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 Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:57 pm
POETRY >> 2ND ENTRY
((This is a series of haiku!))
Dark and Light
The darkness, it builds;
encroaches, smothers, destroys
And the fear crushes.
But within the dark,
a shred of light flickers low -
soft, but even and true.
That light, the light of hope
expands, grows, and glows brightly;
the world expands too.
The monochrome loves
fade from monotony, and
burst into color.
The color amazes
in its brilliance, beautiful,
and full of vibrance.
The starburst of life
is merely the beginning.
It is a new dawn.
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:04 pm
POETRY >> 3RD ENTRY
((This follows no particular format or rhyme sequence. Nor does it really make sense. Another morbid one. blaugh ))
Burned
Twisted.
Decaying.
Dying.
His blackened heart...
Her rotted dreams...
They feel no more.
They inspire no one.
Melding.
Twining.
Mixing.
Their corrupted souls...
Their destroyed bodies...
They find comfort in each others' blackness.
They crave the others' always.
One.
Combined.
Entwined.
Their combined darkness...
Their twisted dance of death...
It consumes them further.
Becomes not a dance, but a game, for the highest stakes.
A game they both lose.
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:25 pm
SHORT STORY >> 2ND ENTRY
((This was also inspired by the death at my school, as well as other deaths I've been through - family, friends, even and the other classmates that passed away. Short, fragmented. It's actually more of a narrative than a short story, but whatever. .-.))
Musings of a Mortal
The fragrant, calming scent of lilies filled the chapel, and the flickering candles were soothing to the souls in the room.
And indeed, those souls needed soothing. Black dominated the room, but every now and then a speck of white would be seen among the pews as the mourners tried to wipe away their sorrow.
I wondered absently if the huge turnout was merely because he was young. One of us. Such untimely events always struck close to the heart, reminding us all too forcefully of our own mortality.
He had possessed such vitality and life, and he had gone equally violently. Drowning, they had said. An accident. Yes, perhaps an accident. But does that make it any less sad?
Old souls go quietly along their way, and so death becomes the way of things, and even accepted. But when someone so young comes along - it's a shock, a horror, a squeeze to the heart.
We are left to wonder how we are meant to go, and if indeed anything is 'meant' at all. Life, love, desire, even the most base emotions - what are they there for, if in the end we'll go out like this, like a candle being carelessly blown out?
Or is it more careful, more planned, and Fate at her long tapestry has already decided, and Death on his pale horse is ready and waiting?
Mortality - the greatest mystery of life, and one that always burns so close to the heart.
Who shall ever know?
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:20 am
moon_wolf_luna I have a question about the short story, can I post my story here or should I post the title? I have the story in the arenas, so just let me know^^ Just in case my story is called: A Hatchling's TearsYou post it here in a reply. ^.^ Thanks for asking.
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:56 pm
SHORT STORY
1ST ENTRY
Creation of the World
My mother’s ancestors have handed down the story that I am telling, from generation to generation. This is the story of how the universe, and the earth, came to be. This is the legend my mother told me.
A long, long time ago, when the universe was newly formed, our of the dust of countless shattered suns and stars, a Being emerged. Shrouded in a cloak of glimmering light, she touched half of the newly formed suns and stars, except one and caused them to gather to themselves the dust of their ancestors, the dead stardust. She smiled and laughed and proclaimed to the universe, “I am called Midnight, and I am the Light", she cried to her suns. Then she spun the stardust each sun had collected around themselves into planets around them, so they would not be alone, being so far from the nearest sun.
When the Lady created the planets for the suns, she allowed Shadow to enter the universe. Emerging from the Shadows, a man of Shadows flinched from the raw light of too many suns. The suns the woman hadn't touched, he did, save for the same one the woman had not touched. The stars the man did touch, were destroyed or worse, they became unbearably big, collapsing in on themselves to create very, very small holes in the universe. He looked out over his work and said, “I am called Noon, and I am the Dark."
For many thousands of years after the coming of these strange beings that claimed to be the Light and the Dark, many lesser Light-beings and Dark-beings came into being, by the will of the Light and the Dark. Watching over them all, was the Mother, who was the Creator of the universe, and Midnight and Noon's true creator.
Eventually the Light- and Dark-Beings became the Elemental Children. Some were fiery at heart, others were peaceful, some others were grounded, practical, and wise, and the rest were rather inane and frivolous. Now some of the Children were Dark and some were Light. This created tension and confusion towards the opposite element, where there had once been peace and relaxation.
Now, the Light Lady and the Dark Lord, became aware of their dependence on the others' existence, for we would know nothing if there was an opposite. We cannot know what sound is, if we don't have silence, or we would not know love if we did not have hate, for it would remain a state of constantness, so we would not know anything other than what we experienced. Like we won't know hot from cold if we were always hot and did not know what cold felt like.
Such is the same with Light and Dark. After having to bear a millennium of growing tensions, the Dark One and the Light One, finally acknowledged their need for the other, privately of course, only with the other for company. (The Beings and the universe are unhurried creatures, so creation, wars, and other things take time, for they live very long lives, and time has no meaning to creatures that don't use it).
"Midnight Lady”, the Noon Lord said, “We seem to have become dependent on the existence of the other."
"It seems we have”, the Light One replied, “But it would appear that our Children do not share or understand our wisdom."
"This is so”, The Dark Being agreed warily, “What is it that you propose, Sister?"
"Let us blend our power, Light and Dark, to create a Guardian for the universe. The Guardian will be neither Light nor Dark, and will end the war that will inevitably come to pass between our Children”, the Lady told her Brother.
"You wish to place our power in a new breed of Beings?” The Dark One said incredulously.
"Yes”, the Lady replied.
"No. I don't think I will be doing that”, The Dark Lord replied stubbornly.
After a few millennia of arguing, the Dark One finally agreed with his Sister and they cast a spell that blended their power. After many more thousands of years, the Blendlings emerged. They were Twins, which came as a shock to the Light and the Dark Ones, who only wanted one Guardian to interfere, and the Twins were not given to much destruction, as they understood that their power was far greater than the Elementals put together.
The Twins appeared to be only 8 years old, in the measuring of we fallible mortals, mere infants in the eyes of the other Beings. One Twin was a girl-child, the other a boy-child. Both were far wiser than anyone thought, despite their childish looks. They were identical in every way, except for the fact that the boy-twin had a slightly different build and slightly darker coloring. Eventually the Twins grew up and took on a look of maturity.
