia, and to their cane.

Matthew returned to the routine of the days. He forgot to count them. It did not take him long to not think anything of note. The other Community members spoke often, but often without expressing clear thoughts. He occasionally spoke to Mary of nothing. He had a conversation with Maggie that caused him unhappiness. He did not think about it. It was forgotten. He worked in silence.

Maggie, Matthew’s older sister, full-breasted, smooth-skinned, wide-hipped, and