Halloween..A Poem

Halloween is here,
Can you lend me your ear?
Look at the moon tonight,
The dead are coming to fright,
Your soul out of the light,
You have to fight,
Dress to impress,
No need to guess,
The ghoulish the better,
Not just a Halloween
Sweater,
You have to scare the dead off,
Or you might join them
In their rot,
Or not,
Better not to take a chance,
Because the devil gets to dance,
On Halloween night.

The Town of the Creature, a Short Story

The Town of the Creature

By Wanda Wright

The master walked slowly through the crowd of minions, his black robe dragging behind him releasing a bloody swishing sound into the pure quiet. Souls he had collected along his long life, one by one over centuries of time, were gathered from his call. Each soul previously selected for their evil heart alone, each had previously pledged loyalty to him.

Before this, before the call to come to the castle, each evil heart did his bidding of evil wherever they were. Their lives dedicated to creating horror, despair, sorrow, jealously, hatred wherever they could in whomever they could. Turning one that was good to an evil heart was especially prized and if one of his minions accomplished that they would be rewarded with increased wealth and power for each soul successfully changed.

No one suspected the master’s control on the evil hearts he had enlisted and gained control over.  No one suspected what his strength had grown to. He had successfully gotten prized minions into positions of political power throughout the world. Those were his favorites. They did his bidding gloriously spreading evil in mass quantities. He made the call so that he could celebrate his best and to motivate his other minions of evil to do more.

He was close to tipping the world balance to evil, so close that when he thought about it he got the taste of a good wine in his mouth. This gathering’s purpose was to finally tip the balance to evil, make it finally happen, his goal finally achieved. His minions just needed that final push.

The villagers living in the town below Ducalar Mountain, where the master’s castle was, saw the hordes come in. Fear rushed through all of them and most wanted to run away or hide. People in the town were already of afraid of what lived in that castle.  Those that caught a glimpse of him on some nights when the moon was full told stories about the creature they had seen. 

Some claimed to have seen a man who looked like a wolf, others claimed he appeared as a large man but his eyes were very large and larger than anyone had ever seen before. Those that saw the eyes, saw them reflecting in the moonlight like a feline with the large eyes of an owl. He always wore a long black robe that covered him mostly from view so everyone only got a glimpse of him and no one felt sure about what they saw except for the fear they felt that told them all to stay away.

He never left the castle and now and then people would come to the castle bringing supplies, but everything was always covered up in wagons. None of the people that did the delivery were ever from town; all of them were always strangers.  They never stopped in the town. They just passed through, and each of them always looked like trouble.

The castle was far at the top of the mountain and there was only one road leading up to it. All the plant life was dead around it so there was no way to approach the castle without being seen. Villagers didn’t go there and he didn’t come to town.

There was a time long ago when town leaders tried to find out what was going on in the castle. But the legend ends badly and no one from that time was alive anymore. Since then no one bothered with what was happening there since he didn’t seem to bother or harm any villagers since that time.

But the hordes traveling through the village made everyone think they may have made a mistake in letting him remain here. The hordes were mostly walking but fine carriages, their passengers concealed, were also coming through and headed to the castle. Every one of these people made everyone in the village afraid, the look of hard and angry was on every face. Children hid behind their parents to watch the parade of his minions arrive.

Some from the village fled to the church to feel protected inside. The priest himself was scared by what he was seeing, not sure what it meant if it meant anything at all. Who this man in the castle was, no one in the village really knew. He too had heard the old folk legend but was certain this could not be the same man as so much time had already passed since it was said to have happened.

He was an older priest and also knew when little was known about someone, wild stories could take the place of fact. Sure the people coming gave everyone the creeps and looked like those you might cross the street to avoid passing them, but as far as he knew they weren’t guilty of anything. He preached to the people his sentiments to try to calm them down and stop thinking an apocalypse was on their immediate horizon.

It worked with some of his flock, while others continued exalting there fears and suspicions to no avail they were all locked in fear and the consequence of it. 

Suddenly a woman burst into the small church, the doors swinging open with the force of an unseen hurricane. Her entrance so explosive everyone turned to look at her. Her hair was recently perfectly done up, in some high living complicated hairdo, but it was a mess now. Her clothes were black and heavy but not heavy enough to hide her perfect figure. Her face was beautiful but her makeup was disheveled as if she had been through something awful. Her face was desperate, and she dropped to her knees as soon as she got through the doors.

The room was quiet and all that could be heard was her whimpering, but everyone hesitated. Everyone was afraid, even the priest. Then the mayor burst in and two men holding pitchforks went to grab the woman.

“What has she done? Why are you after her?” the priest asked unsure of their judgment. Some of the villagers in the church became suddenly angry with the woman, convinced by the presence of the mayor and his henchman that she was guilty. Some began speaking out hateful things and within seconds of them doing so they disappeared into a cloud of dark smoke. It took some time before everyone realized what was happening, including the priest.

“Let us stop judging this woman, whatever she has done, that is against God’s will and he is sending us a message of faith,” he said loudly so everyone would hear it, and all were now quiet.

The woman rose up, once the hateful words stopped and transformed before their eyes. Now she was a creature in her true form. The sight of her made them all gasp in shock and fear, some dropping on the floor and praying.

Her face was made of ash and her eyes red and bright, her hair went back to perfect as did everything else about her. The evidence of a whatever struggle appeared before vanished completely.

“Go away now vile one!” the priest shouted at it and the mayor started approaching her as if he was going to attack it all by himself.

He reached for her and she disappeared into ash that blew away all over each of them, covering them head to toe in it. People were coughing and choking and everyone was trying to shake off the ashen soot as quickly as they could.

The priest had his mind reeling over this, but he was sure love and kindness was their only power against this evil. He was sure no one else would go along though because they would want to eradicate it instead.