So, for a while, the universe was pretty much balanced until a few angry words were exchanged and the two factions of Elemental Children heated up until war broke out. Up to that point the Twins, now called Dawn and Dusk, (for Twilight is when the Light and the Dark touches the skies of the many planets beneath them), had been acting as bridges between the Children, until, disgusted, they disappeared into the core of the universe to find the Mother and a way to stop this childish war once and for all.
When the majority of the universe had been destroyed to the point where the small holes in the fabric of the universe had turned into gaping holes, the Twins returned. Of course, this was a couple thousand millennia, so no big rush.
The Light and Dark Elemental Children had found the one star that had been uncorrupted by Light and Dark, and both factions thought that if they got it first, they would finish the war and banish the other faction for the rest of eternity. It was there the Twins confronted the Elemental Children as they amassed their armies along the sun, for one final, devastating battle.
"Look, Brother”, Dawn sneered with disgust in her voice, which was loud enough for all the Children to hear her, “The Children truly are children for all their age and power."
"This is true, Sister of Mine”, Dusk replied, voice deep with sorrow, "Just look at what their hatred has done to our poor Mother."
The Twins glanced around and saw gaping hole in the Universe and hundreds of the Mother's creations had been destroyed; their bright, proud beauty was no more. The Children wept, as they finally understood what their hatred and selfishness had done to their home, as the Twins looked at them in pity.
"Mother gave you many chances and many, many, many hundreds of thousands of years to peacefully coexist with the other" ,Dawn told the gathered Children.
"She even gave you us" ,added Dusk.
"And now you are even trying to claim the space Mother set aside for us when we have completed our Tasks" ,Dawn continued.
"But now we have no choice anymore" ,Dusk ended Dawn's sentence.
"We of the Mother's creation, Banish you", the Twins proclaimed together, "To coexist in a place where Mother can not be harmed!"
The Twins linked their hands, touched the Last Star, and summoned the Stardust it needed to create a system of planets made to contain the Children. They formed nine planets and many moons, and when they were done, the Children stared in awe at the beauty the Twins had created. But the Twins were not quite done yet.
"We Banish You" ,they said together, "We strip you of your immortality. We peel away your masks, and your hide will match your hearts!" They continued. The Children felt themselves shift into the forms of what we now know as animals. Still the Twins were not done.
"We make a Home for the Light and the Dark", they cried above the groans of pain from the Children. The Twins raised their linked hands and the third planet they formed was lush and green bright with health and vitality.
"And now, We send you Home!" The Twins finished with a great SHOUT! And they dropped their hands with a jerk. As they finished their work, the newly formed creatures fell to the lush new earth and where the fire elementals fell, they dried the earth around them, and created sand and red desert. Where the water elementals fell, great oceans and lakes and rivers formed around them depending on how many fell in one spot. Where the earth elementals fell, forests and trees sprouted where their feet touched. And where the air elementals fell, great flat plains formed.
The Twins descended from the Heavens of the Universe where they walked the plains were made. They looked at their creation with critical eyes, when the Light Lady and the Dark One appeared, and asked the Twins in despair why they had banished their Children.
"We created you to keep the peace" ,the Dark One, Noon, and the Light One, Midnight, cried, "Why did you banish your brethren?"
"We were created by the Mother, the Universe's creator, just as you were" ,Dawn began.
"But you failed in your task to have your Children coexist in a peaceful manner, and you failed to protect Mother" ,Dusk continued for his sister.
"Since you failed, and our task is complete" ,The Twins said together, "We must keep you here with your Children, and us."
As they spoke, a vast power overcame them for Beings and they took root to the ground as trees. Midnight, the Light Lady, became a vast birch tree forest, to let the light in to those who have been without it for too long. Noon, the Dark Lord, became a fir tree forest, providing darkness to those who have been consumed in too much light, and needed to hide from it, for just a little while. Dawn, the girl-child of the Guardians, became a great redwood tree, and Dusk, the boy-child of the Guardians, became a massive oak tree that intertwined itself with the redwood.
The Twins' tree-forms stands between the birch forest and the fir forest, forever guarding the sacred place where only the dead may go. It is said that if you are blessed enough to replenish your soul beneath the leaves of the twined oak and redwood, that your soul will stay in that sacred grove and it becomes a Guardian for the grove. All humans are descended from the Stardust Elemental Children, and like the light and dark, they come in many guises.
((This is not a family story, just to say.. This was an English assignment.))
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:29 pm
SHORT STORY
2nd Entry
((This is the whole story, not just parts of it. There's a reason for its' layout, I promise.))
Excerpts from the Immortal's Journal
-Entry One-
My name is Cali'aeon. It's a strange name, I'm aware of that. I have lived since the dawning of man, and I have experienced their triumphs and sorrows, their growing bigotry since their beginning. I have grown to both love and despise mankind, love them for their resilience, their intelligence, the power that they have over their own destinies. But I have come to hate them for the destruction they have wrought upon this earth, which once overflowed with balance, with near perfection, and I must wonder if it is worth it.
I write this account for reasons I do not understand, nor will I pretend to. Perhaps I am tired of holding in a bursting secret of life and immortality, which is highly overrated. When a person is immortal, they live until the end of time, or until they kill themselves out of sheer despair. I am the last of my race, the Kalened. The rest of my brethren have forsaken their only sister and succumbed to anguish and hatred. I have never understood my brothers.
-Entry Three Hundred and Thirty Three-
I lived before the sun shone upon this frail gathering of dust and particles, before the primordial rain came to give life to this poor hunk of stone and magma. I saw the beginning of mankind, and I will see its' destruction, and I will live on. I have watched each coming and passing of eras amongst the dwindling numbers of my kin until I remain alone, the last of the Star Children. Many have come to the peak of my mountain, seeking one form of immortality or another, think that immortality is the answer to the mysteries of life.
But humans will never find peace in immortality. To be an immortal, means that you will never know peace, you will only feel the endless progression of time, and see the cycle of time repeat itself over and over again until the universe itself is unmade and remade, thus the cycle repeats. Immortality means despair and anguish, and watching those you once loved die slowly, while you remain ageless and untouched by the march of time. It means the cruel progression of apathy so strong that you cease to care for all that you once craved.
-Entry Six Hundred and Ninety-Four-
I pity those who crave my curse, and my gift. I will see countless more people die, until the race of Man is craven and cowardly, the gift of love and courage revoked as the gods become disgusted with the destruction mankind is capable of. I wonder if a mere human is capable of watching impassively and doing nothing, as I have done through the worst of the wars of man, the worst of their atrocities. My only function is to serve as an accountant, a recorder to hold the terrible history of this world for all time. All immortals must have a function or we will die.
