Robert

"So how's your boyfriend?"

I try to ignore Kyle but I suddenly find him to resemble an annoying gnat more than a man. Ever since I got out of the hospital, things have been distant between Jason and myself... I can't deny that. But I also have no desire to talk about it with Kyle while on a case. 

I had been on vacation in Key West, attempting to bond with my parents, when Kyle and the other guys just showed up, dragging me off with some story about a possessed doll. 

I stand before the doll now and I realize I didn't need them to tell me anything about him... I already know all about this doll,  thanks to Him. 

"Hello, Robert," I say with a nervous smile on my face. "You look very nice today."

A silence fills the room and I can feel Kyle just staring at me. 

"Uh..." He laughs nervously. "Do you make it a habit of talking to dolls?"

I smile at him. It's nice to put the know-it-all in his place sometimes. "I guess you don't know everything about this doll. He's been known to kill people who are rude to him. So," I added, looking back at the doll who had somehow gotten out of his plexiglass case, "I would recommend giving him a compliment right about now."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A new adventure for Micah Meyers! 

Meet Robert--one of my childhood fears. He is a possessed doll from the 19th century, infamous in Key West. He's pretty creepy (just look at that face!) and has been known to break cameras, break legs, kill, and even find a way out of his case...

a.r.w.

Naked

I don't know where I am. It's dark and cold here. My hands are tied and I am trapped. I feel naked... Exposed. I feel so alone--a fear as though no one will ever be able to reach into this darkness and save me. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A snippet from my NaNoWriMo story (yes... that is still happening). As I wrote this scene of Becks waking up after being kidnapped by the land pirates I realized how similar this could be when we feel hopeless, helpless, grief stricken, or depressed. But don't worry... She'll make it out of there... Just like the rest of us. 

a.r.w.

Run

I chased after Lord Death willing my legs to run just a bit faster than they ever managed to go in gym class. He was fleeing like an animal--to see him in such a way made me panic. Faster and faster I chased him and when I felt as though I couldn't run any further, Death reached out his hand and pulled me along. 

"I won't leave you behind!" he shouted though most of his words were lost in the roar coming from whatever beast hovered above us. "Run!"

I didn't think we could do it but we manage to reach the cliff face in time. The opening in the wall was just wide enough for a person to slip through. 

Lord Death slid to a stop and pushed me inside, scraping my elbow in the process. He lipped in build me with a grunt and we were both shrouded in darkness. 

"Move!" he ordered as he pushed me deeper into the cave, the sound of the monster clawing at the rock face  shaking the entire cave. 

Death and I just stood still, holding our breaths and clinging to the walls around us, hoping that somehow we could hold up the world as it came tumblng down around us. 

The creature roared and dust and debris continued to fall down on us. 

"Alright," I whispered as my voice shook wildly, nearly choking me with fear. "I am officially freaking out now."

I could feel Death lean in close, trying to hear me. After a moment he nodded his head. "I'm scared too."

I knew his words were intended to make me feel better and to offer me some comfort but they did anything but bring me comfort. "Yeah," I muttered. "Definitely not what I needed to hear right now."

We slipped back into silence and I found myself clinging to Death as he wedged himself between myself and the opening of the cave. The world continued to rattle and shake. 

"Are we going to die?"

"No," Death declared. I could sense the change in him. As if he had gone from victim to victor in the blink of an eye. There was a spark in his eyes and an energy coming from him. 

It was at that moment--the moment when Death returned to his old self--that the beast outside attacked once more, shaking the cave to its very core. 

"Go!" Death shouted, spinning me around in the narrow space. "Move!"

I climbed over boulders, crawled under rubble, and scurried down the narrow path. We paused in our escape to spin around and watch as the mouth of the cave ripped apart, blocking out the light and silencing the beast outside. 

"The cave fell in!" I was feeling more and more helpless and hopeless with each passing moment. "What do we do?"