He also wasn’t sure they weren’t right. He knew there was a war of good against evil but what he just witnessed, the only survivors of this were those that didn’t judge her, didn’t shout out hateful things at her. Before he had time to think about where they all disappeared to, the mayor was talking.

“Okay everyone it seems we have ignored what is going on up there long enough! We need to get the word out to all the villages, as far as we can and let the king know too. So who is volunteering to go ride the messages we need out?” he shouted to everyone.

Some instantly looked down but a few were ready to help the mayor. They were sure this was something they had to do something about. The power of it and numbers meant they needed more people than they had in their village to fight it. Five men of the village, mostly farmers and a blacksmith agreed to ride out to get help. They left the church as soon as they volunteered and the mayor told them where each should go.

The priest decided he would fight this with love and kindness and tell his flock to do the same. “Aggression against our brothers, whoever they are, is not the path,” he preached to those that remained.

The mayor protested, “Priest, that is all well and fine, but did you see what that thing was? Do you think it is a good idea for the villagers to just let those things live on? Ignoring that is not an option priest, you can’t protect your community with flowers and love, it is just not realistic,” the mayor replied feeling he was right on every word that he said.

“What I saw Mayor is that those that didn’t judge her are still here and those that did disappeared. Ignoring that is where you are going wrong on this. Those that go in with aggression will become whatever that is,” the priest said feeling very sure he was right about all he said.

“If you don’t eradicate it, destroy that, eventually, everyone will disappear! The smallest transgression leads to this? None of us could survive that!” the mayor shouted back at him, sure that he was right.

People in the church stayed silent watching and listening to the priest and the mayor not sure who was right about it and feeling afraid. The priest had always been a nice fellow and comforting when they needed it. He never made them feel ashamed for getting that comfort either, whatever the transgression. But the mayor was right, they all had transgressions and if these things were going to be a constant it would all of them would disappear in that cloud of dark smoke eventually.

“Where do they disappear to?’ a woman asked she was old and frail and life was near to its end.

The mayor and the priest looked down, both wanted to talk first and both wanted to be right.

“No one can know that, of course, because they are just poof, gone,” the mayor said sure that it was the right response. The priest agreed and not wanting to appear too overzealous gave his quiet agreement.

“We all know evil is in our world, we talk about it in church all the time,” the priest said after walking to the front to make sure everyone really listened.

“Evil is in our world, but the only response that worked here is not judging,” the priest continued, knowing he was right.

Suddenly the priest started convulsing, his body contorting and everyone was watching frozen in fear. A large dark cloud with electrical currents flowing through it  enveloped the priest.  When it cleared there stood a horrible and fearsome looking creature.

It had a large heavy black robe on that draped its body as if it was alive, moving and shifting as the creature stood motionless leering at them. The creature had two large eyes as large as an owl’s that were yellow and lit up. He had two thin ruby red lips floating in the blackness.

“We have come here to do our work, you will not rise up against us. If you do, you will all die,” it said in a voice so loud and fearsome that even the Mayor lost his courage. A second later it was gone and the priest was lying on the floor unconscious.

One of the riders who left to bring help came bursting into the church. “The village next door almost everyone is gone, there is no one really left except a few people praying and afraid,” he said.

Looking around the room he could see how many were lost here as well and he put his head in his hands, wishing it was over. The mayor was still in shock and a few were gathered around the priest trying to revive him but it was no use. He was still alive but he couldn’t help them now.

“He took away the priest because he was right!” the old woman said and everyone looked at her, considering what she had said.

“Why are you alive Mayor? I mean you were running after her, so why didn’t you disappear?” a teenager in the church said his parents trying to keep him from saying anything as he said it.

“Yah Mayor, how is it you are still alive?” the old woman asked her hand on her hip now.

“I’m alive because I was doing the right thing you numbskulls! If it is sin that makes you disappear, running her down and trying to stop her was the right thing,” the Mayor said knowing he was right.

“Okay well looks like we are going to have to wait for some other village and if we get really lucky the king’s army will come and save us all,” the Mayor said knowing what they had left could not defeat the hordes that were still arriving and had been for days, nonstop and constantly.

They were running low on supplies and they were taking turns running out to get more while they waited for help. No one knew if the king’s army or anyone would come and help fight this.

After a few days, the priest came to again and had no recollection of anything after his few words to his flock. They told him about what had happened and gave him food and water before they expected him to lead them again. 

When the priest heard that they had wiped out most of the people in the village next to them and that it had been days and no help had come, he became very concerned that none of them would survive unless they did something.

He decided that he should put on his special robes, like he wore for Easter and they should all join together and sing prayer hymns like they all sang at Sunday church. They would stand in front of the church, arm in arm. They would see if there was any effect on these things, if it helped them in some way to fight it. But he warned them all to keep love in their hearts.

Not everyone agreed and neither did the Mayor, they thought they were all crazy and that all their lives were being risked foolishly. The Mayor and others tried to stop the group the priest convinced, but it was no use. The decided to use the hymns in their books and follow them one by one in perfect order.

When they opened the doors they were all shocked at what they saw. The priest encouraged them to stand together arm in arm as they inched outside. The road was filled with people that looked only evil and now there were many that weren’t even human they were loathsome looking creatures. There was some silky stuff all over the ground as if a monstrous spider spun its web everywhere. The sky was dark and ominous with lightening crackling and thunder drumming its warning.

The priest started singing nudging those he was holding onto until a second later they were all singing, soft at first because they were afraid.  The priest elevated them all by elevating his own voice and they followed his lead. The people and creatures passed by them, as if they couldn’t see them. They sang on and still nothing until suddenly the dark cloud of electrical current reappeared and the priest dropped and the owl-eyed creature in blackness was there again.

“I said not to resist, and you have disobeyed your master!” it screamed at them and the remaining flock stood motionless.

The Mayor burst out of the door and slammed into the creature and it tumbled onto the floor.

“Kill it, Kill It! Don’t just stand there!” he said trying to get up, having fallen in the force of it, seeing the rest frozen and acting helpless.

