Tag: Short Story

It was happening! Leila's nightmare was about to come true! The thing had finally managed to make its way into her abdomen, coiling around her intestines like a ten-foot viper and setting her pancreas and liver ablaze. She was sure light would soon spring out of her belly button!

Her thoughts went back to that August day in 1995. Lunch was Welsh rarebit with roast potatoes followed by watermelon. Mom recited a Charles Simic poem as she slit its belly open, spilling its juicy blood and exposing the crimson flesh and black pips.

Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile.
And spit out the teeth.

Leila was on her third slice when Mom gently smacked her hand away.

"That's enough, sweetheart. You've had plenty of food already.”

Then, she added as an afterthought,” Did you know that if you swallow a watermelon pip, it can do some weird things and even take over your body?"

The image that popped into ten-year-old Leila’s mind was like a scene from a movie she had sneakily watched with her cousin Raymond - a horror called Alien, where a scaly creature laid eggs inside people's bellies, incubated, and burst out of their chests.

She avoided eating watermelon altogether for a while, afraid the same thing might happen to her.

When she was in her teens, entered the age of reason, and decided she wanted to study quantum physics, she realized that her mother's story was just an old wives' tale. But apparently, the ideas our moms inadvertently put into our heads when we are kids tend to come around, and we can’t let them go no matter how hard we try.

Despite her firm knowledge of how things worked in the real world, the fear of the watermelon-induced inter-belly invasion remained in the back of Leila’s mind whenever she ate a slice of that darned fruit. She tried to resort to her understanding of the principles of matter and energy to rationalize her fear. She told herself that the watermelon's juicy sweetness was merely a result of complex chemical reactions and that any notion of it invading her organism was purely irrational. Yet the "but what if…" lingered.

“What if Mom’s cautionary story holds a sinister truth? What if those tiny seeds, once ingested, unleash evil energy within me, slowly but surely devouring me from the inside out?” she thought, promptly forsaking her university training, and putting the rational side of her brain to sleep.

The tray in front of her seemed to mock her, its cold, shiny surface reflecting her growing discomfort. The once-appealing meal, complete with a watermelon rind, now looked repulsive and threatening. She couldn't shake off the feeling that the pip’s electrons had already done a sneaky quantum leap without needing a superconducting electrical circuit and were about to unleash a grotesque transformation within her. The vision of her body transformed into a weird garden of tendrils shooting a blizzard of shimmering photons made her want to cram her fist into her mouth and vomit the offending pips.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are passing a zone of heavy turbulence. The captain has turned on the fasten the seat belt signs. Please remain seated until further notice."

The flight attendant's voice rang urgent, but nothing compared to the panic dancing a roaring fandango in Leila's gut. She had always been a fearless flyer jetting off to conferences around the world, but the announcement sent shivers down her spine this time. As she settled into her seat, the dance macabre made her think that the worst-case scenario was not engine failure, hijacking, or even a crash but a watermelon performing physics-defying tricks in her stomach!

The turbulence was now tossing the aircraft like a can of sardines someone was trying to tip into a bowl. Around her, passengers gripped their armrests while the overhead lockers rattled, threatening to spill the luggage out. Leila was sure the next movement would split the plane open, and the machine and the passengers would rain down like metal and flesh confetti, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass and screams of terror.

Soon, the inevitable would occur - the fruit would release its energy and take up all space. The belt already pinched her waist. She could almost see her stomach swell like it had been pumped full of helium. The buckle would pop off and smack the passenger next to her square in the face, gauging out his eyes. It was as if she’d downed an entire tube of Lax-a-Day. The pressure was unbearable. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it much longer before exploding and dripping blood and tissue all over the aircraft.

It was hard to believe that out of all the weird things that could happen to her, she'd wind up as an involuntary experiment, proving that quantum leaps both in

physics and genetic engineering were not always a welcome step forward. She'd soon become a human incubator for a watermelon!

She squeezed her eyes shut when the violent quaking got harder and harder.

"Miss! Miss!" the flight attendant standing beside her struggled to shake her awake.

"Are you okay? We're experiencing some turbulence, but we'll be through it soon. Just hold on tight and try to stay calm."

And just suddenly, as it had begun, the bloating and the fear of a pip transmuting its energy inside her vanished. She was back in her seat, safely strapped, her flat stomach tucked into her skinny size-8 jeans, the turbulence subsiding.

"I have no idea what I could have named the watermelon infant. Perhaps Dolores… Dolores Beckett, like in the “Quantum Leap” TV series. I can bet it must be excruciatingly painful to give birth to a monster fruit," she chuckled as the loudspeakers spluttered back to life, indicating they were about to land.

—

Polish by birth, a citizen of the world by choice. First story short-listed for the Irish Independent/Hennessy Awards, Ireland, 1996.  Since she went back to writing fiction in 2020, more than 80 of her stories, flash fiction and non-fiction, have been accepted for publication. She has recently won 1st prize in the  International Human Rights  Arts Movement literary contest.

I love my brother. I really do. But I would be remiss in my duties as an older brother if I did not make a reasonable effort to embarrass him as publicly as possible. I could tell the story of the time he accidentally fell out of a tree while trying to jump from one branch to another (he claims he wasn’t). I could tell the story of the time he accidentally broke his arm while trying to impress his girlfriend (he claims he wasn’t). Instead, I will tell the story of the time he accidentally made scrambled eggs while trying to make brownies (he offers no defense).

Many dessert recipes involve mixing butter into the dough, and brownies especially almost always require it. To do this, people with the foresight to plan ahead know to leave some sticks of butter out to warm up to room temperature. Room-temperature butter becomes soft enough to mix with other ingredients. However, my brother is not especially known for his patience. His timeline between deciding he wanted brownies and actually making brownies was measured in minutes, not hours. My brother turned to a technique common among those of us who have a desire to cook something but lack the foresight to plan ahead. He stuck the butter in the microwave to melt it.

