PROMPT: As a child, he'd been told dolls were for girls.

PROMPT: As a child, he'd been told dolls were for girls.

Jackson picked up his newest creation and looked it over. A smile spread across his face. His new Vampire Doll looked stunning. The teeth were pearly white, poking out from under a mischievous grin. The long dark hair pulled back into a pony tail at the nape of the neck. He came with a removable black cape with an inside lining that could be a variety of colors. It was perfect. His smile grew, showing in his eyes.

As a child, he'd been told dolls were for girls. Now, here he was making dolls for a living and his largest market was any aged male. He was making it okay for boys and even grown men to enjoy dolls after having the stupid rule of 'dolls are for girls' was jammed down their throats. He'd proven everyone wrong and set new standards. Sure there had been some bumps along the way, some of them more like mountains, but he'd managed to come out ahead.

When he'd started his doll business just five years ago, the world was all in an uproar about gay marriage, offending someone else, and being offended. It seemed like no matter what someone said or did it was wrong and offended someone. Jackson didn't care who decided to feel offended by his dolls he was going to make them anyway.

When Jackson was a child, when he decided to do something, it got done one way or another. He had the determination of the Little Engine That Could. Throughout his college years, he had the highest GPA and earned the highest awards available. When he graduated medical school, hospitals and doctor's offices were fighting each other to have him. Instead he set up his own little clinic is his home town so he could help the people that were always there to help him when he was growing up.

It was during his first year as a doctor that he discovered that many of the boys that came into the clinic would grab the rag doll from the waiting room toy box and bring it back to the exam room with them. He also realized that nearly every parent told the boy that dolls were for girls and he should have grabbed a truck or car instead.

The more Jackson thought about this, the more he remember that he too liked dolls when he was a boy. Heck, he even liked them into his teen years. Of course he always had to play with them in private because he couldn't let anyone know he was playing with dolls. Dolls were for girls and he didn't want to be called a sissy.

Within a week of his revelation about boys and dolls he started to sketch out a more masculine doll to make for the waiting room. The first doll he made was a little farm boy carrying a stuffed cow. The farm boy wore dingy overalls as if he'd been busy working hard to help with the farm chores. He wore a straw hat and a pair of barn boots.

Use these three words - failure butterfly sun

Use these three words - failure butterfly sun

James sat on the sidewalk with his head in his hands, elbow leaning on his knees. Tears ran down his dirty face. “Stupid older kids.” He grumbled. “They don't know anything. I'm just as good as they are at kick ball. Why didn't anyone pick me to play?” James and his seven year old mind could not understand the failure of the teenage boys to pick him. “I can run fast just like they can; maybe even faster.” He wiped the tears from his face, smearing the dirt into a streak of mud.

A butterfly fluttered down in front of James awkwardly. “Awww, what's wrong little butterfly? Something wrong with your wing?” At that moment James had a devilish idea. He shot up and ran into his house. Moments later he came running back out with a magnifying glass in his hand.

“I wonder if this really works.” He'd heard some of the big kids talking about how they'd used the sun and a magnifying glass to start fires and torture things like ants and beetles. He looked up at the sun and held out his magnifying glass. Nothing. “I must not have it in the right spot.” He moved it around here and there until he saw some sun rays coming from the magnifying glass onto the ground. Excited, he jerked his hand and lost the position. “Dang it.” he grumbled. He moved it around again and found the spot, now to get it so that it was aiming to the butterfly. With a little more maneuvering James found the sweet spot. “I wonder how long I have to wait.” He waited and waited and waited. James sighed. Just as he was about to give up, he noticed some smoke coming from the butterfly's wing. A smile spread across his face. He held that magnifying glass in place moving it slightly when he wanted to help the fire spread faster. Soon there was no butterfly left. “I wonder if this works on big kids.”



Failure can mean so many things even to the same person. Some see failure as not succeeding at bring in enough money. Some see it as never finding the right person or not being able to hold a job. For me, failure means that I have given up. As long as I keep working on making myself and my life better, then I haven't failed. The moment I stop growing and moving forward is the time I have failed. I have done the best I can do with the circumstances that I had at the time. Maybe it wasn't the best in someone else's eyes but what others think does not define me, my successes or my failures. There were times when the best I could do was just get out of bed. That doesn't mean that I failed; at least I got out of bed. I refuse to give up. There has to be more to my life than what I have made it so far and I intend to find out what it is. I have only failed, if I give up.



A little caterpillar found a twig to climb. It climbed and climbed and climbed. Just when it thought it couldn't go any more, it realized it was where it needed to be. Exhausted from the climb the caterpillar decided it needed a rest so it started building a cocoon. It rested and rested and rested. When it was no longer tired, it pushed its way from the cocoon to discover that it had turned into a butterfly. The butterfly flew off into the sun feeling beautiful and renewed.

