| Horror and Thriller Fiction posted August 2, 2018 | Chapters: |
...12 13 -14- 15... 
|
  |
Short Story
A chapter in the book Short Stories and Flash
The Golem Effect
by michaelcahill
Modern Prometheus & Strange Tales Contest Winner
The many who claimed to have seen it were admonished by those who claimed it didn't exist. But none could deny the effect.
The Golem would appear in broad daylight and silence the prevaricator, punish the persecutor, and avenge the innocently put upon by the predator, or so those who claimed belief alleged.
One thing the claimants lacked though, was a lick of proof. Nary a photograph, nor a scratchy sound recording of The Golem existed. Those who claimed to have seen or heard it had nothing but claims to substantiate their stories. There existed a great deal more who claimed to have witnessed the same events and saw, not a damn blessed thing. Still, the effect could not easily be explained.
There could be no doubt the world stood mired in disarray. Leaders, both political and financial, disappeared from public view without explanation, or clue. Individuals, as well, gone without a trace, other than the relief at their absence.
2019 found the world in chaos and discord. The ability of an individual to sort through mountains of conflicting data to find any kind of solid factual truth had become impossible. Technology had advanced to a point where it had rendered itself meaningless. Trust ceased to exist. Events of monumental proportions could easily be staged at the work station of any computer savvy individual with the proper equipment and lack of moral fibre. Candidates were plentiful.
The sad thing turned out to be, clever schemes and devious scenarios weren't necessary. Lies became the order of the day, and their repetition the new age hypnotism numbing the world to its own demise.
Once lying is the norm, it no longer registers as an offence.
I'll never forget the first time I saw The Golem. As a die-hard aficionado of hope and truth, and all things naïve and foolish, I maintained vigil in front of the television, watching ... watching the spiders weave asymmetrical, unwieldy webs of nothingness, still fully capable of trapping bugs ... bugs of limited guile. Senator Gil Brawlings of North Carolina was grilling someone whose name escapes me now. This was nothing new. Senator Gil was ahard-nosed, gun-tottin', Christian, family-values man, haranguing the mild-mannered Libtard who was stumping for funds to rectify some tear-inducing social injustice.
Well, Gil was playing make believe with his facts and figures, and shouting down any disputes his prey had to offer,
"Are you seriously expecting us to reach up into the sky and take cash from the clouds like some bleeding heart liberal fairytale? Why, the very notion of funding illiterate illegal immigrants who no doubt sneaked across the border toting bags of heroin to distribute to the youth of our nation ... er, uh ... the youth of ... ah ..." his voice trailed off.
This beautiful woman had appeared behind him and begun to massage his shoulders. Now, I didn't see her approach and, frankly, no one seemed to give it a second thought. It was as if only I even saw her. Gil though, he responded to her massage and the distraction became so compelling he yielded the floor to the gentleman from such and such a state.
I found this all highly amusing. I thought to myself at the time, wouldn't it be great if she'd show up and distract every liar that opened his mouth. It would be a small governing body to be sure and would be fine by me.
It turns out, others saw this lady too, but only a few. A couple Senators mentioned it after the session.
"Well, Gil was a givin' him hell and then that lady, a page I guess, came up behind him and ... well, you saw it," so spoke Senator Cartwell. But then he clammed up upon further questioning. Then, when follow ups came later in the day, Cartwell seemed to forget the matter altogether. "I, uh, don't quite know what I saw, really. Gil was done with his portion and yielded ... there may have been a page nearby, I don't recall ... the floor of the Senate is a hectic place."
A CNN news correspondent spoke of it on air as it occurred, but later became vague about it.
But then, other Senators, as pale as ghosts, spoke of some kind of monster with its claws around Senator Gil's throat about to choke him when he yielded the floor.
Senator Gladys Ortega of New Mexico was visibly shaking, "I don't know how it got in here ... past security and all. I thought it would kill the Senator on the spot. Well ... you saw it. Is the Senator okay? Sam, find out if the Senator is okay." An hour later her story changed completely. "Well, I was referring to Senator Brawling's condition. He looked to be ready to fall over to me. I was just concerned he might be ill. I don't know what you think I meant ... heh, heh, ... always trying to make a story out of nothing."
Senator Gil vanished after that incident. Nary a clue, or inkling, as to his whereabouts ever became known. The media buzz turned out to be short-lived. "Where is Senator Gil?" dominated the media for a couple days, but disappearances came so frequently that individual names ceased to be the focus. Senator Ortega barely got a mention. The disappearing itself became the story.
Talk of beautiful, massaging women or horrific, choking monsters was denied by public figures. Anyone who happened to blurt out seeing Senator Gil accosted by a lady, or a monster, quickly retracted their story, or claimed they never said such a thing in the first place.