Normally, this works perfectly fine; The butter becomes partially melted and whatever is left becomes soft enough to stir into the rest of the ingredients. However, the laws of physics say that this process is dependent on what temperature the butter starts at and how much energy is added to the butter. Not enough energy and the core of the butter will still be too firm. In such a situation, the butter can simply be put back in the microwave for a bit longer.

My brother did not think to check the butter. He saw that the butter was starting to melt and thought that it would be good enough. I don’t know if he started with colder butter than normal or if he set the microwave to less time than normal. But, regardless of the reason, his butter was still too firm. Unfortunately, in his craving-driven haste, he did not pause before adding his next ingredient: eggs.

My brother did his best to try and beat the eggs and butter together, but quickly found he was no match for slightly chilly lipids. So, he did what he always did when the butter was too firm. He stuck it back in the microwave. What he forgot about was that he was already trying to mix eggs into the butter. A few moments later, he had his lightly warmer butter and proceeded to continue mixing it into the eggs.

It was at this point that my brother realized he had screwed up. The brief trip in a microwave was enough to cook the eggs. As he tried to beat them together, instead of a liquid mixture he got flakes of cooked egg tossed with butter. It was actually pretty decent scrambled eggs. Nice and fluffy with a firmly buttery flavor, if a bit light on spices. But, a far cry from the brownies he intended.

I should offer a defense of my brother by saying he is a perfectly competent home cook; Not only can he feed himself, but he often contributes delicious dishes to family gatherings. He took to making some brownies without thinking because he had done it before and they came out fine. But anyone who spends enough time in the kitchen will eventually have a few embarrassing mistakes. And, to my brother’s misfortune, I was close enough to witness this event. So, he was unable to hide it like many of my own kitchen mistakes have been hidden.

—

Jonathan is an environmental scientist who enjoys dabbling in literature.  He has published a poetry book titled Through the Ages and maintains a website of some of his works at Crayshack.com.  He has also been previously published in Bittersweet, Z-Sky, and Plants & Poetry.

Widower, 29, seeks S/DF. I’m losing my hair, I smoke non-filtered Camels by the carton, I prefer to spend most Sundays trashing the NFL, and lately no one has mistaken me for Ryan Reynolds. That much said, I had been a loving husband, I like babies and animals, I can hook up a DVR, and I rank fairly high on the food chain.

Justin looked over the Internet message he had typed onto his IBM’s monitor, aware that self-deprecation tended to lose its charm once a woman sensed how well deserved it was. He really sucked at this, and one reading convinced him the ad reeked of defensiveness masked behind a strained attempt at cleverness. Worse, because of what it did not say the personal ad’s content was not entirely honest.

He hit ‘delete, ’and started over.

Widower, 29, physically challenged, seeks S/DF. You don’t have to be centerfold material or even attractive. You can be downright ugly. In fact, I prefer you to be ugly. I don’t de-serve anything better than a hag.

DAMN! DAMN!! DAMN!!!

White hot rage seemed the only emotion Justin felt capable of any more, and the moment got away from him again. He felt tempted to send the rewritten message as it stood but managed to pull himself back. Launched into cyberspace a personal ad this sick might attract the kind of woman who ate her young, but little else. Outbursts happened a lot with him lately, and the time had arrived for a reality check.

He hit ‘delete ’again, muttering while he ran his fingers through wispy strands of sandy hair. Pushing his wheelchair from the keyboard he reached for the photo album on the bookshelf. This daily ritual had become both self-defeating and painful, but he was a junkie addicted to memories of his past. Although his legs were as useless as pine logs, Justin’s hands had developed a will of their own.

He flipped through the photo album again and focused on one of the hundreds of snapshots he had taken with Sheila during the three years of their life together. The photo showed Justin and his young wife on a windy Long Island beach two summers ago. With arms entwined around one another like the newlyweds they were, they seemed the quintessential yin and yang in swimsuits. She was everything he was not, the beauty to his beast, the classic argument for the attraction of opposites. Justin could never fully understand just what Sheila had seen in him, but whatever it was he felt certain it had died the same day she had.

He studied the photo as if he held a Renoir in his hands. His young wife had been a knockout in that hot pink hint of a bikini she liked to wear. On that August afternoon he had been in such a feverish rush to make love to her that Sheila’s bikini bottom remained wrapped around her ankles the whole time.

Justin closed his eyes, and for a brief moment Sheila was there. He could even smell the wild honey scent of her hair. If he reached out she might stand before him, wanting him the way she had during the warm August afternoon captured in the photograph.

As always another memory forced its way into his head, the unwanted and uninvited remembering that chewed into his reflections like a voracious rat whenever his thoughts turned to Sheila. The memory remained inside Justin’s brain, a blood smeared freeze frame slowly churning itself into motion, exposing each torturous second of the last moments of Sheila’s life.

. . . The present collides with the past. Headlights of the oncoming eighteen wheeler come at him in an ambush of white light as the Toyota enters the rain swept Hartford ramp of Interstate 95. Sheila turns to look at him. She is like a confused child, unable to comprehend the enormity of the macabre moment they have entered into together. Ten tons of diesel truck bear down on them, and the small Toyota spins wildly, slamming the guard rail. The door on the passenger side shreds off in grotesque slow motion, and she is torn from her car seat. Thrown from the vehicle Sheila seems suspended in midair like a tossed rag doll. Her body skids upon the medial rail that promptly severs her upper torso from her lower, scattering the sections of her dissected flesh and gashed bone fifty feet apart.

