Kneeling

            Klaasr fired harpoon after harpoon at the kraken from Lady Death as they sailed around the beast. Captain Nemo ordered for canons to be fired, harpoons to be shot, and all weapons to be used in any way possible. The kraken was the worst foe they had come across, second would have been Calypso, the mermaid queen. She had taken almost half the ship’s men down to see with her before Klaasr had beheaded her on board Lady Death.

            The dead sea was still under them, aside from the waves caused by the beast’s movements, and the sun bore down on them like the heat from a clay oven. This not only allowed the men to make every shot worthwhile, it also allowed the men to see the kraken in all its glory.

            It had eight tentacles about forty ships long and ten ships wide. It was higher than Olympus when it rose above the water, and it had six black bulbous eyes that were the size of a fifty men rolled in a ball. Its teeth were daggers, and swords, and glass, hundreds of rows of teeth filled with wreckage from ships, sea shore cities and underwater creations. It was the largest squid alive, and they were going to make it extinct.

            The beast was a plague for seamen and shore cities. It made man kneel to its whims and demolished sea trade and travel. It killed communication and life, it halted mans progress and man needed to progress.

            As Klaasr knocked harpoon after harpoon into each tentacle, he hollered a howl and pump his fist in the air. Each harpoon was attached to a rope, each rope tied to the ship. This mission was a suicide mission with one goal. Make the beast bow.

            On Klaasr’s signal, Captain Nemo pulled the wheel at the helm of the ship starboard, away from the beast and the tentacles with it. The creature then made more horrible mistakes to man, as it moved its tentacles to latch onto the ship. The crewman at the ready, they took the blades forged by Hephaestus himself and smote them. Making clean cuts and making the kraken scream in agony. The ship itself was built by the God for this mission, and Captain Nemo was a proud demi-god, just like Klaasr, and they were both wise enough to know that death was only the beginning of their journeys.

            As the beast continued to writhe against the ship, Klaasr had already made it below deck and started to unleash the flames from Hades. The beast would burn, it would be forced to devour them, it would be forced to be consumed. It. Would. Kneel.

The Key

Kaelyn keeps the key close to her at all times, never letting it out of her sight. If only someone knew what it opened and where it leads. That would be a fearful day indeed.
                She walked up the stairs toward her room, her dress dragging on the wooden steps. The house was empty, but for the sound of the wood creaking beneath her feet. She knew that there wasn’t much time and that now was the perfect opportunity. Reaching her room she opens the door and quickly shuts it behind her. The key starts to rattle on the chain around her neck.  Kaelyn reaches her hand up to stop the key from shaking, but it doesn’t do much good. Whenever the key comes close to the door it knows that it’s there and in turn begins to rattle, wanting to open the door. Kaelyn slowly walks toward the wall that keeps the secret door hidden. The key is now shaking so violently that she cannot keep a hold of it any longer. It lifts by itself and hangs there in the air, pulling her towards the door. The outline of the door begins to glow, knowing that the key is close by.
                Kaelyn’s heart is beating fast as she takes the key from around her neck. Her hand is shaking as she slips the key into the glowing keyhole. Taking a deep breath she opens the door and the glowing becomes more intense. It lights up the whole room until she cannot she anymore. She takes a step forward into the door way and she begins to fall. She doesn’t scream or open her eyes. She’s done this before and knows that screaming won’t do her any good and she’s too afraid to open her eyes. She lands softly on her feet and opens her eyes finally to see the other door. This one is much larger than the one before and again the key shakes, urging her to open the door. Kaelyn smiles in excitement and wonder, knowing what’s on the other side. Turning the key she opens the door and finds herself 100 years into the future. Her clothes to blend in, but this isn’t her first time using the Time Traveling door and key. The Key quickly camouflages her clothes and makes them look like she belongs from this time.
Kaelyn looks at the world around her, so different yet somehow the same. Her smile becomes larger as she begins to walk down the street not knowing where’s she’s going, but enjoying the pure simple fact that she is in a whole other time thanks to the key. 