And my brothers forgot their function, and they succumbed to rage or hatred, emotions that we immortals never feel anymore. Humans cannot understand the lack of emotion they will possess. They will forget everything they cared for, and everything they wanted, until they, too, can bear no longer the endless years of endless living.
Immortality is not worth the loss of emotion for humans. It is what makes them what they are. Immortality, you must remember, doesn't end. It has a distinct tendency to run forever.
-Entry Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine-
I have, of late, begun to question my own existence, and I resolutely turn from those thoughts, for I must remain to keep the Akashic Records for Earth. I fear I am the only one of my kind left in the universe that has not become a human, a mortal, or succumbed to death. I am so tired though. After so many eons of observing and recording, this will be my last entry for I am so very very tired...
************************************************************
The wind swirled around the outside of the cave, as the writer Cali'aeon dropped her pen, and lay her head down on the stacks of paper and journals she had kept throughout the centuries of Mankind's existence. Her eyes closed softly, a soft smile forming on her face as she remembered her family, lost so many centuries ago. The candle she used to illuminate her writing extinguished, and darkness filled the cave with the loss of the golden light. Cali'aeon drew her last breath and let Death take her to the plains of the Immortals, where she reunited with her brothers, and a smile remained on her now dead and still face.
Akasha chuckled as her experiment drew to a close, the last of the Kalened dead, given themselves to death. She closed her book of tallied dead and went to show her findings to the gods. She would tell them that even the memories of immortality would drive a mere mortal insane. Her experiment done, Akasha drew the curtains and closed them on the Earth until it destroyed itself. Mortals were so fickle wanting immortality, then getting it, then killing themselves. Akasha understood vaguely. After all, the problem with immortality, Akasha knew, was that it tended to go on forever.
.END.
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:09 pm
crypticxguide, I love ancestral narratives and mythology. You have 2 excellent stories here. In considering the legend that your mother told you, I have often wondered how close to the truth of creation they are, and am saddened by the lost of wisdom as these narratives and legends are lost to time.
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:46 pm
Short story 1: Dragon Spirit: Chaos Awakening (For more go here.) This is what I'm gonna submit for the contest, but if you go to the link, you can read some more!!
Sugaru croaked a chuckle. His plan was brilliant! The girl had great control of her powers. His powers. Now was the perfect time to strike.
He brooded over his spell, the spell that would release him from this human prison. This empty room of nothingness had bored him for days on end with nothing but a single candle for light. For fifteen years he had been trapped here. For fifteen years he had been without will to use his powers.
That would change with this spell. With it, he could extract himself from the girl’s body taking the physical form of her shadow. He would be allowed to walk free and create new havoc throughout the world.
This time there was no one to stop him. The other Guardians had been sealed inside of other humans just as he had been inside this girl. This girl would have no powers once he was gone from her body.
Sugaru let a maniacal, excited laugh ring out from his jaws, his sharp fangs glinting in the candlelight. His black wings spread wildly, creating a gust of wind in his empty prison. His tail swayed to and fro as his excitement grew. The key to his imminent freedom was manifesting in his very claws.
He halted his laugh abruptly. There was one problem. Sugaru rolled his head in a circular motion, much like that of a human rolling their eyes at their own stupidity. He had forgotten that the Light Guardian, the wolf, Duranté, the very Guardian who had caused his downfall, resided in the girl’s best friend. Sugaru growled at the very thought of the wolf. How could he have forgotten him? He thought carefully for a long moment and finally decided to continue with his plan. The boy was just as oblivious to his surroundings as the girl was to his feelings for her. Sugaru’s plan would succeed.
Finally, the Shadow Guardian completed his spell and continued his deranged outburst of laughter. He stared into the center of his spell as he raised it above his head. The purple glow reflected off of his face, revealing golden, pupil-less eyes and a malicious grin that spread from ear to ear. The mark on the dragon’s snout shimmered with golden light, and with one word, he uttered his spell.
Nothing happened.
Enraged, the dragon threw his arms against the sides of his body. Annoyed, he carefully pondered what could have gone wrong. Suddenly, a vortex appeared in the center of the empty room. Sugaru’s smile returned, and he allowed himself to be sucked inside.
Seconds later, he appeared outside of his host’s body. She was in a deep sleep, unaware of the events that had just occurred within her very body. Sugaru stood beside her, still linked to her as her shadow. He would change that with a cautious mental break from the girl.
It worked, and Sugaru was now free to do as he wished! With a satisfied grin, he turned to walk out of the moonlit room. Catching a glance of himself in the mirror that stood to his left, Sugaru stopped and stared in slight shock. He was no longer a dragon! He examined his new appearance closely and soon recognized his form. He was an exact image of his host dressed in her casual clothes. The only difference was he looked like a negative version of her, the colors flipped, including his hair and skin.
This fact would be a problem, but at the same time, it may not be. He quickly decided he could use this new body to his advantage. It would allow him to create extra chaos. He grinned maliciously at the thought, but for now, he needed to get away from there. Sugaru turned on his heel and made his way out the doors leading to the balcony. From there he disappeared into the shadows of the night.
* * *
Daru awoke the next morning feeling just as groggy as ever. Her blonde hair had its usual look of disaster, but she didn’t care. She sat up in bed stretching her lean arms to help awaken her sluggish body. She rubbed her eyes and gazed out the windowed doors that led to her balcony. The sun was barely above the forest of trees in the distance. She groaned. Who had woken her at this ridiculous hour?
Suddenly, her bedroom door swung open almost crashing into her wardrobe. It violently hit the wall with a loud “BANG!” A boy her age ran in excitedly shouting, “Daru, get up!” as his brown hair danced with his movements.
Daru glared at the boy with tired eyes. She was up. Well, I’m awake, at least, she thought to herself. “Aeron,” she said, still groggy. “Can’t you wait until I at least say, ‘Come in’?”
Aeron shrugged his slender shoulders, a wide smile on his face. It practically brightened up the mood of the entire room. “Sorry,” he said blissfully. “Just come on! We finally get a day off, and you’re still in bed! You said we could go explore the forest today!”
Daru smiled back. She never could glare at Aeron when he smiled, not even when she was in a mood nastier than her cooking. She knew Aeron would eat anything, but her cooking was not on his list of favorites. He would eat it and finish it, but he would do so hesitantly. She really couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just tell her it was repulsive instead of putting his stomach at risk like that.
