Monday, June 8, 2009

The Abyss

Calypso broke the water, feeling the silkiness of it quickly envelope her as she sank downward. Then she turned her body around and resurfaced. She floated on the surface of the pool for a minute, and then headed toward the edge of it. Pulling herself up, she soaked up the silence of the pool. She reached the high dive ladder and clambered up. This was her true home- on a high point, about to spring into the void. As she stood on the board, a thought occurred to her. She looked around furtively, making absolute sure no one was around. If someone caught her… She dove through the board, then reverted her body back to solid and executed a perfect flip sequence before once more dropping into the water.

She made sure her eyes were the only thing showing above the water and peered around again. When no one appeared, she gratefully popped her nose and mouth above. Suddenly feeling tired she got out of the pool and wrapped herself in a towel. She took a quick shower and dried off, but her hair was still soaked. Looking around again she made the change and when she was back to ‘normal’ again, her hair was dry. Just another odd quirk of being ‘special’. Thanking no one in particular as she gathered up her bag she treasured the emptiness of the pool. It opened early enough that no one was around when she was. Swiftly she finished changing and left the Y, impervious to the fact that she was being watched.

His eyes followed her as she got into the car. For the past six months he had tailed her with an obsession that bordered insanity. No one else could or would be able to understand and keep up with why he did it- no; this was his burden to bear. He had been at the hospital that night, seen her, had witnessed what she could do. But now he had gathered all the information, obtained from hours, days of carefully spying. The job would be finished soon, he thought as he watched her car speed away, and that would finally be the end of Calypso Levise.

*****

Calypso slammed the door shut. She had little time to prepare. Inside she was greeted by her cat Ops who jumped down from the top of the staircase. Calypso smiled. They both liked heights. She dumped her bag by the door and made her way up the staircase to her room. Maybe she could take a nap before all the last minute checking and planning. She closed the door, but not before Ops sashayed in. She looked around the room and went over to her full length mirror. Examining herself critically, she turned a few times and then transformed. She looked at herself calmly. The initial panic was long gone. Now that she had been like this for six months, one week, and four days, she could stare at herself without revulsion. Normally she had light brown hair, ice-blue eyes, and a muscular body. Now she was almost colorless, her body flickering slightly as if she wasn’t quite right, wasn’t quite there in the proper sense. Glancing again down at herself, her eye caught a picture tucked into the top of her mirror. It was of three people: two women and a man. The two women looked very much alike with the exception of their ages- one looked about twenty, the other, forty-five. The man was the same age as the older woman with blond hair. All three of the people were laughing and smiling at the camera. Calypso looked away quickly and closed her eyes. Unwillingly she was thrown back in time, her mind reliving what had happened that awful night…

Smoke. Smoke everywhere. Pushing at her face, choking her. Giving up, struggle useless. She would die here, she knew it. In her final moments, she forced her brain to work. How did this smoke get here? This couldn’t be happening. Normal people’s houses didn’t just go up in flames. And then her mind gave out from lack of oxygen and all was black.

She opened her eyes. White. She flinched away from the brightness and immediately regretted it. Pain everywhere, shooting up her body. She froze. If she stayed still, it was held at bay. How long could she hold? She gave out. Maybe she could escape through unconsciousness. Then footsteps neared her door. No, the pain would have to go on a little longer. She relaxed into an easier position to stay in but even that brought it up. She couldn’t do it. A cheery doctor bustled in, smiling as he checked the charts by her bed. “Hello Miss Levise,” he practically sang. “You’ve been out awhile. We were wondering when you were going to pull through.” Seeing her perplexed expression he added, “It’s the 8th of January.”

January 8! She had been comatose for almost four days. She tuned to look at the doctor, pain splintering up her as she did, but he was busy injecting some clear liquid into her IV. “There you go! That will hold the pain off for a little bit. You sustained quite a few burns. You’re lucky to be alive…”

At this she started. “Where are my parents?” she asked urgently.

His smile wavered. “Well, they had injuries much worse than yours. There’s no need to worry about it now. They’re quite stable.” At this he grimaced. Calypso wanted to ask him more, but the morphine he had injected into her IV had taken a full hold on her system. She was once again fighting unconsciousness, safe this time, but the consequences of slipping away just as dire as before. She fought the morphine in vain and once more plunged into darkness.

Calypso opened her eyes. The flashback had been upsetting. She hadn’t wanted to go back to that day. But removing it from her memory was not something that could easily happen. After she had woken up again, a nurse had informed her of her parents’ deaths. She had been so wretched. It had felt like something had died in her, and strangely enough, she had felt like something had been born inside her also. Then she had wished to disappear. And bizarrely enough, she did. She was so shocked by her colorless state that she went through the bed. When she was released from the hospital she experimented with her newfound ability. She found out that what she was doing was actually turning her body into the body of a ghost. Something like that anyway. When she wanted to or let her guard down, she went through objects. It took a lot of concentration to not do it all the time.

It was because of her ability that she was conducting this test. Because of what had happened, she needed to be sure she could take care of herself in a life or death situation. She was going to jump off one of the cliffs surrounding the huge and completely dried up lake on the outskirts of her town. She had guessed that her form would hold and that she could reassemble herself after she dived through the lake bed. She had been working on the experiment for several months now, just after she moved to this insignificant settlement in Arizona. But now in less than 24 hours she would be plunging off of a cliff surrounding the lake. Finally she would find out if her endowment was worth anything. Finally she could start to move on from her parents’ deaths. She was ready to begin living again.

The Next Day…

Calypso stood on the edge of a cliff, feeling the early morning wind whip at her, trying to dislodge her before she was ready. She held her ground, waiting for the moment. As the sun rose, she would jump. If she actually knew anyone, they would accuse her of being dramatic. But that wasn’t the case now. No friends, barely any acquaintances. It was better that way. She shook those thoughts from her mind. Only a few minutes till sun rise. She could feel herself shiver with anticipation and adrenaline began to course through her veins. Only a minute now. Forty seconds. Thirty. Twenty. Ten. As she relaxed into her familiar diving position something caught her eye. A man was coming toward her, trying to keep out of her sight. There was a bulge in the pocket of his jacket. She immediately prepared to jump but with almost inhuman speed the man caught her arm in a viselike hold. He pointed a gun at her head. She panicked and forgot everything, especially her power to get out of this situation.

“Stop!” she frantically cried out.

“No way Miss Levise,” he snarled.” You’ve avoided me enough. The time has finally come.”

“Enough? I’ve never seen you in my life.”

“Yes you have. Think back to the hospital. I was there.”

She racked her brain. Yes, there had been someone there with the same hair and face but his jacket then had been covered with ashes…

“My parents,” she whispered. “My life. Why?”

He stared at her. “The very reason you’re jumping off a cliff. Your mutation.”

“But how...” she asked bewildered.

“There have been a lot more tabs on you than you think,” he responded. “You have to be watched and monitored. Otherwise you could-“

“What are you talking about? And what does this have to do with my parents?”

“Your parents died for their own good. And it was unlucky that you survived. But not long enough to keep me away from you.”

But only one sentence had registered with Calypso. She was furious. This man had set fire to her house, killed her parents and almost killed her. Fury unlike she had ever felt before surged through her veins. She was livid. As she looked up at him, he could see the change in her. He backed away, bur didn’t drop the gun.

“It was your ancestor Borack Uriel,” he stammered.

“Really,” she spat.

He looked nervous. “On your mother’s side. He was like you. Creepy. Unnatural.” He seemed to grow braver. “He had powers like yours. Only many more. I’m guessing that all of your family was a little gifted. Only trauma brings it out. Which is what happened to you when you didn’t die. Now I’m ridding the world of your family. We can’t have abnormalities taking over the world. You could if you tried, but now you will have no chance. You’re the last of your family. No way out, no way to carry on the gene.”

“Really Daren,” she whispered.

He froze. “How do you know-?“ He broke off. “It doesn’t matter.”

He aimed the gun at her but she quickly knocked it out of his hand. With a cry of rage he lunged at her- an act of stupidity on his part. She was standing at the edge of the cliff. She watched him come at her and at the last second she changed. He went through her and fell off the crag. He plummeted down, fifty meters from the edge of the precipice. She watched Daren Tearce as he dropped to his death. Then without another glance at him, she threw herself from the cliff.


This has been a "FunkyZebras19" production...

No Redemption

A Cake1313 production ...

Michael tossed around the green vegetables sizzling in the cast-iron pan. Sweat trickled down his face, his breath was hard and unsteady, and his grace as a chef was quite off. He placed the pan back onto the fiery stove and threw down his hat, annoyed with what he created.

“What is the matter, señor?” Manny, Michael’s best friend and executive chef of the Beasty Feast Yacht, asked.

Michael sighed and plopped down on the marble counter directly behind him. “It’s just that nothing I cook seems to look edible!”

Manny glanced at the pan of what was once a seemingly-heavenly dish. “Well…now it does.”

“Exactly! Not edible!”