Challenge #57

The challenge for this week is to write a story based off of the letter K. You may integrate tons of words with  this letter into your story, or focus your story on a word that starts with this letter.

If you would like to join us for the challenge by submitting your own short stories, poems, or art, please do! Just e-mail us at inkedfeathersfink@gmail.com so that we may showcase your work for Fan Friday!

Also, if you're wondering why there is no 'Challenge #56' post, it's because something went wrong. This is why I don't trust the internet very much. It says something is posted, and then it isn't. It's all a sack of lies.

See you all on Wednesday!

Judah

            “And behold, the fires went out and the smoke rose above the city and became an ever present fog. For eternity we are cursed to look no longer upon the lights of God and His creations. For eternity we are abandoned to this Hell.” Judah cried out to the small crowd in The Junkyard.

            The Junkyard had been a great chapel when the skies were blue and demons did not walk in the form of man, but now it was filled with refuse and the damned. The crowd that Judah was speaking to was the last remaining humans in the Rome Sector. The sectors were what the humans had called cities before Armageddon. These sectors were controlled by demons and they allowed the humans to continue to live because they loved to see them react to the world they were now in.

            The demons loved seeing the humans fight, pray, beg, cry, devour, suffer, and do all those human things that humans did. The one thing the demons did not see, was sex and love. The humans that were left behind had abandoned love and didn’t see the point in sex when they had no way of preventing pregnancy. Not that rape wasn’t a possibility, but even those left behind didn’t want to leave a child in their damned dimension.

            In the Rome Sector, The Junkyard was the place where the humans slept and rested. The Junkyard was the place where they were safe from the demons knocking on the doors and scraping against the walls. To leave meant to become a plaything for however long the demons desired. Some demons killed their toys, some demons traded their toys, some demons were actually not that bad and only wanted to live peacefully with a mountain of books to read and someone to teach.

            “I have a plan! A plan that will set us free of this damned realm and send us to Heaven,” Judah raised his arms in the air, his withered and pale arms making him look like a matchstick puppet.

            “We do not need to hear your plan! We have survived these past ten years under Lord Epsik, we can thrive for the rest of our lives,” a man in brown rags from the crowd shouted back.

            “You say this because you are his pet. Have you forgotten that there are other demons out there who are not as kind?” A woman with silver and yellow hair hissed.

            “We should continue with the tunnels! Once we are finished building them, with Lady Cor’s help, we will not need to fear any other demons,” a middle aged man pleaded from the center of the crowd.

            “No! We must break this curse upon us,” Judah howled. “We must drink the sacred wine left to us by God and his servants! It is our only hope of redemption! To trust in him and his magnificence!”

            The crowd murmured and a few nodded in assent while others shook their heads and walked away. They had not heard, nor remembered, the old warning to not drink the kool-aid, and thus fell to Judah’s plot. Judah, who was a demon in a man’s skin, who loved to damn men more than he loved to torture them, and who treasured seeing how many people he could damn in a day. 

