2018

May 17, 2018 write for 4 min

Sam and Chris were best friends. They were also turtles. They were snapping turtles so
they snapped at each other a lot but they always came back to one another
because they would miss the other one after a day or two of not talking. One
day, Sam was headed to Chris’ spot in the mud by the river. It took him all
morning to get there because he’s a turtle and turtles are slow. But when he
got there and the sun was high in the sky, Chris was no where to be found.
Worried about him, Sam walked up the bank and to the side of the road that
crossed the river, calling his name. He heard a faint voice calling “Sam” from
down the road. Sam turned his head and saw Chris on the side of the road about
15 feet away. Sam went to him and when he got close, he realized that Chris’
front right leg and been smushed. “WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED CHRIS?!?!” Sam
shouted. “I…was trying to…cross the road and… I got ran over…” Chris said in
between gasps of pain.

May 18, 2018 write for 4 min

A clay pot filled with dirt and 5 roses sat on the windowsill of Sarah’s small apartment.
It was a badly molded pot, created by her 3 year old daughter Alice. Sarah
stared at the pot remembering her daughter’s bright smile when she’d handed it
to her on mother’s day. “Happy mother’s day mommy! Now you can look at pretty
flowers all day and not be sad anymore.” She’d said innocently. Not realizing
how harshly it had hurt her mother to be reminded how much her depression
affected the family. Sarah had reached for the pot with smeared yellow paint in
the shape of hearts on the side and pulled her daughter in close. “Thank you
sweetie, I love it.” She said, kissing her gently on the forehead. That was a
year ago. A year ago, Sarah had thought she’d had reasons to be sad. But her
daughter had still been alive. This year, the sadness was going to overwhelm
her, now that the reason she’d stayed alive was gone.

May 21, 2018 write for 4 min

Adam and his sister, Lyanna were two year old cheetahs all alone in the world surviving the African savannah. Lyanna was the oldest by a minute and a half and she liked to
tease him about it but Adam would just roll his eyes. “You may be older,
Lyanna, but I am faster.” Adam would tease back. But despite their teasing, the
world they lived in was harsh. The only thing that saved them from being eaten
or starving to death was often their speed and agility. Their mother had died
on a hunt, by attempting to take down an adult male gazelle. Although he had
been wounded, he’d still been stronger than their mother and had turned at the
right second to stab her through her heart. That had been only one month ago
but working together, Adam and Lyanna had managed to make two kills on their
own and were somehow surviving.

May 22, 2018 write for 4 min

Jeremiah tapped on the glass in front of him, trying to get the humans on the other side
to listen to him. “Do you know where mommy went?” He shouted. But the humans
just laughed him and snapped bright lights that blinded at him. He knew they
couldn’t hear them, he’d tried talking to them before. But before, he’d just
wanted to have someone other than his mother and his stuffed lemur to talk to.
But now, the stakes were higher, Jeremiah was worried about his mother. She’d
never left him. Not that he knew of. Jeremiah had fallen asleep on her lap and
then when he woke up she was no where to be found and three bananas lay on the
ground in front of him. The man that came and fed them never gave him three
whole bananas. He always gave him half of one and his mother the other half.

May 23, 2018 write for 4 min

There had been several people in Maddie’s life that had called her a manipulator. She
wasn’t really sure what it meant except that they were admitting she was
smarter than them. It was easy to manipulate people that didn’t know what they
wanted. All you had to do was trick them into believing that they wanted what
you wanted and person by person you could rule the world. Or the 8^th
grade. Since that was her world. Maddie wasn’t the most beautiful girl in
class. That was her friend Charlotte. But Charlotte was a good figure head for
Maddie. Maddie let her walk in front but everyone knew that Maddie ruled the
halls. She had kids giving her their lunch without even lifting a finger. She
had teachers passing her without doing any homework and she got to leave campus
everyday without being in highschool. She wasn’t a bad kid. She’d told herself.
She didn’t run off to have sex and do drugs like Charlotte. She escaped to hide
out in the abandoned house two blocks away from the school.