Manny removed his gloves and threw them to the shining floor next to Michael’s hat. “I think you are overreacting a bit much, señor. So what if this ONE critic you have been dying to impress doesn’t like it? He’s still one man! Not one thousand!”

“But I wanted to make everyone in this county adore my gourmet food, but if this ONE critic doesn’t like it, then clearly not everyone wants to come here!”

Manny shook his head. “I’m sorry, señor, but you’re not making much sense. One person of the thousands who live in Del Mar, one man doesn’t simply adore it? A lot of people come to this city just to eat on this fine yacht!”

“Michael bowed his head and sighed. “I’ve lost the support of my family… ever since that awful day…when…,” Michael stopped.

Manny walked around the messy kitchen, stepping in rotten tomatoes and bits of flour. Well…at least the other half of the kitchen is shining. “You’ve got to stop living in the past, señor. That’s why you’re constantly acting up! You’ve never been this stressed out about this critic!”

“But Donna, my own daughter, won’t even come out of her room! Not since…,” he stopped, yet again, and wiped his eyes.

Manny sighed and untied his apron. He walked back to Michael and sat next to him. He didn’t take the slightest glimpse of his face. He was too afraid to see the expression there. “I told Donna of your drug and gambling habit.”

“Now she hates me?” Michael demanded. His mood didn’t change at all.

“Well remember when we went to the bar on my twenty-fifth birthday party? “Yes.”

“And I stripped and challenged a fifteen-year-old boy to a karate match?” he smirked. “And it turned out to be my nephew who hated me already?”

“Yes. You didn’t even know karate.”

“Well…Thankfully, it’s not like that. She’s just disappointed in you. She doesn’t care if you own a five-star restaurant on a yacht that’s docked to the finest part of Del Mar shore. She just wanted to spend some quality time with you, but the truth ruined her respect. Not her love.” Manny wrapped his arms around his friend’s shoulders. “It was time she knew the truth anyway.”

Michael shook him off. “Don’t embrace me. There’s no one to support me now…except you who killed my daughter’s respect for me by telling her my darkest secret!”

“Señor!”

“Shut up, Manny.” Michael removed his apron and walked over to the swinging kitchen doors. He held one open. “I’m going to the club.” At that, he was gone and the door swung back and forth.

“Poor amigo.”

This is the life of Michael Riveras. Ever since the death of his wife, he hasn’t been the same. He went through many sleepless nights wondering how his loss would affect his cooking. He took two doses of heroine every other day and his daughter was a wreck. All because of the fatal car accident that happened six weeks ago. And the worst part was…it was his fault. He knew it.

Michael careened down the bridge from his yacht. He thought he would phone his drug dealer and ask for two doses by the alley at the club. He reached for his cell phone…

****

“How was dinner, Brianna?” Michael stuttered, trying to keep his eyes on the road. What a horrible time for an impulse! He thought.

“It was the best anniversary dinner ever!” she replied with a beautiful, heart-warming smile.

“Well it was our first one!” he stuttered yet again trying to regain focus. Stay with me here, Michael! His conscience ordered. Suddenly, his hand turned the wheel rapidly causing the car to swerve out of control.

“What are you doing?” Brianna screamed. These were her last words…not counting the blood-curdling screams.

When Michael regained consciousness, he noticed Manny sitting right by his side, firmly grasping his hand.

Michael murmured, “Where am I?”

Manny answered, “The hospital. You were in a horrible crash that involved a drunk driver…Well most likely. Several vehicles were totaled, and you were the only survivor.”

Michael’s eyes widened and swelled with tears. “So Brianna’s?”

“Dear amigo…I am deeply sorry.”

****

“See you there in five,” Michael stated, hanging up his phone. Walking down the sidewalk, he looked at buildings towering above him. The setting sun created a beautiful purple tint to the glass windows. Any shade of purple was Brianna’s favorite color…. Too many things seemed to remind him of his dead partner…like the sizzling of his fajitas, the sight of the blue, blue Pacific, and even the way the morning crowd came in for breakfast. It was saddening. Has nature been trying to tell me something these past few weeks?

Three minutes later, he arrived at the club. But instead of going in, he walked right past it and turned into the alley. He looked at his watch. Twenty-eight more seconds… That was Brianna’s exact age when she died. Nature wasn’t being very comforting. Five…four…three…two…one… Michael pulled a wad of money from his pocket and tossed it into the shadow’s ahead of him.
“Hold your end of the deal, Tyke,” Michael grumbled. Suddenly a drug needle was tossed right in front of him…then another.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Tyke’s sinister voice hissed. Suddenly a loud siren made Michael jump. He saw a policeman get out with a gun in hand. He approached them with caution, both hands around the gun.

“You’re in trouble now, buddies,” the gun clicked. “Hands up, and come out of there!” Tyke emerged from the shadows and both men did what they were told.

“Señor Michael!” Manny cried as a door squeaked.

“Over here!” Michael shouted.

“You also have the right to remain silent!” the police officer said. Manny appeared right next to the officer, who took a good look at him.

“I see you’ve finally been caught,” Manny said and his mood fell a bit.

The officer pulled out a sheet of paper. “And your legal fee for your work was supposed to be in three years ago!”

“What?” Manny and Michael said simultaneously.

“Remember your incident at the bar?” the officer demanded.

“Oh,” Manny and Michael said together again.

“Line up against the wall, you three. Prison awaits!”

Manny’s jaw twitched and clenched. “Yessir.” The three men were cuffed and shoved into the back of the police car, and they were taken to county prison. There was no trial. Tyke was sentenced to twenty years, Manny seven, and Michael three. They were the worst three years of his life.

After Michael was released from County Prison, he took his daughter out of Child Services. She had definitely changed. She was now fourteen years old and she wasn’t pleasant to be around…If you were Michael at least.

He never succeeded in making the critic happy with his food, his best friend was still in prison, he was overwhelmed from the constant crowds of tourists and locals, and he never had time for himself. I finally know what to do… And I know what’s been going on…I’m being punished for my actions… On that day, he gave up his daughter to his mother and father in-laws and turned himself in. The police kindly let him choose how long he would stay… It was kind of strange, but Michael said, “Eternity.”

Five years later, on Michael’s birthday, Donna and Manny came to visit him and wish him luck on his special day. Michael had sat down and stared at his daughter through the sound-proof glass that separated them. Manny was right beside her. Simultaneously, Donna and Michael picked up the phone.

“Happy birthday, daddy!” Donna greeted with the same heart-warming smile that Brianna always made.

“Thank you. I love you both dearly,” Michael said. Donna shifted the phone from her ear to her shoulder and she spoke to Manny. Moments later she brought the phone back to her ear.
“How much longer? That’s what Manny wants to know,” Donna said.

“Until I rot.”

“What?” Donna exclaimed. “Why are you doing this?”

Michael gazed into Donna’s beautiful hazel eyes. They were filled with annoyance… You can tell anyone’s emotions from looking at their eyes… “I want to. Here there is nothing that reminds me of your mom. I’m not really treated well, but I’m surviving and that’s all that matters to me right now.”

“You can at least get out after twenty years! Right? Then you can redeem yourself for what you did!”

Michael shook his head. “Even if you redeem your reputation, you still feel guilty for what you did,” he began. “That means there is no redemption. There is nothing you can do to make the pain go away, or get the horrible memories out of your mind…No redemption…”

And he was right… Nothing could ever remove the pain, the suffering, and memories…Only reputation can be restored. But to you there is no such thing as redemption. Anyone will figure that out if you’ve done something wrong. It’s worse than karma, a death penalty, and even getting beaten because the pain doesn’t go away. There really is no redemption…None…

The Storm of the Century

Gumby productions proudly presents...

The Storm of the Century

“Bye, have a good day,” Al said quietly to his sleeping family as he walked out the door and got in his car. He had to be at broadcast studio at five in the morning because he broadcasted at seven.
About half way to work, he noticed the sky was darkening over the small city on the out skirts of Huston, Texas. It’s just another rainstorm. We get a lot of these this time of year, he thought to himself and kept driving toward it, but little did he know it was the biggest storm if the century.
Wow! It’s raining like mad out here! He thought when he got under the big, dark cloud, only one or two miles away from work. The wind grew more violet every second and it nearly pushed him off the road. He could barely see with all the rain in the air and on his windshield. By now, the rain was coming down so hard he could only see off the hood of the car, five to ten feet, and he is only going 5 m.p.h.

Finally, he made it to the parking lot of the broadcast studio an hour later. “This is a good day to forget the umbrella, it would be useless,” He said out loud to himself. “I can’t stay in here forever. 1, 2, 3 go!” And with that, he burst the car door open and ran as fast as he could at the front door of the building, only one hundred feet away. The wind was whipping rain into his face like little bullets out of a mouse-sized gun. It didn’t take him long to get there, but it was like running a marathon with the wind pushing him back and his water-soaked clothes weighing him down.