The small flock not knowing what to do, all at once, and all together jumped on top of the fallen creature and started singing their hymns as loud as they could  holding onto it while his robe fought to swallow them up. Tentacles appeared and started strangling them. The flock didn’t quit they just kept singing even as they were being strangled, trying to win and they thought they were.

The mayor came up having gotten back on his feet and saw a pitchfork and started trying to stab the creature and not hit the flock, but his aim was poor and he began killing them. The Mayor became frenzied the blood flowing over him until finally he had killed them all. He fell to his knees crying realizing what he had done.

The creature rose up, grabbed the Mayor by the throat, and said,” You owe your allegiance to me now and forever. Go to the castle and you will find out what you need to do for me,” it said and the Mayor got up, covered in blood and joined the hordes walking towards the castle.

The priest woke up again and gathered his remaining small flock together to pray. Everyone tried to keep their heart pure every second so they would not become the slave to the creature.

Months later when the small flock that was left was sure that they were doomed the kings’ army arrived and for months they fought a bloody war against the evil in the castle until finally the creature was dead.

After that the town never ignored creatures moving in again and tried hard to always keep their hearts pure.

Sparky, a dog's tale

SPARKY

BY WANDA WRIGHT

“Lisa, are you ready?” Missy said as she ran into the room excited and already dressed in her satin gown.

Lisa was staring at her dog that was staring back at Lisa. When Missy ran in she looked up at her and then looked back down at the dog again.

“What’s with the dog Lisa? Well looks like you need a nudge to hurry up,” Missy said dismissing the oddity of Lisa and the dog.

“Oh I am fine, just another minute and I will be ready,” Lisa said and looked back in the mirror to make sure she didn’t have anything more to do.

The dresses rustled as they got into the car and Lisa was being quiet against Missy’s chatter.

“Lisa is something wrong, you don’t seem very excited,” Missy said noticing that Lisa wasn’t reacting to anything she said.

“Well Missy, I am going to tell you something, and please, don’t think I am crazy because I know I’m not,” Lisa said unsure whether to reveal her secret to Missy.

“Oh Lisa, what could it possibly be? I mean is Charley being a jerk again? Are you finally going to leave him?” Missy said sure that whatever Lisa was going to say it would be connected to Charley.

“It’s about tonight, I don’t think we should go,” Lisa said quickly changing her mind about telling Missy but still trying to protect her.

“Lisa, what is going on? Seriously we have both been excited about this forever. What could possibly get you to this? I mean it’s been a while for both of us being in a large crowd. But this is special, we are going to have a great time.” Missy replied thinking Lisa was just saying this now because she was nervous.

“No really Missy, pull over, I am not going. You can go, but well, no you shouldn’t go either,” Lisa said and Missy looking at her face knew something else was wrong.

Missy pulled the car over and grabbed Lisa’s arm saying, “Tell me what is going on?”

Lisa looked at Missy and knew she had to tell her, she had to let her in on it. But she would also have to show her and she wasn’t sure if she could.

“Listen Missy my dog is special. You know how we always make jokes about it? Well it’s not really a joke, he can talk and he warned me that we shouldn’t go tonight,” Lisa said her speech increasing to get it out before she changed her mind again.

Lisa felt immediate relief and then fear when Missy looked down to think about what she had just said.

“Listen, let’s go back, I think I can get him to talk to you too,” Lisa said hoping the dog would so Missy would believe her.

Missy knew this was the end of what she thought was going to be a fabulous evening. She had spent more on the dress than she could afford and was eating less because of it. She considered her options and decided to go back to Lisa’s apartment and let her see quickly that she has snapped a screw.

“Listen Lisa, okay, let’s hurry and go back to your apartment and find out whether you have a screw loose or not. I mean, the dog is talking, I’m sorry but no one would believe that Lisa and you shouldn’t either. You need to get help but c’mon let’s go and if he doesn’t talk to me, then you agree to get real help and we can go to the event right?” Missy said hoping Lisa would easily agree. When she did Missy was at least happy that this one thing had gone right and glad she knew about Lisa and could tell her to go get help.

Missy looked at her watch and saw that they still had time to get there if she hurried. She quickly turned the car around so fast Lisa put her hand on the dash to keep from flying out the door. Lisa was relieved and finally ready for someone else to see that Sparky could talk.

Missy was speeding through the traffic and Lisa was still holding on. They were both quiet and both were fine with that. Lisa knew that Missy’s life was about to change and she was excited that she was finally not going to be alone in this.

“So how long has the dog been talking to you Lisa?” Missy asked out of curiosity on how long her friend had been nuts.

“About six months after I got him, I thought I heard talking and I caught him talking to the cat. That was the first time,” Lisa said every word making it easier to breath.

When they got back to the apartment Missy sighed that Lisa was snapping on this day. But she hoped she could get them both there after Lisa understood she was crazy.

Sparky came running up as he always did to greet Lisa when she returned. He was a little mutt dog a cross between a wiener dog and Chihuahua. He was all black and had one tooth that was always showing on his right side. Missy walked in behind Lisa with Sparky jumping and running along side of Lisa.

Lisa was talking to Sparky telling him he needed to talk to Missy but Missy didn’t hear Sparky say a word. Missy looked at her watch again and knew if they could leave in five minutes they could still make it.

“Ok Sparky it’s time to talk to me if you can because otherwise Lisa here is going for help for her crazy mind,” Missy said looking at Sparky who was looking at her while she talked.

“I’m not crazy Missy, Sparky can talk. Go ahead Sparky show her it’s okay boy,” Lisa said but Sparky just looked back at her his mouth slightly open in a normal dog smile.

“Okay Lisa now little Sparky here doesn’t talk. That is just your crazy brain that has a screw loose. Now let’s go and have some fun and you can go talk to the pros next week and solve this problem,” Missy said and headed towards the door to leave.

