The Grinning Man

This is an odd way of telling a story, but I think it gets the job done.






The man grinned.

He continued grinning as the back of his car exploded into a thousand little pieces and he crashed into one of the few remaining trees in the world.


Kris looked at the store. It wasn't a store so much as a run down shack, a dissapointing sight whereas most structures had undergone heavy renovation in the World Reconstruction Project of 2455, but it had anything and everything you could want, if there was someone in your life who you'd be much better off without.

"That guy," he said and paused. He looked around at the parking lot and a blue light winked at him, telling him that he had parked in a good parking space.He then closed his eyes and strangled the air. He yelled random words.

"He's supposed to be my friend! He never acted like friend to me! He makes mad just thinking about him! I want do something to him... Something... But I already know. I've thought out. It can't be bad. No, it can't be. It'll be fine, and no damage. No. None at all. None. None." His babbling made way to quiet, indecipherable muttering.

He walked into the store.

"I'd like something...that will burn."

The person at the counter grinned and nodded.


The night, before the trip, Kris headed down the 2600 story journey to the bottom of the RCon, and went into the parking lot. His plan was to have the cFire burn after the grinning man had gotten out of his car. Having known where the grinning man's car was previously, he navigated his way through seas of blue, red, white, black and the ocasional yellow and found the distinct bright green with a blue stripe marking the grinning man's car. He had memorized the grinning man's keycode after watching him type it in hundreds of times, and he quickly did the same.

A womans voice clearly said ,"Incorrect keycode. Please try again. You have used one of your three tries".

"What?" muttered Kris. "Musta got something wrong..."

He frantically typed in the number again, double checked it and hit enter.

The voice came on again. "Incorrect keycode. Please try again. You have used two of your three tries."

"Ut-oh..." Kris said quietly. He replayed the grinning man pressing the keys with his nearly photographic memory. He could see him press keys in his mind, but the keys themselves were obscured by something in the way. So, on whim, he closed his eyes and followed the grinning man's finger's pattern.

The car beeped and opened.

Kris smiled and reached for the suitcase.



Kris had heard, just like anyone else, that the grinning man was heading off to somewhere in Canada. He had picked this information up early and kept it, helped by his superior memory. Where exactly was anyone's guess, because the grinning man was remarkably nondescript. He also had a bad habit of getting angry at people for no reason, but it wasn't just any normal anger. It was a quiet anger that said mean things softly that just made you want to yell at him. This chronic anger stemmed from his abusive parents that were taken away at age ten, but still left a perminent mark on him.

Interestingly, they were abusive because the dad grew up in the slums of Sector 6 and spent many a day begging for spare change without getting a single coin, leading him to hate life in general. The mom, for her part, fell head over heels in love with the dad, and got married without knowing what she was getting herself into. Slowly but surely, the dad's hate of everything rubbed off on her.


A 26 year old named Lin watched Kris go. He was so tall and bony that his friends often called him Skinny Linny, which he quite resented. This general hate towards him taught him that the bad in the world always overshadows the good. He payed the world back by owning a shop and always giving the customer more then what they wanted.


The grinning man knew Lin as a kid. In fact, he was the one who came up with the nickname.


The grinning man was looking through his stuff in the trunk one last time. His face seemed like it had been shaved a few days ago, and his teeth hurt from grinning so often. He grinned because it was the only way to deal with his anger.

As he continued looking through the trunk, his hands found a small red clock that he'd never seen before. "I don't remember this...", he muttered. He almost threw it out, but then realized it was a good clock, but the time on it was all wrong. He changed it and put it back in the suitcase.


Thanks Tylhandrias for a grammar check.


P.S. Give me a comment!

Oi! No comments yet?

Anywho I liked it, interesting way of telling it but it kept my interest and I read the whole thing. There were a few things you could improve though, try writing another story like that and do it again. I would enjoy reading another story like this.

Yes, well what can I say pretty good no grammar mistakes I noticed. Though some of the questions still puzzle me. How did Lin know Kris is going to blow/torch up Grining man's car?!

KingGiggli: Thanks, and yeah, I might try this again sometime. I also like the world I created it in, so I might have to have another story located there ;)

Belphegor666:

It's small but there. You just gotta pay attention ;)

Sorry about the doublepost, but that bladefist guy posted on every single topic in existance (except mine) shoving the thread to the bottom half of the second page ><

Anyone else gotta comment?

I still don't get it how the hell did he (lin) knew what Kris is going to do??
I'm guessing he always gave people a bit more TNT that they wanted and so...kaboom

He didn't, and you're pretty much right ;)

Very interesting way of telling the story, although I would have liked if you could develop the characters a bit more..but oh well.
Really interesting way of telling it. Keep it up.

Thanks and yeah, I always rush stories. I can't wait to hear what people have to say :P

You probably wont see these characters again, but I'm pretty sure you'll see this world again. ^^