Often he would sit and wait by the telephone, willing it to ring, and when it did he believed that he possessed unnatural powers of the mind. He alone held command and dominion over inanimate objects of the world and could bid them to do as he pleased.
A human poltergeist.
He resolved to use his powers for good. As he went about his day he would stare at objects and demand them to do as he wished. As they rarely did he concluded not that his powers were imaginary but that the world of objects was rotten and insubordinate.
It would be his duty to restore order and authority to the inanimate world.
He began to punish his possessions. He bore holes in his chairs, which made it uncomfortable for he himself to sit, but it was for a greater good. He scored tables and cracked glass.
Occasionally he would rust metal.
When these attempts failed to increase obedience he grew tired and irate and resolved to abandon the world of objects whatsoever. He disposed of his worldly possessions and took his leave of civilisation, setting up camp in the depths of the forest.
There he foraged for food and sustained himself naturally. He did not brush his teeth.
He found ways to make meals and replenish his body. For entertainment, he would craft miniatures of the objects that had betrayed him is his previous life, and light them on fire or drown them in the river.
Eventually he began to question his own powers, those by which he had altered the path of his life. He retreated into his woodland, suddenly aware of his unfamiliar surroundings. He was penniless and hungry and owned nothing.
There seemed nothing left to do but to capitulate to mother nature.
In a flailing final effort he commanded the stick beside him to move. He did not actually believe that it would work but he sought desperately for proof that he had not lived in vain. The stick rolled, almost imperceptibly, but it did.
He saw it.
He was vindicated.
And as he died he clutched to his chest the knowledge that he had lived with purpose and meaning. He was still its master, he who had removed himself from the world of objects.
This story appears in Down in the Dirt’s 244th volume, Between Time, which can be purchased here. A link to view the online copy of the magazine, where you can find another two stories of mine, is here. Thank you for reading storefronts and subways!