Just as she was at the door she heard a man’s voice behind her say, “ You shouldn’t go tonight, bad things will happen if you do.”

Missy turned around quickly and Sparky was there looking at her. She looked at Lisa who started jumping around the room saying,” You heard it, I know you heard him talk!”

“Lisa quit playing around, that was you, you said that,” Missy said sure that she was right as she watched Lisa continue to jump around the room laughing.

“No Missy, Lisa is right and she isn’t crazy,” Missy heard the man’s voice again and she spun around knowing it wasn’t Lisa this time that she heard because she was watching her.

Missy sat down on the couch and knew they were going to miss the event. She looked at Sparky and he was giving her a dog smile and she wondered if she was crazy too.

“Say something now, when I am looking at you,” Missy asked feeling stupid doing it but she had to find out.

“So what do you want me to say?” Sparky spoke and his little dog mouth moved as the words came out.

Missy was shocked and Lisa was happy that finally someone else knew that she had the most special dog in the world.

‘Don’t worry about that dress, you are getting a raise next week and really, if you two went tonight you wouldn’t have had any fun. In fact it was going to go really bad,” Sparky was now speaking freely and Missy just sat staring at the marvel in front of her.

“How come you can talk? How do you know these things?” Missy asked Sparky still dazed by this realization.

“How come you can talk? Do any of us know? I mean I just can, that’s all I know,” Sparky said, his little smile back again when he was done.

Lisa came out with two champagne glasses and a bottle of champagne and put it on the small table in front of the couch unwrapping it and popping the cork laughing.

“I am so glad that I am not the only one anymore. Thank you Sparky, thank you for saving us,” Lisa said and she picked him up and snuggled him. Sparky licked her face and acted in every way like a regular dog Missy noticed and she started wondering whether she had somehow been infected with Lisa’s madness.

“Listen Lisa we are going to have to get one more person here to see this. I mean maybe I am mad too now? I gotta have someone else, who can we bring over?” Missy said wanting more confirmation she didn’t have the same screw loose that Lisa did.

“No, I can’t allow that and I won’t speak for anyone else Missy. It’s just too risky,” Sparky said and wriggled out of Lisa’s arms jumped to the floor and walked over to his water bowl, took a drink and then started eating.

“Well there it is Missy, isn’t it incredible?” Lisa said and Missy could see she was completely convinced. As the hours passed Missy decided to let herself believe that it was very real, Sparky could talk.

Later that evening, the champagne finished they were quiet and watching a late night movie and the program broke away for a special news report. The event they were planning to go to was consumed in a fire and many people died and were hurt. Missy looked at Lisa who was asleep and then at Sparky who was curled up and asleep on his dog bed.

Years passed and both Lisa and Missy took Sparky’s advice on everything important and both became very successful and rich beyond their wildest dreams. Lisa always kept Sparky but Missy lived in the lavish apartment right next to Lisa’s and could talk to Sparky any time.

Sparky let Lisa and Missy have relationships with men for a while but then he would always get rid of them knowing that Lisa and Missy both listened to every word he said. He didn’t want anyone but Missy and Lisa and he made sure it stayed that way. He had been right on so many things that helped them, and they listened to every single thing he said and followed it.

Lisa and Missy eventually got very old and both had nurses round the clock caring for them. Sparky didn’t seem to age and only had a few grey hairs around his mouth by this time, so he visited them in their death beds once a day and told them how much he loved them. He was sure he had been enough love for both of them and never regretted doing what he did to keep them all to himself.

Once they both died, Sparky inherited all the wealth he had created for each of them. He had many people caring for him but he never fell in love again so he never spoke another word.

Toad's Humanity a Short Story

 

TOAD’S HUMANITY

By Wanda Wright

The pixies, Willy, Dilly and Billy all looked closely at the toad sleeping. He was the largest and oldest toad in the forest, dark olive green and every wart worn with pride. He loved to sit on the same toadstool making him an easy target for the pixies that always knew where to find him. They had played many pranks on him, and he always forgave them understanding that it was in the nature of pixies to make play tricks.

“Do it Dilly, go ahead,” Willy said to Dilly and all three had a grin on their faces.

Dilly raised his wand and made circles around the toad with it. A tiny beam of blue light followed the wands trail until it encapsulated the toad in it.  The toad woke up his eyes big looking at Willy, Dilly and Billy through the brilliant blue light he was in and before he could tell them to stop he was standing naked in the forest as a full-grown young man.

“Okay very funny you silly pixies now change me back, I was getting a good sleep and well,” the toad said but before he finished he stuck his tongue out expecting it to reach the fly going by him and missed him because of his insufficient human tongue and a loud ribbet came out instead.

Willy, Dilly and Billy began roaring in laughter seeing the toad as a man trying to use his tongue to catch a fly and hearing the ribbet come out. The toad started looking at his body and realized they had made him into a young man. He felt his arms and legs and touched around his head to his mop of hair and facial features and he realized he kind of liked it

“Okay Dilly change him back now,” Billy said but the toad spoke up quickly just as Billy spoke the last word and Dilly raised his wand.

“Stop! Wait, just a moment now, I like this new form. Can I keep it? I mean will I get a whole human lifetime out of this body? “ The toad excited rambled on a ribbet coming out again at the end. Dilly didn’t move the wand they all three just stared at him amazed he would not want to be turned back into a toad.

“It’s a joke boys, the toad is joking with us now. Very funny toad, go ahead Dilly do it,” Willy said thinking the toad and been joking and the other two pixies started laughing believing Willy was right.

“It’s no joke boys, I have lived my whole very long life as a toad. Now you have given me the opportunity for a whole new adventure, and as a young man. That is a whole lot more life I am hoping. Oh what an adventure I will have!” the toad replied quickly wanting to be sure he wasn’t changed back into a toad.