Those of us in the private sector though, we stuck to our story. A Dade County reporter called it The Golem Effect, based on some ancient lore he'd been reading. He claimed the disgust of the good people, fed up with a steady diet of lies and self-serving leaders and bosses put out an energy of such great proportions that a force was created to eradicate the evil that tasked everyone so. The Golem took the form of whatever an individual imagined it to appear like. The force though, the force was the force regardless of the perception. People could describe The Golem any way they wished, or claim to have not seen it at all. The Golem Effect could not be dismissed; it was certainly real, whatever it was. That is, people disappeared without a trace. Whether it had to do with a supernatural force as some believed, well, that was a matter up for debate and debated it was.
In my view, it fit rather well with my belief that extra-sensory perception was merely perception we had yet to measure or fully understand. I had no doubt it was a real perception and not hocus-pocus. My own faith was based on the notion that everything living had a connection and communicated on levels we had yet to fully understand. Thus, in my view, collective thought could produce a force of sorts. The Golem didn't fall outside my realm of possibilty anymore than God, in some form, did. Well, whatever thoughts might arise in you regarding such a notion are the thoughts leading to many a heated discussion on the matter at hand.
Discussion had no bearing on events, however. Regardless of our analysis, people disappeared at alarming rates. The Golem ... or The Golem Effect... or some damn thing caused it. What it was, for all intents and purposes, was academic. To me, The Golem suited my perceptions just fine. After all, I saw it and it fit my belief parameters.
The Golem, according to lore, was some supernatural apparition that would whisk evil folk away without a trace. This was laughable to most sensible folk. To some of us, those beginning to question our sensibility, laughter didn't factor in.
As for me, I saw that lady clear as day, and I was to see her repeatedly. Senators began to disappear on a regular basis, as did other public officials. However, private individuals vanished as well. They all seemed to have something in common: they were all liars, or people of poor character, or of a vicious and unfair temperament.
You'd think a general feeling of joy and relief would begin to swell over the world. Just the opposite happened. The world became a quiet place. People lived enshrouded in fear. They dare not speak just in case it may not be the total one hundred percent truth, or The Golem would whisk them away to oblivion.
I arrived at work to find many folks missing, including the company owner, and a great many supervisors. Indeed, the highest-ranking employee, and in charge of the entire company by default, was me ... a rapid promotion from middle management to say the least. I freely admit, fairness and honesty became the standards of operating procedure at Dolan Manufacturing immediately.
However, the need for Dolan Manufacturing products, prefabricated particle board shelving, vanished. The company quickly ceased operations. A great many companies ceased operations, and quickly, too.
The nightly news began to be a video show with little commentary. It was as if the program was "Here is what is happening, draw your own conclusions".
The cessation of hostilities world wide truly astonished us all. World peace happened virtually over night, and we all watched it on television. Any hostile actor vanished. Terrorists driving bomb laden vehicles pulled over and disappeared. Many saw creatures whisk them away, or beautiful women, or ghastly ghouls with fangs dripping blood. Others saw nothing. The drivers were no longer there ... all agreed.
Fear gripped the world. But a different kind of fear slowly vanished. People no longer walked the streets in fear. The fear of accosting anyone removed the fear of being accosted. Homeless folk took up refuge wherever they could find it, supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, guest homes, hotel lobbies, or anywhere sheltering them from the weather. Food was available at any market, as long as only what they needed was taken.
Churches, synagogues, and mosques became havens for the poor, homeless, and destitute. Many of the grandest places of worship in the world overflowed with the very needy folk spoken of in the scriptures of their Holy books.
For many, The Golem Effect, as it grew to be called, came to be the world people dreamed of. For many, many others, it meant an end to the world they had built. Money, power, wealth, and standing in general, lost all meaning under The Golem Effect. What need of money when one's needs were furnished without need for recompense. No one went hungry, or unsheltered. At the same time, no one enjoyed the solitude of endless empty rooms. Empty rooms were put to use by those who needed them. Any who dared protest ... disappeared. The Golem, if there was such a thing, moved swiftly, and left no trace.
The world that had become so small, became large and inaccessible again. If you were in California and curious about the goings on in Australia, you'd have to go there. Good luck finding reliable transport. The airlines had no schedules or any reliable maintenance plans, nor were their ships scheduled with any regularity. Without commerce, travel was a whim, an adventure.
The infrastructure remained functional. Electricity functioned, and fuel supplies had been stockpiled for the short term. There was an end in sight though, and some were concerned.
For most people, the knowledge that existence would no longer be threatened removed worry from the human equation. Luxury was surprisingly forgotten. A walk in the park, or a day at the beach became enjoyable. Hours in front of a computer terminal, well, what purpose would it serve?
Time passed, and supplies did diminish. Acts of violence would bring The Golem, so the alternatives were few. One could produce their own food or simply waste away. Many of those wasting away chose to attack others with food. It was thought to be purposeful, a deliberate act to call on the Golem to take them from the suffering they had to endure. Others found it to be a nod to human nature. In any case, the world's population quickly and steadily reduced.
