Sciophobia

I walk from

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay 

my cubical to the bathroom down the long white hallway past the executive offices. Out of the corner my eye, hundred of tiny shadows dart back and forth. I stop and look. Nothing is there. I continue on my way,  and the shadows invade my vision once again. Maybe it’s the new anxiety medicine I started. I stop and see nothing, again. Just as I get the to restroom door, the shadows swarm me.

Haverford Daily News: Man Found Torn to Shreds in Office Hallway.
Police Have no Leads.
Second “animal” attack in Haverford in a week.

Sylvia Marcon, Only Survivor

Image by Moritz Bechert from Pixabay 

He walked into the Dairy Queen on July 28. Sweaty people stood in line with bratty kids. He sat at a small table. With a wave of his hand, he produced a six pack of PBR. Opened a can and guzzled. He waved toward a group of people waiting for their ice cream.  They collapsed, breathless and dead.

Panicked people rushed the
locked door. Another can, another group dead. They pounded at the glass, screaming.

Another can, another group dead.

He finished his last can, blew the blonde chick a kiss, walked over the bodies and vanished into the sunshine.

Vanished Among Artichokes

Image by djedj on Pixabay

Annie got out of her car and walked toward the front doors of the grocery store.

Two cashiers rang customers through with a frown and sweaty brow. Michael Bolton crooned on the radio.  Annie grabbed a plastic basket and started toward produce.

She stopped at the discount cooler filled apples, oranges, and artichokes. The apples looked half rotten and the oranges were squishy. She pawed through the firm and dark green artichokes.

Searing pain flooded her arm. She looked down, her hand was bitten off. Blood poured from the stump. A cashier screamed. Annie fainted.

Her hand vanished among artichokes.

Digging in Strange Holes after it Rains

The hole opened after the rain, at first it was an inch across perfect for a baby snake. A day later, it grew to six inches. The following day it was twelve inches. I grabbed a shovel and started digging.  Suddenly, light poured from the ground. What was down there? I dug it wider and dove in.

The air was cool then warm. I splashed into water that tasted like the ocean and felt like the Caribbean. 

I looked up; the hole I jumped through, now it was a tiny black speck. How was I going get home?

I wasn’t.

Bucket List

I drove around the streets of the neighborhood I didn’t live in to look for the right person. People minded their business, doing their thing. I was looking for someone special.

Finally, I saw her. She came out a brick apartment building, alone and not on her phone. She was probably about 21 or 22. Beautiful, graceful, perfect.

I rolled down my window and called to her. She approached the passenger window, bent down to look in, and asked how she could help.

Before she could run or scream, I pulled the trigger and lodged a bullet in her head.

Air Sirens and Jiffy Pop

Air sirens went off again for the fifth time this week. I’ve met others while scavenging. We don’t talk much, we trade a little and then go our separate ways. When the first bomb dropped, I was prepping
the cabin while the family stayed home.  They’re gone now.

I found a perfect package of Jiffy Pop, built a small fire in front of city hall.  Bombs dropped in the distance like exploding lightning.

So buttery, so delicious as the bomb- fire expanded eating the horizon. Screams rise and fall. But I’m here for another day, might as well enjoy it.

When She Rescues You, You Pay the Price

Six months after the zombie uprising, someone yelled for help. Pulling my gun, I approached him, laying behind the church with a broken leg, covered in blood.

Gavin. I loved him all through high school. He gave me shit all the time, but I didn’t care.

“Dee.”

“Were you bit?”

“No, I got caught in the trap.”

I never expected to catch Gavin as it was for gut-munchers. I released the trap and helped him up.

“I owe you,” he said

I healed him then I kept him as my own, my slave, chained in my bedroom, for my pleasure.

The Cat's Surprise

It’s been raining for days and finally, the sun wedged between the clouds. Donovan goes out.

As I wash dishes and make dinner, Donavan comes in with something squirming and screaming.

Donovan drops it. It’s a tiny human, only about six inches high. He has stubble and a rigid abdomen.

I pick him and look at him.

“Please let me go,” he says.

I carry him in my hand, grab an old hamster ball and toss him inside.

Oh,
the fun I will have with him. He will have to earn his freedom.

I wonder if they are more mini-men.

Second Time Around

I opened my eyes in a dark forest. How did I get here? What was I doing here? Where were my clothes?  Everything was blank.  I got up, found my way out the of the woods and started to walk down the street.

The car stopped behind me. Someone got out and said, “Do you need help?”

I turned and looked at her.

She came closer and gave me her coat.

 “No it can’t be.”

“What?”

“Cass.”

“I don’t know.”

“It can’t be. You’ve been dead for ten years.”

I remembered asking to come back, so much left to do.

How to Get a Promotion

Lunchtime. Order from Junos on fifth.

Turkey with cheese and lettuce on wheat, side of half a pickle for Dan, stupid boss man. Fifteen meatballs, no bread extra parm for Casey, skinny diet girl. Ham and cheese- plain for Hector the decent one. Caesar salad with cheese and extra olive for Cheyenne the bitch who never has any money. I pay so I don’t look like a fool. A large pizza for the marketing team who act like they are on Mount Olympus.

A little cyanide I’ve been saving for everyone but Hector.

The promotion should be coming any day.