“Toad you know nothing about the life of humans, you don’t even care that you are standing there totally naked. If you were a real human you would be hiding behind a tree by now or grabbing some leaves to cover yourself like humans do,” Willy said believing the toad was being ridiculous.

“I have let you pixies have your fun for a very long time with pranking me, but this time, I want you to let me stay like this. I have been a toad all my life and well my life doesn’t have much left to it as a toad so I want to live it now as a human. Do I get a longer life by doing this?” the toad asked again another ribbet coming out.

Willy, Billy and Dilly came close together putting their arms around each other to discuss what the toad wanted without him listening in. Meanwhile the toad was trying to catch flies with his hands but was not having much success at it as a man.

“Toad we all like you, and we always have. But what you are asking takes more than what you know. First you would have to kill the troll that lives in the cave at the edge of the forest. Then you would have to take his cut off head to the evil witch that lives on the edge of the forest by the castle.

If you can do all that and survive, then there is a princess that lives in the castle and she is truly horribly hideous, hates everyone and treats everyone despicably. If you can get her to fall in love with you then you can remain in this human form.” Dilly said and the other two pixies were nodding their tiny heads in agreement with solemn faces.

“That seems like quite a lot to stay human, but okay, I want to try so where is this troll? I get this princess to fall in love with me and I get to become king right? Wow this is more than I expected out of a human life! This adventure sounds great I am ready to go for it,” the toad said another ribbet coming out.

The pixies could not believe that the toad agreed and didn’t think he would survive it all because after all he was just a toad. They tried and tried to talk the toad out of the whole idea and after a few hours or so they gave up. The pixies did get him to agree to wait until they returned with human clothes for him to wear before he left.

“Where did you get the clothes?” the toad asked excited about the prospect of his great adventure ahead while he struggled to figure out how to put the clothes on until the pixies helped him.

“From a house that is in the forest. So if you pass a house with boxes of tiny purple flowers hanging along the fence don’t stop there,” Dilly replied wanting to change the toad back but he was still respecting his wishes and his agreement with Billy and Willy.

“He needs a name, a human name,” Billy said and they all agreed and started saying out names that they though would suit the toad. But the toad interrupted their discussion and told them he made his decision to be called Gilly so he would always remember where the gift of becoming human came from. The pixies bade the toad farewell feeling sad that he was leaving and would likely never return Each had tears running down their tiny pixie faces.

Gilly was excited and happy and walked off with gusto towards the troll cave. He loved walking high on his two human legs. He could see the entire world around him differently from this high up and he was enjoying it immensely.  Once in a while he would step into the water and he thought it felt as good as when he was a toad.

When he reached the little house in the forest with the flower boxes hanging on the fence with little purple flowers he remembered what Dilly had said. He had never seen a human house this high up and was fascinated by the detail of it that he could see from this new level.

A very old man came out of the house and looked at Dilly instantly recognizing his clothes and shouted at him, “Thief! You have my clothes!”

Gilly stood there for a moment staring at the old man because up to this point he had seen very few humans in his whole toad life. When he saw the old man starting to charge him he tried to hop away and tripped and fell and a ribbet sound escaped. This stopped the old man for a moment not sure if he had heard the young man ribbet and Gilly was able to get up and run away before he started charging him again.

As he ran he felt the speed he was at was faster than he had ever gone and his legs running felt glorious. He was laughing at the shear joy of his new form and its new abilities beyond what he could experience as a toad. He was having fun dodging the trees effortleslys as he ran fast through the forest not even thinking about the old man.

Once he noticed that he was getting out of breath some miles down the road he stopped running and walked again. He knew he was getting close to the troll’s cave seeing a marker of a three large trees that were each torn in half by lightning that the pixies told him about. He decided to stop and eat and found many grasshoppers to fill his stomach and wondered for a bit about human food and what it would be like and looking forward to trying it all.

Mosquitoes that previously only tried to stay away from him now were trying to suck his human blood. He laughed as he easily snapped them all up and ate them as snacks as he walked through the forest toward the troll cave. Soon he was very close to the entrance to the cave and knew it because the smell in the air changed from pine to putrid and insects became more plentiful just as the pixies described.

He remembered that he had to kill the troll and decided to plan it out before entering. Once he was confident that his plan would work he entered the cave. The cave entrance was dark grey and black stone cut into the mountainside of the forest. A trickle of water was coming out of the cave and the smell only got worse as Gilly went deeper into it. Bones were all over the ground of different sizes and species and Gilly couldn’t figure out all of them. It was obvious to him that this troll liked to eat and he ate a lot.

He walked against one wall so he might be able to see the troll before the troll saw him and before he expected it he saw the troll stomping towards him. He didn’t seem to have seen him and Gilly stayed motionless his back pressed against one side of the cave wall hoping he would pass by him and he would get the advantage of being behind him.

The troll stopped in front of him and started laughing and Gilly didn’t know what to do and just stood still watching him. He was large but not that much taller than Gilly and his body stank of rot, with rolls of fat encrusted with dirt and blood along with his entire pale torso and hefty pale arms. He had the face of a man but his mouth and nose were disfigured with teeth that were sharpened tools.

“Did you think I couldn’t smell you silly young man? Have you not learned about trolls before you came into a cave of a troll? No matter, you will make a fine dinner for me tonight,” the troll roared and reached out to grab Gilly. Gilly let out a ribbet and reached his hands out putting his fingers into each eye of the troll and pushing deeply into each socket.

The troll hung onto him hard but Gilly pushed even harder ignoring the screams of the troll knowing he stood between him and remaining human. The troll in terrible pain and now blind stepped back to pity himself forgetting that Gilly had just done the deed for the moment. Gilly grabbed a bone and smashed his head with it until he was dead, his clothes now covered in blood.

When he was sure the troll was dead he spent some time trying to cut its head off with the bones and it made his clothes a terrible mess of blood and rot from the troll. He smelled as bad as the troll did now. Finally succeeding in getting the head off he left the cave and animals ran away from him as he walked. He searched for water to wash the stink of the troll off and finding it jumped in happily throwing the troll head to the bank of the river.