May 25, 2018 write for 4 min

Crissy jumped into the giant puddle in the driveway in front of their house splashing
water all over her mother to her right. Her mom let out an irritated sigh and
grabbed her daughters hand. “Crissy, stop that! You’re getting me soaked!” She
griped. Crissy pouted and took big steps to keep up with her mother. “Sorry
mama. Can I watch Dora tonight?” She asked. “Yes you may after you eat your
green beans.” Her mother responded. Crissy let out a loud whine. “But…but I
hate green beans!!” She shouted. “I know but they are good for you and will
help you grow big and strong.” Her mom said. “As strong as Brandon??” Crissy
asked. “Yes as strong as Brandon.” She replied. Brandon was her older brother
by seven years at 10 years old and to Crissy was the strongest boy around since
her father had died before she could remember him at war.

May 31, 2018 write for 4 min

Life is separated by easy and difficult. Everything was either easy or difficult and
was met with a decision. Flog was right around the corner and had just realized
fate was offering him to pick an easy or difficult decision. He was an orc in
Sauron’s army and recently he’d realized that he hated it. But if did his duty,
life would be easy. He’d be fed, he’d get a lot of time alone and he’d get to
do some killing on the side. But he didn’t want to do those things. He wanted
to stare up at the waterfalls in Riverdale amongst the Elves. Even if he wasn’t
one, he wanted to pretend at least for a moment. And he didn’t want to visit
Rivendale with his cousins killing the Elves behind him and setting fire to
their houses behind him. He wanted to live amongst them. But he’d never told
anyone. He knew it was stupid. He was an orc for crying out loud. No one would
trust him for even a second. They definitely wouldn’t trust him long enough to
let him live in their large magical city amongst their children. He knew the
road he wanted to take and he knew that that road would lead to disappointment
and probably death at the hands of the Elves out of fear of him and how he looked.
He was a monster on the outside and he was related to monsters. But he wasn’t
one on the inside. He’d only heard stories of the great Elvish city but one
time he’d actually looked over the wall of Mordor and seen the green that lived
outside of this hell. How he longed to lay on the cool grass and let down his
shield for even a moment of peace.

June 1, 2018 write for 4 min

Summer put her book back down in her lap and stared at the passing desert out of her
window in the small room she’d rented on the train headed to New Orleans. She’d
left her home in California after her husband died of yellow fever. She’d loved
California but she was pregnant and while she could raise the baby herself it
would be a lot easier with her family at her side to help. She fought the tears
wanting to stream down her face. She was mad at him for leaving her. Summer
knew it wasn’t his fault but all the promises he’d made and the happiness she’d
felt now felt like a cruel joke. Here she was a grown woman of 26 and she was crawling
back to her mother like a lost puppy.

June 4, 2018 write for 4 min

My eyes slowly slid open and I heard a distant crack of thunder. Was it raining? I asked
myself. I slid out of bed from my husband Mark, careful not to wake him and
peeked out of the window. Yes, it was coming down pretty hard. Mark turned over
in the bed but didn’t wake up. It was a Saturday so neither of us had to go to
work, so I snuck downstairs and opened the front door, watching the rain come
down. It was quiet except for the patter of the rain drops and the occasional
car driving by. I’d been sitting there thinking about my life and how much I
longed to have a freeer life when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs
behind me. I turned. It was Mark. “Hey sweetie, what are you doing?” He asked,
rubbing his eyes. “Watching it rain. Smelling the petrichor.” I said. He
laughed. “You and your words.” He said smiling.

June 5, 2018 write for 4 min

“I’m so sorry, please help me.” Caroline asked the baker. “What do you want?” The Baker
responded.

Caroline was just a little girl. Nearing her twelfth birthday, she had stringy blonde hair
and bright green eyes. But her fingers were covered in dirt and her white dress
was matted and dirty and she wore no shoes. “I must be the unluckiest girl in
the world.” She cried. “What happened?” Asked the baker. “My mother and I got
into a wreck in the middle of nowhere.” Said the little girl. “We walked such a
long ways to find help. But instead, some men drove by us and took her.”
Caroline continued. “Where did they take her?” Said the Baker. Tears began to
stream down the little girls face. “I don’t know.” She wailed. “Mommy told me
to hide in the bus when they drove up.” “How long ago was that?” The Baker
asked. “I don’t know.” Cried Caroline.