Journey

I’m so fucking lost. Not like oh I don’t know what I’m doing, more like I have no clue where I am. One minute I’m asleep in my apartment and the next I wake up in a fucking field, naked. So obviously I assume I’m a werewolf or something! That would be a better explanation that whatever the hell really happened. So now I’m covering my junk, walking through this most likely tic infested field. I’ve already looked around a dozen times or so trying to pinpoint exactly where the hell I am. But nothing around me looks familiar. It’s like I was literally teleported to the middle of nowhere. My stomach drops when I think of the other possibility. Maybe I was abducted by Aliens!!! Of course that makes sense. I’ve now narrowed it down to two possible explanations. I’m either a werewolf or I was abducted by aliens. I begin to panic thinking about what could have really happened, but nothing makes sense. I’m breathing deep and I can’t handle it anymore. I start to run through the field not knowing where I’m going, but hoping that it’ll take me somewhere.
                I finally make it to some trees and in the shade it’s a lot colder. Why couldn’t the aliens have at least given me my pants back? I walk through this forest not knowing if it’s big or small. It’s so quiet that it doesn’t seem natural. That is until I heard the click of a gun behind me.
“Do not turn around, stay exactly where you are.” A female voice warns me. I’m trying very hard not to hyperventilate, but it’s not working. “Don’t move.” She tells me. I don’t move, but my breathing becomes more intense because I’m having a fucking panic attack!
“I SAID DON’T MOVE!!!” She yells. “I’m-I’m sorry I’m having a p-panic attack.” I stutter out.
“On your knees.” I can feel the barrel of the gun against the back of my head. I slowly lower myself to the ground. “Please don’t kill me, Please.” I beg. “I won’t kill you if you explain where the hell you came from.” She says.
“I’m from North Carolina. Are we still in North Carolina?”I ask hoping that the aliens didn’t drop me too far away from home. “North Carolina?” She asks, pronouncing it all wrong. How do you mispronounce North Carolina? “Yes, North Carolina. It’s in the USA.” There’s a long pause before she speaks again.
“Stand up!” She yells. I do as she says, standing up and wishing again that I had pants on. She backs away from me and I thank god that the barrel of the gun is no longer pressing into my skull.
“Turn around.” She says. I look down at the ground and my bare feet before speaking. “Uhh..do you have something I could possibly cover myself with?” I ask.
“JUST TURN AROUND!” She yells. I turn around then, in all my naked glory. Finally I put a face with the voice and I stare speechless. This girl has bright green hair and her skin is literally made out of bark. It’s like she’s a tree come to life and she’s talking to me. I just can’t help but stare, and she stares back, like she’s never seen something like me before. “What are you?” We say at the same time. I now see that the gun is also made of some bark like material. That’s when I realize that I was right the whole time. I really was fucking abducted. “Where am I? Is this Planet earth?” I ask her. Her face lights up in a big bright smile. “YOUR FROM PLANET EARTH?!” She asks excitedly. She drops her gun to the ground and bows before me. “My name is Jade and I will serve you as you see fit.” I stare down at her confused. Maybe this is all some dream and I’ll wake up in my own bed, wearing pants.
“Okay, umm Jade….where the fuck are we?” I ask her. She looks up at me. “We are on Arthe.” She tells me like I’m supposed to know where Arthe is. “What the fuck is Arthe?” I ask.
“Arthe is one of many Counter Dimensions of planet Earth. You have Journeyed a great length indeed.”
“Right..Arthe…separate dimension. WHY COULDN’T I HAVE JUST BEEN A FUCKING WEREWOLF?!”

Innumeracy

The world is flat. It’s a plane of existence that allows for no questions. You do as they say and believe nothing else. Question them, defy them, try to find ‘truths’ and you will fail. You will die. This is the world.

The world follows the rule of God. God’s servants are our masters. Sick? It’s the devil. A building collapsed killing hundreds? It’s God’s will. We follow their laws, they are our leaders. They get us into Heaven, a place that is where anyone would want to go no matter what their beliefs. This is the world.

Try to speak of science or math, and it is witchcraft and sorcery. You are a devil worshipper. The world is flat. The world follows the rule of God. I sailed to the end of the world, and didn’t fall and meet Him or Satan. The world is flawed.