By 2024, Earth had become a planet of diverse creatures, including one called Humans. Some of Humanity farmed the land and lived in villages. Most were nomadic and consisted of hunters and gatherers. All lived off the land and as part of the land. They caused little trouble and took from the Earth only what they needed to exist. They squabbled among themselves from time to time, but reasonable solutions were the norm. The Golem stood always at the ready to intervene. Humanity would maintain its place and nothing more.
I knew, in my mind, what The Golem looked like. I had seen her more than once. But others would swear, with the same conviction, they had seen The Golem too. I saw a woman of uncommon beauty, a seductress, if you will. The next person saw a fiendish ghoul ... the next an apparition made of mist and dirt, swirling like a tornado. All would agree, we saw The Golem with our own eyes. All would agree, we would not cross it.
In time, The Golem became a tale to tell by campfire light ... a ghost story designed to extract a few frightened giggles from children on a camp out. But the moral of the story was always the same, if you lie, cheat or cause harm to the innocent, The Golem will take you away ... FOREVER ... to who knows where. But WHERE is certainly not a nice place at all!
Let those who think it a legend, or a myth, be the ones to challenge it with greed, or a lie. I can't say where they end up, I can only say, with certainty, they will not be here.
Many say, The Golem came to destroy humanity, and halt progress. I say, The Golem saved humanity from itself.
The many who claimed to have seen it were admonished by those who claimed it didn't exist. But none could deny the effect.
The Golem would appear in broad daylight and silence the prevaricator, punish the persecutor, and avenge the innocently put upon by the predator, or so those who claimed belief alleged.
One thing the claimants lacked though, was a lick of proof. Nary a photograph, nor a scratchy sound recording of The Golem existed. Those who claimed to have seen or heard it had nothing but claims to substantiate their stories. There existed a great deal more who claimed to have witnessed the same events and saw, not a damn blessed thing. Still, the effect could not easily be explained.
There could be no doubt the world stood mired in disarray. Leaders, both political and financial, disappeared from public view without explanation, or clue. Individuals, as well, gone without a trace, other than the relief at their absence.
2019 found the world in chaos and discord. The ability of an individual to sort through mountains of conflicting data to find any kind of solid factual truth had become impossible. Technology had advanced to a point where it had rendered itself meaningless. Trust ceased to exist. Events of monumental proportions could easily be staged at the work station of any computer savvy individual with the proper equipment and lack of moral fibre. Candidates were plentiful.
The sad thing turned out to be, clever schemes and devious scenarios weren't necessary. Lies became the order of the day, and their repetition the new age hypnotism numbing the world to its own demise.
Once lying is the norm, it no longer registers as an offence.
I'll never forget the first time I saw The Golem. As a die-hard aficionado of hope and truth, and all things naïve and foolish, I maintained vigil in front of the television, watching ... watching the spiders weave asymmetrical, unwieldy webs of nothingness, still fully capable of trapping bugs ... bugs of limited guile. Senator Gil Brawlings of North Carolina was grilling someone whose name escapes me now. This was nothing new. Senator Gil was ahard-nosed, gun-tottin', Christian, family-values man, haranguing the mild-mannered Libtard who was stumping for funds to rectify some tear-inducing social injustice.
Well, Gil was playing make believe with his facts and figures, and shouting down any disputes his prey had to offer,
"Are you seriously expecting us to reach up into the sky and take cash from the clouds like some bleeding heart liberal fairytale? Why, the very notion of funding illiterate illegal immigrants who no doubt sneaked across the border toting bags of heroin to distribute to the youth of our nation ... er, uh ... the youth of ... ah ..." his voice trailed off.
This beautiful woman had appeared behind him and begun to massage his shoulders. Now, I didn't see her approach and, frankly, no one seemed to give it a second thought. It was as if only I even saw her. Gil though, he responded to her massage and the distraction became so compelling he yielded the floor to the gentleman from such and such a state.
I found this all highly amusing. I thought to myself at the time, wouldn't it be great if she'd show up and distract every liar that opened his mouth. It would be a small governing body to be sure and would be fine by me.
It turns out, others saw this lady too, but only a few. A couple Senators mentioned it after the session.
"Well, Gil was a givin' him hell and then that lady, a page I guess, came up behind him and ... well, you saw it," so spoke Senator Cartwell. But then he clammed up upon further questioning. Then, when follow ups came later in the day, Cartwell seemed to forget the matter altogether. "I, uh, don't quite know what I saw, really. Gil was done with his portion and yielded ... there may have been a page nearby, I don't recall ... the floor of the Senate is a hectic place."
A CNN news correspondent spoke of it on air as it occurred, but later became vague about it.
But then, other Senators, as pale as ghosts, spoke of some kind of monster with its claws around Senator Gil's throat about to choke him when he yielded the floor.