She chuckled at the thought while Aeron gave her a questioning look. She shook her head slowly, still smiling, and said, “It’s nothing. Give me a minute to change, and we can eat breakfast.”
Aeron almost jumped for joy at the thought of breakfast. Mealtime, no matter which, was his favorite time of day. “Alright!” he exclaimed eagerly. With that, he spun around and made his way out of the room.
Then he tripped on the rug.
Daru’s look of shock quickly transformed into a bright burst of laughter as Aeron fell face-first into the floor. Through the bed, she felt the impact as his head hit the floor. She struggled to keep herself upright as she laughed, and her sides began to ache painfully. Aeron tripped almost everyday. She figured he would learn to catch himself by now.
Aeron pushed himself up to his knees and rubbed his nose. He couldn’t believe that it was still intact after all these years. He smiled foolishly at Daru. He loved her laugh and would do anything to hear it, even if that meant falling flat on his face every day.
He rushed to his feet saying, “Hurry up, okay? It’s our first day off, and you’re just sitting around laughing!”
Still chuckling, she tearfully replied, “Okay, okay! Give me five minutes. I’ll meet you in the dining room.” Yeah, right, she thought. It would take her ten minutes just to walk there! She could run, but Aeron would never notice the time difference. He nodded vigorously in her direction and hurried out, carefully making sure the door closed behind him.
Once she regained control of herself, Daru threw off her covers and hopped out of bed. The rug felt warm between her toes. It was much more inviting than the cold floor beneath it. She made her way across the massive room to her wardrobe. She didn’t need to light any lanterns on the way, because enough light poured in through the windows and balcony doors which were now behind her. In a confident manner, Daru grabbed both knobs of the wardrobe’s doors and pulled hard.
They wouldn’t budge.
Daru sighed and rolled her eyes. “Good morning, Hiercha,” she said indolently to the wardrobe. Slowly, facial features began forming from the intricate wooden carvings above the doors of the wardrobe. They appeared to be those of a middle-aged woman. The wooden face chuckled and smiled softly down at the teenager. “Thank you, Daru,” she said in a lighthearted tone, “and good morning to you, too. I told you I would make you remember to greet me everyday!”
Daru rolled her eyes again. “I’m still working on it,” she told the wardrobe with a doubtful smirk. Holding the doors closed every morning would not help her remember to say, Good morning. Still, she had to smile at the wardrobe’s goodhearted efforts. “Just gimme the usual today, Hiercha,” she said. “I’ve gotta go meet Aeron for breakfast.”
Hiercha’s expression brightened up. “Well, if that’s the case,” she said optimistically, “might I recommend this?” Her doors swung open, and one of her hangers extended outwards toward Daru. On it hung a dress, a beautiful dress with golden threads interwoven into intricate designs on the silky material. Any average individual could only dream of obtaining this.
Daru gaped at the lovely dress, not with awe, but with disgust. She stepped back fiercely crossing her arms and sneered at Hiercha for even suggesting she wear such a thing. “Definitely not!” she almost shouted. “You know me better than to ever pull that out! Besides,” she said, lightening her tone slightly, “Aeron and I are going into the forest today. I don’t think a dress will be appropriate for that.”
Hiercha frowned, disappointed in her failed attempt to feminize Daru. She reluctantly pulled her hook back inside and closed the door. “So, the usual it is then,” she said monotonously, and she reopened her door. The inside of the wardrobe was now lined with Daru’s favorite attire - golden-yellow t-shirts, long, dark-gray cargo shorts featuring the same yellow on the bottom, sneakers which imitated the colors of the shirt and shorts, and gray fingerless gloves which became yellow at the wrist.
Daru loved these clothes! To her they were comfortable, lightweight, and perfect. According to her trendy friend, Ité, this outfit made her blue eyes “POP!” She knew others thought it was weird for a teenage girl to wear these things, but Daru wasn’t one to care what others thought. It was good that Aeron did, though, because he was what kept her from getting into more trouble than she could actually handle.
Satisfied, she grabbed a full set of her favorite apparel and closed Hiercha’s doors. She quickly changed, fixing her hair into a tight ponytail. She made sure to leave her long side-bangs hanging neatly out as a frame to her face. Lastly, she put on her small, frameless glasses that somehow sat and stayed on her nose perfectly. She was farsighted and didn’t need them most of the time, but she liked to wear them, because they added a little something extra to her appearance.
“Oh,” Hiercha said to catch her attention, “you forgot these.” She opened her door and extended a hook with elbow-warmers hanging from it. “I heard it may be a little chilly today, so it’s best you put them on. We wouldn’t want you to get sick,” she said motherly, holding them for the girl to take. She nodded contently when Daru took them and slipped them over the bend of her arms. “Now you two be careful out there,” she reminded Daru as she made her way out. “We wouldn’t want anything bad happening to you!”
Daru snorted a laugh. “Something bad happen to me? The Shadow Guardian? Yeah, right,” she mocked. With that, she closed the bedroom door and was gone.
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:12 pm
Poem 2::
I just made this one up!!
Feel the Burn
By:: LKH
The wild dance
The mesmeric way her fiery hips swayed
Her body bathed in the Fire light.
Those eyes begged me to stay
Never glance away
For you may miss.
The way she looks
Those tantalizing curves of her hips.
Fell the Burn of her body
Deep in your Soul
Watch the Story
Her body has told.
Night by night I gaze
In the wild Fire light.
I fell in love that night
With the way her body burned like Fire.
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:47 pm
question:
how long is the short story so it won't be like a "novel"?
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:37 pm
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:07 pm
kennychesneyfan crypticxguide, I love ancestral narratives and mythology. You have 2 excellent stories here. In considering the legend that your mother told you, I have often wondered how close to the truth of creation they are, and am saddened by the lost of wisdom as these narratives and legends are lost to time. The stories are actually ones that I came up with. In the first one, The Creation of the World, that actually was a project for English class. The assignment was that each of the students had to create a version of how the world came about, and use it in terms of ancestry.
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:20 am
Short Story;First Submission; Doll PartsDoll Parts
It was dark and gray. The dead and barren landscape heaved upon itself, gouging and cracking, piling one stone onto another, and yielding nothing but unending grayness. The sky and ground mirrored each other’s wasted faces as fog curled over the hard rock. It was a thin, cold blanket of sorrow that gripped twisted black trees with icy fingers. It stilled the heart of any creature that dared enter these sacred grounds of the dead. And it obscured an unholy secret that lay broken in the dirt.