Illumination

“We wait in the darkness for the one who will bring the light.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around this passage. It was a quote from this old journal I had found. Some pages had been torn out and others were burned. The author kept talking about the salvation of Illumination. Some kind of light that would save them from the darkness. I couldn’t figure out if this “light” was a metaphor for God or death, or something else entirely. But I’m obsessed with the damn thing. I had found it in a reject pile at an old antique store. Apparently it was meant to be trash, but to me it was like finding gold in a coal mine. Every passage is like reading about some other world.
“Iggy, can you please pay attention?” Summer asks me. I put the journal down, but it’s still open on that page. “Okay so I made a list of people I want to invite to the party. Have you started yours yet?” She asks. I give her a look that says ‘I havne’t, but I love you and please don’t kill me’. “Oh Iggy. Ugh….I need that list by Friday. Please just take a moment away from that thing to do it okay?” Summer is my beautiful fiancé. We are having a house warming party in two weeks, even though we’ve been settled in this apartment for two months already. “I’m sorry baby, I promise I’ll do it right now.” I get up and grab a piece of paper and pen. I use the hard back of the journal as a makeshift desk.
“Okay here we go.” I say staring down at the paper. The pen idles in my hand as I think. I realize that there aren’t many people I talk to anymore. Ever since my accident, no one really has kept in touch. “Well there’s…there’s…MARK! Yes, Mark.” I say putting down Mark’s name. “How about Shelley?” Summer asks me. Shelley was my best friend growing up, but not so much anymore. Apparently when you lose a limb, you also lose people who you thought were good friends. My hand automatically goes to my leg, feeling where skin goes into plastic. “No, Shelley and I haven’t really been close…in a long while.” I say. Summer sees me rubbing my leg and frowns before getting up. “Oh sweetie..” She comes over to me and kisses my forehead. “Darling you are perfect the way you are. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.” The minute she says this all the lights in the room flicker. My eyes go wide as a feeling of Déjà vu strikes me. I remember reading that same quote in the Journal. “Summer, have you been reading this?” I hold the journal up. Her eyebrows knit together. “No, baby I haven’t even touched it since you got it.” She says. I know she’s telling the truth, but an eerie feeling creeps up inside of me.
“Okay well…did you see the lights flicker just now?” Summer looks at me like I’m crazy. “I didn’t see the lights flicker. Are you okay baby?” She asks me. That eerie feeling intensifies and I can’t seem to shake it. “I’m sorry baby I need a minute.” I get up and leave the room with the Journal gripped tightly in my hand.

I go into my study and sit down at the desk. I flip through the journal trying to find the passage.

“ ‘My Darling, you are perfect the way you are. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.’ These were the last words I had heard her say, and then came the darkness.”

I read the passage over and over. What darkness? Where did it come from and what is it? I have asked these questions before to myself, but now I have a greater need to know the answer. The lights in the room begin to flicker again. Almost immediately they go out and I am left alone in darkness. I resist the urge to scream and instead stand up quickly. “SUMMER?!” I yell out to her. Minutes go by before I hear an answer. I’m about to make my way through the darkness toward the door, but then I see a light coming from the desk. The journal is glowing. I stare at it in shock, as it gets brighter and brighter. My eyes burn, but I can’t seem to look away. A sudden pain engulfs my whole body and I fall to the ground in agony. The light keeps getting brighter as the pain becomes more intense. Then everything stops and I don’t feel any pain. I don’t feel anything.

When I open my eyes everything is black. I begin to panic, but my eyes quickly adjust to the darkness and I scream in surprise. A large group of people is staring down at me. I stand up slowly while they keep on staring at me. I realize that I’m no longer in my study. “Where-Where am I?!” I ask. The people just stare at me with wide eyes. “PLEASE! Tell me where I am! Who are you people?” One of them steps forward. He is an old man with a very large beard. He looks tired and sad like most of the people I see around me. “You are in the Darkness now boy. But you are different from us. You have a light that shines inside you.” He points to my chest. I look down and there underneath my shirt is a dull glow. I open my shirt to look further. All across my skin are gold swirling lines that glow and I gasp.
                                                “You are the Illuminator. You are our salvation!!”

Challenge #55

The challenge for this week is to write a story based off of the letter I. You may integrate tons of words with  this letter into your story, or focus your story on a word that starts with this letter.

If you would like to join us for the challenge by submitting your own short stories, poems, or art, please do! Just e-mail us at inkedfeathersfink@gmail.com so that we may showcase your work for Fan Friday!

See you all on Wednesday!

