Gianluca Angelucci

“I hung my head” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #119

The thud of the gavel roaring from the towering chair of the judge presses on my chest, with the same weight of the doors of Hell closing behind me.I suppose that it will actually happen, as soon as the Grim Reaper will come and claim my soul. There in the square, where the gallows stand waiting for me, the Lone Rider will escort me to Hell, like the sheriff did to the jury house.How I got here still escapes the grasp of my understanding. My hands had known for all my life nothing but the stern touch of plow and sickle, the same as my father...

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“The Dragon's Lair” by Gianluca Angelucci

Something was not right. The whispers of the cave were carrying new voices. He could feel, faint but clear, the high pitched squeal of metal scraping against metal, standing out against the comforting dribble of moisture on the rough stone of his home. Awaken by the nuisance he lifted his head, stretching his back accompanied by a generous yawn. He could distinguish at least three pair of footsteps approaching his resting place, the smell of tar burning suggested they were carrying torches, but above all what dominated the scene was the ...

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“Closing Time” by Gianluca Angelucci

There are two things that I always loved about working in that rag-tag bar in Beacon Street, Cambridge Massachusetts. One was the sparse crowd of customers, a circle of melancholic will-o’-the-wisps taking a drink after a failed exam at Harvard. The other reason, and by far the most important, was that I got complete freedom to choose the music. That evening I put on “Closing Time” by Tom Waits -God I love that album- and oh boy was it fitting for that kid. He was slouched over the counter, as if he was trying to dive in his pint Kentuck...

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“The Hubble Law” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #117

[Disclaimer - rude language]They say that space smells like chicken. To him it smelled like a fucking Nobel price.Wearing the bio-suit was like bathing into a tub of slime, just warm enough to make you feel like sitting on a public toilet that had been used by a filthy stranger a few moments earlier.Nevertheless it was the most advanced piece of equipment to challenge the deadly stare of empty space, capable of supporting life in hostile environments for one hundred years or more.That the universe was expanding (faster than the speed of ligh...

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“Paradise Lost” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #116

The sound of muffled steps slithered along the floor, accompanied by nothing more than the blind stare of the stars, pinned against the night sky. The darkest blue, where the lone figure was walking, was one with the fabric of the firmament, perfectly still and unchanging. Time itself had never touched that space, a room without ceiling or walls, a boundless expanse made of the same velvet of the pitiless sky. In that endless blue an infinity of pedestals stood scattered in all directions, reaching way beyond what the eye could see. Above ea...

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“Come to me” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #83

The salty breeze was holding hands with the resin of the planks, playing within the sails like cheerful children, gently pushing the vessel onward on the bluest of seas. On the quarter deck the capitain was facing up to the gentleman, hissing with a low, rumbling voice “We lost our route, sir. We are in the midst of unknown waters, pushing forward is going to kill us all!”. Just a smirk on the face of the other man, straight shoulders and the nose pointing confidently to the open sea “we are close, capitain. Pushing forward is going to bring...

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