Downsizing Robin Hood

The accountant stood in the locked office bathroom. Phantasmagoria marinated inside her. She held a small laser, watching the door.  With the laptop, open and ready, the numbered screen waited for her command.

This was it.  This was slaughter time. All those years of hiding and cooking dollars for what? A pink slip and no severance. It’s the economy they said.

She looked at the screen and finalized the transactions. Money flew from all over the world to bank accounts held by the little guy, millions of dollars gone in an instant.

Now upper management may have to downsize themselves.

You Only Live Once

I get paid a lot of money to dig graves. The job is set up by person who I never see or hear, but only know through texts.  Someone delivers the body and cash in my garage. I don’t look out; I keep painting.

Tonight, a woman screamed and cried from the  coffin. I don’t get them in coffins, just bags or linens.  I crank up loud music and dig her hole. When I come back, there is silence. Good.

I have a good thing going. Why wreck it for morality? You only live once, some people better than others.

***
Hey all, I love drabbles, I am trying to write a new one every night. Sometimes it easier than other days. I have this great idea that I am starting to work. I want to create a bunch of apocalypse drabbles and poems and make a book.

In the End, We are not Alone

I stand on the road; the black sky melts with the black pavement. Cars and trucks are scattered and  smashed into one another. Cracking glass. Crunching ice.  Horns blare. Lights blink. People scream and cry, begging for help. Distant sirens, wolves howl- waiting for their meal, a baby wails, snow falls. A child of five with chocolate kiss eyes and a round moon face takes my hand, we are cold together, our voices lost; a man joins us, smiling he takes my other hand, the blackness opens, the hooded figure beckons us, and we walk toward him, oddly at peace.

Delete

Lauren deleted everything- pictures, social media accounts, text messages, her contact list. She was done with technology ruling her life. Already she felt lighter, more in tune with the world around her. She hoped she could convince  her friends to join her.

She went to school;  no one spoke to her. No one looked her way. 

Kylie and their friends stood at  the lockers. Lauren approached them.

“Hey,” Lauren said.

Nothing. She tugged on Kylie’s arm. Kylie shivered. She rubbed her arms.

What the hell? Lauren thought.

Kylie’s phone chirped , and she read the text. She started crying, “Lauren’s gone.”

Can You Trust the Vision?

I learned not to interfere with the visions- not to change the outcomes. Because it never worked out as Granmama would always tell me. But this one was different.

My adult,  bloodied,  daughter, Jay-Lynee, lay on the road. The knife-wielder  had brown-almost-black eyes and elfish ears. Connor.

Maybe it won’t come true-  my visions are never wrong. 

As I drove home, Conner chased his ball out into the road. He stopped.

I could have stopped; I had plenty of time to stop.

But...
the sun was in my eyes; I didn’t see him.

His five-year-old body broke under my tires.

Feeling Rich

I waded through the rubble of the classy neighborhood to a massive home that was only half there. It looked as though something bit off a chunk from the front.  I invited myself in to find what I could find ( hopefully food, weapons, tampons).

In a back bedroom, I found a silver-framed picture. I wiped away the soot and ash; I recognized the smiling woman and man. They were on a house hunter show and bought this very house six years ago.

Now that she’s ash; I’m wearing her silky pink panties, sitting on her king size bed, feeling rich.

Get Out of Debt! Start a New Life! Easy Work! Call Now!

Two blocks from the house, Maryn  found the painted trash can. She opened the lid and pulled out the canvas bag. In the dim street light, she saw plenty of green. She walked five more blocks then kicked off her heels in the storm drain. Another block,  she peeled off her fishnet stockings and tossed them on a no smoking sign. Lighting a cigarette, she moved forward. No sirens.

Hailing a cab, she tossed the cigarette. One night of gross sex with a bloated senator and little cyanide equaled 100 thousand cash.  Not too bad for a mother of three.

Forever

The fire grew and touched the sky. My friends opened more beers. Someone lit a joint. It was like old times. They planned this trip for me, in hopes I would be happy.

I saw her come from the flames. Beth.  She was all flames but I never could forget how her body looked in that dress or her face no matter how we old got.

Smiling, Beth motioned for me. I stood up and reached my hand out. I passed through the flaming veil. Somewhere in the distance, they screamed my name as my mouth joined her sizzling lips.

Fairy Bones

Photo retrieved from mirror.co.uk 

I tossed my dog the tennis ball;  he came back with a fairy. Her wings sparkled in the setting sun. With a broken leg, she dangled out of his mouth  like a discarded Barbie doll.  He dropped the fairy in my hand and we took her home.

Calming her, I put her in a little box and closed the lid. Once I gathered all I needed...

I plucked her wings and sauteed her in butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. Delicious.

After reassembling her skeleton and reattaching the wings, I cast the remains in resin. 

Someone would buy it, they always do.

Baby Blues

The boat sped along the sound. The island was to my right and looked like a strip of miniature houses and green. To my right was nothing but blue water. I was alone but not, there were three others. 

A storm was moving in. We got stuck on a sandbar.  Something thudded against the bottom of the boat. As I pushed the oar against the sand, I saw it. 

It was the baby that died after I gave birth on the beach- alone, ten years ago. He looked preserved not dead. He smiled and swam on, leaving a bloody wake.