Senator Gladys Ortega of New Mexico was visibly shaking, "I don't know how it got in here ... past security and all. I thought it would kill the Senator on the spot. Well ... you saw it. Is the Senator okay? Sam, find out if the Senator is okay." An hour later her story changed completely. "Well, I was referring to Senator Brawling's condition. He looked to be ready to fall over to me. I was just concerned he might be ill. I don't know what you think I meant ... heh, heh, ... always trying to make a story out of nothing."
Senator Gil vanished after that incident. Nary a clue, or inkling, as to his whereabouts ever became known. The media buzz turned out to be short-lived. "Where is Senator Gil?" dominated the media for a couple days, but disappearances came so frequently that individual names ceased to be the focus. Senator Ortega barely got a mention. The disappearing itself became the story.
Talk of beautiful, massaging women or horrific, choking monsters was denied by public figures. Anyone who happened to blurt out seeing Senator Gil accosted by a lady, or a monster, quickly retracted their story, or claimed they never said such a thing in the first place.
Those of us in the private sector though, we stuck to our story. A Dade County reporter called it The Golem Effect, based on some ancient lore he'd been reading. He claimed the disgust of the good people, fed up with a steady diet of lies and self-serving leaders and bosses put out an energy of such great proportions that a force was created to eradicate the evil that tasked everyone so. The Golem took the form of whatever an individual imagined it to appear like. The force though, the force was the force regardless of the perception. People could describe The Golem any way they wished, or claim to have not seen it at all. The Golem Effect could not be dismissed; it was certainly real, whatever it was. That is, people disappeared without a trace. Whether it had to do with a supernatural force as some believed, well, that was a matter up for debate and debated it was.
In my view, it fit rather well with my belief that extra-sensory perception was merely perception we had yet to measure or fully understand. I had no doubt it was a real perception and not hocus-pocus. My own faith was based on the notion that everything living had a connection and communicated on levels we had yet to fully understand. Thus, in my view, collective thought could produce a force of sorts. The Golem didn't fall outside my realm of possibilty anymore than God, in some form, did. Well, whatever thoughts might arise in you regarding such a notion are the thoughts leading to many a heated discussion on the matter at hand.
Discussion had no bearing on events, however. Regardless of our analysis, people disappeared at alarming rates. The Golem ... or The Golem Effect... or some damn thing caused it. What it was, for all intents and purposes, was academic. To me, The Golem suited my perceptions just fine. After all, I saw it and it fit my belief parameters.
The Golem, according to lore, was some supernatural apparition that would whisk evil folk away without a trace. This was laughable to most sensible folk. To some of us, those beginning to question our sensibility, laughter didn't factor in.
As for me, I saw that lady clear as day, and I was to see her repeatedly. Senators began to disappear on a regular basis, as did other public officials. However, private individuals vanished as well. They all seemed to have something in common: they were all liars, or people of poor character, or of a vicious and unfair temperament.
You'd think a general feeling of joy and relief would begin to swell over the world. Just the opposite happened. The world became a quiet place. People lived enshrouded in fear. They dare not speak just in case it may not be the total one hundred percent truth, or The Golem would whisk them away to oblivion.
I arrived at work to find many folks missing, including the company owner, and a great many supervisors. Indeed, the highest-ranking employee, and in charge of the entire company by default, was me ... a rapid promotion from middle management to say the least. I freely admit, fairness and honesty became the standards of operating procedure at Dolan Manufacturing immediately.
However, the need for Dolan Manufacturing products, prefabricated particle board shelving, vanished. The company quickly ceased operations. A great many companies ceased operations, and quickly, too.
The nightly news began to be a video show with little commentary. It was as if the program was "Here is what is happening, draw your own conclusions".
The cessation of hostilities world wide truly astonished us all. World peace happened virtually over night, and we all watched it on television. Any hostile actor vanished. Terrorists driving bomb laden vehicles pulled over and disappeared. Many saw creatures whisk them away, or beautiful women, or ghastly ghouls with fangs dripping blood. Others saw nothing. The drivers were no longer there ... all agreed.
Fear gripped the world. But a different kind of fear slowly vanished. People no longer walked the streets in fear. The fear of accosting anyone removed the fear of being accosted. Homeless folk took up refuge wherever they could find it, supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, guest homes, hotel lobbies, or anywhere sheltering them from the weather. Food was available at any market, as long as only what they needed was taken.
Churches, synagogues, and mosques became havens for the poor, homeless, and destitute. Many of the grandest places of worship in the world overflowed with the very needy folk spoken of in the scriptures of their Holy books.
For many, The Golem Effect, as it grew to be called, came to be the world people dreamed of. For many, many others, it meant an end to the world they had built. Money, power, wealth, and standing in general, lost all meaning under The Golem Effect. What need of money when one's needs were furnished without need for recompense. No one went hungry, or unsheltered. At the same time, no one enjoyed the solitude of endless empty rooms. Empty rooms were put to use by those who needed them. Any who dared protest ... disappeared. The Golem, if there was such a thing, moved swiftly, and left no trace.