Hirstie

Hilary left Havana before the mobs started. Water prices were skyrocketing and she had been stocking up on supplies for months. She knew that society would break at any moment, like a badly built levee during a tsunami. Her neighbors had noticed her stockpiling and she knew they would come.

            Luckily for her, she had been moving things out of the city to a cabin out in the middle of nowhere as soon as she had started stockpiling. Her family and friends were supposed to be on their way, they had made their contributions as well, mostly monetary.

            As she drove north, the heat stifling her, she reached behind the backseat on the passenger side and felt around for the case of water bottles she had hid under a tarp. She felt nothing but glass. Slowing to a halt and looking back, she saw the back window on the passenger side broken open from the outside. Her stock pile of water and food for the trip were gone. She was lucky they hadn’t just taken the whole car. Hell, she was lucky no one had gotten into the car and forced her to drive them around.

            Resting her head against the steering wheel, Hilary tried to think of how long she would be driving without food and water. She wondered if she would be able to make it. After all, she was going to be cooking herself, even with the windows open, she would just be getting gusts of hot air. And then she remembered the five gallons of water in her trunk and knew she would have to keep driving before she would be able to open it to even check if it was still there.

            The people on the roads were already starting to drive cars that belonged in the Mad Max movies. Black and red spray paint, spikes on the wheels, doors missing, and some people had even started carrying guns around without worrying about repercussions. The cops weren’t really around anyway, they had their own families to protect.

As Hilary got back on the road, she saw a few of the new Apocalypse Cars and sped up. Not everyone was trying to go north, and not everyone was trying to go south. A lot of people had just given up on life and shot themselves as soon as they realized that water was becoming a rare commodity, like a real four leaf clover. This meant that the roads were empty and that Hilary just had to stay away from the Apocalypse Cars, which were easy to point out from five miles away.

After several hours of driving, she felt as though her throat was made of sandpaper and her body felt like it was turning into a puddle, she pulled over into some bushes and popped the trunk. The last thing she saw was a flash of light before she was knocked on her back and staring up at the orange sky as the sun started setting. A man stepped out from the trunk, soaked in what Hilary could only guess was the water from her trunk.

“Man, I thought you were just driving back home! Didn’t know you were leaving town. That mean your stash ain’t here? Damn, that would have been a nice haul.” The man shook the water from his head like a dog and pulled one of the jugs of water out of the trunk. He then put it into the passenger seat and closed the trunk. Looking down at Hilary, he wiggled his fingers in a, ‘ta-ta’ sort of way and got into the car and drive off. Hilary was just grateful that she had left the keys in the ignition, she didn’t want that man’s hands on her.

Hearing the man drive off in her car, Hilary felt as though she were released. She knew that she wouldn’t have survived for long in this new world. No amount of planning could allow for her and her friends and family to survive. They would have most likely turned to cannibalism or done some sort of suicide pact. This new dry Earth looked like an abyss of heat and blood in Hilary’s eyes, and she was happy to leave it.

Hero

The water swallowed her body whole like a monster devouring its prey. Haley held her breath as long as she could until it burned her lungs. The saltwater stung her eyes, but she kept them open watching the surface drift farther and farther away from her reach. The frigid temperature of the water felt like a disease that spread across her skin and infected her body. Haley couldn’t fight it anymore. She knew this was how she was going to die. She closed her eyes, no longer looking at the distance between her and the surface. Death was like a comforting blanket that wrapped itself around her.

Haley woke from the same dream that she had been having since she was seven.
It was always the same, she would drown and no one would save her. She could never figure out why she had these dreams. But it made her terrified of ever swimming in the sea. It only made it worse that they lived near the coast. But Haley never ventured anywhere close to the ocean. Her friends tried to help her get over her fear, but she wouldn’t budge. They couldn’t understand how life like the dream was and how often she had it. She couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe the dream wasn’t a dream after all, that maybe it was a premonition.