When he got inside, he looked like he just went for a swim he was so wet. He got to his desk, still soaking wet, and turned on his computer. The only sound was from the weather outside and the coffee pot in the next room. While he was waiting for his computer to boot up, he went to get some coffee across the hall.

Finally it booted up, he turned on the radar and gasped at the size of the cell. It spanned from the western edge of New Mexico all the way to the eastern part of Texas, where Al’s home was.
He stood up and walked down the hall to his co-worker’s room to show him what he saw. “Do you see what I see?” Al said in fright pulling up the radar on the computer.

“Whoa!” the man said in shock. “Look at all the black, there is got to be lots of tornadoes in this thing. I can’t wait till the broadcast at six.”

“How long do you think it will last?” Al said with a tremor in his voice.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Four or five days.”

“Well I guess I'll let you go on with your business since you have the morning shift now,” Al said as he left the room. Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this, ever, he thought to himself thinking of the other big storms in the past. Maybe after the broadcast, I could take the rest of the off now that they hired a new person for the night shift. He stepped into his office just a few rooms down the hall and took a sip of the hot coffee. He sat down and looked at the screen trying not to lose his train of thought.

There were many places where tornadoes could pop up at any time. Darn, if only I could get out of work sooner. He thought impatiently. At that moment his co-worker peeked his head around the corner, “Wish me luck!”

“Good luck,” Al called back. Well, I guess I should start on my broadcast. He thought to himself.

“On the air in ten,” the producer called out to him forty-five minutes later. “Will you be ready?”

“Yeah,” Al called behind him. He walked down stairs to the dressing room with his papers and presentation in hand.

“What do you got today?” the dresser asked. “What’s the deal with this storm?”

“Well, the storm will probably last for about four or five days non-stop with lots of tornado warnings along with it,” Al replied.

The dresser shrieked in surprise.

“Yeah,” he said calmly as she began combing his dark brown hair and fixing his big glasses.

“You’ll have to watch the broadcast to get the major details.”

“On the air in five!” shouted the producer across the hall.

“Well, that will do it,” the dresser said.

“Thanks, see you tomorrow,” he said as he walked out of the room and down the hall to the broadcast studio.

“One minute! Places everyone, places,” the producer called out to everyone. “And five, four, three two, one action!” And with that, everyone got out of the picture and into their places.
“It looks like we have storm warning for most of New Mexico and most of Texas. Here is the map of the cities. All of the black is a tornado on the ground and the purple means a tornado is about to form.” Al began. “For us in Alvarado, this will probably last about a week, plus or minus. My assistant will keep you posted on the storm throughout the day, back to you Jeff.”

After the shoot, Al packed up and said goodbye to everyone. He walked into the coatroom to prepare to sprint out into the rain again back across the parking lot. On the count of three, he ran into the storming rain, but this time the wind was at his back. “Whew!” He said in relief when he got there. “Now off to Big Lake only an hour away.” His happiness was short-lived when he realized that it was raining even harder than it was when he got there.

“Five more miles to go,” he said out loud his voice muffled by the pounding of the rain on the windshield and the local rock station on the radio. The rain slowly switched over to hail over the next three miles. Then it all stopped. “What the heck!” he said confused. “The radar shows hail the size of gulf balls. I guess I’ll check it out; I’m only a half-mile away from the developing storm cell.”

“Huh! According to the radar on my laptop, I’m right under it!” He said when he got there.

“Maybe I’ll sit here and look around; after all it is supposed to rain all week.” Al couldn’t sit down for long, he had to get up and walk around to check the scenery out around him. All of the sudden, he heard a big gush of wind and was lifted off his feet and into the air. He screamed as all of the sticks and stones flew by his head.

“Mooo!” shrieked a cow going by him at a much faster speed.

He yelled again when a stick hit him in the side, then silence.

“Wh-Where am I?” he stuttered when he woke up and hour later. “What happened? Where’s my car?” He struggled to his feet and looked for his car. “There it is way over there.” He said. He got up very slowly so he wouldn’t hurt himself more than he already was. When he hobbled over to his car, he saw what had happened. The back window was blown out, one of the hubcaps was blown off, and there were several dents on the side of the car.

“Shoot!” he yelled and got into his car. In about forty-five minutes it began to rain really hard again and the inside of the car was starting to get wet from the window. “Well, that’s it for storm chasing.” He said with a smirk on his face.

The Journey of Death

A deadly story of survival and the end of life as we know it by: BlueberryBuddy


The deep bell rang three times echoing across the large ship. Everyone rushed to the top deck awaiting Captain B’s announcement, dreading the worst.

“Everyone listen up!” Captain B bellowed, stroking what he had for a beard.

“What’s going on? Is the ship sinking? I knew we would die!! And if the ship isn’t sinking then we will surely not make it to America! I just knew it!” Gracie was always paranoid. She never found the good in anything and always exaggerated everything that happened to her. Ever since the first day of the trip everyone thought her paranoia had gotten worse. The only time she went out of her room was to retrieve food and water and then no one ever heard from her. During the short amount of time everyone saw her, she always used her dark brown eyes as daggers, stabbing holes through everyone’s hearts leaving them in horrible agony until they backed away, wincing in pain. If you ever met her gaze, it was easy to see the paranoia and craziness build by the second.

“Gracie, calm down!” Captain B snapped. Captain B was of average height with short dark hair, and it was always well trimmed like a marine. His blue eyes always showed a blank emotion. He was a rather impatient man; this surprised everyone in Germany when they heard Captain B would be taking a group of orphans over to America by ship.

“The ship isn’t sinking.” Captain B began explaining to the group of orphans, sounding bored with the situation, “Unfortunately, we aren’t going to make it to America. I have just been alerted that a strange invasion of creatures from a different planet has begun. Their water supply is low. If they do not get a source of water their planet will burn up, along with everything and everyone on it. Our salt waters are the closest source they can find.”

“We should take our weapons and kill them all!” Taryn was always blurting out ideas even though no one listened to her. To normal human beings, whatever “normal” may be, she was considered a psychopath, but to her orphan friends she was perfectly normal. Her hair was dark and always ran long and knotted down her back. Taryn’s eyes were the kind that always looked like she was holding them open, wide in surprise.

“Taryn!” Captain B exploded; the red in his face was rising as fast as a thermometer dipped in boiling water.

“Yes?” Taryn asked, egging Captain B on. The expressions on Captain B’s face told Taryn that she better stop right where she was.

Captain B tipped his head as if he were wearing a hat and continued, “These invaders are not out for the kill. They are taking all our water. Though, that could be just as bad.”

“So we’re doomed?” The boys’ voice was squeaky and uneven, it had to be Sylvester. Sylvester was just about average for a German. Short dark hair, dark brown eyes, his voice was lifeless, his personality matched his voice, dead beat and boring. All the orphans, including Sylvester, were around ten.

“Yes, Sylvester, we’re doomed.” Captain B answered Sylvester’s question sounding irritated.

“Unless, we can make it to America before the water disappears. And that’s very unlikely.”

“What about everyone else? Won’t the creatures attack them too?” This new, strange, voice was Keeley. Keeley was never worried about herself or the others close to her, rather than the world, she wasn’t having any part in. Keeley and Taryn looked oddly alike except for their eyes. Keeley’s fit her better than Taryn’s did.

“So you’re worried about how other people are doing, even though if all the water does disappear then we will be stranded in the middle of the ocean, left to die?” Sylvester was always thinking logically.

“I say we kill Keeley, since no one likes her ideas, and then give her body to the invaders for a sacrifice!” Taryn always had a twisted way of solving solutions.

“If you’re not quiet, Taryn, I’ll make you the sacrifice!” Captain B was not going to put up with Taryn. He never did.

“Well then!” Taryn shouted in her high soprano voice and stormed back to her room. Everyone knew when she closed her door for the whole ship shook when she slammed the door with all her strength.

“Alright then, I suggest you all follow Taryn’s example and get back to your rooms.” On that note, Captain B turned and went back to the control room.

All the children trudged back to their rooms, thoughts of the invasion haunting their conscience.
Later that night, the children held a secret meeting in Taryn’s room, since it was the one furthest from the captain’s room. They were discussing different plans to conquer the invaders. About 15 minutes passed and the meeting was in session when the door to Taryn’s room slowly edged open squeaking and moaning the whole way. Gracie slid through the opening and slipped like wet soap on dirty hands to the unlit corner of the room.

“Well since we’re all here now, let’s continue. We left off with you, right Taryn?” Sylvester didn’t care if Gracie was there or not. He always cut her off the face of the earth when they were planning things.

“Yes! Now as I was saying, we take all the metal from the ship.” Taryn took a long pause, hoping to add a dramatic effect to her plan. “And make these really heavy super duper sharp harpoon type things! Then, when the weird creatures come, we tell them to, ‘BRING IT ON’!!!!!”

“NO!!!!” Everyone shouted at the same time.

“Can’t you see!? There is absolutely nothing we can do to stop this invasion! We just have to tough it out!” Keeley was beginning to sound like Gracie.