The world that had become so small, became large and inaccessible again. If you were in California and curious about the goings on in Australia, you'd have to go there. Good luck finding reliable transport. The airlines had no schedules or any reliable maintenance plans, nor were their ships scheduled with any regularity. Without commerce, travel was a whim, an adventure.
The infrastructure remained functional. Electricity functioned, and fuel supplies had been stockpiled for the short term. There was an end in sight though, and some were concerned.
For most people, the knowledge that existence would no longer be threatened removed worry from the human equation. Luxury was surprisingly forgotten. A walk in the park, or a day at the beach became enjoyable. Hours in front of a computer terminal, well, what purpose would it serve?
Time passed, and supplies did diminish. Acts of violence would bring The Golem, so the alternatives were few. One could produce their own food or simply waste away. Many of those wasting away chose to attack others with food. It was thought to be purposeful, a deliberate act to call on the Golem to take them from the suffering they had to endure. Others found it to be a nod to human nature. In any case, the world's population quickly and steadily reduced.
By 2024, Earth had become a planet of diverse creatures, including one called Humans. Some of Humanity farmed the land and lived in villages. Most were nomadic and consisted of hunters and gatherers. All lived off the land and as part of the land. They caused little trouble and took from the Earth only what they needed to exist. They squabbled among themselves from time to time, but reasonable solutions were the norm. The Golem stood always at the ready to intervene. Humanity would maintain its place and nothing more.
I knew, in my mind, what The Golem looked like. I had seen her more than once. But others would swear, with the same conviction, they had seen The Golem too. I saw a woman of uncommon beauty, a seductress, if you will. The next person saw a fiendish ghoul ... the next an apparition made of mist and dirt, swirling like a tornado. All would agree, we saw The Golem with our own eyes. All would agree, we would not cross it.
In time, The Golem became a tale to tell by campfire light ... a ghost story designed to extract a few frightened giggles from children on a camp out. But the moral of the story was always the same, if you lie, cheat or cause harm to the innocent, The Golem will take you away ... FOREVER ... to who knows where. But WHERE is certainly not a nice place at all!
Let those who think it a legend, or a myth, be the ones to challenge it with greed, or a lie. I can't say where they end up, I can only say, with certainty, they will not be here.
Many say, The Golem came to destroy humanity, and halt progress. I say, The Golem saved humanity from itself.
The Golem would appear in broad daylight and silence the prevaricator, punish the persecutor, and avenge the innocently put upon by the predator, or so those who claimed belief alleged.
One thing the claimants lacked though, was a lick of proof. Nary a photograph, nor a scratchy sound recording of The Golem existed. Those who claimed to have seen or heard it had nothing but claims to substantiate their stories. There existed a great deal more who claimed to have witnessed the same events and saw, not a damn blessed thing. Still, the effect could not easily be explained.
There could be no doubt the world stood mired in disarray. Leaders, both political and financial, disappeared from public view without explanation, or clue. Individuals, as well, gone without a trace, other than the relief at their absence.
2019 found the world in chaos and discord. The ability of an individual to sort through mountains of conflicting data to find any kind of solid factual truth had become impossible. Technology had advanced to a point where it had rendered itself meaningless. Trust ceased to exist. Events of monumental proportions could easily be staged at the work station of any computer savvy individual with the proper equipment and lack of moral fibre. Candidates were plentiful.
The sad thing turned out to be, clever schemes and devious scenarios weren't necessary. Lies became the order of the day, and their repetition the new age hypnotism numbing the world to its own demise.
Once lying is the norm, it no longer registers as an offence.
I'll never forget the first time I saw The Golem. As a die-hard aficionado of hope and truth, and all things naïve and foolish, I maintained vigil in front of the television, watching ... watching the spiders weave asymmetrical, unwieldy webs of nothingness, still fully capable of trapping bugs ... bugs of limited guile. Senator Gil Brawlings of North Carolina was grilling someone whose name escapes me now. This was nothing new. Senator Gil was ahard-nosed, gun-tottin', Christian, family-values man, haranguing the mild-mannered Libtard who was stumping for funds to rectify some tear-inducing social injustice.
Well, Gil was playing make believe with his facts and figures, and shouting down any disputes his prey had to offer,
"Are you seriously expecting us to reach up into the sky and take cash from the clouds like some bleeding heart liberal fairytale? Why, the very notion of funding illiterate illegal immigrants who no doubt sneaked across the border toting bags of heroin to distribute to the youth of our nation ... er, uh ... the youth of ... ah ..." his voice trailed off.
This beautiful woman had appeared behind him and begun to massage his shoulders. Now, I didn't see her approach and, frankly, no one seemed to give it a second thought. It was as if only I even saw her. Gil though, he responded to her massage and the distraction became so compelling he yielded the floor to the gentleman from such and such a state.
