by P. K. Tyler
“Crazy old fucker, that’s what you are. Get on with you!” Her face twisted in disbelief and hate as she continued. “Religion is a product of the past, unnecessary. Only old fools like you entertain the useless notion of worshiping a long-dead goddess. Probably never even existed, if you ask me.”
Shaking his head as he entered his tiny little wooden house, his breath fogged up the air before him; he set his kindling aflame in the fireplace. He would need to eat soon. Keeping his strength up was a priority. While he would go to the chamber no matter how he felt, he worked very hard to make certain he was as healthy as possible for Her. He never knew when She would need him for something. He had never been lucky enough to have a visit from Her in his dreams, but his great-great-grandfather had and it had changed him. He’d once been an abusive drunkard; then his demeanor forever altered. He became calm and sober, a stoic man, steadfast in his belief in Her. And he passed it down through the generations until only one believer remained.
He quickly ate his repast of lukewarm soup and day-old bread, then cleared his supper dishes away, stacking them haphazardly in the sink to be washed later. He wanted to sit quietly with his thoughts, to luxuriate in the fact that only he knew what lay on the altar. He straightened his spine at the realization that he was Her protector now, that he had to make certain She was safe and unmolested as She grew. He smiled happily, wondering what Her first words would be to him. He knew she would understand the sacrifices he had made in his life for Her and that She would be gracious and kind to him.
He did not care about the others, for their disbelief would be their undoing. After all, his family had told them over and over again of her imminent return to the world.
The following weeks ebbed and flowed like a soothing tide as he walked to and fro, cleaning and polishing, singing and praying. He had decided to try to tell the citizens one more time of Her existence. They refused to listen, their sneers cutting into his heart while their spittle struck his hands and feet. He had pleaded his case for the last time. Let them drown in their own tears of shock and awe once She had revealed Her presence.
Already the night grew darker, stars winking out one by one as the prophecy foretold while the winter became colder as the chrysalis swelled. Tracing his way up the hidden path, he wondered how much more the chrysalis had grown. At first, it had barely shown any signs of expansion; then one morning, he arrived to behold a growth of over a foot in length and girth.
The pulsating tubular shape showed signs of movement inside; if he stared long enough, he caught a glimpse of a foot or hand pressing against the skin of the chrysalis, stretching it thinner, struggling to escape. He had dared once to touch his hand to Hers and was overcome with emotion, tears streaming down his face. She was almost here and he could not wait for his eyes to feast upon her glorious sight. He was content to wait until She decided to grace him with her presence. What were a few months more? He had already dedicated his entire life to Her, to preparing the chamber for Her, as was his divine purpose. He lived for serving Her and thought of the many ways he could be of use after She was reborn.
One particularly cold morning, with a brilliantly bright and full moon still shining its rays upon him, light shone from within the normally darkened interior of the chamber. He rushed inside, marveling at the chrysalis pulsating in a staccato of brilliant light. The sound of a thousand wings vibrating madly filled the hollow chamber.
His heart matched the beat, and he grew lightheaded with excitement and reverence. Ripping sounds reached his ears and in a burst of blood and viscous fluid, She stood before him, glorious and strong, veined wings fluttering madly to rid themselves of the gore left from Her rebirth. As he lay prostrate, a clawed hand caressed his flesh. He shuddered in ecstasy when She said, “Thank you for your servitude, John.” He sighed in contentment when he felt Her razor sharp teeth tear into his flesh, for the knowledge that his blood and flesh would nourish Her until She left the chamber to reclaim the world. It was Hers, Nychta's, She of the Blood and Night, to rule.
About the Author
Born and raised in the rural South, books have always been a comfort and joy for Rebecca Poole, so it's no surprise that she's been bitten by the bug to create her own stories and worlds. She uses her artwork to help visualize the characters and scenes she creates digitally to bring them to life on the page.
She lives in Georgia with her husband and fur children. It would not be surprising to see her attempting to 'rescue' another stray cat, for she might have an addiction to the cuddly critters...