“She’s right,” Sylvester began, “all we can do is wait for the days to pass and see what happens.

And with any luck, we might survive.”

“Well, I don’t know about you suckers!” Taryn began, “But I am not going to stick around and wait for the little freaks to come and kill me! If they want to get to anyone, they’ll have to go through me!” Taryn left the room, leaving all the children with questions that they were too terrified to ask.

“I’m going to go find Taryn,” Gracie declared as she left the room. After that Sylvester and Keeley were so dumbfounded, they couldn’t think of any more ideas.

The next morning Captain B rang the bell two times waking everyone up earlier than usual. Everyone came up stairs, groggy and still full of sleep. When everyone was on the top deck, they watched the strange site that was happening before them.

Taryn and Gracie were going crazy! They were lunging back and forth across the ship trying to find various ways to get out.

“Gracie, Taryn!” Captain B began shouting at them. “If you two don’t stop this foolishness right now, I will make sure you both find a way out of this ship!”

Sylvester glared at Captain B as he walked over to the edge of the ship to see what Taryn and Gracie were so anxious about.

“What is this all about?” Sylvester questioned himself.

As Sylvester peered over the edge of the boat, Captain B began explaining, “The invaders came late last night. This was their last stop as they transferred the water from our oceans to their planet. We need to be on a close look out, the radio’s say they are taking any survivors they can find.”

After Captain B finished, an ear piercing, blood curdling, deafening scream, began. Everyone turned their heads quickly to Gracie. She was standing on the edge of the boat. Captain B began thrusting himself toward Gracie stretching his legs as far as they would possibly go trying his hardest to make it to Gracie. He was too late; Gracie had already thrown herself over the side of the ship. As the scream faded ever so slightly, it eventually came to an abrupt stop.

“She’s dead!!!” Taryn choked out in between outbursts of laughter. Taryn was laughing so hard at the body on the empty ocean floor; she was doubled over clenching her stomach because of the pain from laughing while she tried to wipe the tears of laughter away at the same time. As the rest of the orphan’s peered over the edge, the horrific stench of the dead sea animals began to rise, they quickly backed away.

“TARYN!” Keeley began screaming, tears rushing down her dirt stained face, “How can you laugh? She’s DEAD!!! You are so evil and twisted! I wish you would have died!”

“Keeley, you need to calm down,” Sylvester began, trying to comfort her as much as possible with his dull voice, “there’s nothing we can for Gracie now. Everyone just needs to do what the Captain told them.”

Just then, the silver, cube, shaped, ships shot thousands, maybe even millions of bright, vibrant, lights through the air. Everyone’s color faded as they were abducted into the creatures’ ships.
Inside the ships were hallways each at least five-hundred feet long and fifty feet wide! Captain B and Sylvester were bound by their wrist and ankles with heavy metal chains that were connected from the back. If either of them moved their hand just an inch, a painful shock would throw them to their knees.

Keeley and Taryn were put behind an electric fence that looked to be used for farm animals on Earth. If they walked within ten feet of the fence the same shock would shoot through their bodies, leaving their hearts racing ten times faster than they ever should have been.
To this day, the oceans refilled with some fresh water, though most was put back by the creatures for they took too much water and had to return it to the oceans to keep their planet from drowning. The creature’s left about two-hundred survivors in each country and those few were able to repopulate the world through the coming generations. There have also been no sightings of these strange creatures coming back to invade Earth…YET!!!

Friday, June 5, 2009

NOOOOOOO!!!

Me2 Presents...

One day Vladimir was flying over a town called Schnogolopogas when he saw a beautiful bird flying to the right of him. He said, ”Hello.” She ignored him and flew off. He went back home, sad and angry. Then he realized a shadow was spinning around his nest, a nest that was not anything like an ordinary nest: it had a sleeping pod and a full television room (because he had a T.V.) The nest also had a lock down chamber if there were any enemy birds on the loose. If it rained, it even had a ceiling to cover him. It was pretty much the best nest in town. The shadow turned out to be the bird he saw earlier.

She decided she was being rude and mean earlier and wanted to stop by and apologize. She said, “Hello. I’m sorry I was being o’ so rude earlier.”

“That’s ok. It happens a lot,” he answered.

“Want to go get some worms?”

Vladimir screamed, “YES, PLEASE!!! I…I mean sure.”

That’s how Vladimir and Olga met. It wasn’t long before they decided to be mates. She walked into the nest and decided to make some “femalish” changes to the nest. She put up some flower curtains on the windows of the nest. Of course, she cleaned the place spotless. Vladimir grew angry and decided to hunt for worms. He would be back in the morning.

When morning turned into afternoon, Olga grew restless. She went to find him. She found him but not very alive. Vladimir looked at her and said, “Take care of Squirly” (their pet turtle). She held Vladimir in her wings as he…he died.

Olga screamed, “NOOOOOO!!! You punk biker! Look what you did!”

The only thing the bicyclist heard was, “Chirp chirp chirp.”

Olga did not know what he was doing in the street, but she did see food on the road next to him. The boy just rode off into the sunlight. Then she woke up screaming “Vladimir!!!”
He woke up and said, “What!”

“Sorry I woke you up, but I had a terrible nightmare.”

Vladimir responded, “That’s okay. I have to change my clothes. I wet the bed.”
One month later:

One of Olga’s eggs hatched. It was a girl, and they named her Olga Mir. Olga Mir was a very ugly and rather stupid bird. Her parents tried to teach her to fly, but they never could. The bird doctor said she would never fly. She ran in circles until she hit her head against something. Sometimes, she would look in the mirror until it broke. Then she knew she was ugly. Her parents felt bad for her and decided to throw her a party.

At the party she met an also rather stupid bird named Harry. They became mates and lived down the branch from Vladimir and Olga. One day, one of Olga Mir’s eggs had hatched. Olga Mir’s mom was thrilled to be a grandmother to the baby bird. Its name was Harga Mir. One day Vladimir babysat Harga Mir. When Harga Mir showed up a storm appeared. Their branch on the tree split in half.

Vladimir was too old to fly and Harga Mir couldn’t. The branch was snapping, and they could do nothing about it. The wind blew Vladimir right out of the nest, and Harga Mir had to do something. She dove down deep into the storm and found Vladimir falling, and that’s when she realized she was flying. She caught Vladimir and flew him safely to shelter under a rock.
After the storm, the family regrouped and celebrated Harga Mir’s fantastic news. They went to the wormhole for a snack. After that they went back to the tree to build. Harga Mir flew all the pieces to build with to the new branch.

The new branch was much bigger and stronger than the last branch that had been blown away in the storm earlier. They finished the nest late that night. It had plenty more rooms and a fitness room. They even had a worm pantry and an extra bedroom for guests. It had a new and improved storm room that was nailed to the branch some how and a kitchen to cook worms in. Still probably the coolest nest in town. People were watching from a bedroom window and saw Harga Mir in the fitness room working out through the window. They all nearly fainted from the bird’s workout.

The people seemed quite satisfied with the birds singing as they worked. Then winter came. It came with a BOOM!!!

The birds had to build heaters for the nest and fast. The first snowfall was almost three feet deep. The birds would have to depend on what they had in their pantry to feed themselves. It was a good thing Harga Mir now lived on her own down the branch and had plenty of worms for herself. Then, her family came and told her that their nest had been snowed in during the storm. She welcomed them in and offered to feed them from her plentiful supply.

The supply lasted until spring. When they ran out, they could go for more worms because it was warm again. The singing on the branches had started once again. Vladimir and Olga headed back home for spring.

On one of these spring days, Olga was cleaning the nest and making changes. Vladimir didn’t want to stay home, so he said, “Olga, I’m going to hunt for worms. I’ll be back in the morning…”

Highway to Mucus World

HurleyHogs FILMS presents...

Three years ago Mr. Mukas and his family took a journey to Mucus World. It took them five days: four hundred three miles. He took his wife Mrs. Mukas, his son Fat Mukas Jr., and his maid Mukas Mukas. But of course he took his dinosaur floaty with dark pink polka dots which was bright pink. The morning they woke up, it was Wednesday April 5, 1972, 7:01 in the morning. His wife just couldn’t shut up; she wouldn’t stop complaining, “It’s too early!” ” I have no make up!” “I might be late.”

Two hours later the Mukas family headed on the road for Mucus World .The place they call FUN!

On the way they encountered a turtle that ended up being their pet. They made their way two miles in three hours. They’re on their way when Fluffy the turtle needed to go to the bathroom. So they stopped and they were on their way to Mucus World. They stopped at a museum to take a break and settle down to stay in a hotel. They spent the night and about thirteen hours of the next day. As they slithered away from their nasty slow green slug slime mobile, they were on their way to Mucus World....again.

On the way there they ran into a hobo and he wanted change. They told him they had no change, but the hobo noticed the one hundred dollar bill in his left pocket. So of course they said it’s not for him. They needed it for Mucus World, hotels, and food. So they give him three dollars in one dollar bills. But the hobo had completely forgotten they had given him some change. So he asked for more.