I found this all highly amusing. I thought to myself at the time, wouldn't it be great if she'd show up and distract every liar that opened his mouth. It would be a small governing body to be sure and would be fine by me.
It turns out, others saw this lady too, but only a few. A couple Senators mentioned it after the session.
"Well, Gil was a givin' him hell and then that lady, a page I guess, came up behind him and ... well, you saw it," so spoke Senator Cartwell. But then he clammed up upon further questioning. Then, when follow ups came later in the day, Cartwell seemed to forget the matter altogether. "I, uh, don't quite know what I saw, really. Gil was done with his portion and yielded ... there may have been a page nearby, I don't recall ... the floor of the Senate is a hectic place."
A CNN news correspondent spoke of it on air as it occurred, but later became vague about it.
But then, other Senators, as pale as ghosts, spoke of some kind of monster with its claws around Senator Gil's throat about to choke him when he yielded the floor.
Senator Gladys Ortega of New Mexico was visibly shaking, "I don't know how it got in here ... past security and all. I thought it would kill the Senator on the spot. Well ... you saw it. Is the Senator okay? Sam, find out if the Senator is okay." An hour later her story changed completely. "Well, I was referring to Senator Brawling's condition. He looked to be ready to fall over to me. I was just concerned he might be ill. I don't know what you think I meant ... heh, heh, ... always trying to make a story out of nothing."
Senator Gil vanished after that incident. Nary a clue, or inkling, as to his whereabouts ever became known. The media buzz turned out to be short-lived. "Where is Senator Gil?" dominated the media for a couple days, but disappearances came so frequently that individual names ceased to be the focus. Senator Ortega barely got a mention. The disappearing itself became the story.
Talk of beautiful, massaging women or horrific, choking monsters was denied by public figures. Anyone who happened to blurt out seeing Senator Gil accosted by a lady, or a monster, quickly retracted their story, or claimed they never said such a thing in the first place.
Those of us in the private sector though, we stuck to our story. A Dade County reporter called it The Golem Effect, based on some ancient lore he'd been reading. He claimed the disgust of the good people, fed up with a steady diet of lies and self-serving leaders and bosses put out an energy of such great proportions that a force was created to eradicate the evil that tasked everyone so. The Golem took the form of whatever an individual imagined it to appear like. The force though, the force was the force regardless of the perception. People could describe The Golem any way they wished, or claim to have not seen it at all. The Golem Effect could not be dismissed; it was certainly real, whatever it was. That is, people disappeared without a trace. Whether it had to do with a supernatural force as some believed, well, that was a matter up for debate and debated it was.
In my view, it fit rather well with my belief that extra-sensory perception was merely perception we had yet to measure or fully understand. I had no doubt it was a real perception and not hocus-pocus. My own faith was based on the notion that everything living had a connection and communicated on levels we had yet to fully understand. Thus, in my view, collective thought could produce a force of sorts. The Golem didn't fall outside my realm of possibilty anymore than God, in some form, did. Well, whatever thoughts might arise in you regarding such a notion are the thoughts leading to many a heated discussion on the matter at hand.
Discussion had no bearing on events, however. Regardless of our analysis, people disappeared at alarming rates. The Golem ... or The Golem Effect... or some damn thing caused it. What it was, for all intents and purposes, was academic. To me, The Golem suited my perceptions just fine. After all, I saw it and it fit my belief parameters.
The Golem, according to lore, was some supernatural apparition that would whisk evil folk away without a trace. This was laughable to most sensible folk. To some of us, those beginning to question our sensibility, laughter didn't factor in.
As for me, I saw that lady clear as day, and I was to see her repeatedly. Senators began to disappear on a regular basis, as did other public officials. However, private individuals vanished as well. They all seemed to have something in common: they were all liars, or people of poor character, or of a vicious and unfair temperament.
You'd think a general feeling of joy and relief would begin to swell over the world. Just the opposite happened. The world became a quiet place. People lived enshrouded in fear. They dare not speak just in case it may not be the total one hundred percent truth, or The Golem would whisk them away to oblivion.
I arrived at work to find many folks missing, including the company owner, and a great many supervisors. Indeed, the highest-ranking employee, and in charge of the entire company by default, was me ... a rapid promotion from middle management to say the least. I freely admit, fairness and honesty became the standards of operating procedure at Dolan Manufacturing immediately.
However, the need for Dolan Manufacturing products, prefabricated particle board shelving, vanished. The company quickly ceased operations. A great many companies ceased operations, and quickly, too.
The nightly news began to be a video show with little commentary. It was as if the program was "Here is what is happening, draw your own conclusions".
The cessation of hostilities world wide truly astonished us all. World peace happened virtually over night, and we all watched it on television. Any hostile actor vanished. Terrorists driving bomb laden vehicles pulled over and disappeared. Many saw creatures whisk them away, or beautiful women, or ghastly ghouls with fangs dripping blood. Others saw nothing. The drivers were no longer there ... all agreed.