Body parts, like doll parts, arranged in the form of a woman, borrowed pieces became the source of demonic birth. No one heard and no one saw the parts come together as if they belonged to one another. No one saw the sinister spectacle of mismatched blood and bone becoming one and stitching together until the figure was that of a nude woman face down in the dirt. She lay still.
Then there was a hideous popping and cracking as the body convulsed, but there was no visible cause. Perhaps the parts were rejecting each other even as they were forced to become whole. There was a gurgling, and from beneath the face oozed a sinful fluid. The sources of different lives being melded together formed a disgusting concoction of dead yet flowing blood. And from this blood raised a shape. This shape was like a swirling cloud of black, white and crimson. It seemed to ponder over this unnatural creation; to look over the body and wonder what the future had in store for such a vessel. And suddenly it shot inside the creature in a flash of color and noise. Just as suddenly as the movement began, every trace if the cloud was gone. All but a small, heart shaped whole in the beast’s chest.
---
Paper Angels
He had everything. He was the Lord of the West. His coffers were full of art and gold and fineries unavailable to most men. He had a beautiful, talented wife. Or so he was told. Lord Stell was blind. He knew not what his holdings looked like. He had never perceived the beauty of his wife’s face. But he had heard her voice and smelled her he velvet skin. He had felt the winds blowing off the ocean. What he did not have were eyes to take it all in with. He knew the sight of none of these things, and yet this man owned it all. He controlled the army that held him his title as lord.
What he did see were shadows and impressions of light. He could see well enough to function, but not enough to enjoy the sights of life. That alone had driven him to command it all, especially the people who had rejected him as a boy for being the son of monster.
Presently, he held a meeting with his Commanding Officer, a stuffed rabbit with one arm. This rabbit was called General Stuffy. “My Lord,” the rabbit was saying, gesturing with his stump of a hand, “we are experiencing interference from Crow.”
Stell sighed. He really hated this Crow character. The thing constantly stood in the way of his advances toward the eastern border. That beastly creature had given his teddy bear advance guard more trouble than a single Idol was worth. Stell opened his mouth to respond, but his wife, sitting on a throne next to his interrupted.
“You can’t get rid of him,” her voice was quiet, and her breath fluttered the veil that covered her face. If he couldn’t see her, Stell had said, then no one could. He placed his hand on her thigh and squeezed gently.
“He is getting on my damn nerves, Tess,” he said to her.
Tess turned her face to him, her eyes glowing blue beneath the translucent veil. The ironic thing about Tess was that she was a Clairvoyant, and could see far beyond the normal spectrum of visible light. She saw the future, where he husband could not see what was in front of his face.
“He has been here longer than anyone of us. And,” she continued in her musical voice, “He has come into possession of something you may find very useful.”
The Lord leaned closer to the sound of her voice, intent suddenly on her incoming vision, “What do you suggest I do, love?”
“Find him, and this thing he cares for. And make them cooperate with you. You may soon have it all, my Dearest Husband.”
---
Kill the Lights
I awoke warm and whole and soft. The world about me as I came from my dreamless state was gently drifting and swaying as if touched by a light breeze. I sat up and opened my eye. He wasn’t there, I hadn’t expected him to be, but my introduction to the world would have been so much more comforting with him there.
I sat up and touched my mouth. I could feel the stitches running away from the corners of my lips. I knew these same stitches ran over most of my joints, but I didn’t know why. I carefully touched the moist surface of my right eye, to tell myself it was still there, and then tried to touch my left eye, but my finger entered emptiness where the eye should be--or at least the people I had seen in the last few days since my birth had had two eyes. Not one red, star spangled eye and a gaping hole. I touched my forehead and felt the tiny black points there. Horns sticking out from my black and white hair. I sighed and stood, I had no idea what I was.
I looked around, flattening the petticoats of my dress. The ground around me stretched about fifteen feet and was littered with large, blue black feathers. From the edge for the clearing sprouted strange, stone treelike structures that twisted and curled thin and tall. From the branches hung hundreds of crystal orbs that glowed in the fading twilight. All about the platform was open sky of infinite color and brilliance. Crimson at the horizon, orange at high noon, and at the very center of the sky above swirled magenta, indigo, black and colors that had no names, just values.
I walked slowly to the edge of the platform, between two of the strange trees and looked out over the edge. The natural platform I was standing on was one of five free floating stone bases that looked out over a wild landscape. They seemed to be held in place by a crater marked clearing a mile wide a few hundred feet below, where, half buried in the ground, there was a great, glowing pale sphere emitting rainbow flecks of color. Light and color flew through the air of the rocky clearing, as a clear river ran around the sphere, and colonies of white butterflies fluttered above the water and the shore, dancing in the rays of life. All around this expanse of rock and river were thick, old growth trees. All of this held the odd ecosystem together. The platforms were all similar in structure, but the largest was the highest, and from it flowed a waterfall with no source that became the endlessly flowing river that went from the clearing into the woods. It had no origin, but it didn’t need one. Because this was the home of an Idol. His name was Crow.
And then there was a great whooshing and my heart swelled with joy at the sound. He had returned. I turned to the center of the base, knowing he was flying in to fast for me to watch, and suddenly he was there. He landed gracefully, his long black wings disappearing into his back. I rushed over to him and hugged around his thin frame. He dwarfed me in height, as he stood over seven feet tall. I nuzzled against his bare, black stomach and turned my eyes up to his face, trailing over the feathers that covered nearly every inch of his body. He was wearing a scarf over his mouth that was the exact blue of his large, round, eyes that had no whites and no pupils. He blinked at me, and touched my face with a large, taloned hand.
I brought you… Crow communicated telepathically through touch. But his thoughts were either too simple or too complex for most people to understand, so very little was said. But I understood him well enough. He held out a huge hand, and held delicately between two clawed fingers was an obsidian sphere. I took it in my hand and it was no longer black. Clouds formed on the tiny surface and the sphere became a light grey.
“It’s beautiful, thank you.” I said to him.
Doll…
And I loved him. The dead doll and the Crow Idol. One a bird unable to speak, the other barely even alive. From his clawed bird feet, to his long thin arms, to the almost human torso emblazoned with an electric blue symbol: III, to the top of his feathered head.
"This whole place is beautiful..." I said to him. I always worried that he would not understand me. But he touched my cheek gently and I knew he understood every word. He belonged to this place and it belonged to him. And now he belonged to me.