"Keep going," Death tried though I could hear the hopelessness creep into his voice as well. "There has to be a way out."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We were getting a bit too romance-y in the story so I threw in a dinosaur monster, a disaster, and up next is a kidnapping. Yay for hijinks!

a.r.w.

Boogeyman

As I lay in bed in a restless sleep, my phone buzzes, alerting me of a text message. It illuminates the otherwise dark room, blinding my eyes for a moment. I reach out for it, blinking the sleep from my eyes. It reads:

MARK:
Wake up.

"Mark, stop it," I mumble, tossing my phone back onto the bedside table.

"Stop what?" his groggy voice responds in the darkness next to me.

"Texting me..."

A moment passes and then he asks, confused, "What are you talking about?"

"You just texted me--cut it out."

"It wasn't me--"

It buzzes again.

MARK:
Can you hear me?

"Mark!"

"It's not me!" he tries to defend himself. "My phone is in the living room!"

I lay still in the bad, my eyes wide as I stare up at the ceiling as my phone buzzes once more with a message from Mark's phone.

MARK:
Come and play, Jessica.

I don't know how I find the courage to crawl out of bed but I ignore my pounding heart and my sweaty palms and I tip toe over to the door. Down the hall I can see the dim glow of a cellphone illuminated in the living room.

My phone buzzes one more time.

MARK:
I see you.

I stand frozen in fear for only a moment, my eyes daring to search the darkness of the room for whoever--or whatever--is down there. But deep down I already knew who it is... The one who lives in the shadows of the night. The one who no one sees and yet everyone fears. The one I never believed in as a little girl.

The boogeyman.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

One of the things that freaks me out the most? Dangling my foot off the bed. It feels SO GOOD but I will not risk boogeyman attack status.

 

I find the idea of the boogeyman to be so interesting. Literally all over the world, in almost every culture, there is a boogeyman--some nameless, faceless monster that will come and snatch you in the dark of the night. In the Bahamas, they have "small man" who rides a horseless cart, picking up kids who are still playing after dark. The "Ou-wu" is from China and is an old woman who steals children away. Abu Rigl Maslukha or "The Man with the Burnt Leg" is a being from Egypt that kidnaps children and eats them. Iceland has a female troll named Grýla who will eat you on Christmas Eve (she is also Santa Claus's mother) and in Russia, we have Baba Yaga an old woman who kidnaps children and eats them.

 

It's interesting that different people from all over the world with different cultures, beliefs, and traditions would all fear the same thing--a dark entity, hiding in the shadows somewhere, that will come in the night to steal you or your children away.

 

And even what we, as humans, all tend to fear is interesting. Black, sunken in eyes. Razor sharp teeth. Elongated faces. Deathly pale skin. The image in your mind is frightening as it is for most people who would sit and think about such a face. Perhaps it is evolutionarily engrained in our conscience to fear these things. Just as we fear lightning when it could mean fire or our homes burning down not so long ago. We fear violent, wild animals because in our human history that meant our family could be in danger. What about these pale beings with sunken black eyes and razor sharp teeth? What happened to the human race--what did we see--that we would all still naturally fear such a face?

 

Be sure to sleep under the covers tonight... Don't let the boogeyman get you.

 

Only 15 days until Halloween!

 

a.r.w.

Raven

"Who is she?"

"Where? Who?"

Garrick continued to gaze across the overly crowded, dimly lit pub at the young woman who had just entered the room. As a soldier for hire, he had seen his fair share of both pubs and women but there was something special--something odd--about this one; something drew him to her and her raven black eyes.

"I've never seen her before in my life," his drunken companion, Huxley, shook his head, dumbfounded.

Standing up, he spilled what little remained of his mead. "I must know who she is!" he declared with unabashed confidence.

The woman continued to slither through the hoard of people, her black eyes every so often flashing up to meet his own. Her stare seemed to paralyze him, make his legs grow weak, and his heart quicken pace.

A small coquettish smile from her was all he needed to follow her out into the night.

