The school district has a horrible dropout rate.
And the county’s crime rate is awful.
We tried one of those Scared Straight programs.
That’s where you send the bad kids to visit a prison to scare them into obeying the law.
That didn’t work. It only made them worse.
So, we sent them to Hell.
We medically stopped their hearts, let them stay dead for a bit, and then revived them.
The ones who didn’t come back, we assume gladly stayed in Hell.
The ones who came back gave up their wicked ways.
For fear we’d send them back. Permanently.
Author: R.
Happy Mother’s Day
The creature in the basement gathered up the remains of it’s food, piles of its shed fur, and various other materials strewn about its prison.
From these, it constructed a gory contraption, an intricate flimsy horror.
Trudging up the stairs, placing the thing at the top of the stairs, and crawling back down to its pit.
Feeding time came around, and the door to the basement opened.
A hand poked the contraption.
“Happy mother’s day,” moaned the creature.
The hand shoved the thing away, shattering it on the stairs.
Another dog carcass was tossed in, and the door slammed shut.
That moment
Her birthday was on the ninth.
Mine was on the tenth.
Waiting all day for that moment to come together.
We’d go out to the woods. in the moonlight, and share a kiss at midnight.
A gift to each other: “Happy birthday to us.”
Making it want to last forever.
But nothing lasts forever.
It passes so quickly, and then it is gone.
And, with her hand in mine, we’d walk home.
Tonight, I will walk out to the woods.
And stand where we used to stand.
Waiting for that special moment.
And it will pass in silence and tears.
See the future
See the future?
I can. I can see the future.
I can see your future.
Want to know it?
Good. Because I don’t think you want to know it.
Oh, now you want to know it?
Well, maybe I don’t want you to know it.
Maybe I’ll lie and tell you someone else’s future.
Maybe mine.
My future, you really don’t want to know.
But then, it’s kind of also yours.
After all, I’m holding the knife, and you’re on the other end of it, right?
Better hurry up and decide.
Or, maybe not.
You’ll find out about it anyway.
The Special Kids
There are two doors at the school.
One is for the smart kids.
And one is for the rest of the kids.
Don’t call them the dumb kids, they don’t like to be called that.
And the parents don’t like that either.
Let’s call them special. The kids are special.
Even though they aren’t special.
The real special kids don’t need a door.
They can do special things.
Like walk through walls.
Or just appear in their classroom.
With a flash of light and a cracking sound.
Nobody will notice them if we make everyone argue over the two doors.
Follow your dreams
They say to follow your dreams.
So, I followed your dreams.
They lured me into a meadow with butterflies and faerie lights.
“Join us,” your dreams said, and we danced under the moonlight.
That’s when your nightmares came out of the trees and attacked.
Your dreams scattered and left me behind for the nightmares.
Oh, the things they did to me… the horrible things.
But you know what they did.
Because you saw them in your dreams.
And in your nightmares.
So, take this sleeping pill.
Because it’s your turn.
Follow my dreams.
And then, my nightmares will enjoy you.
Weekly Challenge #702 – PICK TWO avoid, intertwine, den, get, fudged, meltdown, tan
- Lizzie
- Tom
- Richard
- Serendipidy
- Tura
- Norval Joe
- Planet Z
TURA
Void; intertwine
———
Planet Nine turned out to be a black hole. Too far away for a robot probe, so we sent a manned mission. I was the man, in cold sleep most of the way out to the Void.
As I finally approached, the Void looked into me, tendrils of thought intertwining with mine. Suddenly, I was sucked out of my body, while the entity exultantly vanished.
I see my dead body on the ship. I see the entire Solar System, down to the smallest sparrow in the skies of Earth. I seem to have replaced God. Until the next expedition arrives.
TOM
The Weather Out Side Is Frightful
Second Sub Commander Zod sprinted down Deck 42. The inner hull temp was climbing dangerously high. Time was running out. Three Miltrons from the escape hatch was a large transparent aluminum frame. Within read the following in Siduble, “To Avoid Meltdown brake glass.” Lacking any object of sufficient mass to brake said glass Zod pulled off his center combat boot and gave the glass his all. Shards tumble inward as the void outside pulled everything not nailed down into deep space. This include Second Sub Commander Zod. While space is cold mistress a meltdown is far worst for a Space Snowman.
SERENDIPIDY
Avoid the widow’s den,
For she will lure you in;
And once she has you there
Her scheming will begin.