Ten tons of metal effectively slammed what remained of Sheila into her grave and made match wood of the bones inside Justin’s legs.

Enter ‘delete ’and everything disappears. It was that simple.

Disabled Widower, 29, seeks anyone who can make the past disappear.

DamnDamnDamn…

He lit a cigarette, secretly hoping that his lungs might soon turn into ash and end the empty charade that had become his life. Of course, the punchline was that even the tiest life had to go on regardless of the uncertainty he felt about how that could happen.

The monitor of Justin’s computer remained empty. He returned to the keyboard willing himself to write something, anything.

Pitiful paraplegic, 29, more emotionally than physically challenged, desires any morsel of pity a woman might show toward a man who is incapable of getting over the death of the only woman who ever had the poor judgment to fall in love with him.

Succinct and to the point. More important, it was honest.

Who reads this sort of drivel anyway? he wondered.

Only the thousands of agoraphobes who had no lives of their own. Only those pathetic recluses who spent so much time at their computer terminals there seemed no world beyond their door that did not have the ‘cyber ’prefix attached to it. People who, if given the chance, might delete their entire lives.

Maybe he would deliver his personal ad unedited right now. Maybe he would send it out into the vast outreaches of cyberspace just to see what sort of excuse for a woman might respond, what sort of mirror image of himself was as desperate and alone.

The cigarette suddenly burned Justin’s lip, and pulling it from his mouth he realized he had smoked the Camel to a nub.

When he looked back at the computer’s monitor he discovered the screen read ‘message sent’. Some internal demon lurking within the darker chambers of his psyche had delivered the personal ad for him. Or, maybe his hands had operated independently of his brain again, just as they had done with Sheila’s photos in the album. In either case, the IBM’s monitor indicated the message had somehow irretrievably gone out courtesy of the Internet into the furthest regions of cyberland.

Gone. Departed like his legs and what used to be his life. Fading and disseminating out there somewhere in time or space along with Sheila and the scent of her hair during an afternoon on Long Island. All of it evaporating into mist except for the blinding lights of an eighteen wheeler tearing a crevice through the darkness of a rainy night.

It took a moment for the image to register, and at first it seemed his eyes had lost their focus along with his brain. He could see the blurred letters of the keyboard through his hands as if he were staring at them through smoked glass. He held his hand to the light. He might just as well have been staring through gauze.

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Justin almost smiled at the sinister absurdity of his circumstances. Everything was gone, yet at the same time nothing was. Try as he might he could not delete the ghosts. But the ghosts were not what he really wanted to make disappear. Some things were so ludicrous you almost had to laugh just to keep from screaming.

He knew he might remain right where he sat, there at the keyboard for the rest of the day waiting for a response that would never come. That was not the answer. But he knew what was. He typed a single sentence.

Not really seeking anyone, not any more.

Justin smiled again as he watched his hand continue to fade. Considering for a moment, he added another sentence.

Just want to erase it all.

He hit ‘delete ’and kept pressing down on the key, barely able to see the flesh of his own knuck-les.

His smile disappeared last.

—

Ken Goldman, former Philadelphia teacher of English and Film Studies, is an Active member of the Horror Writers Association. He has homes on the Main Line in Pennsylvania and at the Jersey shore. His stories have  appeared in over 970 independent press publications in the U.S., Canada,  the UK,  and Australia with over twenty due for publication in 2023-24. Ken’s tales have received seven honorable mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. He has written six books : three anthologies of short stories, YOU HAD ME AT ARRGH!! (Sam’s Dot Publishers), DONNY DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (A/A Productions) and STAR-CROSSED (Vampires 2); and a novella, DESIREE,  (Damnation Books). His first novel OF A FEATHER (Horrific Tales Publishing) was released in January 2014. SINKHOLE, his second novel, was published by Bloodshot Books August 2017.

My dead mom’s house overflowed. Potted strawberry plants hung from the ceiling. The
walls curved strangely. Buckets of potatoes and dirt sat under every window. Mom had gotten weird in the end; we’d stopped connecting, so I’d stopped coming around. Last time I’d been here…it hadn’t been like this at all.

In our phone call from this past winter, I remembered her mentioning hiring someone to
help renovate her “hobbit hole,” but I’d been tuned out and had never asked what she’d meant.
This was what she’d meant.
I strolled over to the kitchen, where things only got worse. Mom had always loved to
make food for the two of us. She’d taught me from a young age how to bake bread and dice
various vegetables. She’d said she liked to have a “kitchen buddy.” That was before she’d gone
crazy.

Countless shelves lined the walls. More potted food plants hung and stacked everywhere.
A circular window like out of Pinterest centered the kitchen, showing off…the brick wall behind
it. Overgrown fresh thyme and basil trailed over the countertops and down the shelves. Every
plant’s container was adorned in…I guess you could call it art. Mom had never been good at
finger painting, but she’d finger painted. One of the pots boasted a blotty blue…flower? Another
had what I thought was a dog. Some of them I generously ascribed the category of abstract trees.
No pot lay empty, though. Give her that, she never was one for waste–

And a thought occurred to me.

I counted back the days that had passed, the time it’d taken to arrange her demanded
green burial and funeral “celebration,” and I realized. All of these plants should have been dead.
My gaze slowly spun around the crowded, small house. I eyed every odd vine and dwarf tree.
And I noticed. Everything was green. Not a shrivel or wilt in sight.

My skin broke into gooseflesh. I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry.
“Psshh, they’re just resilient. Or she asked a neighbor to water them…”
Except she had no neighbors. She had insisted on living in the forest in the middle of
nowhere like a “goofy little woods witch.” And abruptly the thought of being utterly alone for
miles in this house scared the crap out of me. My heart began thumping despite my perfect
stillness.