And then I felt as if I couldn't breathe and time slowed to a crawl. Crow saw the change in my face and tried to reach out for me--but then he was trapped. Chains lashed over him and he let out an earsplitting shriek. They were all over him. Horrible little monsters of synthetic fur and button eyes. And they were on me, too. I was down on the ground, and something struck me over the head with brute force as I, too, was chained. Dazed, I heard Crow cry out in agony one last time before I blacked out.
---
Eyes.Radio.Lies
Pulling. Clawing. Scratching... But it didn't hurt because I had my hand on his. He was still unconscious. There was a foul mouthed bear on my shoulders pulling my hair as I was marched down a decadent hallway in the Western Palace. Seven of them were half-carrying, half-dragging Crow. I followed behind, holding his huge yet gentle hand. I suspected they had drugged him to keep him out this long. Tears slid down my face from my fury at them having treated an Idol so poorly. Didn't they know what would happen to there own home if he died? But I didn't dare do a thing. I didn't know what we were up against.
We went through a huge pair of doors and entered a throne room. And the sight I beheld was stunning. Two thrones, one with a veiled woman in Eastern style robes and the other a man in a dress with platforms. I stared. I looked at the man. Really, he looked like a boy, or a nymphet. But he sat with regal authority. I felt as if he were gazing into my soul, but the shocking thing about him was that he had no eyes, just stitched up slits. And his hair was bright pink, his skin lime green, and his mouth was a shifting and changing hole in his face, that was at one point plump and expressive lips, and at others oozing holes and blowing bubbles.
"This is what you saw?" He asked the woman without turning to her.
"Precisely. And soon you will be able to see her, too," said the woman in a beautiful lilting voice.
"It is a woman, then," it sounded like a question, but it wasn't. "I am Lord Stell. I have brought Crow here because he has been interfering with my plans. And he will be executed. But, if you obey my commands, he will be spared."
"You cannot kill him..." I growled.
"And why not?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I know what you want," I shouted. "I have ever met you, and yet I know you perfectly! I was born on a few days ago, a Doll stranded with no memory in a wasted land, and yet I know everything about you. You're selfish, and you would kill him, whether you knew what would happen if he died or not... And that is why I will give you what you want."
I let go of Crow's hand and walked forward. I didn't look at the silent figures posted around the room, or the horrible little bears that brought us here, or the strange woman seated next to her cross-dressing husband. I stared straight at him. I stood before him, and felt his breath on my face. I seized him by the head and pulled that disgusting mouth to mine and felt my power flow out of my mouth between our locked lips. He grew stiff and I ended the kiss to stare deep into his face. A change came over him. His face shifted strangely and bubbled. His eyelids tore open and oozed and he gasped as they bled. But the blood became solid, and soon eyes popped into being. He blinked and his eyes rolled around in shock. He tried to look at his wife, but I didn't let go.
"Look at me. I said look at me!" His eyes were wide. "Look deep into my eyes," I said quietly, and he obeyed, as if entranced. "See it? Do you see now? Do you se what you have done and will do? Do you see what will become of all of this?" I released him.
His eyes shot about the room as I backed away. I could see the panic in his new eyes. He was seeing everything for the first time as it was, and as it would be. I saw his eyes roll over his wife, and I knew he saw her dead. I saw his eyes dart abut the palace and knew he could see it crumbling. I knew he was seeing what was fated for him. He saw famine and war and death in an unending cycle and he began to scream.
"GET THEM OUT! GET THEM OUT! OH GOD, JUST MAKE IT STOP!" He shrieked and began to claw at his own eyes, sobbing pitifully. The eyes popped and oozed and a blood poured down his face in a river of pain. I turned away and walked back to Crow kneeling over him as Stell whimpered in the background. I placed my hands on his face and took the scarf off of his mouth, revealing a set of monstrously jagged teeth and a wicked jaw. I kissed him and he woke.
"Let's go home. He won't hurt us anymore." I whispered to him.
He touched my face. Love.
And we were gone.
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:33 pm
first short story submission~ le note: My two submissions kind of go together, though they are two completely seperate, independent, stand-alone stories. There's a possible third one I may or may not enter as well, but for now there's just the two ^^ Quote: After the Ball - scenario one“You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen,” he had whispered into my ear that night. “I can’t take my eyes off of you.” His hand on my hip pulled me dangerously close as we whirled around the ballroom. His eyes had not been the only ones on me. I could feel everyone else watching us. But I did not return their stares. Instead, I looked back into his eyes, the clearest blue I had ever seen. I felt as if I could see my whole life, past, present, and future, reflected in those eyes. The more deeply I gazed, the more the rest of the room faded away. Even the marbled floor beneath my feet disappeared; I was dancing on clouds. It was just him, me, and the music. The clock striking midnight had shattered that beautiful illusion. Reluctantly, as if tearing off my right arm, I had pulled myself from his grip and run. So frantic was I to get away that I did not even notice I had lost one of my beautiful glass slippers until I was already home. My gorgeous ball gown had turned back into rags. There was a pumpkin sitting on my stoop, the same pumpkin that had earlier that night been the grand carriage that had taken me to the ball. The only thing I still had was one glass slipper—a glass slipper and my wonderful memories, memories that filled me with joy and broke my heart at the same time. I had thought that was the end of it. But I had been wrong. He’d come to find me. I was mortified to have him see me in my rags, covered in soot and ash. But when that glass slipper had slid so easily onto my foot, so easily because it belonged on that foot and no other, he had gazed into my eyes just like he had on the night of the ball. He’d brushed the soot from my cheeks and he knew it was me. Our wedding day had quickly replaced the ball as the happiest day of my life. “You look even more beautiful than ever,” he had said to me as we stood together at the altar. I wore the glass slippers from the night of the ball, a memento of how we had come together, but everything else was new, rich silks and brilliant jewels, bought and tailored and embroidered just for me, just for this day, and it was all real—it would not disappear at midnight. I could not stop smiling, so happy was