“Haley I have something to tell you.” Genevieve had been Haley’s best friend since the fifth grade. “My wedding is going to be at the beach. You know how much Alex loves the sea. I tried to talk to her about it, but she really wants this.” Haley felt her stomach drop a little listening to Gen talk. All she could hear was the ocean waves lapping against her cold dead skin. “Haley are you listening?” Gen snaps her fingers in front of Haley’s eyes, bringing her back to the present.
                “I’m sorry Gen. Listen it’s your wedding not mine and even though I love you for thinking of me, it’s your day. Don’t worry about me okay? I’ll be fine.” But all Haley could think about was the ocean’s cold deadly waters and the nightmare she would never forget.

When Gen’s wedding came around Haley asked if she could have a seat farthest from the water.
The ceremony was beautiful with the two blushing brides together. Haley couldn’t have been happier for Gen. But hearing the ocean in distance made her stomach queasy and she had to resist looking at it.
After the wedding the reception was held on the other end of the beach where an outdoor bar was set up. Haley figured she’d cure her anxiety with some alcohol. She had drink after drink until all she could see was the reflection of the sky in the sea and she wanted to fly.
Suddenly Haley was drunkenly running towards the water. “I’m gonna fly!” She yelled. Everyone stared at her as she ran and Gen tried to scream for her to come back, but Haley was determined.
She plunged herself into the water completely forgetting how terrified she was of it.
“Haley what are you doing?!” Gen tried running after her, but Alex stopped her.
“Keith!! Help her!!” Alex yelled to her brother. Keith was a trained life guard and he ran toward the ocean. He took off all the unnecessary clothing and jumped into the freezing water. Haley was already under the surface. He swam underneath trying to find her in the dark water. He searched and searched but she disappeared. Springing back to the surface for air Keith looked around frantically for her before once again dropping down into the sea to find Haley.
Keith found her in the distance floating down the bottom and he reached his arms around her waist and pulled her up to the surface. He carried her body to the shore and began giving her CPR. He almost believed he couldn’t save her until she began spitting up water. She coughed and looked around before her eyes locked with Keith. “What happened?” She asked. “You tried to go swimming while intoxicated.” Keith said. “I had to go in and save you!” Haley stared at him for a long moment before beginning to cry.
“You-You saved me?” She asked. “Yes, I did. It was a close call, but I found you before you drowned.”
Haley hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear, “You're my hero.” 

Challenge#54

The challenge for this week is to write a story based off of the letter H. You may integrate tons of words with  this letter into your story, or focus your story on a word that starts with this letter.

If you would like to join us for the challenge by submitting your own short stories, poems, or art, please do! Just e-mail us at inkedfeathersfink@gmail.com so that we may showcase your work for Fan Friday!

See you all on Wednesday!

Gifted

It’s not something you talk about it; it’s something that’s just there. It lives inside you and you don’t really acknowledge that it’s there. Because if you realize that it’s there, then it will want to be used. More and more until you’ve used it all and then there’s nothing left of you. You can’t tell anyone about it because if you do they’ll think you’re crazy. But hey, maybe you are crazy. If only that were the truth, then you could go on with the rest of your life in the safe knowledge that you are crazy instead of the thing being real.
                The Gift was given to me when I was born. I didn’t realize I had it until the day my grandmother died. My mother came up to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me, whispering in my ear that Great Grammy had passed away and that she was no longer with us. I was only seven at the time and the concept of death didn’t make sense to me.  I didn’t understand what happened to people when they died, and what it meant to be gone forever. So I just stood there like a fool with my family crying around me, and I just stood there. No tears were coming from my eyes. I hated seeing everyone so sad, so I decided to change things. I went into my grandmother’s bedroom when no one was looking. I had overheard my uncle saying something along the lines of “At least she passed peacefully in her sleep” and I wondered if she was still there. Sure enough she was, the blanket pulled up to cover her. I walked up to the bed, my head barely making it over the mattress to see. I could see the outline of her hand beneath the sheet, so I reached out my hand to hold hers. That’s all I wanted to do, was to hold my great grammy’s hand like we used to do. Her hand was cold in mine and I all I thought of was everyone being sad, and how much I was going to miss Grammy. That’s when her hand began to warm in mine and my Grandmother took a deep breath and sat up in bed, the sheet falling off her once dead body. She looked around the room as if she had no clue where she was and then she turned to look down at me. My hand was still holding hers. “Jo-Jo-Joseph…what have you done?”
               