Prompt: use the words skill, phone, and dance

Prompt: use the words skill, phone, and dance

“I swear that man could talk the ear off a stalk of corn. I have better things to do than to listen to his drivel all day.” Louis said as he flipped his phone shut. Maria stood in front of his desk with her hands behind her back. “Now, baby, what was it you wanted?”

Maria smiled her prettiest smile, walked around the desk to him and sat on the desk in front of him. He placed his hands around her waist and pulled her gently into his lap. She leaned in and kissed him lovingly.

“Out with it, baby. What is it you want?” He smirked at her and pulled her closer to him.

“Well,” Maria snuggled into him laying her head on his shoulder. “I would like for us to take some dance lessons.”

“Dance lessons? Baby you can take any kind of lessons you would like. You know that I won't stop you from doing what you want.”

“I'd like us both to take the dance lessons together. You know, couples dances. Pretty please?”

“Now, Maria, you know I don't have the skills to dance. I have two left feet and would have us both in a knotted pile on the floor.”

“Hence the reason for the lessons.” She giggled. “Please? It would means so much to me. Then we could dance together at all the social functions like all the other couples do.”

Louis sighed. “Fine. You set it all up and just let me know when it is and I will arrange my schedule to be there.”

“Yay. Thank you, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too baby. You know I can't resist giving you what you want and making you happy. Now, how about you hop down and let me get some work done.”

Prompt: shadow of a doubt

Prompt: shadow of a doubt 

The sun shone brightly that October morning with temperatures in the 90's. There was only a slight breeze, just enough to waft the stench of the dead body in Gerald's direction. He turned away from the stench covering his nose.

Gerald slowly made his way around to the other side of the body to avoid being down wind of the stench. It didn't help much. The smell was almost unbearable. He pulled a bottle of vicks vapor rub from his pocket and dabbed a little under his nose to mask the smell of the rotting body.

“There's more than one body here.” Gerald's partner Amber remarked. “There's at least three. One looks about the size of a one year old. With the way the heat has been there is a shadow of doubt as to how long the bodies have been here until the coroner gets hold of the mess.”

Gerald nodded. “Who found this mess?”

“A group of kids found it. They had come out here to play some baseball.”

“In this heat? Have they been questioned yet?”

“They have but they really can't tell us anything other than that they found it. One of them almost stepped in it.”

“How did they manage to not smell it before they got close enough to step in it? The stench is almost bad enough to turn my stomach and I have been on the force for 20 years now.” Gerald wrinkled his nose and took a deep breath in of the vicks.

“Don't know. They are kids. They don't always pay attention to shit.”

“Have they played in this field before?” Gerald asked.

“Nope. They said their regular place to play is being turned into a parking lot for a new store. Today was the first time they had played here.” Amber pulls Vicks out of her pocket, dabbing some under her nose. She couldn't take the smell any longer. Her eyes had started to water, making her eyeliner start to run and sting her eyes. She was a rookie and hadn't learned the finer points of wearing no makeup on duty.

“Is the coroner here yet?”

“Not yet but he should be soon.”

“Good. I think we are done with the kids. Call their parents to come and pick them up so they know what happened here.”

“Can't I just let the kids walk home? They don't live very far from here.”

“The parents need to know what happened so they can deal with any nightmares or whatever may happen because of them seeing this mess.”

“Makes sense. I'm on it.” Amber took off back toward the kids, her long brown pony tail swaying back and forth as she walked. Gerald sighed. If only he was younger.

After things were finished up at the crime scene, Gerald and Amber made their way to the coroner's. The coroner had already started the autopsy. They arrived just as he was finishing up. Gerald had planned it that way. He didn't think Amber was quite ready to sit in on an autopsy yet.

“Howard, we need to stop meeting like this.” Gerald joked, shaking Howard's hand. “We need to plan a lunch or something to meet on better terms.”

Howard chuckled and shook Gerald's hand. “May be difficult with our schedules to find a time we both have free but I will take you up on that offer one of these days.”

“I see you have just finished up. What have you got for us? Do you have any names for us?” Amber jumped in.

Howard and Gerald looked at each other and grinned. “No names yet,” Howard answered. “It's a little early for that yet. With the bodies being so decomposed it makes it a little more difficult. What we do have is this: one male approximately 25 years old, one female approximately 30 years old and one female infant approximately 1 year old. We also know that they had been in that field for about three days. The heat accelerated the decomposition along with animals feasting on them all.”

“Animals had been eating them?” Amber asked feeling a little uneasy.