They said they had just given him some change, so they look in his cup. Empty. He had actually eaten the dollar bills they gave him. They ran him over and took out his friend with the door.

And driving and driving, they noticed a gift shop. They stopped because Fat Mukas Jr. and Mukas Mukas wouldn’t stop yelling at him to stop. They went inside and noticed mood rings, monkeys, toy cars, and even dolls of Mr. Mukas. They baught one Mr. Mukas doll, four mood rings, and half a toy car. It’s been three and a half days now and some how they’re only half way there. Mr. Mukas thought to himself, “Mmmhhh, maybe it’s my dang kid and maid.” Here they go on their way….again. Their vacation to Mucus World has just begun.

They stopped at a motel because sleeping in the car last night was the worst idea ever. They got there and they realized they’re out of gas. So Mr. Mukas and Mukas Mukas went to get some gas. With the little gas they had, they realized the closest gas station is closed and they didn’t have enough gas to go to any other gas station because it would be too far away. They got back and there was NO gas left. Mr. Mukas said he would walk down in the morning with his portable plastic gas tank.

The next morning came, so he walked to the gas station to fill up his portable gas tank. He had to make four trips to get it full. He didn’t even think of just driving there with the gas he had after the first trip. So they’re driving, again. They were almost there, just one hundred six more miles to go. It was still so early it was still dark out. It had been two hours and was bright out now and they only needed ninety six more miles to go. They had been driving for another fifteen minutes, a half an hour, and still ninety miles to go.

Everyone had been complaining, and no one had stopped in fifteen minutes. Finally Mr. Mukas stopped because he could not take it anymore. He let them go to the bathroom, stretch, eat, and do the basic needs. After about twenty minutes, they were back on the road and ready to ride. It had been about another hour and a half with eighty-four miles to go. They thought they had been so close but they finally realized they were not really that close at all.

“Here we go,” they all said all together.

After realizing they were actually quite a ways from being there and all bummed out they start singing...desperately. They sang every song that you could think of. They sang “Wheels on the mucus,” “Rudolph the red nosed mucus,” and of course “Happy Birthday” even though it was no ones birthday. So anyway they were traveling...and still traveling and finally one last stop, or at least that was what they thought. So the last stop was at the fanciest hotel known to mucus kind. It had sweet beds with mucus sheets, mucus soda, and of course mucus cake. The phone rang.

No one.

Mr. Mukas said, “Mmm.”

They all thought to themselves so they disconnected the phone and went on with their mucus lives. They slept and in the morning they hit the road one last time at least that’s what they hoped so.

Mukas Mukas (the maid) said she thought it would be a good idea if they took a two day brake instead of just one night on the road. But just sixteen minutes later by looking on their G.P.S. they were here. But there was no Mucus World. They used the G.P.S. to find it again and they realized they went the wrong way. No Mucus World for them today. Mr. Mukas was so angry for some reason he divorced his wife. They split the money, Mr. Mukas married Mukas Mukas, and they share custody for Fat Mukas Jr. Four years later they meet up at a party and talked.

What do they say? Oh you know, the usual: “How has Jr. been,” “What’s been up”. Later that night they went out together and somehow got back together and had another child. They went to Mucus World as a family and they went the right way this time. They lived happily ever after, except that they have a second child now. They moved closer to Mucus World in case they wanted to go there again. Mr. Mukas now works there as the ticket salesman. He now works twenty four hours a week including weekends.

Her Notebook

PurplePenguin Presents...

“I am standing here. I have no idea where I am and what everybody is doing all dressed in black,” Ashleigh wrote in her notebook. She yelled out, “Who are all of you people and what am I doing here?” She looked around when out of nowhere, she remembered how this all happened.

***

“Bye Ashleigh, have fun on your school trip to Canada!” yelled her mother as her daughter walked on to the bus from the bus terminal and left.

The bus driver yelled out to everyone, “We should arrive in New York City in about five hours!”

Ashleigh got up to talk to the driver, “You must have made a mistake. This bus is going to Canada, right?”

“Sorry Miss, I may be old, but I know where I am going, is there a problem?”

“U-m-m N-o-o,” stuttered Ashleigh.

She walked back to her seat and sat down. She thought that the bus driver would probably realize that she was right and that he DID make a mistake but nothing happened. That’s when she knew she had walked onto the wrong bus, but she fell in to a nice deep sleep anyway.

Four hours later, the bus finally stopped and reached its destination. “I guess we got here early everyone. Please unpack your bags and have fun in New York City,” the bus driver said.

That was all she remembered, and she was in reality land and her flashback was over. She yelled out, “New York City? I AM IN NEW YORK CITY!?!” She grabbed her water bottle out of her book bag and splashed herself with it yelling once more, “Wake up! WAKE UP!!!”

She fell to the ground as all the men in black passed by her not noticing she was there. “Where are my class and teacher, and where is Canada?” She thought for a second and realized she had her cell phone with her. She knew she had to call someone. She couldn’t just sit around in a big city like New York City!

“Mom! It’s me, Ashleigh. I’m in New York City!”

“You’re WHAT!!” screamed her mother.

“I got on the wrong bus, and I don’t know what to do right now.”

“I will call you right back. Keep your phone on!”

As she hung up the phone, she just sat there calmly so nothing bad would happen. A few minutes passed and she got the call.

“Hey, so what’s the plan? What am I going to do?”

“Just explain to me where you are and everything will be fine!”

“I’m at some bus terminal, it’s really big and it’s called Port Authority!”

“Okay. Stay right where you are. My friend lives there and will come and pick you up! She has blond hair and blue eyes. She’s not too tall, but you will notice who she is. Call me when you find her! By the way, her name is Kelly.”

She kept waiting and waiting for someone to come, and she realized she was really bored when out of nowhere, a car pulled up to her. The girl in the car had blond hair and blue eyes, but you can never trust if it is really them. There are tons of blondes with blue eyes walking around.
She yelled to the girl, “Kelly. Is that you?”

“Are you Ashleigh?”

“Yes I am. I’m guessing your Kelly, my mom’s friend?”

“You got that right! Let’s go! You look freezing out here.”

“I am!” Ashleigh said in a relieved voice and laughed.

They reached the house and got inside. “Wow. This is your house? It’s amazing!”

“Thank you! I clean all the time!”

“I hope you’re not one of those neat freaks.”

“No no. Don’t worry.”

“What day am I going home? It’s not that I don’t like it here, it’s just that I want to know.”

“I will get in contact with your mother and see what day it’s possible for her to pick you up.”

“Are you going to buy me a bus ticket?”

“Well, I don’t know what I’m doing. Just relax and enjoy it while you’re here and I will find out this stuff!”

Ashleigh left the room to go relax like Kelly said. She was so bored, and she knew that Kelly was a TOTAL cleaning freak. Ashleigh also knew that this was going to be the worst time ever here because she wouldn’t be able to do anything that she did at home.

She walked into the kitchen where Kelly’s fiancé Jeff was there.

“Hey. Not to sound mean or anything, but I don’t want to have a boring time while I am here, and I want to get out and smell the kind of fresh air.”

“Oh. We LOVE to get out and smell the fresh air.”

“Would you show me around the big city while I am here please?”

“Sure. You, Kelly and I could all go tomorrow. How does that sound? Right after breakfast?”

“Awesome. I can’t wait!”

The next day came quickly and Ashleigh chomped down her breakfast really quick. She was so excited to see the city. She had seen tons of pictures and knew that it was huge and busy, so she had to be careful. Before she knew it, they were out the door to give her the “Big Tour.”

“Wow. This city looks amazing!”

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” said Kelly.

They went through Manhattan, Rockefelle Center, and even Time Square.

“I am having a great time. This is so cool.”

“That’s great. I’m glad you like the city,” said Jeff.

“I’m going to have to visit back here, if that’s okay.”

“Sure. Why not? Bring your mom along too. I haven’t seen her in a while,” said Kelly.

“Okay!” said Ashleigh VERY excited.

The days went by quickly and time does fly by when you’re having fun.

“So did you talk to my mom? When did she say I am coming home? Not soon, right?”

“Well Ashleigh, I did talk to your mother and the only way you can come home is tomorrow. That is the only time she can pick you up at the bus stop.”

“Tomorrow?” Ashleigh choked.

“I’m sorry. You’re more than welcome to come back when you like.”

“I have only been here for four days!”

“I know, but your mother knows that you need to be home, and I will keep in touch with your mother all the time!”

“Well I guess I am going to go pack.”

She walked away, but she was okay after a while. She knew she COULD come back and that everything was going to be fine. She packed up all of her clothes, shoes, and even her teddy bear Mr. Snuffles.

“Jeff, Kelly. Thanks for everything! I really had a great time!”

“Of course. Anytime! Tell everyone we said hi!”

“Okay!”

