Christopher Cayen-Cyr

“Messy Missives” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #254

Hermes's Messy MissiveVolume XII, Issue IIITrojans and Achaeans alike, rejoice!Your boy Hermes is back at it again with another edition of his weekly newsletter. I may be a messenger to the gods, but you know my heart has always been with the hot gossip of folks down below! I'm a messy messenger who lives for drama, after all.Ever since the Aphrodite-Ares-Hephaestus love triangle drama died down eons ago, the tea has been cold up on Mount Olympus. Thankfully, Goddess of Discord Eris has finally brought us the earth-shattering pettiness us go...

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“Amour Macabre” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #119

He hovered above the wet clay track, the remnants of his shredded dark robe gliding onto the dirt and rocks. His skeletal feet did not move at all, as if frozen in time amongst the tombs. It was the night before the first snowfall, his last chance to awake them before Persephone retreated for her winter slumber. The grim figure stopped in front of the tallest tree in the graveyard, now bare of any leaf. Its knotty branches reached for the dark clouds covering the night sky as an old man reaches for the heavens before his final breath. Slow...

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“Mystery of the Lab” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

“Careful Jake,” said Mr. Langley as he locked the basement door behind him. “The lab is off limits.” “Since when?” replied his twelve-year-old son, who was merely walking by from the kitchen to the living room with a slice of pizza in his hand. “As of tonight.” “Why? What’s in there?” “None of your business.” “But dad…” “Goodnight!” Mr. Langley rushed upstairs without saying another word, as if purposely avoiding the conversation. Father and son could not have been more different. Mr. Langley was a rather small, spectacled ma...

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“Confessions Between Dark Figures” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #116

“Forgive me father, for I have sinned.” “What sin is this, my child?” “I’m afraid I can’t tell you.” This was my first time in twenty years inside a confessional booth. I had no idea who sat in the darkness on the other side of the metal grate, and the idea of speaking about my woes to a pure stranger made my skin crawl. Yet, here I was, a woman in her seventies, desperate to heal myself. “Why is it you can’t tell me?” the dark figure replied. “Have you hurt someone?” “No,” I hastily replied, horrified at the thought of being confu...

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“First Night at the Hall” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #116

She had told Mindy in the office her only wish was never to cross paths with me again, but surely she didn’t mean it. The Carla I knew couldn’t be this spiteful. There were many good memories, too many of them to discard: halls filled with concertgoers for whom we played in solidarity; cocktail-fueled afterparties where we laughed on and on; vibrant discussions that revolved around the most brilliant composers, our opinions always perfectly aligned. I refused to believe it, and so I drove on and on in the rain, like a stalker, searching for ...

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“For Faculty Only” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #116

“What do you mean, it’s private?” Under normal circumstances, Professor Kline never lost her temper. Unfortunately for the parking clerk, she was running late for her very first symposium at Clark University that day, her alma mater. The consequences of showing up late were potentially disastrous. Surely, she was bound to be a laughingstock among all of her former mentors in the chemistry department. New appointees do not just “skip” on their first symposium. In light of this, her response came out not so much like a mere annoyed complaint...

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“From the Cupboard” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #116

“Peter! Have you forgotten about the Green Rule?”The pupil froze on the spot the very second Mrs. Soloway raised her voice, stopping midway between the door and the teacher’s desk as all of his classmates directed their inquisitive stares towards him. He might as well have been a frail, hopeless leaf caught in a sudden winter storm, hammered to the ground by the merciless weight of the snow falling from the skies.Truth be told, her tone had been kind and nurturing. One might even say playful. Had her words been sung to the tune of the softes...

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“On the Quantum Nature of Coolness” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #114

On the Quantum Nature of Coolness. A Thesis.By Dr. Jill Pillar, Ph.D.Cool kids. While many have brought into question their true existence on the basis of the lack of a measurable quantity by which to evaluate their said coolness, I now postulate that they are inexorably weaved into the very fabric of our universe.After all, popularity is the abstract concept that keeps on giving, just like gravity. In Newton’s time, many thought gravity was a done deal. The Universal Law of Gravitation perfectly described the observable behavior of objects ...

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“Towards Monsters” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #92

I woke up to the same incessant buzzing sound that my brain had become so skilled at shutting out during sleep. The neon lights never went off in the cellar. They shone bright day and night, with my pale skin bathing in their green halo every second of every day. My biological clock never failed me: the agents would be here very soon. Sure enough, they came on time. The heavy metal door swung open, giving me a glimpse at the darkness of the concrete corridor on the other side. As a child (not that I felt like an adult in any way), I was terr...

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“Vote For Yourself” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #88

“A vote for me is a vote for affordable healthcare.”The crowd erupted in thunderous applause, in awe of the man before them.“A vote for me is a vote for social equity.”The cheers multiplied, filling up the sumptuously decorated hospital atrium.“Most of all, a vote for me is a vote for research. It’s a vote for the promise of a better future for all of us. The stakes are high, and every vote counts.”All attendees, hospital staff and patients alike, rose to their feet in near worship of Representative Skyler. Dressed in an immaculate suit punc...

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“Prodigies of Age” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #88

The BLOOD!The SLAUGHTER!The SUSPENSE!These will be splattered across every page as detective Martha Sevinski braves the dangers of the underground organ trafficking scene in her search of the Boston Butcher, a vicious serial killer preying on the fresh college minds of Harvard University. As the predator makes his way down the list of top ranking students to harvest their brains, Sevinski finds herself racing against the clock to uncover his secret identity and teams up with an unlikely ally in the person of her estranged husband, Dr. Ratche...

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“World of SoulQuest” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #88

***The following is a copy of chat records from World of SoulQuest game instance #17326940, as subpoenaed by court order. SoulStorm Entertainment certifies no alterations have been made to the below records, and intends to fully collaborate with authorities in their investigation over the allegations levelled against us. Please note the contents of the below chat are purely fictional and involve no actual soul transactions, despite recent accusations. It is SSE’s firm belief that we will be cleared of all online soul trafficking charges. ***...

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“Wish Upon A Fish” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #87

April 1st, 2020The day started like any other day, just as it would for any other high school junior. I woke up from my five hours of productive dreaming and removed my headphones, which were still playing personal recordings of organic compound nomenclature rules. At 5:30AM, after an energizing cold shower of precisely fifteen minutes, I brewed coffee and poured some into my favorite cup, revising the structure of the caffeine molecule printed on it at the same time.For the next two hours, I practiced Graphical User Interface development in...

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“The Peggy Sue Jones Show: Helpman VS Prankster” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #87

This podcast is reflects the views of our freelance collaborator, Peggy Sue Jones, and her views only. Monitor the City Post blog for further updates. At first, New Yorkers struggled to believe there was truth to the story published by the City Post. It sounded like the stuff comic books are written about. A superhero against a supervillain, the usual story. A week later, however, a television crew capture proof of their existence, live. They waged a fiery battle in Central Park, destroying a great portion of the Bethesda Terrace in the pr...

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“Tech Taboo” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #87

There are things you don’t say lightly in a tech company. One of them is this:“The robots have taken over. I repeat, the robots have taken over. Hide.”When these words were spoken over the intercom, most programmers on the Software Floor dove underneath their desks, including Lea, the beautiful C++ expert who worked across from me. Not me. I knew this day was coming. Since my very first course on artificial intelligence, I had been preparing for an eventual but unavoidable robot takeover. Luckily, my escape plan was now fully operational.I r...

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