The hubbub of the pub was silenced behind him as he closed the door and the silence of the night enveloped him... suddenly he could hear everything--the hoot of an owl, the chirping of the crickets, and footsteps coming up behind him.

"There you are," he sighed as he wrapped his arm around the raven eyed woman.

She returned his embrace, her fiery red hair falling freely down her back, distracting all eyes from the simplicity of her grey dress with stains and tears.

Her lips found his and he was taken aback by her tenacity... but only for a moment. Tightening his grip, he deepened their kiss, losing himself in the darkness of the night... and in her eyes.

Pulling back for a moment to try and catch his breath and congratulate himself on what luck he seemed to have had that night, he wondered out loud, "Tell me: what is your name?"

There was that irresistible smile again. "Adelinde." Her voice was deep and smooth, not at all like he was expected after spending years with girls and their high pitched, bell-like voices.

"Adelinde," he tested the sound of her name on his lips... for he hoped he would be saying it again. "What brings you out on such a cold night?" He rubbed her arms. Despite the chill in the air, she felt as though she was on fire. His eyes grew wide with fright as he looked down at her. "Are you ill? You're burning up!"

She laughed for a moment, seeming to enjoy watching his concern over her. When she answered him, she ignored any of his fears of fever. "I came here looking for you."

It took Garrick a moment to listen to what she was saying to him. Furrowing his brow, he tilted his head to the side. "I beg your pardon?"

"You asked why I came here tonight." She shrugged her shoulders. "I came here to find you."

"M-me?" he stuttered, suddenly feeling unnerved looking into her black eyes--he could not see his reflection in her eyes... only a deep darkness that seemed to be older than time itself. Suddenly, her raven eyes were not so beautiful anymore. Forcing himself to sound braver than he felt at the moment, he puffed up his chest and demanded to know, "What the hell are you?"

She threw her head back and laughed once more.

Garrick watched in horror as the beautiful nymph before him ripped through her simple dress and twisted, wrenched, and contorted into the image of a terrifying beast, taller than the pub, and emanating a heat as hot as hell.

"Good god," Garrick cursed as his eyes took in the terrifying sight of the monster before him.

"I've been looking for you, dragon slayer," the creature's voice thundered through the night; Garrick could feel her words echo in his chest. "Now that I know where to find you, I'm sure our paths will cross again."

The wind from her enormous wings pumping up and down sent Garrick flying back onto the ground. Hitting his head on a rock, he blinked, forcing the stars from his vision as someone behind him screamed in fright, "A dragon!"

But before the alarm could sound, she was gone. The raven eyed girl disappeared into the darkness of the night, leaving Garrick with only a kiss on his lips and her promise to return for him... someday.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The writing prompt for today was "raven." I was planning on going the expected route and writing a story from a raven's POV of the world. But then as I brainstormed in my mind, I thought, what if the raven isn't an object but a way to describe something or someone... and so Adelinde and her eyes were born.

I've been writing a few short stories with these two characters over the last year or so. They have a funny relationship that goes back and forth between friends and lovers but here, in their first encounter, it looks like they're more enemies than friends!

This was just a quick little story I came up with after a long day of work and a promo at Burger King (work on a Saturday... GASP!). I hope you enjoyed meeting Garrick and Adelinde... I'm sure they'll be making appearances again and again.

a.r.w.



What He Found Out

His eyes fluttered open as he took in a raspy breath. It felt different, odd... as if the air he breathed could finally fill his entire body all the way down to his toes. It was powerful. Alive.

As he laid on his back, he tried to think to only a moment ago, on the other side of that last breath... but it was fuzzy. He could remember seeing his parents and his big sister standing in the hallway, crying, and the doctors gathered around him, shouting...

With a gasp, he pushed himself up, suddenly feeling panic rise up in his chest.

His chest.

Lifting his hand, he searched for a heartbeat and dropped his hand when he found nothing.

"Surprised?"