Ashleigh walked on to the bus; she said all of her goodbyes and began to write in her journal once more.

“I feel like this was the best time of my life, and I will return here and do even more exciting things along the way. But until now, I shall just stay home and tell everyone what happened,” she wrote.

The Journey

"Buffy" PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS...

It was August 5, 1902. Andréa was getting ready to take a long travel on her father’s old boat. Her father had died about two years ago out at sea. No one really knew how he had died, but he never came back. Her father was taking a big trip to go fishing. But the day he was supposed to come back, he never did. Andréa used to wait for him every day after that, but he never came, so she just gave up. Her father had given the boat to Andréa about of month before he had died. The boat looked more like a pirate ship. It was very old and had been made out of auburn wood that was faded to a very light colored brown. The boat was so old but somehow was kind of nice. As Andréa was untying the boat, her necklace dangled from her neck. It swayed back and fourth. She had gotten it for her sixth birthday present from her dad. She wasn’t really sure why it had been a dolphin, but it was very beautiful.

After she had untied the boat and got it ready, she hopped on and started steering down the Atlantic Ocean. The day was nice but the clouds seemed dark. Andréa was hoping it wouldn’t rain.

As she was sailing down the big ocean, she saw birds soaring in the sky; she also saw white and gray seagulls and the big blue ocean that was in front of her. Andréa had picked the perfect day to go sailing. After a while of sailing and admiring the appealing ocean, the sun started to set. Andréa looked up and saw the clouds were still dark. Maybe even darker. Andréa decided to go back home. She didn’t want to have to sail home in the dark, so she turned the big boat around and set off back home.

She heard a loud split of thunder. Andréa ignored the thunder and decided to just focus on getting back home. Then after at least five noisy cracks of earsplitting thunder, it hit her. Miniature tiny raindrops fell on her. First it started slow, 1... 2... 3... 4... 10... 20... then after maybe one blink thousands of chilly damp raindrops were falling on Andréa. It got really dark fast. Then the waves started crashing, the boat started swaying, and the thunder was so noisy that she had to cover her ears. Andréa tried to steer carefully but every time she went to turn, the gigantic waves would turn her in the opposite direction. Then she looked a round in puzzlement. Was home this way? No, maybe it was that way? After sitting there thinking a while, she couldn’t decide. She now knew that she was lost, in a boat, in a thunderstorm. Andréa felt scared. How was she going to get home? Was she going to die out here? Would she drown? So many horrible questions went through her head. Andréa started too panic. She wished her dad was here to help her. He would have known what to do. Then maybe she would’ve gotten out of here by now.
A gigantic wave came towards her boat and knocked it almost over. The wave was so large that Andréa lost her balance and fell down. She was knocked out. She must have been having a dream because she was on a boat, fishing, it was sunny, and her father was standing right next to her. He looked down at Andréa and smiled. The first words he said were “Don’t give up Andréa.” He then laid his hand on her shoulder and said, “I know you can do it.” Then with a blink of an eye, he was gone.

“But wait!” Andréa yelled. “Come back! I need your help!” Then the dream was over. She opened her eyes very slowly and rubbed them. Her head still ached a little bit to. Andréa must have been knocked out for a while because the sun was shining. The bright sun had dried up all the rain and it had seemed to be smiling down at her. She had to squint to get used to the brightness. Andréa stood up, looked around, and took a long stretch. In the distance she saw land about three miles away. She now knew where she was. Now she could make her way back from where her boat was.

“Yes!” she screamed. “I’m going to be okay!” Andréa was so cheerful she forget about her aching head.

When she finally reached the dock, she got off the old boat and tied it to the wooden dock. She looked back at the ocean, and in the distance she saw a dolphin. The dolphin looked up at Andréa and seemed to smile at her. As if to say, “Good work.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled.

After that she decided not to ride the boat only if she knew it wasn’t going to rain.

Jeff’s Friend


A Fred Figglehorn Production

“OK, I’m going to the plain by the lake.” said Jeff

“Be back by Sunday.” Kelly responded.

Jeff grabbed his camping equipment, put on his shoes, left the biology lab, and slammed the door shut. When Jeff arrived at the plain, he began to pitch his tent and start a fire. Jeff started to look around for animals. He heard an owl, cricket, and a frog.

“Ahhh!!!” Jeff shrieked. A fawn had nudged his arm. He scared the fawn away. Jeff then decided it was time to go to bed. When Jeff woke up, he crawled out of the tent and looked directly at the lake, a moose was drinking from the lake. He grabbed his camera and took a picture of the moose. He started to cook breakfast. A few animals came to see what the smell was, including a raccoon, fox, and the fawn he had scared. He took pictures of the animals and continued to cook. He ate his breakfast and decided to get to work. He had been looking for a bear for about two and a half hours. He was hiding behind trees and boulders trying to keep from startling the animals.

It was about four in the afternoon when Jeff decided to call it a day and went to bed. He woke up and decided to try and look for a bear again. He looked in a different area, by the lake. On his way to the lake, he said to himself, “OK, this is my second day here and I still haven’t found any evidence as to why bears in this area can be vicious.” When he arrived at the lake, he saw ducks swimming in the water. He looked to his left, nothing. He looked to his right, nothing. He looked in the forest area, nothing. He went back to his camp, “Oh my God,” he gently said. A bear was rummaging through his back pack.

It looked at Jeff. Jeff looked at it. The bear snarled. Jeff stepped back a couple feet. The bear stepped forward a couple feet. Jeff slowly walked backwards to his truck; the bear followed. The bear growled and leaped forward. Jeff opened his truck door, got in his truck, started the truck, and left.

“Oh my God, Oh my God!!!” Jeff screamed. “Why did it do that?!?!” Then, something hit him. It was the answer as to why he was there in the first place. Bears in the area don’t like their homes disturbed. Jeff knew he had to go back and get the equipment, after all it wasn’t his equipment. He waited in his home until it was seven thirty and drove back to the plain.

He spotted the tent with his flashlight and saw the bear. The bear was eating the food Jeff had packed for the trip.

“Huhuh” Jeff sighed. The bear started to find Jeff’s scent. The bear was right next to Jeff. The bear bellowed a war cry. Jeff ran for his life. He tripped on a tree root. The bear caught up. Jeff crossed his arms in protection. Jeff looked at the bear. It looked puzzled. Jeff lowered his arms, and the bear sniffed Jeff.

“What?” Jeff asked himself. Jeff got up and walked around. The bear followed. He went back to the campsite and gathered the equipment and put it in his truck; the bear continued to follow. Jeff went to sit down by the lake. Exhausted from running he decided to rest by the lake for the night. When he woke up, the bear was still beside him. He walked to his truck; the bear followed. He opened the truck door. The bear started to whimper.

“Don’t cry,” Jeff pleaded. The bear looked up at Jeff with big brown eyes. “How about you come to the lab for a while” Jeff said to the bear. Jeff gave the bear a push to move him into the back of the truck. Jeff closed the tailgate door and sped down the road.

When Jeff arrived at the lab, he gently gave the bear a push to get him out of the truck. “Kelly look what I’ve got,” Jeff announced.

“Oh my God!” Kelly screamed. “You brought a bear to the lab?” Kelly asked Jeff.

“Yep” Jeff replied.

“This is great we’ll be able to get so much research done on this area!” Kelly excitedly screamed.

“Yeah,” Jeff said sadly

“What’s wrong?” Kelly asked.

“Well I brought the bear home because it looked like it was miserable in the wilderness,” Jeff responded.

“Oh, well we don’t have to examine this bear. If there’s one, there are one hundred,” said Kelly.

“OK” Jeff responded.

“I would take the bear back to where you found and release it” Kelly wisely said.

“Alright, come on” Jeff said to the bear. Jeff hopped into his truck and went back to the plain for the final time. He released the bear and said his good-byes to the bear and watched it walk off into the sunset. Jeff drove home relaxed and tired. When he arrived at his home, there was a mysterious looking letter taped to his door. He opened it.

Dear Jeff,

I know you miss the bear. It will be fine on its own, don’t worry about it! You were probably afraid of the bear when you first saw it, now you treat it like it’s your best friend. Take care! Visit the bear often!

Kelly

Jeff sighed, went in his house, walked up the stairs, walked into his room and fell onto his bed and went to sleep.

Heights

GreenJello proudly presents...

January 7, 1990: A new girl in town, her name is Kristen Heights. Birthday: October 10, 1975. Place she wants to be: Florida. Kristen moved out from her parent’s house because she lived with her sister, Katie, and her cousin, Major, and her parents, Vicky and Larson. Her mom was the head of a big company, while her dad owned a lumberjack industry. Katie and Major had already started building their own store! And while Kristen lived there, she was nothing. Plain. Like thin air floating up to the clouds and slowly repeating itself.

She had dreams, dreams to go to college and become a kindergarten teacher or a high school math teacher. Her best friends lived with her. Their names were Heidi and Annabelle. They called Annabelle, Belle, but they called each other sisters. Heidi wanted to be a philosopher and Annabelle wanted to be a physiologist. Well, they would be split up when they went to college. But the bad thing was, they were leaving for college in about a month and a half.