For more information, visit
www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Poole/e/B00J4RCAC6
The Apple
by Shebat Legion
Summary: The Apple is a post-apocalyptic love story about survival and hope. It illustrates the strength of character needed to make a personal sacrifice to ensure a better future or any future at all.
I put some green in the whatsit and it makes a whirring sound. Adding some of the other stuff, I yawn as I watch it blend and bubble. My boyo Tommybobby brought me minty leaves he found outside, and I add one in. This is going to taste delicious. I hope.
“Guess what I found?” Tommybobby says when he comes in from where he was, his hands behind his back.
I yawn again and shrug, pretending I don’t care.
“Oh, don’t even,” he laughs, all happy and tongue out. “I know you want to know.”
He’s right of course, I do want to know. Tommybobby is one of the best scavengers I have ever met. But it is first light and I am not a first light kind of girlie.
“You want me to guess, I am guessing.”
Tommybobby smiles. “Yes, you get three.”
Tommybobby is a pretty boyo, hardly any sores or warts and most of his parts are in the right places. He has the bluest eye I’ve ever seen.
I just sort of stand there. I’m sure I have that look I always have at first light. I have hair and it’s always messy when I wake up. Tommybobby says it makes me look delicious.
“Wellhey?” He says and I sigh inwardly. Turning the whatsit off, I grab a holder, pour the stuff, and take a sip. I pucker up and my eyes pinch shut at the taste. Too much green and maybe the leaf wasn’t the best idea.
“Jennysally.” He makes the last half of my name one long “eeeeee” sound and I force another sip, trying to wake up enough to play.
“Okay. Is it alive?” I mumble as I chew on some bits of minty leaf.
I can feel Tommybobby’s face brighten, even with my back turned.
“No!” He pants in that way he has. “Two more.”
“Want some stuff?” I reach for another holder, thinking and stalling.
“No, I’m cold.” His ears are all flip floppy and perk. “Wellso? Guess!”
I turn around and can’t help smile a little; he is just too crawly. “Okay. Did it used to be alive?”
“You think with your mouth,” he says and he is too right. But Tommybobby has a way of finding dead things that makes me the envy of everybody. They say he can find things that can’t be found and it’s true. Girlies rub up on him but he does nothing about that.
“No!” He laughs and his hands are still behind his back so I play along and snatch at his arm. He pulls away, snorting. “Nuh. Third guess.”
Even standing I have to look up at him, balancing on my good foot; he’s so tall. His eye is sparkling. Whatever he has must be good.
“Where did you find it?” That answer might give me some clue. “Were you scouting in the blank place again?”
And he may have been; he is brave like that. Me, I would never go. I don’t even want to look.
“Nuh.” He shakes his head and laughs again. Something makes a noise when he does.
“What is that?” I reach but he pulls away again.
“Third guess!”
It’s too early for this but its love that I even try.
“Burny crap?” It’s the best I can do after only one holder of stuff. I’m kind of hoping it
is burny crap. We need some.
“Nuh!” He sort of hops up and down and puts his hands in front of him and lets me see.
“Oh,” I say, and I can’t help but be downlow. It’s another kid thing. A something that has lots of colors and it is sort of round. We can’t eat it and we can’t burn it but Tommybobby, he likes his kid things. We have a whole bunch of them.
“Wellhey.” He bends over to look into my face and I know what he’s thinking with this kid thing. And maybe he’s right. I have been very tired and maybe I am growing another pup and just maybe this one will stay alive. Mostly they don’t and then it’s off to MissMolly and then we have stew.
“Hey?” Tommybobby says all gentle and I know he is wishing but maybe I just can’t make one that stays breathing like that bitch, Cindymindy. She has three, for fug’s sake. Then again, they all have tails.
I kind of hunch over while he is playing with the kid thing and I am watching and I am thinking.
“Heyo,” I say finally and he looks up at me. “Maybe I just can’t. You know?” I look down at my holder.