What was I doing? Everything was fine. This was probably some complex grief thing, me
seeing nothing out of something because the person who’d raised me had died. Me searching for
answers, answers as to why a mentally ill but otherwise fairly healthy woman in her early fifties
would suddenly die in her sleep. Maybe even further back than that, perhaps searching for the
reason why my once light-hearted hippie mother had started growing erratic, refusing to leave
her house, singing to herself in gibberish words when she thought no one could hear her.

I started moving at a snail’s pace through the house, placing one foot in front of the other
again. The logical half of my brain told me I would search the house, find nothing, and it would
appease my terrified lizard brain. The other half…was looking for something, something I
instinctually knew had to be there.

I found myself in the basement. Tears pricked in my eyes, building with my anticipation.
Rounding the last dusty wooden step, I poked my head out into the damp darkness. I recalled
from when we’d gone house shopping for her post-retirement that the previous owner had used
the basement as a cellar for fancy wines, filled the place with dehumidifiers to keep up with the
moisture. Mom had never bothered, it seemed. The smell of old mold drifted up to meet my
nose.

And some primal intuition whispered in my ear something I’d never been told, “This is
where your Mamma keeps her mushrooms.”
A cold sweat broke out over my forehead. My breathing swiftly turned into panting. But
it was nothing. It had to be. My imagination was running wild, but my legs moved without my
control, and suddenly I was fully in the basement, eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I saw…the mushrooms.

—

Brynn Lietuvnikas is a graduating student of Hagerstown Community College under its Early College Degree Program, and she is a lifelong Creative Writer. Although she once thought she had retired her novelist cap, she is giving it another go with a personal romantasy project now reaching over one hundred and fifty pages. Brynn did not want to give up her short story practice either, however. She admits that she has written an unusually high number of short stories surrounding faerie circles, but she’s not about to stop now. 

I smile and nod for her to continue, while wishing she’d just shut up. Her hands flair in the air and I hate it. I hate how passionate she is, how much life she breathes into every word.

This is the same way she used to tell me bedtime stories. There were times that I was so scared to fall asleep that she’d be stuck there with me until the early hours of the morning. She never got frustrated or stern with me. No, my older sister, perfect person that she is, that she has always been, would only smile and start another one of her made up adventures. They usually featured two little girls surviving in a world where they could only trust each other.

They had always made me feel better. Somehow lessening the sting that no one else cared for us. She always knew the right things to say.

I try to hold onto those memories, to help ease the embarrassment that I feel when we’re in public together.

I struggle to keep the smile on my face as her hands land on the table a bit too loudly, before picking up the wrong fork.

I discreetly look around, already knowing what I’ll see: old money bitches having entire mocking conversations about us with nothing more than a few shared looks.

I hate them. I hate them more than I could ever hate my sister.

Years ago, I had been excited to marry into this life. It was a fairytale come to life. I had felt special when my husband would tell me that I was a breath of fresh air, someone more genuine than the people that ran in his usual circles, his family’s circle.

It had taken me months to figure out that the compliments my mother-in-law gave me were actually insults. Sharp, cunning, and cutting deeper than any other confrontation I’ve ever had.

Honestly, I hate my husband a little bit too. Him pulling me into this world, where I am surrounded by people who judge and judge until I hate myself more than I ever could them, it feels like a betrayal.

Finally, I can see our waitress making her way over. I have been ready for the check since she brought the food out. She smiles and goes to speak, but all that comes out is an obnoxious blaring sound.

Confused, she snaps her mouth shut, clears her throat, and tries again. The same thing happens, but this time I don’t feel as if I am sitting at the table. It feels like I am floating somewhere above it.

I try to hold onto the dream, to push the sounds of my alarm out of my mind.

As I open my eyes I push back the urge to cry.

I would give anything for just one more miserable minute at that table.

Instead, I sit up in my small twin bed, swinging my legs over the side, feet resting on the cold floor of my studio apartment.

I take a second to center myself before looking over to the only picture frame on my bedside table. It’s scratched, the stain is worn in places on each side, and one of the corners is glued together. It’s perfect.

I trace the face of the young woman centered in the photo. She’s laughing with her head thrown back. There is a kind of happiness in her that can’t be faked. This face was supposed to stand with me so that we could take on the world together. This is the face that I want to remember her by.

Not the thin, worn image from the newspaper article that I have hidden just behind it.

For me she had grown up fast, filling the shoes that our parents refused to. But no one had ever done the same for her. All the comfort and warmth that she provided me, she could only find from a guy named Ricky who sold 8-balls for eighty bucks out of his shitty Pontiac Grand Am.

For a second I let myself feel the embarrassment, the hatred that I have for her, for leaving me to face this life without her.

It takes me longer than normal to push the feelings back down, to stuff them in a box deep inside that I never consciously open. But I do it. I set her back down on the stand beside my bed and get ready for work.

It’s an hour later, after I have flipped off the lights and am halfway out the door that I pause, calling back to her, “I’ll see you tonight”.

It feels like I am trying to pressure her to be there again, and I guess I am. I will spend the rest of my life hoping to have shitty dreams of us together so I can escape the nightmare that is having to survive life alone.

—

Naomi Sheely thrives somewhere in chaos and caffeine. This has led her to the Dean’s list and literary publications at HCC, all while completing a double major and several all-night study sessions. It has, somehow, also given her a steady and calm husband and a well-behaved dog. Predictably, though, her three children are feral. There is no free time for hobbies, only the sweet escape of the written word.

I sometimes eat lunch alone at a table on a busy sidewalk by a shopping center with brand new buildings. There’s a fancy new pizza place, a gym, and it looks like a new fast-food restaurant opening up across the street. There’s a new development of houses behind me that seem to have multiplied since I last came here.