“Did you see the new girls!! They moved into the Brookes house!! They won’t last here long.” Kristen heard a little boy say to a friend. She thought she had nothing to worry about, because they were new, but she will soon see.

“Hey girls, have you heard anything about this house because I had an interview for a job today and this person asked where I lived and I said on Hates Street and he said, ‘where on that street’ and I said the last house on the left before the huge bushes. And he started telling me how many people have gone ‘missing’ from this house!” Heidi explained, shocked to see Belle’s straight face just as Kristen’s face went sheet white.

“So what? Someone told you a folk tale about our house… How old was this dude again?” Belle explained and asked without anything but wonder.

“Bells, someone told Heidi a scary story about our house. Doesn’t that freak you out?” Kristen asked

“No” Annabelle said a heartless, stone cold no.

“What, why doesn’t that freak you out? Did the person who sold us this house ever let us meet the previous owner when we asked? No!” Heidi obviously was consumed with pondering thoughts.

“Heidi, let’s just drop it and go to bed. Maybe he was trying to scare us. Goodnight girls,” Kristen said.
“Yeah night,” Heidi said.

They all went to bed. Heidi had a bad night’s sleep: a presence of someone watching her, gently rocking in the chair, staring at her bed. Bad dreams consisting of clowns, darkness, and endings. She was terrified of clowns. Kristen was terrified of long-lasting darkness. Annabelle acted as if she wasn’t afraid of anything but deep down she was afraid of something.

The next morning…

January 8, 1990: “Okay… They had a weird experience last night when a ‘story’ came home with Heidi about their new house. And after Kristen heard that little boy, I think she is scared. She can’t even watch scary movies. She is terrified. Kristen wants to look over her shoulder, but she is scared to think what might be behind her. She might just stay home today all alone with Annabelle. She might even ask why Belle isn’t scared or freaked out about the story. And see if she can get an answer although it would be like ripping nails out of steel. Kristen wants to know why it didn’t shock Belle about what news Heidi had brought back. Kristen just had a different idea about the news that she had heard… I guess. Kristen would be home almost all day just to wander the halls of the house, and wonder what lies through the dark, gloomy halls.”

***

“Good morning everybody! What’s for breakfast? I hope its pancakes with eggnog coffee!” Belle came into the kitchen chanting. The two girls gave her a very disgusted look. “What haven’t you ever met me?!”

Then Belle poured herself a cup of coffee with eggnog and gave Heidi a great big hug and said in the sweetest little tone and big smile, “Heidi will you please make me some pancakes?”

Heidi was a softie for big smiles.

“So how did you girls sleep?” Kristen asked in a perky tone.

“Good,” she heard from Belle, although nothing from Heidi.

“Heidi, how did you sleep?” Kristen asked in a gentle voice.

“Well… I slept okay. I guess I had a weird feeling,” explained Heidi.

“What kind of feeling?” Belle questioned.

“A weird feeling like someone was watching me.” Heidi opened up.

“Oh my goodness, just let the story go Heidi!” Belle screeched as she slammed her coffee cup on the counter.

“No, I won’t let it go! You should have heard his tone of voice, he sounded dead serious,” Heidi said.

Belle just walked away. “She is just…” Kristen was cut off.

“I’m going to work! Bye and have a great day. And I know he wasn’t just lying,” Heidi said.

“I will watch where I go,” Kristen assured Heidi.

That Afternoon

Kristen was walking through the halls as she heard a sound of a door slowly creaking, like nails on a chalkboard. A few minutes passed and then she heard a harp playing gently above her. She saw a door ahead and walked closer. The music got louder and louder. She opened the door. There were stairs, and she walked up them slowly as the music got louder. She started to speed up. She got to a black door. The music was definitely in that room. She pushed the door open and, nothing. Not a thing, the room was empty except for a spider webbed harp, a black chest, a photo album, and an old book with writing. Kristen didn’t dare touch anything. She immediately ran down the stairs and was only left with thoughts of the attic.

Later that evening

Heidi returned home and rushed into the house. “Kristen! Belle!” She shouted up the stairs. They came down the stairs. “Okay listen. The story is true.” Heidi said as Belle started to walk away. “Listen Belle, I found a newspaper article talking about people missing from this house and a week later they were found dead.” The girls just stared into the house.

“Okay maybe this is true. Let’s look for more articles and talk to the families,” Belle had made the suggestion.

“Oh yeah, we just go to their home and say ‘hey, we live in a house your child lived in and could you tell me if anything creepy happened before they died!’” Heidi yelled.

“Guys! Let’s take this seriously okay. Now we can look up more papers alright! But for now let’s go to bed. Goodnight,” Kirsten stormed off. Heidi and Belle didn’t say anything after Kristen went up the dark stairs. They then all went to bed.

January 10, 1990: “Alright, it’s real. The stories the articles; it’s all real! People have gone missing then found DEAD 7 days later. All with-in the first month of living in this house! Okay Kristen, Belle, and Heidi plan to move out but they never expected what was happening.”

That afternoon

“Girls!! Let’s go I want to leave before we are next!” Belle was realizing the truth about their little house on the left.

“Okay, but first I wanna show you something.”

She showed them the attic and after a little argument, it came. A ghost popped up! The man told of the people who lived there and that were now dead. The man sent warnings to Heidi in her sleep. The feeling of someone watching over her was the ghost. He told them they were next. Then the ghost disappeared into the dark, gusty fog in the attic. They ran screaming. But something had got Heidi and she collapsed to the floor. Dying. Then, Kristen and Belle, with Heidi in their arms, ran to Heidi’s car and drove off to the hospital. All that was running through Kristen’s mind was this is a challenge; it’s a dream; it’s all fake.

As if Kristen were asleep this was a horrible nightmare. Then the car swerved, hit another car, and flipped down a hill. The crash injured Belle and Heidi was now dead in the backseat. Belle told Kristen to go and run and make sure she’s safe and the killer died.

Kristen ran and called the cops who tell her to take a car and go out of town, but they told her to tell them where they are going. She said, “I’m going to kill the man who killed my best friends.” And then she ran off. She stole a car and went after him. They ended up in the woods. He asked for their names, and she told him. She asked, “Why?”

He said, “Because you lived in the house.”

She asked him if he killed all those people who lived in that house and he said, “Yes, I did.”
She had a secret and he did too. She had a knife, and he had his hand in his pocket thinking she would not hurt him. She stabbed the knife through his heart, and he dropped to the ground. He was dead. She lay on the grass and fell asleep.

She woke up in her bedroom in the house on the left, with the pages of the journal of everything that happened scattered across the room. Her dead best friends were next to her. She screamed and nobody saw her ever again”

“That story was so fake Jack!” A girl said.

“No Chelsea! It’s real! I can show you the house.”

“Jack, no let’s just go eat lunch.”

“Alright” They started to walk away.

“Hey, you wanna hear about the last house on the right?!”

“No Jack,” Chelsea said.

“No it’s no problem,” Jack said.

“No Jack, that’s okay.”

“Your loss” Jack said, and they walked to lunch with the knowledge of the last house on the left of Lasting St.

No Way Home!

“Settle down everyone. OK, is every body here?” Chris said calmly. After he said that, Chris and all the 30 tourists started to walk around the museum. They all ended up in the South American’s Rainforest. “As most of you should know by now, the rainforest has animals such as monkeys, snakes, birds, cheetahs, insects, and reptiles.”

“That’s amazing!” said one of the tourists.

“OK, let’s move on. Now we are heading for the glass part of the museum. Please keep all your hands to yourselves at all times. Thank you,” said Chris. “Let’s move on please.” Chris was planning to show all of them a very special painting. When they all got to where they were going, Chris made them be quiet.

“What’s behind this curtain is something very important.”

“Come on open the stupid curtain! I’m waiting,” said an impatient tourist.

“Hold on. Now for the grand finally…” Chris paused. “Ta Da! The exit to the outside. Aah. Feel that sunshine!” Everybody looked confused, except for one person.

“Can I leave now? OK bye! (Thud) WHAT!! Why can’t I go outside?”

Chris laughed. He knew what was going on. It wasn’t really the door to the outside.

“That’s not funny!” yelled a tourist.

“I got you all because I was just kidding. This is actually a picture of a parking lot. Who here has heard of a guy named Michael Forager? He was 55 when he drew this picture.”

“Is he dead?” asked a tourist.

“Yes he is. He died in 1994. That was 5 years ago.” As he told that story, Sarah’s attention was caught on a shiny object. She was walking toward it when she stumbled over a large piece of a curtain.

“That’s weird,” Sarah said

* * *

“Let me see if we all are still here. 10, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29… 29… Wait we are missing somebody! Let’s go back to the parking lot picture everybody.” Chris panicked. He was very worried that she was either kidnapped or lost in the large museum. Meanwhile Chris called backup to help look for her.