He stripped his clothes off and was enjoying the water cleansing the troll off but he lost track of time in the enjoyment and didn’t get out until it was almost dark. The troll head, eyeless looked even more hideous now as he picked it up to find a place to bed down for the night He was tired now and the journey, though he was enjoying the adventure, was finally taking its toll on him.

He fell asleep by a tree by the water and when he woke up in the morning a fox was nibbling at the troll head. He shooed the fox away more to protect the fox then the head, thinking that rotting troll would likely make the fox sick or worse might even kill him. He picked up the head and started off towards the witch’s house near the castle that he thought was convenient since he would head to the castle next for the princess to seal the deal of his humanity.

The head seemed to become heavier as he walked and the smell of rot was overwhelming, so he stopped to set it down for a moment. He looked at his clothes and they looked dirty but he didn’t think that would be a problem so much for the witch but he decided if he had a chance after the witch he would find new clothes to change into before he went to woo the princess.

He picked up the head again and walked on to find the witch’s house. When he saw the stick figures hanging in the trees here and there and ever increasing as he walked he knew that the witch’s house was close. The pixies had told him about the stick figures and he was thus sure of it. A ribbet came out when he saw the house and he ate a mosquito just for good measure and a little extra energy.

The house looked ominous it was an made of what looked like mud smoothed into a dome tucked into thick forest trees filled with the stick figures. The door was dark wood with a large iron clasp and Gilly walked slowly up with another ribbet escaping his mouth.

The door swung open with a blast and Gilly started to ribbet uncontrollably looking at the witch standing before him. She was large and her face alone caused him to stare. Her eyes were big and yellow with thick lashes and a long nose that shifted to one side. Her face was gaunt almost silver in color and looked like a toad that was desiccated.  Her mouth had jagged teeth between two thin lips that were more yellow then pink.

Her clothes were heavy and layered in black and what looked like spider webs and spiders were crawling all over her body. Gilly was awakened by the laughter from his trance when the witch informed him she knew he was a toad.

“How do you know that?” Gilly asked and another ribbet came out and he knew then how she figured it out.

She grabbed the head and invited him in as a guest and Gilly, being told by the pixies just to be careful with her, entered her home. There was a small fire burning in an open hearth and Gilly could see human skulls and other skulls inside it like a fresh burn. The rest of the home looked cozy to Gilly a few plump but dusty chairs and a small table with potions jars in a disorganized mess all over it.

Gilly took a seat and the witch brought over a tub of water for his feet and she was softly laughing. Gilly put his feet in and he felt instant happiness. The witch sat in the other plump chair and just looked at him not saying a word.

“So you wanted the head of the troll?” he asked hoping to start some kind of conversation with her despite her fearful look.

“Are you sure you want humanity toad? What good will that do you?” the witch asked in response. The way she talked was eerie it was low in tone and high in pitch.

“I am an old toad and this is a new adventure for my life. I am happy to become fully human,” Gilly said sincerely. He still knew his decision to remain human was the right one for him.

“Did they tell you about the princess? No one has gotten her heart and I am not sure she has one. I think she would be better off and more powerful as a witch. I would like you to bring her to me so I can transform her into her fully natural form,” the witch said and her eyes glowing yellow now made Gilly feel that this was not a request.

“I know what the pixies told me but they didn’t think I could kill the troll but I did. You have his head here as proof of that,” Gilly said brushing his hair aside and finally seeing that it was golden blonde. He touched it again in admiration.

“You make a handsome young man, have you not seen yourself? Do you not know what you look like?” the witch asked grabbing a mirror from the small table next to her and passing it to him.

Gilly took the mirror from her but he could see the face of it moving and didn’t want to look into it as he thought it might be a trick. But the witch was staring him down so he peeked into it and saw himself as the toad he was. The witch started laughing and cackling moving up and down in the chair while the spiders still crawled all over her.

Gilly got up and ran out of the door while she was still laughing. The door slammed behind him though he never saw her raise up from the chair. He didn’t look back he just kept running towards the castle.

When he reached the castle he was out of breath and taken back by the largeness of it stopped moving to look at the massive structure and find a way inside. The large white stone structure was bigger than he had ever seen before. He really appreciated his size again as he could see it in its full glory at his new height. Large massive stones were piled on top of each other and Gilly had never seen stones like this, so smooth and all one size.

He wanted to sit on one of these stones, to feel what it was like. He had sat on many stones but none like these. It excited him the more he looked at it and realizing he could stay human forever and own all of this if he got the princess to fall in love with him, he became excited and hurried off to find an entrance.

The castle was very large and he had to walk very far cutting through trees until he saw other people. A small ribbet released from his mouth before he walked onto the pathway where the other people were. He wondered if they knew, if they could sense he wasn’t real, that he was really a toad but he kept walking and only noticed females smiling at him. He thought about what the witch told him how he was a handsome young man and hoped that their smiles were because of that.

Finally he saw people rushing in and out of a door and hurried over there to enter the castle. He thought he would just go right through when a man holding a tall pole with a flag on it stopped him by grabbing his arm.

“What business do you have here?” he asked and as he held Gilly’s arm Gilly tried his very best not to ribbet.

Just then a man went running out of the castle with a piece of bread in his hands and others were shouting and chasing after him and the man released Gilly running after the man with bread too. Gilly let out a small ribbet and ran into the castle.

There were many people inside and everyone seemed to be doing something, selling something, entertaining others, enjoying the entertainment, eating, talking or listening. Gilly walked through trying to be unnoticed but females kept smiling at him and he started smiling back that was responded to in soft giggles before he passed by.

He went through it all until he reached the inside halls and people were still rushing back and forth as if everyone had a serious purpose. Gilly enjoyed watching it all and almost forgot what he was here for until finally seeing young girls dressed in fine soft gowns with sparkling braiding even in their hair and he knew to follow them.