He stops playing and stands close and I breath him right in. “Heyo,” he says gently. “Nuh. Nuh. If you can’t, you can’t.”
I whirl away from him and pour another holder of stuff. “Lookyou,” I say. “All this kid stuff? I know. Okay? Don’t.”
“So?” he shouts and I turn fast cuz Tommybobby doesn’t yell. “So?” He’s yelling and I’m standing with my mouth open but it’s not me he’s yelling at.
I look at what he’s looking at and it’s my ex boyo standing at the mouth of the cave. This won’t be good.
My ex, Briandanny, is a complete hole and what I ever saw in him, I don’t know. He was never happy to see me move in with Tommybobby and says it when we see him but he has never once come here to say it.
“What do you say, Briandanny?” Tommybobby is making a growling sound that is both scary and sexy and makes me feel pink.
“Heyuh?” Briandanny is holding both of his hands out in a “don’t eat me” gesture. I have to respect it, even though I always thought his leg meats would go good with dumplings.
“Whata?” Tommybobby growls and I touch his arm and feel warm.
See, Briandanny was my first sex thing and it wasn’t great. He has boy and girl parts and I was never sure what to do with the boy parts to begin with, let alone the other thing. I put a bottle in it once, just to see if I could, and it slid in just like that. He never stopped griefing me about it either.
“There is a meeting at the town place, just wanting to say.”
Both Tommybobby and I sort of stare because we don’t have meetings at the town place unless it is a kill thing or a who did something.
“A meeting?” I say, confused.
“Yuh!” Briandanny says with excitement and I can see he isn’t thinking about the bottle thing and Tommybobby isn’t thinking anymore about hurting Briandanny. I think.
“Huh!” Tommybobby says and he grabs my arm.
I almost fall over but hook a claw into his arm so I don’t. “Masks, get em!”
And he’s still glaring at Briandanny but yuh, you can see it, nothing will happen. Even so, I sniff to make sure before I go. Tommybobby pats me and then I see Briandanny glaring and I think how stupid boyos are.
I grab both masks and we follow Briandanny out of the cave and down the steps and through the digging part and past farm and by then, I see others like us. Some are wearing masks and others, like dumbass Briandanny, are not wearing masks. And that’s just stupid but I can’t change the world.
We get to the town place which is an actual house that people live in. We let Davidbenny and his girlie Barbiejan live in it because they can read bookish, and we made farm because the book told us how. Farm doesn’t grow much except for mushrooms but they are tasty unless they kill you.
People are standing or sitting and we find a place, Tommybobby and I. Briandanny looked as if he was going to squat beside us until Tombobby gave him a look out of that eye of his that would have killed Briandanny if things worked like that.
I sit there beside my boyo and lean on him, feeling kind of sick. Maybe I am growing a pup or maybe it was the leaf I drank. I am not sure but Tommybobby is pretty good at what he finds; like I said, he is the best scavenger I ever met. I touch my stomach. Maybe? Thing is, I don’t really want another one although I have never told Tommybobby this. I have had three now and each time it was harder to take it to MissMolly. I kept the last one ‘til it was almost spoiled and she gave me hellfire about it too.
Seems like almost everybody did at the time; except for Tommybobby, who just let me pretend and let me keep it for as long as I needed to, even with it smelling bad.
I look over to where Cindymindy is sitting with her three. Tails or no tails, they look pretty crawly to me and I feel all downlow. Tommybobby puts an arm around me and holds me close and I breathe, just breathe.
There’s a buzzy sound and we all look at Davidbenny as he walks to the ledge thing he calls a porch. “Listen!” He calls out and his girlie Barbiejan crawls out to crouch beside him. She is posh for all she doesn’t have much in the way of bones and is kind of sloshy. And I really am trying to pay attention because we don’t have meetings usually, but I keep looking at Cindymindy’s pups, with them all holding onto each other’s tails and I’m thinking how maybe I do want one after all.