* * *

Sarah tried to open the second curtain, but it was too late. Backup came. They called Chris on the walkie-talkie to say that she was alright.

“I was worried about you.”

“I’m sorry about that Chris. I was focused on a shiny object right over there. By the way, what’s behind the other curtain?”

“Oh, you found the other curtain,” Chris said with a little smile.

“Yes. What is it?” asked Sarah. As they all walked over to the second curtain, Sarah said she was very exited to see what was behind the other curtain. Actually, everybody said they were very excited to see it too.

“Well, I am going to tell you that right now. What ever is behind this curtain is very special.”
“Come on open the curtain for the second time already,” yelled a tourist.

“Hold on. Hold on. Are you ready to see what’s behind THIS curtain?” Everybody cheered. “And now for the curtain of the day…” The tourists couldn’t hold on any longer.

“A new meaning of life. A sweet place to be,” Chris announced. “And I am not kidding about this one. This is a time capsule or as you all know it as a time machine. It can bring you to the past or to the future in just seconds.” Everybody especially Sarah, wanted to go to the future.

“Can we go to the future?” asked Sarah.

“Sadly no, but I can give you a tour of the rest of the museum,” said Chris. When everybody left with Chris, Sarah stayed to check out the machine. She stepped into the time capsule and accidentally pushed a button. She didn’t know until the machine started to move, and then she realized she had pushed the button.

“Oh no! What have I done? I want to get out of here!” Sarah panicked.

* * *

While Chris gave a tour of the rest of the museum, Sarah was in the past. Chris didn’t even know it until someone was yelling,

“Where is my sister?”

Chris looked back and counted all the tourists, and he counted 29 again. He noticed that it was the same girl who ran off the first time. Once again they all had to go back to the time capsule. But once they arrived, they noticed that the time capsule was not there. Chris was thinking that he was in big trouble with his boss because Chris wasn’t supposed to show any tourists the time capsule.

“Please stay calm. We are going to find Sarah sooner or later.”

“Please hurry. My mom is going to kill me because I didn’t stay with her and now she is lost,” cried the tourist.

“Calm down please.” Chris said calmly.

* * *

“Where am I? I’m not sure, but I think I am in the past, and I mean the way past like sometime in B.C. Aah a dinosaur! ” she screamed. She was scared so she ran for her life. Sarah didn’t know what to do. She was stuck in the past FOREVER!!!!!!! (or at least that’s what she thought).

* * *

Again Chris called backup but this time the backup could not find her and that was a problem. It was a very bad mystery. Chris just remembered that there was another time capsule in the back of the museum. He told everybody to stay put so he could go get the other time capsule. (Yes it was light enough to carry. Amazing!)

“I’m back and here is the other time capsule. I am going to plug it in the outlet, and then I want you all to start bordering it.” Chris demanded.

“What are we going to do? Are we going to go to the future or the past?” asked a tourist.

“We are going to the past. I think she went to the early years in the B.C.’s” As Chris plugged the time capsule up, all the tourists started to chat about going to the past. They all were very exited to go to the past for the first time ever. They all boarded the time capsule and off they all went.

“Cool! Where are we?” asked a tourist.

“Now we are in the past,” Chris explained. “We are here to find a girl who’s name is Sarah. She should by around here somewhere.” The only problem is that Chris didn’t know that they all landed on the other side of the continent. They all looked forever and ever and still didn’t find her.

“Where is she? I am getting worried that we will never find her,” cried the tourist.

“Don’t worry. We will find her.” They all kept looking very hard.

* * *

“I’ll stay right here and won’t move. It’s been two days and I am scared,” said Sarah. “Hey, I think I actually see them!” Sarah exclaimed. She was so proud to see all her friends and her sister. Sarah ran as fast as she can just to go see them. The tourists also ran as fast as they could too.

“Are you all right?” asked Sarah’s sister.

“Yes, now that you’re all here.”

“OK everybody; let’s go back to the time capsule. Follow me please,” Chris said. It took two days until they all reached the place where they had landed. They all realized that the time capsule was not there and that was another problem. The tourists and Chris were very scared.

“Where is the time capsule? I need to know!” yelled another tourist.

“I don’t know, but I’m scared too,” Chris said nervously. Again they all looked around for the time capsule. No one found it of course. They were all stuck there FOREVER!!!!!!!

Sarah was right. No way home!

Table Top

A "BrownieLover101" production...

While hibernating, Jim had no clue what was going on around him. The world was passing by while his baby Logan was waking up periodically and making a total mess of the house. Jim’s wife Carrie was on a book tour In Madagascar, so she had no clue what was going on back home in the little town of Hull, Idaho. Jim decided to hibernate for the winter because he had been having really terrible mood swings lately. Logan messed everything up that was in sight and in her reach and had some of her friends come over sometimes who were older, but they always had a good time. Logan was almost two and her friends were all five in a half. There were a few that did a quality job whose names were Summer, Anna and Kirstin.

“What should we mess up today? The living room?” Logan murmured since her speech was not the best.

“Yeah, sounds good to me!” replied Summer with a huge smile on her face.

“Have you ever wondered what would happen if your Dad woke up and found us having an awesome time trashing the place?” Anna mumbled.

The team was off destroying the house. While they were off doing that, they didn’t know what was lurking behind the walls of the house. Outside a terrible crime was being committed. A burglar was watching everything that was going on. He had been watching them for a while now. The burglar was known all around town; his name was Sparky, Sparky Table. He was known for stealing tables from rich people’s houses and Jim had an estate that was worth a million dollars. Sparky was hoping to go scope out his surroundings tomorrow, but he didn’t know how he was going to do it. He was aiming for their glass table with beautiful jewels encrusted on it. His problem was getting the table out of there while being totally quiet, so Logan wouldn’t wake up. The next day after Logan went to take a nap, Sparky went in. As he walked in the front door, he was already having trouble. The door rang when it opened and immediately Logan woke up, so Sparky furiously ran up the staircase into the bathroom and slammed the door shut and locked it. Logan heard a noise, so she got up crawled up the stairs. She had a terrible time getting up there because of the gate that was at the bottom, but she was too smart for it. She finally got up to the top and looked around. She didn’t see anything, so she crawled back down the stairs, which gave her a major wedgie. Logan went back to the couch and fell back asleep. After about 10 minutes of complete silence, Sparky unlocked the bathroom door and walked down the stairs, opened the door, and walked outside. After he stretched out his arms from being stuck in a 12 by 24 foot bathroom, he noticed that his crappie old piece of a car that had been kicked, scratched, with a paint job with about 20 different shades of orange was missing. He had no place to go without his car because he practically lived out of it. What would he do now? He decided to go back inside the house and go back to the upstairs bathroom where he could stay the night and then find his car in the morning because it was already 9 P.M. and he was exhausted. So he fell asleep with his head on the toilet cushion and his arm in the waste paper basket.

While Sparky was in the bathroom, Logan got up for a snack. She always had a hard time falling asleep because of Jim’s ridiculously loud snoring. After having her deep fried chicken from Phil’s Chicken House that was left in the fridge before the hibernating started, Logan went back to sleep again. Sparky woke up in the middle of the night because he had remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and the smallness of the bathroom was killing his back. He enjoyed the fried chicken too. While he was eating the chicken, he made a game plan in his head for getting the table out of there before he made any bigger mistakes, but then he looked around and saw that the place was a dump, so he really wasn’t that worried about making a mess. Finally, he was done making his game plan in his head and looked for some paper so he really could make this burglary the best he had ever done. While looking for the paper, he noticed that the Logan had absolutely no clothes on what so ever any time Sparky saw her. He thought that was a little strange, but then again so was Sparky for being obsessed with tables. He spotted some paper and was on his way back up the stairs to finish writing it in the bathroom and get some more shut eye before his big day.

The next morning Logan wasn’t up yet which was surprising because usually she was up at least by 8 a.m. Sparky had been keeping her schedule, but the fact that she wasn’t up was good for Sparky, so he could get out of there earlier. In his process of somewhat disassembling the table, he really had to go to the bathroom. He took a little break to relieve him and get another snack. After he was done with his snack and done going to the bathroom, he headed back into the dining room where the table remained in many different parts. Now Sparky had a whole other problem that he had forgotten about. His car was still missing, so he decided to play it out and take Jim’s car instead. Jim’s car was very special to him; he raised his cars so he could race them in Japanese sports car shows. Sparky took the car that Jim won with in 2001. He loaded up the car with the table parts and drove away without anyone waking up. But there was one other thing that Sparky didn’t think about: all the rich people had video cameras, so when Jim finally woke up from his hibernation and realized that his car was missing and saw all the mess that had been done over the course of his hibernation, he automatically went to the security room and saw everything that had happened around him. Jim called the police and cleaned the house up without Carrie knowing what had happened.

Sparky Table was found and put in jail. To this day Sparky Table was still in jail and Jim never hibernated again!