I can remember a time when all of those buildings hadn’t yet been built, and in their place lay acres of empty fields. When the only road through town was a tiny little main street lined with old country homes that were more often than not a little run down, but held generations of character. When there were family-owned ma-and-pop shops, and when the sidewalks in the summer were filled with barefooted boys running about with wooden bats over their shoulders.

We used to all meet up at the pool in the morning. Seeing who could do the coolest dive, swim the fastest to the other side, or hold his or her breath the longest. The lifeguards used to blow their whistles and yell at us to stop running, but we did it anyway.

After swimming all day, we wandered around neighborhoods, feeling the dirt under our toes, and peeking out from behinds red maple trees to admire historic homes. We played games, and ran up and down the dirt path.

The sun would set over the mountains behind us, which meant it was time to grab dinner at the old-fashioned pizza place across the street. They had live music and the best fizzing, fruity soda I’ve ever tasted.

One by one, my friends traded their dirty white tank tops and jean shorts for trendy crop tops, Nikes, and the latest iPhone. And one by one, the fields where we used to play hours of endless baseball in our bare feet were replaced by stores and restaurants. And one by one, the ma and pop shops where I used to buy soda -- the kind that still came in glass bottles -- closed down.

Now, my shoes pinch my feet as I walk on the fresh asphalt in the crowded street. The homes I once admired must have shrunk, or perhaps I have grown. The people I used to swim with are now lifeguards that blow their whistle and yell at kids to stop running.

—

Hannah Gagnon is from Knoxville, MD. She has worked as a Digital Marketing Coordinator for a non-profit and is an emerging creative writer. She is currently a student at Hagerstown Community College. She enjoys writing poetry and short fiction about nature and the mountainous region where she grew up.

Drone XTPE 413557 maintained a height of four hundred feet, with a standard deviation of altitude of fifteen feet as it flew along the southern shore of Lake Erie. XTPE 413557 was the newest generation of monitoring drones. A combination of light-weight battery packs, high efficiency solar cells and next generation electric engines meant that XTPE 413557 remained forever aloft, only landing when informed by weather servers of impending inclement weather, or for servicing as self-detected.

Three days ago hospitals worldwide had overflowed with patients. By the evening of that day, one in one hundred people worldwide had experienced symptoms: nausea, severe headache, diarrhea and / or dehydration. By evening of that day the early cases were bleeding from mucous membranes.

Drone XTPE 413557 overflew the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve as it passed Bratenahl. Its onboard software kept it centered on the shoreline but the small size of the Preserve peninsula allowed it to overfly the half mile square area as it approached downtown Cleveland from the northwest. To the left of its direction of travel were the docks of the Intercity Yacht Club, and, across Interstate 90, the five baseball fields of Gordon Park arranged in a pentagonal pattern.

The traffic lights changed and cars were parked on the road sides. But no cars were moving. There were no pedestrians. Interstate 90 lay bare. Every hundred feet or so a car might be stopped on a shoulder. Birds flew and chirped but aside from that the hinterland of the city was silent.

The next morning, two days ago, one in ten people had had symptoms and two in a hundred from the previous day had died. There was no regular programming. Stations were either static or constant coverage; curfews were announced and by the afternoon military vehicles began to appear. Experts on television declared it to be a new type of hemorrhagic fever, fast-acting and lethally airborne. By evening, two days ago, two in five had symptoms and one in ten had died.

The social web collapsed. Workers from all sectors failed to appear at their jobs. Businesses closed. Scant army units tried and failed to enforce cordon zones. Those few people walking on the streets avoided each other. Violence flared in ten thousand thousand spots across the world where warnings to stay away were ignored.

Drone XTPE 413557 flew past the 55th Street East Marina. The drone flew almost directly above the stone breakwater. On previous passes children would wave, imagining that somewhere someone was looking through a camera on the drone, but such was not the case. There were no children today nor would there be again. Drone XTPE 413557 began a sweeping hyperbolic turn to the Northeast, anticipating the two overlaid rectangles that formed Burke Lakefront Airport.

One day ago nine in ten had symptoms and four in ten had died. None of the infected recovered, all died. The prognosis was evident: symptoms mean death. Human society no longer existed. No one walked the streets. There were no looters. There were no good Samaritans. Some had fled the cities, driving to remote areas, hometowns, backwoods cabins. This had the effect of infecting all the highways and turning all inhabited landmasses into isolated pockets of infection; free zones bordered on all sides by infectious areas.

XTPE 413557 passed the airport and flew across the small faux bay that held the USS Cod Submarine Memorial. The drone passed Voinovich Bicentennial Park and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It had just completed a data upload to a remote server in Buffalo, New York, and had in turn been handed off to a server in Toledo. Pointers were reset and onboard memory was logically if not electronically cleared to zero used. Ahead to the left was First Energy Stadium.

This morning six billion, eight hundred million humans had already died or were dying. The survivors were in outlying and rural areas although many of these had been infected by arrivals from cities. There were people in remote locations, the high arctic, McMurdo Station, and hermits and various other social isolates. Some of these regions had enough community and population to survive for several generations.

XTPE 413557 passed over Edgewater Park Beach. A young man wearing only shorts lay dead on the sand. The areas around his orifices were now a dark rust color. He lay expressionless in the morning sun. An orange rind and a half eaten sandwich lay beside him on the sand. XTPE 413557’s formerly southerly direction now became northerly again as it followed the curve of the coast back out into the lake on the journey west.

Everywhere an infected human breathed became a lethal zone. To exhale was to shed virus. Survivors had limited resources and as supplies became scarce they would fearfully forage into unknown territory. Often they would bring infection back to their band and the uninfected zones grew ever smaller. Those desperate few who had early fled the cities were almost always infected and their arrival meant death. Thirty days after it began there were only seven million survivors left, trapped in small areas.