I, the orphaned maid now a princess. I had known inside and out that this was the start of our happily ever after. On our wedding night, I would have been happy just to stare into his eyes for hours. But he had other things in mind. He had carried me into our room, the room we would share as husband and wife, and dropped me on the bed. It was so soft and springy I bounced three times. If someone had dropped me like that where I used to sleep, I would have broken my neck. “This is wonder—” Before I could finish, he pressed his mouth to mine in a fierce kiss. It wasn’t like the chaste kisses on the cheek he’d given me after we’d reunited, or the tender kiss on the lips he’d given me after the ceremony that day. It was hungry and demanding. I thought he would swallow my head whole. He broke away and began to move down, his hands working to free me from the elaborate garments I’d been so carefully laced and buttoned into that day. I heard something tear. “Oh!” I said in surprise. “Oh, I hope it can be mended!” But he didn’t seem to notice or care. I had realized by this time what he wanted. Of course. I was still a maiden, naturally, with only the faintest idea of a wife’s more private duties to her husband. Even so, I had some expectations… and it turned out nothing like any of them. It wasn’t tender. It wasn’t pleasant. It was rough, and painful, and he barely seemed to notice I was there. Afterwards, he’d simply rolled over and fallen asleep. I had lied there for hours, amongst what remained of my beautiful wedding gown, staring at the ceiling. I remembered that a wife wasn’t supposed to enjoy it. I was only supposed to please him, and I had thought he seemed pleased enough. That was what was important. I convinced myself of this. All the same, I had not been able to convince the tears not to come. The next morning, it had seemed like a bad dream. I would look into his eyes and I would remember the wonderful life we were going to have together. But when I had turned to do just that, I had found I was alone in the bed. My heart leapt when the door opened and someone entered the room—but it was only a maid. “Where is the prince?” I had asked her, my voice pleading. “Where is my husband?” But she had not known. She had only come to dress me. That was all. I’m sure he is just busy, I had told myself. After all, he is a prince.I saw very little of him that day. I fell asleep in the huge, soft bed alone. But I hadn’t been asleep for long before something awoke me—a hand on my shoulder. It was dark, but I knew it was him. “My love, I’m so happy to see you,” I gushed. But he wasn’t interested in talking. He wasn’t interested in anything but the same thing he’d been interested in the night before. And when he was done, he rolled over and went to sleep. He is just busy, I repeated silently to myself behind the tears that came again. He is a prince, after all.After some days of this, I had decided to seek him out during the day. Perhaps he could spare just a moment for a walk in the gardens, or perhaps we could have tea together… anything, it did not have to be much. But when I found him, he was not as happy to see me as I was to see him. “Don’t bother me,” he had snapped, brushing me off. “Can’t you see I’m very busy?” “Of course,” I’d whispered, thoroughly chastened. Some nights later in bed, after he had finished and was about to go to sleep, I had instead reached out to touch him. I did not want him to go to sleep. “Can’t you stay awake just a little longer?” I’d asked. “Can’t we just talk? Or if you don’t want to talk, we could just—” “For god’s sake, woman,” he’d hissed. “I’m very busy all day and when I come to bed it’s because I want to sleep.” This was news to me, but I did not dare say so. “What would I want to talk to you about, anyway? You have nothing to say that could interest me. Now be silent and let me alone.” Still another night, I was not feeling well. I told him that night, I just wanted to sleep. But I might as well have not spoken at all for all he listened. I did not hide my tears even before he was done this time. It made no difference to him. I had been certain I could bare this, even as with each day I died a little more. But he loved me, I knew, and he had saved me, I knew. Happily ever after had simply not been as I had expected it, that was all. Soon I began to listen to the talk in the court. Soon I could not avoid listening to it. At first it was all about me. I was not with child. I was failing my husband and the kingdom horribly. I could not even succeed in the one duty I had. But quickly there became a more interesting topic than my failure. There was a countess in our court, a very pretty young lady. I did not notice at first. I was the last to notice, in fact, but once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop noticing it. I saw the way his eyes met hers, the way they’d once looked into mine. I saw the way his hand lingered on hers when she curtsied to him. And I heard the whispers, I heard them, so loud they were as screams echoing endlessly in my head. When I asked him about her was the first time he had struck me. He’d only hurt me physically in our bed before. I was shocked, but I quickly learned not to be. He told me I was no longer beautiful. I was less than nothing to him. I was only good for one thing, which he continued to take from me every day. Just as with the countess, everybody in the court soon knew. But nobody seemed to care. To them, we are players. We are the entertainment. We give them more to talk about than the fools who tumble and juggle for the king’s amusement. And so, I have decided I must leave. I can no longer bare it. I cannot tell him I am going. I must take as little as I can and leave before nightfall. I have my bag ready. Only a change of clothes and some food saved from my tea this afternoon. I will run as far as my feet can carry me, to where no one knows my face, my sorrow, or my shame. I will start over. I will make my own happily ever after. I start towards the door. But before I can get there, it opens. There he is, standing between me and freedom. He looks at me, at my bag, and back at me. He is no fool. Why is he here? I realize that someone must have known. A maid, someone. Someone has told. “What are you doing?” he demands. “I…” At first, I cannot get the words out. I want to cry, as I have always done in the face of his cruelty. But I square my shoulders. “I’m leaving,” I say finally. It is not as defiant as I would have liked, but it feels good to say it. “No, you aren’t,” he says. “You belong to me.” “I belong to no one.” My voice is stronger this time. “Now stand aside. I’m leaving and you shall never see me again.” He does not stand aside. He shuts the door behind him and advances on me. “You shall never leave the castle grounds. Never.”I am sure, vaguely, distantly, that someone must hear my screams. But no one comes. Even though I fight, he is stronger. His words, as it turns out, are true: I will never leave the castle grounds. I will never go farther than the gardens. But I am gone in another way, gone, never to return. There are few who miss me. This is my happily ever after.