Tommybobby always knows what I’m thinking and he gives me a squeeze and a lick on the cheek.
“Listen,” Davidbenny says again, “I found a book thing and it’s something we all should know.”
Oh. Another book thing. Well, it’s not like book things aren’t important because we find out stuff this way, but I’m tired and didn’t have first food and my stomach is making sounds.
I tune out and just rest against Tommybobby, knowing he will tell me what the book thing is about later, but he gives me a little shake and keeps nodding his chin at Davidbenny. I know he wants me to listen, so I do.
“Barbiejan and I have read this over and over about these things called,” he spells it out, “Vit a mins.”
I look at Tommybobby but I can see he is listening really careful as both of his ears are turned sharply toward Davidbenny.
Davidbenny says, “These Vitamins are important things and we need to find them. I know too many of you are losing pups and it says in the book thing that all girlies need to be eating them.” He frowns. “Well, swallowing them or drinking them.”
Someone calls out, “Where we get these vit things?”
Barbiejan speaks up from where she is all sloshed, “We find them in stores.”
There is a quiet; of course there is. These stores are past the blank place and nobody ever goes there anymore, masks or no masks. The few who have made it back don’t live long and you can’t eat them they are so sored up.
A few from the crowd get up and leave. I want to but Tommybobby holds me in place.
“It says these vitamins will help us grow healthywise. And for girlies, helps them grow healthy pups.” Davidbenny is raising his voice now and you can tell he means what he says, but what are we supposed to do about that? We can’t go to stores. I turn my head to say as much to Tommybobby and freeze when I see the look in his eye. I can smell what he is thinking.
“Nuh!” I nudge him hard. “You don’t think about it! Nuh!”
There is more stuff about how to get to the stores and wearing some stuff and better masks but I am shaking hard because I can see Tommybobby nodding like a hole and I want to hit him or hug him or drag him home to the cave and tie him up because I know he is thinking about trying it. I know he is!
“Just one of these vitamins a day, even if it’s just for the girlies … “
And Davidbenny and Barbiejan are still talking and Tommybobby is still nodding and I can’t feel my hands and my hair hurts and I realize I have been grabbing on to it and twisting. I pant and send it into Tommybobby and he looks at me.
Tommybobby is
quiet as we head home; he doesn’t even say anything to Briandanny, who keeps looking at me that way and sniffing.
In the cave, I am shaking Tommybobby and he is not saying anything but smiling at me the way he knows how. We have sex and I cry but I know he is leaving anyway.
I tell him I don’t have a pup growing but he pats my stomach and he pets my hair and, come first light, I don’t have to even wake up to know he’s gone. He left his new kid thing beside me and I scream and go to throw it but then I don’t. I hug it instead.
He is the best scavenger I know. This is what I tell myself as my stomach gets bigger. Tommybobby is the best scavenger I know.
About the Author
Shebat is an abuse survivor and chronic pain sufferer who battles depression, often countering it with humorous or adorable pictures of animals on Facebook. She’s a quiet person who prefers country air to city light and is more comfortable in the company of animals than people. She lives in Ontario, Canada. Health permitting, she spends her time walking her dog, Brutus, in the woods, enjoying the solitude. She enjoys music and loves to dance, especially in the rain. At heart, she is a water creature and every moment she can spend in the water brings a peace to her soul that cannot be found elsewhere. Her motto is: We are all in this together. She firmly believes that each of us has a responsibility to each other and to all living things, and encourages empathy, kindness, and compassion whenever possible.
Becoming Mage
by Melanie Lamaga
Summary: A recovering alcoholic taps uncanny new skills as she matches wits with her former friends at the country club.
I hate the country club.
The thought isn’t as shocking as I would have expected, so it must have been rooting in my brain for a while. I’ve been a member for thirty-three years; the dining room with rose-patterned carpet overlooking Victorian gardens used to feel like a second home. Over the past year, I’ve only come once a week or so, with my husband Bill. An obligatory showing to prove I’m not ashamed.