                My grandmother is now 105 years old and she still looks like she’s 89. That’s because I’ve made her immortal. My family thought it was some kind of miracle, that God had brought her back. They thank God every day that she’s still the age she is and on this earth. But my grandma and I know the truth, and that’s why I had to disappear. My family thinks I’m missing, that I was kidnapped when I was twelve. But I had run away from it all, because The Gift is not something you tell people about. The Gift is a curse you never want to anyone to find out about.

                “Hey Joey, table four needs more refills. Get it on! What the hell do you think I’m paying you for?” My managers yell at me. He thinks he’s intimidating, but I’ve never seen that man hurt anything more than a fly. I walk by table four and quickly asses what everyone is drinking. “How about some more refills over here?” I ask politely. The family isn’t as nice as me, giving me glares because I’ve took too long to refill their drinks. “Yeah that would be great, and could you hurry it up this time?” The older gentlemen at the end says. I assume he’s the ‘man of the house’. “Right away sir.” I say and grab their cups. The reason I don’t want anyone to find out about the Gift is because I don’t want people like that to be on this earth any longer than they should.
                The day went by like any other, long and tiring. Just like every other day I go home and think about quitting that stupid job. Ideas about using my gift for money pop into  my head and I have to push them away and tell myself that it is not an option. Do I want to be a science experiment? No I do not.
I get my keys to let myself into my crappy little apartment, but the door is already halfway open.
“Fuck.” I whisper before slowly letting myself in. It’s dark and I can hear low voices towards the back of my apartment. Any other person would call the cops at this point, but no not me. Instead I do something stupid and hide in my own living room. I’m playing an unintentional game of Hide and Seek with these robbers. Let’s just hope they aren’t murdering robbers. One of the voices gets louder, making his way towards the living room again. “Come on man this fucker don’t got nothin.” He says.
Little do they know I have a secret safe behind my bedframe. I’m being as quiet as I can, barely breathing so they don’t hear me. My phone starts to beep and I panic, shoving my hand in my pocket to silence it, but it’s too late. The man here’s my phone and flashes his flashlight around until he sees me.
He grabs me from underneath the coffee table.
“Hey Hey HEY look whose home! Take out yo wallet bitch.” He tells me. I’m trying not to shake in fear. This is one of those moments where in a daydream you would kick their asses, but in real life you’re nothing but a coward. I open my wallet and give him all the cash I have.
“Hmm not much here man, not much here. I think yo gonna have to do better.” He says. The man from the back comes out with a baseball bat. MY baseball bat that I got when I was seven signed by my favorite baseball player. “Hey guys listen I don’t want any trouble. This is all I have okay? I work at a fucking diner for Christ’s sake. I can barely afford rent, so please let me be.” I try to tell them.
But they aren’t convinced. The man hits me in the gut with my own baseball bat and I go down groaning in pain. “Nah man..see I saw yo fancy clothes. I know you got’s mo money. So tell us where it, or we gonna have to put a bullet in this here head of yours.” That’s when I hear a click and feel the barrel of a gun pointed at my head. But I can’t tell them about the safe, because that’s all I have to keep myself going. “I told you, I don’t have anything else. Those clothes were gifts, I swear!” I try so hard to convince them of this lie, but they won’t listen. They are criminals who don’t care about me or my life. All they want is money and it’s clouding their judgment in a green haze.
“Yo man I found something!” The other man is back in my bedroom again and I can feel my stomach drop. “What is it?” The man holding a gun to my head yells.
“It’s a safe bro!” The man grabs me and hauls me to the bedroom. “You fucking liar! After I get that safe code I’m going to fuck you up.” He tells me.
“Now what’s the code motherfucker!!!” He yells at me, once again pressing the gun to my head.
“00567.” I tell them the wrong code. They both go over to the safe trying out the code, leaving me unattended. I slowly back my way to closet where I have a hidden revolver that I’ve never used.
They try the code again in frustration. I’m so close to the gun, just one more quick step and I’ll have it in my reach. The man with the gun turns around. “This isn’t working tell us-HEY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” I grab the gun, but before I can even point and pull the trigger his gun goes off. I can feel the bullet pierce into my brain and I go down onto the floor. At this point I should be dead. But I’m still breathing and the pain of the bullet is slowly subsiding.
“What the fuck Jay? Now we aint gonna get the code!” The other man says.
“He had a fucking gun Damien!” Jay exclaims.
I stand back up and enjoy the looks on their faces when I do. They’re shocked speechless with pure fear in their eyes. Suddenly both of them slump over and onto the ground. At first I think that they’ve fainted, but when I step closer I see both of them have gunshot wounds to the head. I feel my own wound and realize it’s gone.
So this is what The Gift does, it has made me immortal. The Gift has taken these two lives just so I could live. “You must take a life to give a life.” 