Soon he was at the chamber of the princess and he peered in to assess his chances with her. It was a beautiful room filled with flowers and a large massive bed like Gilly had never seen. He wanted to hop onto it to see how soft it was. The princess had his back to him and when she turned around he almost threw up. For one moment he thought the witch may be right and her true calling was to be the most hideous witch in existence.

He regained himself recalling that her true love alone could keep him human. He didn’t have to marry her. He just needed her to fall in love with him. He just wanted to sit on the stone he didn’t have to own it all he thought to himself.

“You there, come here!” her heard a voice say and he realized it was the princess.

He looked around him and saw that there was no one else that she could mean. He walked over slowly as she grinned at him through her hideous mouth. Her hair was matted and white though her face appeared young.

Her eyes were small and beady and looked like two black marbles that had been pushed into white clay. Her nose was almost not visible it was so small and tiny and only up close could anyone see that there was a nose there at all. Her mouth had two large engorged lips that Gilly had never seen on any human thus far. Her gown was beautiful white with pink accents that glittered but not more than her diamond-encrusted tiara.

“Who are you boy? I have never seen you before in the castle or elsewhere around the grounds. Where did you come from? Are you here to kill me you swine!” she screamed at him as soon as he got close enough for her shouting hot breath to be felt by him. She slapped a servant for no reason and Gilly wondered whether he could ever be human forever.

“I am from a town far away and saw your beautiful castle and I just want to sit on a stone. Would you permit me to do that?” he said not knowing what else to come up with and wishing the pixies had given him some special advice for the princess.

“Sit on a stone?” she replied laughing at him but the princess could not resist this young man’s handsome looks so she gave him permission to sit on a stone and followed him outside to do it.

Gilly walked with the entourage of the princess who he could see were not happy but rather trying to be perfect so they could avoid her terrible wrath. She hit them all for no reason and Gilly could see she took pleasure from it, laughing each time she did it. She didn’t raise her hand to him and he was glad for it wondering whether he could resist hitting her back or not if she did.

Finally they got to the top of the castle and a large courtyard was there. Stones to sit on were all along the ledge and available in every direction. Next to the walls were marksmen with arrows at the ready watching the distance.

“Well pick the stone you want to sit on already, there are plenty here,” the princess said her tone sarcastic as though Gilly like the rest were only toys for her amusement.

Gilly walked over to the wall right next to one of the marksmen who shook his head slightly trying to warn Gilly not to sit on the wall. But Gilly feeling defeated outside of his great adventure to this point in becoming human, killing the troll and surviving the evil witch felt pleased enough if the end happened now. His dream had been bigger but he knew this princess likely had no heart to swoon as the witch said.

He sat on the wall and felt the great stone so smooth beneath him; he couldn’t help petting it with his hands the coolness of it wonderful to his touch. The princess became more irate because Gilly wasn’t trying to swoon her and was instead ignoring her as they all did before him and she began walking away. The marksmen told him to let her go but Gilly decided he would try more. He had made it so far already she was the only thing standing in his way and he knew had not tried hard enough yet.

“My lady thank you for allowing me to sit on the glorious stones that this castle are made of. I will be eternally grateful, can I do something for you in return?” Gilly said hoping she was not going to shout at him again.

“You are just a simple boy what could you do for me the princess of this castle? I have everything, everything I need!” she shouted and slapped the maiden next to her and she fell onto the ground.

“How about love, would you like my love dear beautiful princess?” Gilly said hoping he could melt her icy heart by using the very words of what he needed from her.

The princess grabbed Gilly by the arm and ran away from her entourage and didn’t stop until they were both alone in an abandoned section of the castle.

“Why do you mention love to me? Beautiful boy you cannot love one as hideous as me!” she said and burst into tears.

“Do you have a mirror dear lady?” Gilly asked knowing he might really get what he wanted now that she had shown her vulnerability to him.

“Why? Is this some cruel joke you are playing like the rest have?” she said talking through her flowing tears.

“Because you will see that I am not as handsome as I appear, and you are not as hideous as you think you are either,” Gilly replied not sure if he was right but having an inkling that there was more to this than he knew for now.

She grabbed his hand still crying and ran to her bedroom running to the small dressing table and pulled a mirror out. Gilly took it from her and standing next to her positioned it so they could see both within it at the same time.

Inside the mirror Gilly saw a princess so beautiful that she appeared to be a beautiful goddess and the princess saw Gilly as a toad.  That one moment, where they both saw the truth that they were both under spells they formed an instant bond telling each other their secret.

It did not take much time at all after that before they both fell in love and got married. On the day of the wedding the princess returned to her real form as beautiful a young woman as had ever been seen and Gilly was forever turned into a handsome young man and they lived happily ever after.

Gilly still sits on a stone now and then and remembers his days as a toad but never regretted his decision to achieve a life of a much longer happiness.

Melissa and the Mob

MELISSA AND THE MOB

By Wanda Wright

It had been years since it happened, but still not out of the horror of the after affects of losing everything, each day was a difficult struggle just to survive. Over five years ago Melissa was targeted by organized crime.

It wasn’t a scheme that anyone knew about, not even Melissa, a hardworking attorney that won every case and championed the little guy to victory after victory. When it all happened it seemed it would go like any other case. But Melissa didn’t figure out that the mob was behind it all until it was much too late and her own life was at stake. Running away and going underground, wasn’t what she wanted to do, it was her only option.

Not being a criminal like those that were running after her, mistakes were made because there was a learning curve to this lifestyle. More than once she almost died leaving just before the hit men showed up. She couldn’t get a job because if she did they would find her.  So she turned to writing, a profession that can keep people anonymous and maybe give her back the life that was stolen from her.