She’ll turn your thoughts to lust,
And then she bends your will;
And having gained your trust.
She moves in, for the kill.
As blissfully unaware
You fall into her arms;
Enraptured by her stare,
Succumbing to her charms.
She stabs you in the back
Then poison floods your veins
She’ll suck the life from you
Till nothing more remains
So, beware the widow’s den
And never stray within
For the spider lies in wait
For the mating to begin
RICHARD
Intertwined
Part 1
When the reactor went into meltdown, all hell broke loose. Not just in the way you might think – all that was to be expected, and very much in the public eye.
But, behind the scenes, there was a massive cover up being orchestrated. Reports were fudged, witnesses paid to keep silent, and evidence shredded. We knew it was wrong and that the public deserved the truth, but the personal cost to us was just too great.
So, the great lie somehow became, the great truth.
The cleanup began. Things were put right. And nobody suffered.
Well, none of us.
Part 2
So, the gang hatched this crazy plan to build a new den, and the crazy part was that we was gonna build it down in the woods, inside the Exclusion Zone!
I didn’t wanna do it, but Jake was callin’ me chicken, and I wasn’t gonna stand for that! So’s, that’s how we ended up that Saturday, where we’d no rights to be…
Jake was first to get sick… Started pukin’ all over the place. Then, next few days, Tom, Sid and Blue all went down with it bad.
Jake died.
I was lucky, just got an all over tan.
Part 3
Those lads were poking around again, seems that some people just can’t avoid the place; doesn’t matter how many signs you put up, how many times you tell them to get the hell out of here, get lost and get back home, they still come back for more.
Mind you, I can’t see the harm in it. I mean, look at me, been guarding the place for a year now, and fit as a fiddle.
Well, sort of. I grant you, my hair’s been falling out of late, and there’s the bleeding gums, and the rash.
But, nothing much, really.
NORVAL JOE
Being one who always wanted to avoid a confrontatoin, Billbert searched for a way to get out of this interrogation with the principal. He’d always heard that if you want adults to leave you alone, just act dumb. He cracked a stupid smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ms. Frunsio’s face went red, clearly headed for a nuclear meltdown. Through gritted teeth she snarled, “Then why did you look so guilty?”
Not wanting to intertwine Linoliumanda in the inquisition, he told a white lie. “When the lights went down, I took advantage of he situation and kissed Linoliumanda.”
LIZZIE
The page of her diary stared back at her, empty, looking for comfort. The meltdown drained her energy and got a hold of her willingness to fight back. The diary would always bring her some comfort. Not today. The past would never change and she was too tired to change the present so her future could make more sense. Smile, she thought. And what she saw was a distorted and pathetic face. Don’t smile. It’s better. Just keep calm. She took a deep breath and sat back. The page of her diary stared back at her, empty, looking for comfort.
PLANET Z
Sheldon
At every party Sheldon goes to, the conversation will stop and someone will say “Well, wait a minute… what does Sheldon think.”
Nobody says a word. Every eye is turned to Sheldon.
Sheldon looks at his watch and counts the seconds.
Five… ten…
Until the second hand makes a full turn around the face of his watch.
Usually, he’s got some kind of great insight.
Unlike others, Sheldon thinks before he speaks.
But once, he couldn’t come up with anything.
And the party became a riot. He was torn limb from limb.
Well, wait a minute… what do you think?
The Devil’s voice
Grandma said that I shouldn’t say such things.
“You can’t let The Devil take your voice.”
When I did bad things, she said I was letting The Devil take my hands.
Even if I didn’t say or do bad things, I thought them, and Grandma said I was letting The Devil take my head.
Grandma said lots of things, but so did The Devil.
And I gave him my ears, and I listened.
Walking out of Grandma’s burning house, holding her severed head by her hair.
Laughing.
Yes, I gave myself, whole, complete, to The Devil.
And I liked it.
The last football
Lucy pulled the football away from Charlie Brown one too many times, and he snapped.
Went into his Dad’s shed and got out an axe handle.
One whack, and Lucy went down hard.
Charlie dragged her corpse to the ramshackle psychiatrist stand, dug two nickels out of the can, and put them on Lucy’s eyes.
He ranted for hours before the adults found them.
Too young to prosecute him as an adult, so they put him in Juvie.
His sister Sally got the fucked-up dog.
Schroeder played piano at Lucy’s funeral.
And Linus left his blanket on his sister’s grave.