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:41 pm
and second short story submission~ Quote: After the Ball - scenario two“All rise!” In today’s session of Divorce Court, meet Cindy and Prince. They’ve only been married for a year but are ready to call it quits. She says he’s been unsatisfying and unfaithful. He says she’s a b***h. Now, in Judge Mildred’s courtroom, their dirty laundry will be aired for public entertainment! Judge Mildred: she’s the judge who lays down the law, with both sass and class! Where real couples deal with real life: Divorce Court! We now join Cindy and Prince as she hears their case. Judge Mildred, sitting at her bench, is exactly the kind of judge who is perfect for televised court. She’s intelligent but still delightfully sassy, attractive but not so beautiful that people no longer take her seriously. “Now, you’ve been married for how long?” she asks the couple before her. “One year,” says Cindy. She is of average height and build, with her sandy hair pulled into a neat twist at the back of her head. Her blouse, a soft periwinkle color, is scandalously low-cut, and it’s hard to say which is more distracting: her abundant cleavage or the large, glittering diamond pendant dangling just above it. Prince nods in agreement. He is not a tall man, but not unattractive either, with pitch dark hair and bright blue eyes. He has an air about him not unlike a lost puppy begging to be taken home. Perhaps it is his necktie, obviously a clip-on, or his left shoe, which is untied, or his name, which is Prince. “And you’re giving up already?” Judge Mildred looks between the two of them incredulously. “Judge, if you knew my husband, you would be shocked and amazed that I had managed to last this long,” says Cindy. Prince nods in agreement again. “Wait, no! That’s not right! You’ve got it backwards! I’m the one who should be shocking and amazing!” Cindy rolls her eyes and chooses not to comment on this statement. “Now let’s just take this one step at a time,” says Judge Mildred, looking at the documents before her. “Now, Prince, it says here that you take issue with Cindy’s fiscal irresponsibility.” “Well, now, I wouldn’t put it like that,” Prince says hesitantly. “Of course you wouldn’t,” snaps Cindy. “You have no idea what those words mean.” Prince turns red in embarrassment and anger. “Maybe not, but they sound rotten, so I’m sure they’re true!” Judge Mildred sighs. “It means you say she spends money without care or thought.” “Yes, that!” says Prince. “She does do that, and how!” “I don’t see what difference it makes,” Cindy says, examining her perfectly manicured nails. “He makes more money than the GNP of some small countries. Besides which, he owes me!” “That’ll be for the court to decide,” Judge Mildred says crisply. “So, Cindy, you’re not denying that you are not exactly frugal?” “I’m not denying it,” Cindy admits. “But I can guarantee, Your Honor, that once you’ve heard the whole story, you’ll agree that it’s not enough!” “Cindy, you describe your husband as ‘unsatisfying’ and ‘unfaithful.’ Do you care to elaborate with specific incidents?” “Now, I object to Little Prince being brought into this!” Prince cries. “Your Honor, may I ask that you be sure to put the emphasis on ‘Little’?” Cindy adds dryly. “For now, let’s just focus on Prince’s alleged infidelity,” says Judge Mildred. “With whom did he cheat on you?” “Oh, where do I begin?” says Cindy. “First their was our horse trainer, Karen. I caught them quite literally having a roll in the hay.” “That must have hurt you quite a bit,” says Judge Mildred sympathetically. “You’re not kidding!” says Prince. “Those little needles can really cut you up something awful!” Both women exchange glances, and let that one go. “Then there was Judith, the pool cleaner. After that, Erin, the chauffeur’s daughter, Hannah, the tennis instructor, Marisol, my yoga classmate—” “Let’s cut to the chase: is there anyone he didn’t sleep with?” “No,” says Cindy. “Oh, wait, yes, there is one. Bethany, our neighbor’s daughter. She’s twelve.” “Thank heavens for small favors,” says Judge Mildred. “We did take a nap together once!” Prince puts in helpfully. “I don’t know if you should put your foot in it any further if you can help it,” Judge Mildred says unkindly. “My foot?” Prince pauses to contemplate this. “Well, anyway, what’s everybody got against me? It’s not like I was the only man in Cindy’s life! If she didn’t have her own flings on the side, I’ll eat my cat!” “Your hat, you mean,” Judge Mildred corrects. “You’ll eat your hat.” He blinks at her. “Why would I want to eat a hat?” Judge Mildred sighs again, then turns to Cindy. “Is that true?” she asks, peering at her. “Oh, please!” Cindy scoffs. “He’s been with more men than I have!” “Not that again,” groans Prince. “That was one time! José and I were young, and I firmly believe that young men and women should be allowed to experiment and explore their sexual identities. Besides, he was a hunk!” “Slow down a moment,” says Judge Mildred. “Am I to understand that Prince had a fling with a young man called José? When was this, some time in college?” “It was six months ago in the back of my Jaguar with our former accountant,” Cindy says, crossing her arms over her ample chest. Judge Mildred drums her fingers briefly. “And you’ve been completely faithful?” she asks Cindy. “Completely,” says Cindy firmly. “That’s not what José said,” Prince mutters, rocking back and forth on his heels. Judge Mildred stares at Cindy with a penetrating gaze. Cindy taps her foot, avoiding it. Finally, she can no longer help it. “All right, so I slept with José too! But you heard Prince! He was a hunk!” “You slept with José?” Prince gasps in shock. “You just said José told you!” Cindy shoots back. “No, he told me you slept with Allan, our lawyer, and Steven, the gardener!” Prince cries. “I can’t believe you and José would do this to me!” He blinks back tears. Judge Mildred glares at Cindy. “Now Cindy, is that all? You had better be honest.” Cindy purses her lips and continues to avoid the Judge’s gaze. Her resolve is already broken, though. “Fine. There was Larry, the florist, and Hector, my ophthalmologist. And… and our neighbor, Jarod.” Prince gasps again. “Not Jarod! We used to play golf together…” Judge Mildred can no longer take it. “You two obviously have no interest in or love for each other. Why did you ever get married in the first place? How did you even meet?” “It was at a ball,” says Cindy, still smarting from her forced admissions. Prince nods. “It was a ball for my birthday. She walked in the room, and it was like time stopped. She was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.” “He wasn’t half-bad either,” Cindy admits. “He looked quite dashing, in fact, all dressed up. And he charmed the pants off me.” “Literally,” says Prince slyly. “Prince!” Cindy hisses. “So it was… a physical attraction?” asks Judge Mildred. “Oh, more than that!” says Prince. “Your Honor, it was love at first sight! That’s what it was!” “We couldn’t take our eyes off each other,” Cindy agrees. “We danced with only each other all night…” She trails off, her eyes finding Prince’s. Judge Mildred puts her head in her hands. “Thank you for helping us remember why we got together in the first place, Your Honor!” Prince says, gazing back at Cindy. “That was not my intention,” says Judge Mildred, her voice sounding tired. “In my opinion, you two should never be married, to each other or to anyone else! Am I to understand that you no longer want the divorce?” “No, we still want it!” says Prince, and Cindy nods fervently. “But then we’re going to go do it in the back of my Bimmer!” Judge Mildred closes her eyes briefly, then recomposes herself. “This divorce is happily granted. So it is ruled.” She bangs her gavel, glad to be done with these people. “All rise!” says the bailiff as Judge Mildred steps down from the bench. “The plaintiffs may now exit the courtroom!” Cindy and Prince leave hand in hand, newly divorced and obscenely randy.
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