The mob didn’t like the fact that Melissa was getting away and that she fought back. No one did that, no outsider that wasn’t part of an organized crime mob family ever succeeded in staying alive when they wanted a person dead. She couldn’t find any help from law enforcement after she figured out who they were.  Law enforcement were paid off by the mob, they helped them succeed against Melissa, harassing her relentlessly while she tried to fight back in the early days and all throughout her fight. 

Their front guy for this scheme hunted for victims on the Internet, using different names, different ages and dressing up to look like a female. He hunted for people with money that would pay him when he threatened them with ruining their entire life. Several mobsters handled massive postings of false claims about the person at once so the only thing that would ever come up about the person was their vicious life destroying lie.

Then there were the calls, day and night and text messages that never stopped. They killed Melissa’s animals, followed her, even went to neighbors and got them to join in to harass Melissa day and night for years while she tried to put an end to the whole operation through the court.

Court judges who were heartless and always wanted to cover their own ass were abundant but Melissa knew how to deal with them and she did, until all the pressure came tumbling down around her and she ran. The mob paid the judge off too and this judge did something no other judge did in all the times they tried it before, gave them millions of dollars. It was all a lie, but Melissa’s life was under threat and staying alive became more important than what the judge would do. Melissa told the judge who they were, and there was lie after obvious lie in the things they filed that the judge ignored because they paid judge too.

A friend sent the letter from some other place, so they couldn’t find out where Melissa was and to send them off track in finding her. She hoped the judge would get it; understand that when your life is threatened you don’t show up for a scheduled appointment the mob knows about. That is how you die fast and easy, and one thing Melissa was sure about, is that they weren’t going to kill her that easy.

As the years went by she thought that they would burn out in trying to find her. But she learned that the mob doesn’t burn out; they stay at it, relentless in trying to prove to everyone that when they come calling you need to pay up and shut up or you’re dead.

Going from a life where hard work paid more than most people every experienced to poverty wasn’t easy but she did it. Every day typing away the stories that filled her head trying to forget the past until one day. On the day that everything changed Melissa was almost ready to go beg in the street for money, she decided that prison would be a better life and she could take them out, do the job law enforcement corrupted and irreverent wouldn’t do. Doing all the right things hadn’t paid off, it was time to do wrong, give into it, and be freed from living in the underground broke and running all the time.

Hunting them wasn’t easy, she staked them out for weeks on end before she had her plan. She would take them out one by one, she would be the hit man, but she wasn’t doing it for money, she was doing it for all the good people. Melissa had always helped everyone and she realized that this was her opportunity to live that life again and it felt right.

She learned how to shoot and spent a long time practicing until she was confident that it would only take one bullet. Melissa knew that she would only have one shot at any of them or they would kill her instead.

The nightclub was across the street from where she set up on the top floor of a large office building. She broke into an abandoned office suite at night and no one but a few workaholics were working there at this time. No one saw her come in and she was covered head to toe in black with a hoodie that was large enough to cover her face unless someone really wanted to know who she was. People here worked like she used to, dedicated to a fault and ignoring the world around them.

She saw him after just moments from setting up and being ready, her scope revealing her target clearly. He was one of the main perps, the one she wanted the most and she couldn’t believe her luck.  He was laughing with others and she recognized another one that she wanted badly. He contacted her and pretended to be a victim keeping tabs on everything that she did or was going to do. She found out about his connection when she saw an online video with them together, like dear old friends years later.

The scope was clean and perfect and the gun felt good in her hands. Justice had failed her and she was ready to make things right. She decided to take them both out and knew she could do it. The third guy, she didn’t know but it didn’t matter, this is where the criminal hung out so if she hit him it that would be fine with her, he was probably rotten too and deserved it.

Her finger on the trigger she held her breath and squeezed and one fell but before he even hit the ground she squeezed the trigger again and the other one fell, just for good measure she squeezed again and the third one fell too. She watched through her scope for any sign of life. Melissa wanted to make sure they were dead and gone.  The rush of justice was incredible, she felt better than she had felt in years.

She could see the blood pooling on the sidewalk as life left the three of them. Once she was sure they were dead she gathered her stuff and left down the stairs and out the back running down the block to her car just as she had planned. Melissa was smiling all the way and she saw that no one was chasing after her. She was grateful that this city was cold and inhumane for the first time in her life as no one came out to help them or hunt her.

Melissa was in her car now, she sped to the freeway always looking for someone following her but there was no one.

“What took you so long Melissa?” she heard a voice say and when she turned to look an angel was sitting in the passenger seat.

Melissa almost lost control of the car at her shock at seeing an angel at all, especially after shooting those three men dead.

“Relax, I have always been with you, protecting you,” the angel said his features were made from light but were defined and his wings were tucked behind him like a bird who isn’t in flight.

“What, who are you? I would think that at this point I am going in the other direction,” Melissa said still in shock but not enough to not talk to the being next to her.

“No, you were meant to end these criminals and we all knew you would get there. This is a battle, good versus evil, and those men were evil, working for the other side, you know the devil. You work for our side, always have, and you know that right?” the angel said matter of factly as if Melissa would understand.

“Well I tried to but I was pretty sure your side wouldn’t be on my side for this one,” Melissa said taking her hoody off her head now that she was far away and speeding down the freeway.

“No, you have always been on our side, sorry you had to do this, but now you have done what we wanted and well, don’t worry about a thing, you are free,” the angel replied.

“Free? Did I die? Am I dead?” Melissa responded taking her hand off the wheel touching herself to confirm she was still alive.

“Yes, you actually didn’t make it out of there, they came in and killed you before you left the building. But we thought we would give you a break and at least let you think you got away clean. You deserved that after all you have been through, we know it’s not easy being on our side,” the angel said smiling at her now.

After that a bright light filled the car and Melissa was freed forever going up to heaven. When she got there, she had wings and looked just like the angel that had appeared in her car.

“Work isn’t over Melissa but from up here it’s a lot better than from down there,” she heard a voice say and she saw it was Jesus.