Drone XTPE 413557 flew past the Lakewood high-rises and adjusted it’s heading again. It was now flying almost entirely west and only slightly north. It overflew the small peninsula of Lakewood Park. Somewhere in among the trees a hungry dog barked and snarled at the movement.

There were small breeding populations, but there was nowhere to expand into that could be considered safe. In 2132, one hundred and fourteen years after the first case, the last human being would die. Twelve years later from now drone XTPE 413557 would develop a critical fault in a motor. This would cause it to drift out over Lake Erie, and a day later, it would be torn apart by a thunderstorm.

—

Bill is an aspiring fiction writer with a background in computer programming. He is still trying to decide what he wants to be when he grows up. Born in Indiana, Bill is a transplanted Hoosier living as a Buckeye by way of Canada and the Netherlands. Contact Bill at [email protected].

“Alice, I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time.” 

Did she hear the words or simply feel them? She wasn’t sure. She saw nothing except a luminous mist above the path. She had visited this glade almost every day for 20 years. She liked being alone with birds and rabbits. Alice loved the rabbits, especially the little gray ones. Usually she felt a sense of peace, but today she was uneasy. Someone was near her. She could hear breathing. 

“Who are you?” she whispered timidly. The voice sounded like his, but it could not be. He was gone. She was shaking, but she didn’t want the voice to go away…again. She held the voice in the closed fist of her mind. She would keep it even if it wasn’t real. 

She thrust her open hands into the mist but felt only the chill of wet air. She groped blindly. Suddenly she realized she could not see her hands. She jerked them back, shouting, “No, no! Don’t go!” 

She was frightened and confused, yet drawn forward. Over and over, she tempted the wet unreality, never quite getting close enough to lose her footing. She leaned in, but not with her whole body, just enough. Her face kissed the mist. She could taste the droplets. She had tasted that kiss before. 

She had come here many times before to watch the fog approach. Sometimes tall, graceful deer came, does with fawns, and almost always rabbits hopped over vegetable stalks to get to the ripe cabbage. She loved the deer and left corn for them, but the rabbits were her favorites. Once a wild sow came with nine piglets trailing behind her. Alice was a little afraid of them, but they were adorable with irregular yellow stripes on their backs. They were wild things in their element. But today was different. Was she finally in her element? 

The forest was magical, but she had never ventured deep inside its heart. She longed to be wild and free like the yellow-striped piglets. Until today, she had preferred to imagine the beauty deep inside the glade. Sometimes she saw a glow coming from the glade. Sometimes she lived in her memory. An overgrown path led toward the heart of the forest, but she never ventured farther than a few feet inside. Vines overhung the path. Today, she wanted to go past the vines. 

Nature was her element. The sounds and smells of a thunderstorm even when her cottage shook made her smile. They were nature. Cities with screeching tires and blaring horns frightened her, but not thunder. She liked the way the air smelled when the rain stopped after a storm. The air was clean, free of man scent. Even the animals understood that. They didn’t seem to mind Alice’s scent, but when others intruded, the animals disappeared as if they had never existed. Alice was a part of their world, but only Alice and the mist. The animals loved the mist. They wandered freely in and out, sometimes disappearing entirely then reemerging into the meadow. They seemed unafraid of the voice in the mist today. 

Alice kept a small garden, mostly for her furry and feathered friends. She had two rows of sunflowers. The seeds dried on the stalks for birds to enjoy. She enjoyed the bright yellow beauty while the blooms followed the sun. She raised two rows of corn, one of string beans, one of sweet potatoes, two of tomatoes, one of cabbage, and two of strawberries. She maintained a hedge of blackberry bushes, six pear trees, and a lone pecan tree. Between the house and the garden was a scuppernong arbor where Alice spent many hours comforted by the shade and the growing golden fruit. In the late fall, she managed to make several jars of jelly and a bottle or two of wine. When the sweet potatoes were ripe, she harvested them and banked them in neat little straw huts to preserve them through the winter. Her kind neighbors brought her eggs and milk occasionally, and she fished in the small rill flowing behind her house. That all seemed enough for her until the mist came to the forest that November day. 

Fog didn’t usually hug the forest on early winter evenings, but this wasn’t an ordinary fog. It was a mist with tiny diamond droplets, each one a promise. She heard the voice again. It called her deeper into the forest toward the secret glade. The voice wasn’t exactly a whisper, but it was soft like the eyes of the fawn in the meadow. 

“Alice, I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time,” the voice repeated. 

Alice should have been frightened, but this time she wasn’t. She followed the mist as it inched toward the glade. 

This time Alice replied, “I’ve been waiting for you, too.” Now she knew it was his voice. She moved nearer to the mist and deeper into the forest. She reached her hand out to touch the diamond veil of droplets. Her hand penetrated the veil and disappeared. Then she felt another hand take hers. Two larger hands clasped her small one then she felt lips kiss the palm of her outstretched hand. She didn’t ask who it was. She knew. She smiled. She looked around at the magic of the glade. It seemed to encircle her, but she felt peace, not fear. 

Still she hesitated to step fully into the mist. “How long have you been here?” she whispered. 

“Since the day our time stopped. Do you understand why you came here, Alice?” 

“What do you mean? I knew the first time I stepped out of my car and smelled the forest that I belonged here,” she replied. 

The voice laughed. She remembered his laugh and the day the laughter stopped. “I’m sure you did. Did you recognize the scent? The breeze that blew past you when you got out of the car—how did it make you feel?” 

“Happy,” said Alice. She could feel rather than see his smile. 

“I’m sure you were. I was touching you the only way I could. The wind blowing through your hair was my fingers.” 