“Yes sir, I will watch her until you can get out here.” The baker said calmly and then hung
up the phone. Caroline hadn’t even seen him call anyone but if he’d just called
the cops, she would need to work quickly. “Please sir, I’m very hungry may I
have something to eat and use your bathroom?” She asked. The large man behind
the counter nodded and reached for a bagel on the top level of his display and
handed it to her. His eyes glazed with annoyance that he was having to deal
with this disaster. Caroline reached for the bagel and nibbled at it
pathetically as she walked back to the bathroom. Once down the hall, she
stopped and peeked back around the corner. To make sure the Baker wasn’t
watching her. He wasn’t. He was helping another customer.  Stuffed the bagel
into her pocket, even though only half of it would fit , she started tapping on
the drywall between the woman’s and men’s bathroom with a thud. Her third tap
caused an echo. The space behind the drywall was hollow. This is the spot. He’s right behind
here. She thought.

               
The young girl took the screw driver out of her pocket and stabbed the drywall.
It crumbled and revealed a large full black bag resting in the small space
between the hallway and the wall behind it. The smell hadn’t gone through the
drywall yet but as soon as Caroline opened the hole, she began to taste the
smell of a decaying  body. Caroline studied the bag that looked as if a
young boy was sitting inside of it, slumped over. Yep, that was Shawn alright. The poster of
the boy with dark black hair and eyes and a bright white smile flashed in her
mind. The poster that was on the light post just outside the bakery of his
current resting place. She heard the front door’s bells chime open and heavy
booted foots enter the bakery. The cops had arrived. She had moments before
they’d be coming down the hallway. Caroline used the screwdriver to open the
hole a little wider ensuring that the cops would see the body in the bag and
the little girl darted to the men’s bathroom. She knew there wouldn’t be anyone
in there and the window was already open for her to escape. “What the hell is
this?” She heard one of the cops shout just as she clambered out of the window
and landed on the ground with a thud.

June 6, 2018 a poem

Yes he’s over there. He’s smiling and happy. He doesn’t deserve to be happy and smiling.
But he is.

You may want to run.

You may want to leave everything behind and sit in a closet by yourself holding your knees
and convincing yourself you are safe.

But you’re here.

And he’s there.

And you will not run.

Look around.

You are surrounded by your friends.

If they knew, they’d be angry. They’d hold you. And they’d tell you that you were safe.
They’d stand between you and him so that you couldn’t see him smile.

But they don’t know.

Take solace in their quiet protection.
He can’t hurt you.

The only hurt he’s doing is the hurt you are allowing.

June 6, 2018 write for 4 min

“You should have forgotten me.” Norm said. Crayse looked up at her floating man. The man
she’d been in love with for the last 3 years. Only he wasn’t a man. Part man
but only half. His mother had been a human like her but her father had been
what she would have called an alien. Although now Crayse wasn’t so sure that
was a proper name for them because even though they’d been worlds apart they
weren’t so different from therm. Ok they could float and do several other weird
things with relocation but their personalities and their emotions weren’t much
different than a humans’. They felt love as they did. Or at least Norm had
pretended to love her in the same way that Crayse loved him. It had been three
years since she’d looked at his bright red eyes and his pale almost see through
skin. At first she’d called him an albino human. His form being so much like a
large man’s but Norm had not favored the term albino insisting on being called
what his race was called on his home planet The Superluminals.

               
But Crayse didn’t really want to call him Superluminal all the time so she’d
shortened his race name to The Lums. Which he seemed irritated by at first but
then eventually gave up on. Norm was not only a pale man with red eyes but he
was also nearly 8 feet tall. “And I’m almost the shortest one on my planet.
Since my mother was a human she shortened me a lot. My father was almost 11
feet tall and so are my two older brothers.” Norm had told her nearly 4 years
ago when they’d first met. Crayse had remembered he was huge. Even to her
height of 5’10”, he’d made her feel small. But looking up at him now, he seemed
even larger than before. Also Norm wasn’t just some random half breed Lum. He
was the son of one of the top three leaders from his planet. His family ruled
the lands in the southern part of the giant landmass that covered their planet.
All their land was connected unlike the land on Earth. “Who are you?” Crayse
had asked him. Realizing slowly that he was someone of importance. “I am the
son of the southern Superluminal with the fastest and strongest cock.” Norm had
said proudly. Crayse stifled a laugh. “What is it?” Crayse asked. “I don’t
understand how that is an honorable thing.” She said. Crayse frowned. “Directly
translated, my father’s title is the Southern Cock. He won the honor by being
the fastest and strongest fighter in the southern hemisphere. There is a
Northern Cock and Central Cock.” He explained. Crayse had paused thoughtfully,
trying to understand. “Do these three men govern your planet?” She asked. Norm
nodded. “Yes. In the same way that your leaders govern your own lands. So
perhaps, I am, in your language, a Prince.” Norm said.