“Yep, happens all the time when the bodies are left in areas like that or in the woods. They don't know enough to leave them alone. They just follow their instinct to survive and eat.” Howard said.

Amber smiled shyly feeling silly for even asking.

“All three of them had smashed in skulls. The baby was the worst. It looked like someone held her by the legs and just smashed her head against the wall repeatedly.”

Amber gasped. “How could someone do something like that? I just don't understand people sometimes.”

“People do some crazy, messed up shit sometimes, Amber, and we get to see all of it. Be prepared for even worse than this.” Gerald commented. He hated being put with a rookie but he was getting used to Amber after a couple of months. Of course it didn't hurt that she was nice to look at and had a great personality.

Prompt: "Why did you scream like that?"

Prompt: "Why did you scream like that?"

“Why did you scream like that?” Brandon asked, pushing Charles into the locker room shower. “Are you listening to me?” Charles was looking off in the opposite direction. “Look at me when I am talking to you.” Charles glanced into his eyes then glanced back to whatever had him captivated. Brandon followed his eyes to a section of wall across the room. There minding its own business was a spider. Mind you this wasn't a huge spider but not tiny either. It was a Daddy-Long-Legs. Its legs made it look much bigger than what it actually was. “This? This is what you are screaming about?” Charles could only nod and back away. Brandon picked it up by one leg with a grin and tossed it at Charles. Charles screamed backing further into the shower. He slipped on someone's soap that had been left behind and down he went, hitting the tiled floor hard. Charles didn't move. Brandon picked up the spider again and walked into the shower. He stopped, looking at Charles, and dropped the spider, now forgotten. He hollered out to his friends that were watching, “Go get the teacher, there's blood. And say nothing about the spider. Got it?” He looked around at his friends, each of them nodding in agreement not to say anything about him picking on poor Charles.

Word spread quickly through the school about what happened to Charles and that he had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Of course, none of Brandon's friends were talking. We pretended like it was our first time hearing about it. It was interesting to hear all the different stories as to what exactly happened to him. Someone said he'd heard that Charles picked a fight with Brandon and Brandon had obviously won. Another story was that he was the only one in the locker room at the time and was being his normal clumsy self and slipped on the soap. Brandon liked that last theory best.

By afternoon the halls were buzzing about Charles. Word was that he was in intensive care and in a coma. Brandon was hit with a brief pang of remorse. It dissipated as quickly as it came.

Dean, one of Brandon's friends, came up to him in the hall between classes. “Did you hear about Charles? What are you going to do?”

“Do about what exactly?” Brandon sneered.

“About Charles. It was because you were picking on him that he fell in the shower. So, well, it is kinda your fault he is hurt.” Dean gulped.

“I will have you know that it is NOT my fault that baby was afraid of spiders nor that he backed up onto a slippery bar of soap. Do you understand?” Each word spoken emphasized with a finger poke to Dean's chest.

“Sure Brandon. I understand.” Dean stammered and backed away, leaving for his nest class.

Brandon made his way the bathroom. He found a quiet stall in the far corner and waited for classes to begin. 'It was not my fault.' He thought. 'He was being a baby with all the screaming over a tiny Daddy-Long-Legs. It was not my fault that he backed up onto that bar of soap.' With the halls quiet and a teacher check out of the way, Brandon lit a cigarette and took a long drag. 'If only this was a joint. I could really use a toke to calm me down right now.' After every couple drags, he sprayed a bit of the air freshener that he kept in his inside coat pocket specifically for this very reason. He sat on the heater in the very back of the room propped up in the corner where no one could see him unless they walked nearly all the way there. By then he could have the cigarette disposed of without a trace. Thoughts of Charles invaded his peace. What was he going to do about Charles. After what felt like only a couple minutes had passed, the bell for the end of school blared in his ears. Brandon hopped down from the heater, getting rid of his cigarette butt and spraying a little air freshener. He confidently walked out of the bathroom and headed to his bus.

Brandon had lost his driver's license so was downgraded to riding the bus every afternoon. Dean gave him a ride in the morning but he left a little early every day because he only had a study hall last class. Brandon hated him for that. To him it felt like Dean was ditching him in the afternoon. Whether he was or wasn't was a mote point. He was stuck riding the bus regardless.

The bus was full of chatter with about ninety percent being about Charles. Someone said that he had died. Another said that no, he was just in a coma. Some expected him to live while other said they didn't expect him to make it. With so many different stories, how was Brandon to know which one was correct? He couldn't. Unless he went to the hospital himself. Brandon sighed and pushed the idea as far from his mind as he could. He slipped his earbuds into his ears and cranked up the volume on his iPod blasting music into his ears to drown out all the chatter. He slouched down in the seat, put his knees on the back of the seat in front of him, rested his head on the side of the bus watching the world speed by, and eventually fell asleep.