Alice stood close to the mist, unable to see her hand. “Come to me now,” she whispered. The mist hovered in the center of the glade. The light of the fading day peeked over the tall trees and into the glade, making small rainbows across the mist as if it were celebrating a promise. 

“Is that what you want?” the voice asked. 

“Of course, I do! Why would I not?” Alice answered. 

“If I come to you, you won’t be able to see me. You will feel my touch, but you won’t see me. The only way you can see me is to come through the mist to me.” 

“Well then, I’ll come,” Alice said. 

“Wait! Don’t do that yet.” 

Alice felt his hand close around hers. She stood very still. 

“If you come through this mist, you will see me, but you won’t be able to go back to the other side. You will come to me, but not today.” He took her hand and put it on his face. 

Alice gasped and raised her other hand to his face. Now she couldn’t see either of her hands, but she could feel his face. 

“Alice, don’t move. Don’t step closer to me, please. Stand very still.” 

Suddenly, she felt his arms around her. She clutched what she knew was his body and began to cry with her head against his shoulder. He held her tightly and let her cry while he gently stroked her back. 

With her head still resting on his chest, she whispered, “I want to see you, to touch your face.” 

“You can touch my face any time you want to. Pretend you are blind. You can feel all your other senses. You just can’t see me.” 

“I don’t understand,” Alice said. 

“You will in time.” He took her hand and said, “Come with me. We can walk along the creek. Alice, do you understand now why you’ve been so happy here for the past 20 years?” The mist moved along beside her as she walked. 

“Yes, I think I do. You have been here all the while, haven’t you?” 

“Yes, I have. Have you noticed the mist before?” 

“A few times, why?” 

“Those were the hard times for me. Those were the days I wanted so much to pull you to me so you could see my face and know I was near you. I didn’t know until today what would happen when you put your hand through the mist. I only knew if I pulled you to me, you couldn’t go back.” 

“How did you know that?” 

“I’ve seen it happen to others beyond the mist. Some were happy about their fate; others were not. I didn’t know if you would be happy beyond the mist. And you have something to do before you can come to me.” 

“Can we stay here like this for a while before I decide? What is it that I have to do?” 

“We can stay here for a while, but one day you won’t feel me beside you. When that happens, look for the mist. Then you will have to decide.” 

“I came here looking for peace and comfort when you went away and never left. This seemed like sacred ground. Now I know I’ve been happy here because you’ve been here all the while.” 

“Alice, it isn’t time for you to come to me. I want you to do something for my family and for other people who lose loved ones early.” 

“Of course, what do you want me to do?” 

“I need you to write our story. Tell my family all about us. Tell them in a story how much I love them. Publish the book so others who have lost loved ones can know we never lose those we love. Love does not die.” 

“I will do that. I will find them.” 

Alice felt the cold night air on her hand where his warm hand had been. She returned to the cottage and went to her desk. She gazed at the forest and saw the mist rising. She smiled and began to write their story. Now she knew the ending of the story. A blue butterfly lit on her window sill in the last fading embers of light. She opened her laptop and began to type. 

She would leave their story as bread crumbs in her path. She searched for his relatives and found two of them. When the story was completed and published, she ordered two copies and addressed two envelopes. Each envelope contained a book and a deed to half of her property. She dropped them into the box at the post office and returned to the advancing fog. She draped her red sweater around her shoulders. 

After only a few steps, she penetrated the mist. She saw him. He was there at the end of the lane beside his car. He had one foot propped on the fender of the ’58 Chevy and that grin, the grin he wore the first time she saw him. She walked toward him at an even, unhurried pace. She winced when she saw the scar across the left side of his face. She kept walking, but she put her hands over her face and began to sob. He enfolded her in his arms and let her cry. He rocked her back and forth and whispered, “It’s ok, I’ll never leave you again.” 

She got in the car. He leaned in and kissed her. She left only breadcrumbs on her path. A blue butterfly lit on a fallen log and watched them drive away. 

—

Corinda Pitts Marsh is a retired university professor and writer. She has published more than 15 novels available on Amazon. “Alice in the Mist” is a short version of one of those novels. She is a Florida writer primarily writing historical fiction.

The aged woman cautiously looked about the almost empty parking lot. A handful of cars remained. Employees, no doubt. Her car sat alone under the light. It had been a beautiful summer evening. A quick dash to the grocery store with only fifteen minutes to spare. The bag she carried was not heavy, just bulky. The few items inside shifted, tearing the paper-thin bag. The large oranges tumbled to the ground.

“Not again,” she mumbled. She clicked open the back end of the vehicle and placed the torn bag inside. She did not notice the dark figure near the side of her car. Without hesitation, she bent down and began retrieving the fallen fruit.

“Your purse, old lady,” demanded a shaky voice. Alison Chambers stood up, almost tipping over.

“What?” she asked, regaining her balance. She tossed the oranges in the open car. The ominous figure held a shiny steel serrated knife. The dark hood fell off his thick, mussed hair. The young man licked his cracked lips.

“You heard me…your purse…now…before I cut you wide open.” The crazy-eyed punk snickered. His hand trembled. Alison could see the sweat on his forehead. His T-shirt was stained. The dirty blue jeans hugged his youthful hips.

“Young man, I’m sure you can see plainly I do not have a purse. In fact, I do not carry a purse for just this reason,” explained Alison. Her heart beat a tad faster. She ignored the

increasing palpitations. A slight pain inched across her heavy chest. Her mind focused. With a little luck, she could diffuse the unfortunate situation.

The assailant glanced around. It was just the two of them. “You had to have money, old lady, to buy your groceries. So, give it up,” he shouted, leaning in closer to her face.

Alison immediately pulled back. She crossed her arms. “Exactly my point! I only bring what I know I’m going to spend. Nothing more…nothing less.” The young thug rubbed the back of his moist neck.