June 13,
2018 write for 4 min

I spent the morning lying in bed. It was a weird feeling lying in the spot that Sam had
killed me. My own blood surrounded me, dried and stuck to the white sheets. My
body was already gone. The night before my body was found by the old lady
living next door. The cops were called. Investigators showed up in the middle
of the night and took over 100 photos of how it lay in my final moments alive.

If I’d known so many pictures would have been taken of me, I would have worn my favorite
outfit. The bright blue shirt with the cut off shoulders and my favorite torn
shorts that made my butt look spectacular. But that shirt had been dirty. And
those shorts were at Sam’s place. So I’d been in my white shirt and other blue
shorts. I still looked cute but not as cute as I did in the blue. Maybe one of
her friends would know that that was her favorite shirt and have it washed and
buried in it.

They had no idea I was still here watching them take more pictures, discussing what they
thought had happened and then talk about their personal lives in between
discussing me and my murderer.

“The victim knew her attacker. There is no sign of a break in.” Luke, the man
with a jet black beard and blue eyes that had been assigned as her investigator
said.

Right. I thought. I knew him pretty well.

“The victim was also probably raped. Considering the bruises on her hands. We will
need to get her tested.” Said a female investigator to the man’s right.

It had been my fault though. I wanted to say.

Her private investigator clenched his teeth. He’d been staring at the bed, studying the
blood and the way my body lay but then suddenly his eyes snapped to where I’d
been sitting on the edge of the bed, with my legs crossed. He looked at me.
Straight in the eyes. I was sure of it. But his eyes gave away nothing. Then he
turned back to the woman. “Do you think she loved the man that did this to
her?” He asked. The woman shrugged.
“Does it matter? She’s still dead.” She said.

The rest of the people in the room couldn’t see me. But he did for a second. Or he was very
suddenly entranced by my Harry Potter poster behind me. But that couldn’t be
it. He’d seen me. But I was dead. How did he see me?

After the brief recognition I saw in him, I couldn’t leave. I spent all night at the
corner of my bed, watching him stare at the room, writing down a million notes
and take a million pictures.

At around 4 in the morning an intern had found my journals in my backpack. I hadn’t wanted
anyone to read them. But there was nothing I could do about it now. That’s what
I got for dying. That’s what I got for trusting the wrong man.

Luke had grabbed for the journals like they were made of gold. “I would put money
on the fact that these will point to our murderer!” He’d exclaimed.

June 20,
2018 write for 4 min

Sally walked into her grandfathers’ house on the ranch. “Grandpa, where are you?” She called
through the living room as the screen door slammed behind her. “In here love!”
He said in his croaked old voice. The voice was coming from the dining room so
she continued through the ktiched and into the dining room. Her grandfather was
sitting at the old wooden table staring at a newspaper. She set down the stuff
she’d brought to make him dinner and then sat next to him. “What are you
reading this time, Grandpa?” She asked, leaning over so she could read the
newspaper too. Her eyes looked up instantly at the date. Wednesday, July 3,
1901. “Just reading yesterdays news.” He said. “The Wild Bunch robbed another
train in Montana. I don’t understand why everyone has to go robbing each other
these days. It didn’t used to be like this.” He grumbled. Sally patted him on
the back. “I know grandpa, it’s dangerous these days. Would you like a
sandwich?” She asked. Her grandfather sat down his newspaper and smiled up at
her as she stood. “Yes please sweetheart.” He said.

July 17,
2018 write for 4 minutes

Sarah told me today that she felt like dying. And my heart nearly died with her. She said
it in a joking way but the way her mouth curled to the side in anguish made me
want to wrap my arms around her. But instead I got awkward. I patted her on the
shoulder and said “Sarah, you will get through this. I’m here for
you.” Her voice let out a cracked laugh. “I dont know why I’m always
so dramatic. Some people have it worse than me.” She said, talking herself
back into her corner. “There is only one person that has it worse than
everyone else. He is not the only one that is allowed to be upset about what
the world gave him.” I said. These words were not my own. I’d read them
off a meme the day before but they held the encouragement that she needed.
Sarah turned to me and smiled. Her eyes still weak. “Thank you.” She
said. I could tell she was fighting with herself. She’d convinced herself that
she’d bothered me about her problems for to long and was trying to change the
subject. “We can keep talking about it if you want, I have the day
off.” I said.