Once Again - Poem

ONCE AGAIN

The darkness knows its place

It creeps in when I am not looking

and finds its place within the far corners

and recesses of my mind.

It settles in and lives there festering,

waiting for the light to start to fade

so it can come out to play

making my life miserable

once again.

It tortures me constantly

even from its safe places

in my mind.

It always seems to find its way

back out to surface after things

had been going well.

Thus the down hill spiral

into the deep dark abyss

once again.

The darkness knows its place

because it created its own space

within my thoughts and feelings.

It turns them into bad things

things I wish I would not

think and feel.

I think dark things

I feel dark things

once again.

I fight and struggle

with the darkness

I try to bring in the light

to make it a better place

to live inside my head.

I pour positive affirmations

into my brain

to find my light

once again.

The Empty Nest Blues

The Empty Nest Blues

The house wasn't the same to her any more. She remembered how alive and vibrant the house was with the kids all running around and arguing over every little thing. The kids have all grown up and moved on to their own lives. As each child left, the house slowly grew quiet until the last child left last week. He was headed off to college to get a degree and hopefully have a good job at some point. The past week had been the quietest the house had ever been. She was alone in the house. Her husband had passed away a couple years ago. She was still trying to deal with that and the loneliness that brought. Now with the house so deathly quiet, she wasn't sure she could take one more day like this. It was just too quiet.

Her thoughts took her back about ten years as she remembered the last four in the house all playing hide and seek together in the house. Sure they were older but they never tired of hide and seek. She could hear the giggles of the girls and hear the boys scheming together to find them. It was this time that one of the girls somehow got locked in one of the closets. No one could find her. She didn't make a peep. She was the Queen of hide and seek. A couple hours later we heard her pounding and yelling to let her out. She was in a closet and fell asleep when no one found her. Somehow the closet had become locked and she couldn't get out. When the rest of us finally figured out where she was, we opened up the door and all of us laughed. She wasn't happy about us all laughing at her but she mollified listening to our laughter and started laughing too.

That's what she missed the most. All the laughter. The laughter is what kept her going for so long. With nine kids it wasn't always easy to keep even a smile on her face. Some days she just wanted to pack her things and leave but the laughter was what kept her from leaving. She found peace in her children's laughter. Now it was all gone.

She could feel herself starting to sink into a very low place. A place she hadn't been in for a good twenty years or more. The place of darkness and depression. She frequented this place for a long time before she started having kids. Even her husband wasn't enough to keep her out of the abyss of depression. The kids gave her a reason to be alive, a purpose to get up each morning, and a reason to smile and laugh. What was so going to do now that the kids and her husband were gone.

The house was much too large for just one person. She supposed she would be better off selling the house and land and finding some place much smaller. She would ponder that for a while. She wasn't quite ready to part with the memories the house brought to her. Even in memories the kids made her laugh and smile.

She walked into the kitchen where on one wall there was a height meter for each child. Every year each kid would stand in their spot and she and her husband would mark off their height with a pen and then fancy it up later with marker or paint. She touched the chart for each child as a tear ran down her face.

She grabbed the tea kettle and put it on the stove to boil. She prepared a mug of instant coffee and Stevia and waited for the kettle to do its thing. She remembered all the cold nights she would make hot chocolate for all the kids and herself and they would sit huddled around the kitchen table sipping and talking and laughing. Must not forget the laughing. She wiped a tear from her cheek.

A Breath of Fresh Air Poem

A Breath of Fresh Air

A babbling brook
A river sublime
A brand new book
A traveler in time

A puppy, a cat
A place to call home
A bright welcome mat
A garden gnome

A field of flowers
And fresh cut hay
A handful of powers
And what can I say.

A fresh notebook
A new pen to write
A crochet hook
And yarn at night.

A project done
Another started
A little fun
A loved one parted

A breath of fresh air
Breathe in and Breathe out
No time to spare
This time there's no doubt.

100 Word Drabble Prompt: The Line

100 Word Drabble

Prompt: The Line

Where would we be without the line?

We'd be stuck standing in line instead of walking the line.

The shortest distance between any two points is a straight line.

My line is never straight. My line ends up looking like scribbles.

Is anybody's line ever straight?

Time to cross the road but there is a long line of traffic.

I might never cross the road. The line lasts forever.

Oh finally the end of the line. Time to cross the road.

I get to stand in the lunch line.

I certainly end up in line often.

I need a book.

Prompt: I knew terrible things.

I knew terrible things. Unimaginable things that would make the bravest man cringe in fear and disgust. Things so horrible that just the sight of it would turn the strongest stomach.

