Last Call

Uncertain if I'll pursue anything with this, but here's a very short blurb that I came up with a little while back.

She viewed it all through a blur, the edges of her vision slowly growing darker until it all faded to black.

She stood on the platform, waiting for the train to arrive. An old security officer wandered by, offering her a smile.

"Off to somewhere exciting?" he asked her.

"Yes, I'm finally getting out of here," she told him, a smile stretching across her plump face.

"Where to?"

She shrugged. "Wherever the train takes me. As long as it's away from here."

The old man nodded sagely. "Mmm, the greatest kind of adventure, where your destination could be anywhere and nowhere all at the same time, where time means nothing and the possibilities are endless."

She nodded eagerly. "Yes, sir, exactly. I've always wanted to see the world and now I'm taking that chance."

She stood up straighter as the train appeared in the distance, gleaming black and gold. 

"Here it comes!" she cried, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

It slowly puffed into the station, groaning slightly as it finally stopped. The doors opened, but no one got off. Instead there came the call of "All aboard!"

The young woman turned to the old man with a grin, face shining, eyes bright with excitement.

"Well, sir, this is it! I'm off!"

"Best of luck, my dear. Go see that world."

With a little wave, she bounded up the stairs of the train. A few moments later, the train pulled out again, steadily gathering speed until it was a mere dot in the distance, headed due west into the setting sun.

The old man smiled sadly before turning around and making his way back to station house.

The Girl

If you know me at all, then you know that I am not a fan of zombies. I think the whole concept is seriously overused and just not that interesting. However, more recently I heard of a zombie movie that I thought I might actually like. It's called Train to Busan in case anyone is interested. Anyway, the general story is about a father trying to save his young daughter during a zombie apocalypse. Obviously there's more that happens, but that's kind of the bare bones of the plot. In reading about this movie, I suddenly thought, wouldn't it be terrifying if the kids were the zombies, not the adults. That's not an aspect that's been hugely explored, at least not as far as I'm aware; I'm not a zombie aficionado. And so the idea for this story was born. I think it's pretty clear that it's not complete, but I wanted to share what I have so far to see if people thought it was worth continuing and just get some general opinions. So please, read and comment, constructive criticism is very much appreciated as always.


It started with one child, a single child living in the countryside outside of Berlin. A smart, sweet child who suddenly disappeared. After days of frantic searching, she was found at last covered in dirt and mud and blood. Naturally her anxious parents rushed her to the hospital, but it was soon determined that there was nothing physically wrong with her. The blood was not her own. As the days passed, her parents came to realize that their sweet little girl was gone and in her place was a primitive, increasingly violent and terribly strong creature that began to attack anyone who came near. The doctors were utterly perplexed by her condition. Months passed with little progress in treating her. Their one discovery was that although she behaved primitively, she was almost disturbingly intelligent, certainly far beyond that of a normal eight year old. It was several more months before they began to notice that the girl was not hostile towards the other children on the floor when they passed by her window. If any adult passed by too closely, she would violently attack the window, smashing at it with her fists, her eyes wild. But when a child passed by, she simply watched them intently, almost longingly, sometimes even reaching out to them. The doctors decided to perform an experiment of sorts. The children on that floor had long been given up on by their parents and other family members and accidents did happen from time to time. If anything went wrong, it could easily be covered up.

Divided: Prologue

Writing Prompt: As my story came to a close I realized that I was the villain all along.

I've always been intrigued by the idea of writing a book or short story focusing on the "villain" who really doesn't understand until they've lost everything that they were the villain. A villain who's very human, who truly believes they're doing the right thing for everyone involved. This is a very short portion of a story that I have semi-formed. So at the moment I'm asking for opinions. Should I continue and flesh it out, or just drop it?

The flames were getting closer. I shifted slightly in an effort to move away from the heat, stopping as a searing pain exploded in my chest. I could feel the blood pooling in my lungs, making it hard to breathe. At the same time I realized that I had no feeling in my legs. I gasped out a laugh at the irony of it all. The prophecy, that damn prophecy. It was the cause of all this. The laughter died on my lips as I stared up at the darkening sky. I tasted blood, my blood. No, it wasn't the prophecies fault, it was mine. Me thinking that I could stop it from happening and instead putting everything in motion. Me thinking that I was the hero destined to save everyone. But no, I was the villain. Tears slowly trickled down my cheeks. All I'd wanted to do was help, to be the hero for once. I was no hero, I was never meant to be one. I could feel the heat searing my skin. So this is how it will end, I thought, just like all the stories children love. The hero has vanquished the villain and everyone lives happily ever after. I closed my eyes for the last time and gave myself up to the flames.

A Penny for Grandpa

She looked up at the threatening skies as she exited the building.  It had rained earlier and though it had stopped for now, the skies were still a forbidding shade of dark gray.  She pulled her keys out of her pocket as she walked back to her car, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that there was no ticket or boot on it.  She'd parked in an area that was technically just for a specific shopping area but since she was running late and she was going right across the street and wasn't expecting to be there for very long, she'd taken the risk.  She fumbled with her keys, trying to find the right one.  Excitement and anticipation made her clumsy as her mind ran over the details of the audition, if you could even call it that.  She'd been the last person to arrive, showing up just a few minutes before 3.  The bonus of being the last person was that she'd been able to talk to several of the people who were helping with the casting as well as the woman who had taken her pictures.  With any luck she'd start getting calls for extra work in movies, tv shows, and commercials.  At least she hoped she would, as long as her weight didn't put them off like it always seemed to.  She slid into her car as she remonstrated herself; it was better to look at the positive side of things rather than the negative.