Fear gripped the world. But a different kind of fear slowly vanished. People no longer walked the streets in fear. The fear of accosting anyone removed the fear of being accosted. Homeless folk took up refuge wherever they could find it, supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, guest homes, hotel lobbies, or anywhere sheltering them from the weather. Food was available at any market, as long as only what they needed was taken.
Churches, synagogues, and mosques became havens for the poor, homeless, and destitute. Many of the grandest places of worship in the world overflowed with the very needy folk spoken of in the scriptures of their Holy books.
For many, The Golem Effect, as it grew to be called, came to be the world people dreamed of. For many, many others, it meant an end to the world they had built. Money, power, wealth, and standing in general, lost all meaning under The Golem Effect. What need of money when one's needs were furnished without need for recompense. No one went hungry, or unsheltered. At the same time, no one enjoyed the solitude of endless empty rooms. Empty rooms were put to use by those who needed them. Any who dared protest ... disappeared. The Golem, if there was such a thing, moved swiftly, and left no trace.
The world that had become so small, became large and inaccessible again. If you were in California and curious about the goings on in Australia, you'd have to go there. Good luck finding reliable transport. The airlines had no schedules or any reliable maintenance plans, nor were their ships scheduled with any regularity. Without commerce, travel was a whim, an adventure.
The infrastructure remained functional. Electricity functioned, and fuel supplies had been stockpiled for the short term. There was an end in sight though, and some were concerned.
For most people, the knowledge that existence would no longer be threatened removed worry from the human equation. Luxury was surprisingly forgotten. A walk in the park, or a day at the beach became enjoyable. Hours in front of a computer terminal, well, what purpose would it serve?
Time passed, and supplies did diminish. Acts of violence would bring The Golem, so the alternatives were few. One could produce their own food or simply waste away. Many of those wasting away chose to attack others with food. It was thought to be purposeful, a deliberate act to call on the Golem to take them from the suffering they had to endure. Others found it to be a nod to human nature. In any case, the world's population quickly and steadily reduced.
By 2024, Earth had become a planet of diverse creatures, including one called Humans. Some of Humanity farmed the land and lived in villages. Most were nomadic and consisted of hunters and gatherers. All lived off the land and as part of the land. They caused little trouble and took from the Earth only what they needed to exist. They squabbled among themselves from time to time, but reasonable solutions were the norm. The Golem stood always at the ready to intervene. Humanity would maintain its place and nothing more.
I knew, in my mind, what The Golem looked like. I had seen her more than once. But others would swear, with the same conviction, they had seen The Golem too. I saw a woman of uncommon beauty, a seductress, if you will. The next person saw a fiendish ghoul ... the next an apparition made of mist and dirt, swirling like a tornado. All would agree, we saw The Golem with our own eyes. All would agree, we would not cross it.
In time, The Golem became a tale to tell by campfire light ... a ghost story designed to extract a few frightened giggles from children on a camp out. But the moral of the story was always the same, if you lie, cheat or cause harm to the innocent, The Golem will take you away ... FOREVER ... to who knows where. But WHERE is certainly not a nice place at all!
Let those who think it a legend, or a myth, be the ones to challenge it with greed, or a lie. I can't say where they end up, I can only say, with certainty, they will not be here.
Many say, The Golem came to destroy humanity, and halt progress. I say, The Golem saved humanity from itself.
Modern Prometheus & Strange Tales Contest Winner |
My assigned creature was "The Golem". We were told to modernize and told we could take liberties. LOL
Here's a little background:
In Jewish tradition, the golem is most widely known as an artificial creature created by magic, often to serve its creator. The word "golem" appears only once in the Bible (Psalms139:16). In Hebrew, "golem" stands for "shapeless mass." The Talmud uses the word as "unformed" or "imperfect" and according to Talmudic legend, Adam is called "golem," meaning "body without a soul" (Sanhedrin 38b) for the first 12 hours of his existence. The golem appears in other places in the Talmud as well. One legend says the prophet Jeremiah made a golem However, some mystics believe the creation of a golem has symbolic meaning only, like a spiritual experience following a religious rite.
The Sefer Yezirah ("Book of Creation"), often referred to as a guide to magical usage by some Western European Jews in the Middle Ages, contains instructions on how to make a golem. Several rabbis, in their commentaries on Sefer Yezirah have come up with different understandings of the directions on how to make a golem. Most versions include shaping the golem into a figure resembling a human being and using God's name to bring him to life, since God is the ultimate creator of life..
According to one story, to make a golem come alive, one would shape it out of soil, and then walk or dance around it saying combination of letters from the alphabet and the secret name of God. To "kill" the golem, its creators would walk in the opposite direction saying and making the order of the words backwards.
Other sources say once the golem had been physically made one needed to write the letters aleph, mem, tav, which is emet and means "truth," on the golem's forehead and the golem would come alive. Erase the aleph and you are left with mem and tav, which is met, meaning "death."