The voice cut through the boy's panicked silence, it's cool aloofness sending a chill down his spine.

Forcing himself to find any bit of courage inside of him, the boy turned to see who it was that was watching him.

Silhouetted in the deep blue glow of a doorway, a young man stood there, his arms clasped behind his back, donned in nothing but black. He was tall and lean, his jet black hair pulled away from his face to reveal a pair of ice blue eyes that continued to watch the boy, curiously.

"Who are you?"

The man's lips twitched at the boy's question.

Taking a step forward, he simply offered, "You may call me Lord Death."

"Death?" The boy's eyes grew wide at the sound of the word.

Lord Death glanced down at the boy, the corner of his mouth almost lifting up into a smile. "I'll repeat my first question--are you surprised?"

"But," the boy stumbled over his thoughts, trying desperately to understand what was happening. "But this wasn't--"

"Supposed to happen?" Death finished his thought for him. "You'd be surprised with how many people say that."

The boy wasn't listening to the dark man standing before him; he was looking around, desperately searching for something--the truth... or perhaps an escape.

"I was supposed to make it," he muttered to himself. "The doctor said I was going to be okay." His thoughts came to him faster than he could say them. "I wanted to be a dad... I wanted to grow old."

Lord Death scoffed at his words. "Growing old is vastly overrated, my boy."

After a moment of watching the young boy continue to panic, Lord Death took him by his shoulders and forced him to listen. "See here, boy. It is not the length of your life that counts, but the depth."

"What?" The boy tried desperately to let the man's words anchor him to the here and now... only, he didn't know where "here" was.

"I have watched you live and grow all these years and I can assure you that you have lived a full life."

"But I'm only nineteen!"

"And in just nineteen years, you managed to do more than most ninety year old men I welcome here."

Seeing the boy had calmed down a bit, Death released him and took a step back. "You've lived not a long life but a deep one." He paused for a moment before adding, "And that is far more meaningful."

The boy remained silent, his thoughts a mystery to the lord for only a moment.

"What about my family?" His words surprised Death. "My sister?"

Lord Death smiled at the boy's concern. "They will be just fine," he assured. "And when it is their turn to come here, we can meet them together."

"How long will that be?" 

There was something in Lord Death's smile that he didn't particularly like--didn't trust--but he forced himself to forget his doubts. At the moment, Lord Death was the only person he had in this place and the man had given him no reason to fear him or his words.

"Sadly," Death declared, "I cannot tell you that right now. But, I promise, it will be within the blink of an eye for you. For you see," he leaned in to whisper, "we are not trapped by the human's idea of time here."

Here.

From his first breath he had known that there was something special about this place... and "this place" was certainly nothing like he had ever known.

His eyes were slowly beginning to adjust to the world around him--it was no longer complete darkness. He was beginning to see the hint of shadows and the dim glow of lights in the distance.

Turning to look back to Lord Death, he asked nervously, "Where exactly is 'here'?"

The man threw his head back and laughed. "So sorry, my boy!" Putting his arm around the boy's shoulders, Lord Death smiled down at him through the darkness and confirmed the boy's thoughts and fears with a nonchalant smile. "This is the World of the Dead... Welcome to the Betwixt."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

I do daily writing prompts in the fall to get me prepped for NaNoWriMo and today's was "What he found out."

 

I've found that a lot of my writing, whether it is a haiku or a short story have to do with death and dying and what comes Next. I'm currently working on a big writing project about the world of the Betwixt and what happens when a living human girl arrives in the world of the dead. The story focuses on her and her relationship with Lord Death but there is another character in this story that is very near and dear to my heart. Jed is a character in this story, our main character's little brother and Lord Death's second in command (he was given that position because of how full his life was when he died). This is a snippet that doesn't happen in the storyline but I wanted to share with you "what he found out" the moment he arrived in the Betwixt.

 

It's the quality of life, not the quantity. It's the depth, not the length.

 

a.r.w.