Sea Monkey

“You have to relax,” said Sydney, “or you can't see it.”

“I can't see it anyway,” Pat grumbled.

“Just sit  on the deck-chair and sip your drink and let your mind... wander.”

There was a silence.  “Holy crap,” said Pat.  He turned his head.  “Hey!”

“Don't look directly at it!” said Sydney.

“A monkey...”

“Yes.”

“It was blue.”  Pat looked down.  “What's in these drinks?”

“I don't think it's the drinks,” said Sydney, pointing.  At the buffet table, a bowl of oranges stealthily hovered, lifted by invisible paws...

Man and Pack

Another corner.  Another dark hallway.  The glimmering gems in the floor no longer tempt me; my pack is full to bursting.  They'll do me little good if I never escape this maze.  Their luster dissipates quickly at a touch.  At least I can tell where I have been already, so that I rarely backtrack. 

I grow weak with hunger.  Visions of succulent fruit dance before my eyes.  I dare not stop.  These caves are haunted by ghouls.  Only the light of the stones holds them at bay, and that fades with every breath.

There must be an end, mustn't there?

Hide and Seek

Izzie slipped through the dangling shirts and giggled to herself.  Beside her, someone moved.

“Oh!” said Izzie.  “Are you hiding, too?”

“Yes.  I must hide from Mother.  She will be frightfully cross with me if she finds me,” said a small voice.

Something sounded strange to Izzie.  She peered down.  There was a shoe visible, polished black with a buckle.

“How long have you been hiding?” asked Izzie.

“I know not.  A long, long time, I think.”  There was a cold breeze. 

Izzie looked out again.  Suddenly, the department store seemed very far away indeed.

A Smell Like a Fungus

In the northern United States, there is a fungus.  It is miles across, the largest single organism in existence.  Dig into the ground anywhere and you'll find it, or a part of it.  Remember this.

There is a smell to hotels, a hotel-motel smell, an old-carpet-cheap-cleanser smell.  The air thickens with it.  Open any hotel door anywhere in the world and you'll smell the same acrid scent in all of them.  It is like a fungus.  

Whatever you do, wherever you go, please, never go down into the basement of the hotel.  It's important.  Promise me.  Promise me you won't...

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

“The exits aren't even numbered anymore,” said Shannon.  “I think it's the same one every time.”

“So what happens if we take it?” asked Dan.

“Find out,” Shannon ordered.  “I'm getting sleepy.”

The road rapidly petered out to mere dirt tracks.  Only the lights through the trees kept them moving forward.  The sign declared it the “Furnall Inn.”

Behind the counter, a gaunt man turned to regard them as they lugged in their bags.  “Stay a while,” he intoned.  “Stay... foreve-”

“Screw this,” said Shannon.  “I'm sleeping in the car.”

Gifts of the Fae

“She'll be here any minute,” Mom said.  “Just put it on!”

George sighed and pulled it over his head.  The cheerful reindeer began to dance and frolic on his stomach.  “Hooray!” they cried in tinny voices.

“There.  You know how she loves to see you wearing her gifts,” said Mom.  The doorbell rang.  She ran to answer it.

“Helllloooo, dearies!”

“Tania, darling!”

George waited through the interminable greetings.

“And I've got a little present for Georgie-porgie!”

George opened the little bag.  “Rocks?” he said.

“Gravel, dearie.  Magic gravel.”

“Say thank you, George.” 

“Thank you, godmother,” George managed.

The Life and Times of Otto von Maark and His Prodigious Beard

In honor of my one-year anniversary, here is a not-quite-a-short-story which I wrote in pretty much one sitting a month ago. I hope you all enjoy it. Feel free to spread it around; it's under Creative Commons like everything else here.