July 18,
2018 write for 4 minutes

Cheville studied the latest shipment of trash from the ancient city of Dallas, Texas.
The city had only been functioning for 342 years and yet it had discarded 7,000
tons of waste which had mostly rotted into piles of indistinguishable mush.
Except for larger parts and plastic the organic matter had dissolved and was
beginning to eat at the synthetic matter. Which meant that in order to analyze
the trash, garbologists like Cheville had to sift through the remains for hours
every day and even though it smelled horrible, he sort of loved it. Often what
people threw out made no sense but it pointed to what they felt wasn’t
important or shouldn’t last long. But the creators of the ancient city of
Dallas had created things to last a long time. Thousands of years after the
styrofoam cups had been tossed, he was still finding them holding some sort of
liquid. A hundred years ago, a scientist had found a way to transform this
trashy mush into fuel, sort of like oil only they’d only had to wait 3,000
years for it to be usable as oppose to the millions of years they’d had to wait
for oil. It wasn’t as efficient as oil but it was close and they had plenty of
it. Still, historians saw some value in learning about their ancestors and had
asked that garbologists study the trash before transforming into fuel so that
we could understand them from their trash and not just from their treasures.

July 20,
2018 write for 4 minutes

Christina read the text message from the guy she’d been dating for the past 3 months
again. Brett: I’m sorry Christina but I met someone and although I think you’re
an awesome girl and you have a lot going for you, I’ve fallen for her. She
makes me happy and I can’t let her go without trying things with her. I know
you’ll find someone and we can still dance with each other and be friends.

She’d read the message 20 minutes ago and had continued to just stare at it. Yes they
hadn’t been dating for that long, they hadn’t even said the L word but still it
kind of hurt. She wanted him to be happy though and she wasn’t going to be the
one to hold him back. If she wasn’t the piece that would complete his puzzle,
then she’d bow out gracefully respecting him for being honest with her.

September
28, 2018 write for 4 min

Looking back on my life I wonder if I made all of the right decisions. Well I don’t wonder
that. I know I made mistakes. Like when I stopped talking to my cousin because
she stole my boyfriend. He was a loser anyways. But that was 60 years ago. Why
Im still thinking about it is beyond me. Or the time I gave up the opportunity
to have a family and signed up for the experimental space trip to live on Mars.
They’d talked about the possibility when I was a kid. But a week after I turned
27, jobless because I’d gotten laid off. Yes I had an engineering degree but
even I was struggling to find a job. And I’d just gotten an abortion, which had
completely messed with my emotional health. I wanted a family. But a week after
my birthday, I got the offer to go live on Mars. I’d be going with 14 other
young healthy professionals to colonize. Even though I had a boyfriend and my
family begged me not to go. I went anyways. I needed a new life. And this was
my chance.

October 29,
2018 write for 4 min

“Hello.” A voice said from behind me while I stood in line for a large iced coffee at
McDonalds. I turned, annoyed. “Um..what?” I asked.  The man standing
behind me was dressed as a doctor with toothpaste colored scrubs and his
perfectly shaved beard covered his chin. A smile spread across his face when my
eyes met his. “I was just wondering…” He said. “Have you ever practiced
diablerie?” My chin fell to the floor. “How do you…?” I stammered. “I can just
tell. I think youre the only other one I’ve met in almost a decade.” He interrupted.

“Number 476!” The lady behind the counter shouted. Our line moved up and I took a step
forward without taking my eyes off of the doctor. “It’s been longer than that
for me. Where did you learn?” I asked. “15^th century. Germany.” He
said.

November 7, 2018
write for 4 min

I stared at the paper wondering what I should write. So many things had happened and yet I
was sitting at my desk the same as I had been right before it all started. We
all thought this election would be like others. We fight until someone is
chosen. Then we fight about who got chosen until everything settled down again.
But when Belto got elected, everything changed. Everyone with engineering
degrees and their immediate families was forced to go to a huge convention. At
this convention Belto gave a speech. He told us that we were responsible for
the upcoming world. That we would change everything together. If you’ve met at
least a couple of engineers in your life you know that we are a skeptical
bunch. We all glared at him and exchanged worried glances with each other. It
wasn’t until we heard the explosions outside of the protected bunker that we
were in that we realized, we were the only ones left.