Goldish

            Geraldine looked at the gold and silver stars lining the path of her fellow students’ progress. If there wasn’t a star on the paper next to your name, you hadn’t gotten an A or B or your test for that day. If you had a silver star, you had gotten a B for that day’s test. A gold star meant that you had received an A on the test for that day. Geraldine had no stars by her name.

            “Geraldine, I think it’s time we had a talk about your test scores,” Ms. Garcia said, looking at the chart over Geraldine’s head. Geraldine spun around, facing her teacher and a blush of shame passed over her face like a cloud over the sun. Her eyes met the ground, and Ms. Garcia knelt in front of the seven year old girl.

            “You’re the only one in the class who hasn’t shown any improvement, and I know how hard you have been studying. I see you every day. You’re always asking questions, taking notes, and I know what the problem is.”

            “You-You do?” Geraldine looked up. She had thought something was wrong with her, or that the world was against her. She had studied at home every night, she had studied during lunch and recess in the classroom with Ms. Garcia’s permission, and she had even asked her friends and family for help. The little girl showed her understanding verbally, but she just couldn’t do it on paper. Her fingers would tremble, her mind would go blank, and by the time she would get her ideas in her head on how to solve the problems, time would be up.

            “Yes, you’re stressing yourself out,” Ms. Garcia said with a smile. She had seen students stress themselves out and fail tests before. She, herself, had failed a few tests in school because she was more worried about what would happen if she failed than what would happen if she had at least gotten something on the paper.

            “The last few tests I noticed it. You’ve been scrunching up your whole body, holding your breath like you’re under water . . . I used to do the same thing. And I just want you to know that it’s okay. You’re okay.”

            “But I’m not getting the stars,” Geraldine’s voice dripped out, her face red and patchy from her tears of frustration. “If I don’t get any stars, my parents might not love me anymore. My first parents didn’t love me, that’s why they gave me away. I don’t want to go away again.”

            Ms. Garcia looked at Geraldine in shock and wrapped her arms around her. She rubbed the small girl’s back and then smiled to herself.

            “The stars are to motivate you guys. You know the saying, ‘You’ve got to reach for the stars’?” Geraldine nodded. “Well, that’s what these stars are for. You guys are reaching for them. And If anyone has been reaching for them, it’s you.” She pulled away from the little girl and pulled a packet of stars from her pocket with little gold, silver, and bronze stars. “Now, these may not be gold, but their goldish,” She said as she placed the bronze stars next to Geraldine’s name.

            The little girl hiccupped a few times and wiped her tears away with her sleeves as she now didn’t feel like a failure anymore. Her goldish stars showed that she was reaching, grasping, and connecting. She was smart, she knew that, and everyone else would know that too.