I knew these things of my fellow humans. I didn't want to know these things. I never asked to know. I was just handed this curse to know. Some called it a gift but just seeing one person's most secret of secrets would have changed their minds.

These things came into my mind like a movie on the big screen. Any time someone was within 20 feet of me, I would see their secrets, their most horrible of acts. I tried to stop these from coming but only failed. They came without warming, bombarding my mind and my senses.

These visions so intense it was as if I was right there. I smelled the blood and death. I felt the lust and the pain. I tasted sweet lips and wicked blood. I saw everything.

I hated it. I hated knowing what people did to each other. I hated them for doing it or even thinking about doing it. Their sick, twisted minds drove me slowly insane.

I rocked myself into a calm once more. The visions tucked away for the moment until another time to torture me yet again with the downright evilness of human beings.  

(this has potential to be something bigger in the future)

Juice Box Chuck

Prompts: This may take some time to solve.   AND   He always had a juice box.

The rain trickled down the back of Chuck's neck and down into his shirt despite the fact that he had a coat on. As rain dripped off the end of his nose, he looked down at the body at his feet. How was he going to get rid of this body and not get caught? “This may take some time to solve.” He says out loud to himself.

“Too bad you don't have time, Chuck. Better get to figuring it out.” Chuck says but in a much different voice. Chuck's normal voice was soft and calming. This voice was the complete opposite. This voice was evil and scared Chuck every time he heard it.

Chuck knew he was also the scary person but separated them as if they were two different people. In a sense, they were. Chuck would never hurt anyone, but Stephen, he would hurt anyone he wanted.

“You help figure it out. You did this.” Chuck says to Stephen.

“I didn't do this. I simply whispered in your ear and YOU did it. Don't go blaming me there, friend.”

“You are not my friend. You make me do bad things. Help me figure this out. I can't do it myself.” Chuck pleaded with tears starting to fall down his cheeks with the rain. “Plus it is getting cold out here with all this rain. I don't want to get sick.”

“Well,” Stephen replied, “I don't want us to get sick either. Let me think for a minute.”

Chuck waits for Stephen to think. He looks around at the woods around him. He had no idea where he was or how he got there. The fog settled over the ground around his feet and the body of the young girl. What did he do to her? He didn't remember ever seeing her before. Chuck can't tell about how old she is. He isn't any good at stuff like that but she looks older than a kid but not yet a grown up. She was naked. What did he do?

“Oh stop your damn whining about this and shut up. I am trying to think here.” Stephen scolded. “Isn't there a pig farm around here?”

“Yep, just down the road. Can't you smell it? Stinks to high heaven it does. Why you asking about pigs anyway? Chuck asks.

“Well, I read that pigs can consume a human body in about eight minutes. So we take the body there dump it in the trough for the pigs and let them take care of her by eating her up so there is nothing left of her. Perfect way to get rid of her. If this works I will have to make a note of how well it works.”

“You want to feed her to the piggys?” Chuck questioned looking down at the girl.

“You have a better idea, Einstein?”

Chuck looks at his feet. “No. You know I don't have any ideas.”

“Then let's get this girl to the pig farm. Thankfully she is small and not very heavy. Pick her up and put her over your shoulder and let's go. Stay in the woods so no one sees us.”

“Ain't no one going to see us out here. Everyone's in bed sleeping like I should be. Momma better not check on me and see me gone.”

“Momma won't be checking on you til morning, skippy. I made sure of that. Now get moving.”

Chuck bends over and lifts the girl up and over his left shoulder. Stephen was right. She didn't weigh very much. That made carrying her much easier he supposed. He adjusted the girl to a comfortable spot and stood waiting.

“Move it, Chuck. We don't have all night. You know where we are going so go.” Stephen orders.

Chuck looks around trying to figure out which direction he needs to go in. The rain and fog isn't helping he get his bearings.

Chuck looks around trying to figure out which direction he needs to go in. The rain and fog aren't helping him get his bearings.

"What if the pigs don't eat her body all up and someone finds her tomorrow?" Chuck asks Stephen.

"Tomorrow will worry about itself. Now let's get going before we lose our cover of the night. You think too much and know too little. That's a bad combination. Did you figure out which direction to go in?"

"I think so." Chuck starts walking in the direction he thinks the pig farm is. The mud thick and sloppy making his steps harder than they should be. He stops and adjusts the dead girl on his shoulder once more making sure she won't fall off.

"Will you quit stalling. Let's go." Stephen bellows inside of Chuck's head.

"Stop yelling at me. I'm not stalling. Why are you always yelling at me?"