“Come on…you’ve got to have something. Nobody goes to the store with exact change. You’re lying to me!” he screamed. He thrusted the knife at Alison.

In a split second, Alison closed her droopy eyelids. She focused on his musky scent. Her self-defense instincts immediately took over. She had been practicing them for years. Her aged body reacted with precision. Within a blink of an eye, she moved out of the way and then grabbed his unprotected wrist.

“Damn!” yelled the young man as he howled in agony. The shining blade clinked as it hit the pavement. Wasting no time, Alison swung her heavy leg upwards into his open groin. The assailant crumpled in agony onto his knees. Crying out obscenities lost into the night.

“What the…?” spittle flew from his contorted mouth. Alison backed further away. She felt her pants pocket and retrieved her cell phone. She punched the number 911. But nothing

happened. The young thug was still grappling with his tender private parts. Tears streamed down his dirty face.

Alison could hear sirens in the distance. Someone from the store must have called. It wouldn’t be long now. Suddenly, a middle-aged woman was standing next to her. She smiled at Alison.

“I like your style,” said the stranger. Alison stared at the mysterious woman.

“Where did you come from?” questioned Alison. The woman had a pleasant face with a few wrinkles. Her hair was short and curly. A blue polo and capri pants fit the woman’s flattering curves.

“I don’t think this jerk will ever learn,” said a deep male voice. Alison’s eyes were instantly drawn to the strange man standing near the assailant, who was still crying in pain.

“Why do I get stuck with the likes of this kind?” The mystery man was tall and lanky. His flannel shirt and blue jeans hung loose. Short, dark hair and a long-pointed nose. He couldn’t be more than thirty. And he seemed to know the mystery woman.

“Where did you come from?” asked Alison. She looked back and forth between the two strangers.

“Same place as her,” he stated, pointing to the female beside Alison.

The young man on the ground was sniffling. “I’m sorry, lady. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, honest!” he whimpered.

Alison’s eyebrows squished together. What was he talking about? She hurt him—not the other way around.

“I don’t understand,” whispered Alison. The woman beside her sighed.

“He didn’t actually kill you…well, his actions caused your heart to rupture. Your mitral valve was blocked. There’s no coming back from that. Even if the paramedics did arrive a tad earlier…it was your time.” It was then Alison saw the body on the ground.

“Is…is that me?” murmured Alison. Her wrinkled hand gently touched her quivering lips.

Before the stranger could answer, two police cruisers pulled up. A female officer jumped out of her vehicle, pulled her gun, and aimed it at the blubbering assailant. The other officer rushed to the deceased and immediately started to perform CPR.

“Don’t move…keep your hands where I can see them,” insisted the female officer. The young assailant had stopped crying. He remained still on the ground.

“My wrist…it’s broken. The old woman broke my wrist. Can you believe it? She kicked me in the balls, too. What old person does that?” he moaned.

“One who has to defend themselves against scum like you!” shouted the strange man. “I swear…” He shook his head. “Is this my penance?” He gestured his hand towards the crook.

“It’s up to the Almighty, you know this, Stuart.” The woman pointed to the sky.

“Anne…of course, I know this. But why me? Why am I tasked to guard a delinquent soon to be convicted of murder?” Anne shrugged her shoulders.

“I didn’t ask for this job, Anne. I had no choice in the matter.” He paced back and forth.

The paramedics arrived. Alison’s attention was drawn to the two older males as they rushed to the body—her body—white face and skin the color of ash.

One of the paramedics took over for the officer. Minutes ticked by. He checked her pulse. He looked up at his coworker and then shook his head from side to side.

“She’s gone. Let’s get the gurney.” Minutes later, they lifted Alison’s empty shell.

“Hey! Hey! What about me? My wrist is broken. I need medical attention!” shouted the young man, still on the ground.

As they pushed the gurney inside the back of the ambulance, one of the men turned to respond.

“You can catch the next ride,” he said through gritted teeth.

The female officer holstered her weapon and pulled out her handcuffs. The male officer read the murderer his rights.

“Let’s go, buddy. I’ll take you to the hospital.” They helped the young suspect into the backseat of the cruiser and clicked his free hand to the steel bar.

“Stuart, you’re going to miss your ride,” stated Anne. Alison could not wrap her mind around the scenario unfolding before her. Was she dreaming? Or was she really dead?

“Oh, that’s funny, Anne. Really funny! Ha, ha!” Stuart twirled into a circle and then disappeared.

“Where…where did he go?” asked Alison.

“Wherever Henry Wilson goes,” replied Anne. “You see, Stuart is his guardian angel. He’s been tasked with guarding the man who just happened to cause your death.”

Alison watched as the ambulance pulled away with silent flashing lights. The police cruiser containing Henry Wilson sped out of the parking lot.

The other officer left behind was speaking on her shoulder mic. Then, she opened her trunk and pulled out the yellow crime scene tape.

“I’m Anne, by the way—your guardian angel. We should be going. There’s nothing left for you here anymore, Alison.” The middle-aged woman gave a slight smile.

“I can’t believe…” Alison’s words trailed off.” Was she truly dead?

“I know. It’s a lot to take in. In time, you’ll come to grips with it.” Anne slowly turned and then looked back at Alison over her shoulder.

“What’s next?” asked Alison. And then suddenly, a miraculous peacefulness consumed her soul.

“Well, that’s actually up to you. Let’s take a walk, and I’ll give you a few pointers…” The two women then disappeared into the swirling white mist under the heavenly starlit sky.

—

Alice Baburek is an avid reader, determined writer and animal lover. She lives with her partner and four canine companions. Retired from one of the largest library systems in Ohio, she challenges herself to become an unforgettable emerging voice.