Another way to bring a golem to life was to write God's name on parchment and stick it on the golem's arm or in his mouth. One would remove it to stop the golem.
Often in Ashkenazi Hasidic lore, the golem would come to life and serve his creators by doing tasks assigned to him. The most well-known story of the golem is connected to Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague (1513-1609). It was said that he created a golem out of clay to protect the Jewish community from Blood Libel and to help out doing physical labor, since golems are very strong. Another version says it was close to Easter, in the spring of 1580 and a Jew-hating priest was trying to incite the Christians against the Jews. So the golem protected the community during the Easter season. Both versions recall the golem running amok and threatening innocent lives, so Rabbi Loew removed the Divine Name, rendering the golem lifeless. A separate account has the golem going mad and running away. Several sources attribute the story to Rabbi Elijah of Chelm, saying Rabbi Loew, one of the most outstanding Jewish scholars of the sixteenth century who wrote numerous books on Jewish law, philosophy, and morality, would have actually opposed the creation of a golem.
The golem has been a popular figure in the arts in the past few centuries with both Jews and non-Jews. In the early 20th century, several plays, novels, movies, musicals and even a ballet were based on the golem. The most famous works where golems appear are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Karel Capek's R.U.R. (where the word "robot" comes from), Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Golem and The X-Files. There is also a character named Golem in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic series The Lord of the Rings. Today, there is even a golem museum in the Jewish Quarter of Prague.
Sometimes, someone who is large but intellectually slow is called a golem. Other civilizations, such as the ancient Greeks, have similar concepts.
Sources: Wigoder, Geoffrey , Ed. The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Encyclopedia Judaica; Bridger, David. Ed. The New Jewish Encyclopedia
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Here's a little background:
In Jewish tradition, the golem is most widely known as an artificial creature created by magic, often to serve its creator. The word "golem" appears only once in the Bible (Psalms139:16). In Hebrew, "golem" stands for "shapeless mass." The Talmud uses the word as "unformed" or "imperfect" and according to Talmudic legend, Adam is called "golem," meaning "body without a soul" (Sanhedrin 38b) for the first 12 hours of his existence. The golem appears in other places in the Talmud as well. One legend says the prophet Jeremiah made a golem However, some mystics believe the creation of a golem has symbolic meaning only, like a spiritual experience following a religious rite.
The Sefer Yezirah ("Book of Creation"), often referred to as a guide to magical usage by some Western European Jews in the Middle Ages, contains instructions on how to make a golem. Several rabbis, in their commentaries on Sefer Yezirah have come up with different understandings of the directions on how to make a golem. Most versions include shaping the golem into a figure resembling a human being and using God's name to bring him to life, since God is the ultimate creator of life..
According to one story, to make a golem come alive, one would shape it out of soil, and then walk or dance around it saying combination of letters from the alphabet and the secret name of God. To "kill" the golem, its creators would walk in the opposite direction saying and making the order of the words backwards.
Other sources say once the golem had been physically made one needed to write the letters aleph, mem, tav, which is emet and means "truth," on the golem's forehead and the golem would come alive. Erase the aleph and you are left with mem and tav, which is met, meaning "death."
Another way to bring a golem to life was to write God's name on parchment and stick it on the golem's arm or in his mouth. One would remove it to stop the golem.
Often in Ashkenazi Hasidic lore, the golem would come to life and serve his creators by doing tasks assigned to him. The most well-known story of the golem is connected to Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague (1513-1609). It was said that he created a golem out of clay to protect the Jewish community from Blood Libel and to help out doing physical labor, since golems are very strong. Another version says it was close to Easter, in the spring of 1580 and a Jew-hating priest was trying to incite the Christians against the Jews. So the golem protected the community during the Easter season. Both versions recall the golem running amok and threatening innocent lives, so Rabbi Loew removed the Divine Name, rendering the golem lifeless. A separate account has the golem going mad and running away. Several sources attribute the story to Rabbi Elijah of Chelm, saying Rabbi Loew, one of the most outstanding Jewish scholars of the sixteenth century who wrote numerous books on Jewish law, philosophy, and morality, would have actually opposed the creation of a golem.
The golem has been a popular figure in the arts in the past few centuries with both Jews and non-Jews. In the early 20th century, several plays, novels, movies, musicals and even a ballet were based on the golem. The most famous works where golems appear are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Karel Capek's R.U.R. (where the word "robot" comes from), Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Golem and The X-Files. There is also a character named Golem in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic series The Lord of the Rings. Today, there is even a golem museum in the Jewish Quarter of Prague.
Sometimes, someone who is large but intellectually slow is called a golem. Other civilizations, such as the ancient Greeks, have similar concepts.
Sources: Wigoder, Geoffrey , Ed. The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Encyclopedia Judaica; Bridger, David. Ed. The New Jewish Encyclopedia
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