"Because you are a big dumb lummox that can't even think for himself. I have to do all the damn thinking around here. Get your big dumb ass moving."

Chuck hangs his head and starts walking once again. The smell of pig shit leading the way through the night despite all the rain. He'd given up on wiping the rain away from his face. It was coming down so steady that it was right back before he finished wiping it off.

Chuck walked for what felt like miles in the dark muddy woods until he came to a wooden fence. "Please let this be the pig farm." He thinks.

"It better be the pig farm. Now follow the fence to the right. That's the direction of the road so to get to the pigs that should be the way to go."

Chuck sighs, adjusts the girl to the other shoulder and starts walking.

"Not that way you knothead. The other way. To the right." Stephen yells, the sound echoing inside Chuck's head.

Chuck reaches into the pocket of his bib overalls and pulls out a juice box. He always has a juice box. When he gets nervous and anxious he drinks a juice box so he always carries at least one in his pocket. Tonight he was wishing he'd brought a second or maybe a third. He pulls the straw off the back of the box, pulls it from the plastic and jams it into the juice box, carefully making sure not to drop the girl that's on his shoulder. He takes a sip. Grape. His favorite. Momma always gets him his favorite.

“What the hell are you doing now? Put that down. No wait. Just finish it and stick it back in your pocket. We don't need any of your trash laying around to be found with your spit all over it. That would get us caught.” Stephen snaps at Chuck.

“You know these calm me down. Stop yelling at me or I'm going home.” Chuck sucks on his juice box and starts crying.

“Oh now calm down. I'm sorry ok. Now stop your blubbering.” Stephen tries to smooth things over but Chuck starts crying louder. “No, now don't start making a lot of noise. You'll get us caught. Then we will both be in trouble. I promise not to yell at you any more.”

Chuck sniffles. “You mean it? No more yelling? Ever?”

“Let's not push it. I mean no more yelling tonight. Tomorrow is a different day and you are fair game then.”

“That's not fair. I don't like you yelling at me.”

“Okay. I promise to try to stop yelling at you all the time. Is that better?” Stephen asks, willing to try just about anything at this point.

“Yes that's better. Thank you, Stephen.” Chuck takes another sip on his juice box. This one is a long one that sucks the box in on itself. He sucks until there is no more in the box. “That hit the spot.”

“All calmed down now?”

“For now. Yes. What did you want me to do with it now?”

“Stick it in your pocket and throw it away at home.” Stephen says through gritted teeth.

“Okay Stephen. Sometimes I am glad to have you in my head like this to keep me from doing stupid things.” Chuck smiles in the darkness to no one but the dead girl on his shoulder. For now, he is at peace with the world.

He continues to follow the wooden fencing til he reaches a dirt road. The rain has turned everything to mud. The road is washed out along the sides from water rushing down it. Chuck shivers. He wishes he would have brought his rain coat along. Stephen hadn't told him where they were going or that it was raining so he ended up grabbing his denim jacket from the closet by the front door of the house.

“Ut oh. Now what?” Chuck stops examining the washed out road. “We all float, don't we Georgie?”

“Follow the fence. We shouldn't be too far from the farm now. Who the hell is Georgie?”

“You know. Georgie. The little boy that scary clown took in that movie. You remember the one, don't you Stephen?” Chuck loved his movies. He particularly loved his horror.

“Oh right. Georgie. Got it. I understand.” Stephen didn't have a clue what he was talking about. “Maybe you should hop over the fence. That way if a car comes you can duck down so no one sees you.”

“Ain't no one dumb enough to be out here in the rain like this.”

“You are out here in the rain. Aren't you Chuck?”

Chuck thinks it over. “I suppose you are right yet again Stephen.” He hops over the fence carefully. Thankfully he is tall with long legs so it didn't take too much effort for him to get over it even with the girl over his shoulder.

Read Directions

Prompt:  This may take some time to solve.

Haplo scratches his head while looking at what seems like a million pieces to a new toy for his son, Connor. He looks at his wife, Ana, and says, “This may take some time to solve. There are so many pieces. Just look at all of them. I hope I can get this thing together before his birthday. It's only three days away.”

Ana smiles down at him sitting on the floor pouting. “You'll do just fine. Read the directions this time. It might help. You want me to help at all?”

Haplo raises an eyebrow with a smirk. “Read the directions this time? Are you picking on me?”

“Nope not at all. Just a little advice.” Ana smirks resisting the temptation to say more. She had to be nice. He just looked to cute sitting there on the floor surrounded by toy parts looking more lost than she'd ever seen him look before.

“I'll have you know, I have put together many things without even looking at the directions once.” Haplo's face changes to a determined look. His eyes focused on the parts trying to determine which ones go with what other part.

“Yes you have and how many of those times did you have to take the thing apart and start over because you got it wrong?” Ana has seen the many times he's had to start a project over because he didn't follow directions and got pieces in the wrong spots. He didn't have time with this project to mess it up and have to start over.

“Oh shush it.” He grins knowing she is right.

“You only have three days. You don't have time to have to start it over. Please read the directions and follow them this time. I can help if you would let me. We'd get it done quicker and maybe avoid a trip to the emergency room as well.” She smirks nearly laughing.

“Hey now. I have not had to go to the emergency room in several months. Thank you very much.”

“More like a couple of months. The last time you had to go was about two months ago when you were working on that desk for me and sliced your finger wide open. Thankfully the bone stopped it from going any further.” Ana leans down and kisses the top of Haplo's head. “I love you.”

He looks up at her with a smile. “I love you too, baby. You sassy girl.”

“Yes, but you love me sassy.”

“Why yes, yes I do.” He smiles and grabs the directions and starts reading as Ana leaves the garage headed for the house.

“Do you need anything from the house? A drink? Something to eat?”

“I could go for a soda.”

“Water it is.” Ana says with a chuckle.

“Really? Water? You are going to kill me with all this being healthy stuff.” He turns to smile at her. “Fine. Water it is.”

“Water isn't going to kill you, now stop being such a baby.” She giggles and heads through the door to the kitchen leaving Haplo pondering the finer points of health and the monster toy he's putting together.

Ana opens a cupboard and takes out a drink bottle for Haplo's water. She finds a nice one with blue swirls on it and fills it with cold water and a few ice cubes. One day he would appreciate her nagging about the healthy stuff. She smiles to herself and heads back to the garage.

“Now were the heck is part C?” She hears Haplo say as she walks through the door.

“Here's your water.” She says as she set it down next to him a few inches away.

“Thank you, baby.” He says with a half grin and a slight frown. “This thing is already driving me crazy.”

“Let me help, please. You are looking for part C, correct?” Ana asks as she starts picking up pieces and checking the part letter. After checking four pieces she hands part C to Haplo.

“Yeah, part C. Thank you, baby.” He smiles and takes the part, setting it aside with part B.

Dropped the Ball & Zombified

For the last three mornings I have not arisen from bed at the 4am mark as planned. Not because I didn't want to, but because I simply could not get woke up enough to get up. I found myself sleeping with my cell phone in my hand, having turned the alarm off or his the snooze. This has got to stop. I was doing so well.

I think it may have something to do with psychiatric med changes recently because I was waking up fine before. Then after I am finally able to wake up enough to get out of bed I feel like a zombie all day. I hate this feeling. Perhaps I will skip taking that medication tonight and see how that goes.

These ups and downs with amounts of sleep are killing me slowly. I have been getting next to nothing done. That bothers the heck out of me. I had so many high hopes for myself.

Guess I just have to brush off the sleepies and the self-punishments and just keep going as if it is day one all over again. Maybe that will help.

I have dropped the ball on my 5am (2am SLT) writing group in Second Life for the last three mornings now because of this. This bothers me so much as I do so enjoy the group. Starting tomorrow I will be hosting a 3pm (12pm slt) writers group as well. I will have to make sure i have a prompt ready ahead of time. It will be tons of fun. I attend several writer's groups in Second Life and love each one of them. I love seeing my word count go up and up and up.

Well, I suppose time to get something to eat. Get woke up a little more and get some more writing done.

Huggies everyone.

Outside my Window

Outside my Window


My mind wanders from my writing as I sit at my lonely desk trying to get the right words to come flowing out of my fingers freely. Outside my window the world seems foreign to me. I spend so much time alone in my own little worlds that the one I live in seems too simple to even care about.

My eye catches some movement outside my window. I quickly glance just in time to see a squirrel dart from the bird feeder and scamper off with a chatter that says "ha, you can't stop me, human."

Outside my window, people walk by going who knows where. I know where because my writer mind makes it up. Some are going after groceries. Others are going to the beauty salon for a make over so they feel better about themselves. Then there are others that are wandering looking for trouble to cause others.  Yet, here I sit at my desk, waiting for inspiration.

Outside my window I see the sun shining down onto the world below. It makes the flowers grow up tall and proud that they are alive. When the sun fails the flower, the flower doesn't just give up and stop growing. It finds other ways to grow and be happy.  People could take lessons from flowers and learn to be happy with who they are and what they have. If you aren't happy with something in your life, find another reason to be happy or change what isn't making you happy. Just be happy. Just be you. You are perfectly imperfect just the way you are meant to be.

Outside my window it has started raining. The clouds have cast darkness early on the earth. The darkness engulfs everything, including the ever happy flowers. Once the storm cloud induced darkness has engulfed everything, there is nothing to do but wait it out. You can still go about your every day business but the darkness is still there. Such is the same with one with depression. The darkness has engulfed their life. They may or may not be able to do everything they could before the darkness came but they keep on living the best they can.

Outside my window men, women, and children are being killed by other human beings. There is never a good reason to kill another human being. It is like killing part of ourselves since we are all human beings. We are one race living on one planet. We are human beings living on the planet we call Earth. How hard can that really be to understand?

Outside my window people and life come and go. One day, I will join them but for today I will remain within my safe place behind the window looking out. I will be enjoying my time writing at my computer. I will be loving the people I have in my life. I will continue to be a human being wondering what the hell went wrong with people and this world. I will for today be an outcast unwilling to conform to the world and people around me that have forgotten to care about each other and pass by without even noticing the other.

It will be the year of....

Prompt:  It will be the year of....

It is now the 2016. With 2015 behind me, this will be the year of many great things. I have so much planned for myself. The hardest part will be finding the motivation and energy to do them. I will be using many tools to help me keep on track to do what I have planned.

I am not setting any New Year's Resolutions. Nope, not even one. This year I am setting New Life Habits! I never kept any resolutions made before. I don't see this year being any different. So with that in mind, I changed it to something that sounds not only fun but long lasting. That's what it is supposed to be isn't it? If it isn't fun at least a tiny bit, we won't do it. So if you make any resolutions or New Life Habits, find ways to make them fun so you stick to them.

I plan on keeping a calendar for each of my New Life Habits. Each day that I complete the habit, I will mark it on the calendar that it has been done. This is great motivation for me and many people. To see how many days I can go in a row pushes me on to do just one more day every day. Will I mess up and miss a day? Sure. I'm only human after all. I will fall on my face but the most important thing I can do is get up and do better the next day. You only fail if you stop trying.

My New Life Habits are to:

1. Write daily at least 750 words. I plan on making this number more but I use a website https://750words.com to keep up my motivation so that is the habit amount for now.

2. Drink enough water every day. Most places I checked recommend the 8 8oz glasses of water per day making it 2 quarts. So I have a one quart drink bottle. Just fill and drink twice and done!

3. Walk one mile on the treadmill daily. This one is going to be a challenge for me. I plan on allowing myself to split the mile up throughout the day if needed. As long as I get that one mile in, it's all good.

4. No added sugar.  This one by far is going to be the hardest new life habit of all. I read that sugar is 8x as addictive as cocaine! So going off sugar is detoxing. Definitely a challenge to be had. Sugar can be found added to so many things, including things you would never guess had sugar in them. I am going to have to be very careful with what I eat so plan on eating real food instead of things that are processed.  Wish me luck on this one please. I am going to need it. 

5. Study something for at least 30 minutes a day. With all the free online classes available on the internet, this one should be easy to do. The hardest part will be finding the motivation and sticking to a time to do it. I will not let the procrastination monster win!

6. Do a craft, draw, or be creative daily. This will include things like crocheting, sewing, drawing, painting, etc.  Anything that is being creative fits.

7. Clean for at least one hour daily. I moved into my apartment on October 1st and still am not settled. Not even close to be honest. I find the entire process very overwhelming. So my new life habit for this is to break the hour down into four 15 minute sessions of cleaning if a straight hour becomes too much to do at one time. Once I get things in proper order (proper according to whom i am not sure) I may not even need an entire hour to clean every day. For right now, I do and it is a reachable habit.

This seems like quite a lot of things to be working on at the same time. If I get overwhelmed with how many new life habits I have on my plate, then I will cut some out to save for another day to start. Not a big deal to drop one or two if needed as long as I don't stop doing all of them.

I plan on posting to my blog at least once daily. It may be a short story, a journal entry (kind of like this one), a poem, or even some kind of article. Writing articles will be a challenge for me as I am normally a fiction writer. So if any of you have any article ideas for me please let me know by leaving a comment below. Thank you in advance.

I started the new year off getting up a couple hours later than planned. That isn't going to stop me from getting things done that I need and want to get done though. This will be my year because I plan on making it my year. This is my year to shine in what ever way possible.

I do so love comments. So please if you are so inclined, please leave comments for me about what you like or even didn't like (just don't be mean about it). I write these for myself but it always nice to hear what others think. Give a post a critique if you'd like. I don't mind. Comments help my writing process grow as well. It is like the dew on the delicate flowers.

If you have anything you would like me to try writing either fiction or non-fiction, please let me know that in the comments as well. I am always open to trying new things with my writing and it will help my skills grow too.