[x]

Little Green Dot: A Horror StoryI don't think I've ever wanted something so badly, yet been so terrified for my wish to be realized.

I suppose I should back up and explain.

She died one month ago today. I didn't know her as well as I would have liked, but then again that's what everyone says about someone who has passed away. I was friends with her on Facebook, but that doesn't exactly count for much. She liked my statuses about the curling championships, and I liked all of the photos she shared about family and her son's tattoo art.

One month ago today, my aunt died.

Her husband and children (they're my uncle and cousins, but like I said, we weren't all that close) hav

First BloodThe massive pyre that was once a port town brought on dawn at midnight.

It had taken us only hours to raid the ramshackle city. Two ships full of soldiers and fire tipped arrows lit the docks and slums, and two parties of soldiers came from land to kill the King's Men and take whatever they could carry, and round up the civilians caught in the chaos, all in the cover of night. Port Treemark would be only the start, however. Masrtan was paying the Blood Price for the murder of the Tsar.

I carried the Dagani banner with pride, though hearing the crackle of burning homes and muffled sobs of the townsfolk we had lined up outside the walls made

Into HellAdam could feel the old man staring through him, with one milky white eye that screamed a thousand warnings and one vibrant green that promised treasures untold. They both knew that Adam couldn't turn back, not after the long weeks of desperate searching that had alienated his friends and ruined his savings, but the offer was a ritual that the old man was bound to.
"It gets dangerous from here, lad. I'll understand if you've had your fill."
Adam didn't bother to reply, the old man was already opening the gate anyway. He was still a little surprised by how plain it was, but he didn't dare question the old man's guidance - not on these matter

Days of Infamy Throughout human history there have been days of great triumph and cause for joy. The day we walked on the moon, cured a disease or ended a terrible war. These days will be held in our memories with pride and admiration for what they meant about the power of the human spirit. However, history is not without its scars. There are those that will live in infamy. Times of plague, wars, acts of terrorism and brutality shock the world and threaten to destroy it. We can submit to the world or challenge it. For the distance between a day of tragedy and a day of victory can only be closed by what we choose to do. Make no mistake; we live in

The ArgumentIt was raining outside, something that fit the mood inside the apartment quite well. There was a moody atmosphere, something the usually optimistic Agnes didn't like. She was sitting on the big red couch in the living room, waiting for her girlfriend to come home from her pub-crawl.
Waiting for her to return at half past eight in the morning.
It wasn't the first time this happened either. Elaine had a habit of coming home in the morning, somewhere between three and six, and Agnes didn't like it if the time was closer to the latter. Especially since their agreement was that they would both always be home at three. Of course Agnes wasn't going

Syrup on My Weasels"Mom! Mom?"

I could hear my little boy calling from the kitchen. It was the whiny discontented voice that he always used at this time in the morning. I set down the drapes that I had been attempting to hang in the family room and stepped down off the tiny white ladder. With a heavy sigh, I ambled over to the archway leading into the kitchen and leaned against the wall so that just my head and one arm poked through the doorway.

"Yes, sweetie?" I crooned.

"There's weasels in my cereal."

I could see the edge of his bowl from where I was standing, and while a large number of cheerios seemed to have been poured onto the table when my five-year

The Witch and Her FamiliarThe witch and her familiar sat in the open field, hunkered low in a hollow in a desperate attempt to stave off the bitter cold of early winter winds. She wore a long black cloak fastened at her throat with a pin made from a raven's claw, and her dark tresses glistened with dew in the frosty moonlight.

"The moon is waxing," whispered Fox through chattering teeth. "Soon it will be time for you to go dancing."

The witch gazed at him briefly, hooded eyelids hiding her reaction from him. Each full moon brought a night of wandering and reveling with her sisters, and Fox complained bitterly when she returned to their bed with muddy feet in the mor

I Must Be Dreaming
{21 by the Dawn}

The young man yawns as though he is competing with the king of the jungle, and spreads his left arm out in search of her. After a few seconds of rustling through his soft, crimson sheets, he panics. Adrenaline rushes through him, his amber eyes open instantly, and he jumps up- only to see her sitting near the balcony basking in the sun's first morning rays. He breathes a sigh of relief.

Squinting, he waits until his eyes adjust to the brightness, before he realizes that moments like these only make him fall further and further into the unspoken love affair that he shares with her…

"Oh, god. Sh

Just Another Job [Prologue]He knelt in the grass, hiding in the shadows of the trees. His sword unsheathed, and archers to either side of him with arrows notched, Jaime tapped his shoulder. He turned around to face him, a boy no more than four and ten, he had yet to shed a man's blood. He wore a light cloak of red cloth and a leather jerkin with a dagger at his hip. "Shall I give the signal?" he asked in his boyish voice.

Barret faced forward. There was a fishing village nestled in an area lacking trees up against a giant lake that looked like it was burning as the noon's light bounced off the dancing waters. The putrid smell of fish hung in the air, and children play

The Path Less Traveled Dedicated to a dear friend of mine.

Day 365,000,000.

0 days left.

No more waiting.

Closing the Clockwork Journal, the dark knight rose from his bed. It was time to wake his princess. There was no other moment worth living for, but tonight. This was it. He had waited so long, but it's time.

The wooden door to his hut eased open and the cold-his cold- enveloped him once again.
Every twelve hours, this was his routine. His eyes snapped open-there was no in between sleep. No early morning grogginess. Just on, and off- then he left his home and made the long twelve-hour journey to the other side. Away from the darkness, the cold, and the

Not Just a Moonlight Tryst"Stop driving so fast." Laura commented mildly. She'd been bothering him about his driving since they were sixteen, so Damien didn't think much of it at the time.

They were doing nearly ninety on the moonlit roads in the northern reaches of Washington, slowing only occasionally to negotiate a difficult bend in the road. The tree-lined roadway was devoid of traffic, but that was no surprise at almost two in the morning.

"There's no cops. It'll be fine," he replied.

"It isn't cops I'm worried about."

"We've been making this drive most weekends for almost ten years now. You know I'm a good driver," he saw Laura nod out of the corner of his e

Black and Blue and Bright All OverPaper Towels, check.

Toilet paper, check.

Paper plates, check.

Melissa finished scanning her shopping list, confirming for perhaps the third time that she had found all the groceries that she needed. Or at least—all but one.

She had been putting it off. This was always the hardest part of the trip. She hated the shopping trip just before Independence Day. She hadn't used to, but she did now. It was harder without Jim. This was his thing, and without him here, picking up this one thing for him always tore her up inside. But she still did it every year. For him.

The basket clattered loudly as Melissa strolled toward the small refriger

Garbage: The Untold Fear of FruitIt sat there waiting patiently, as any piece of fruit does. Waiting to be picked.

Banana was keen to please the next person with a sweet, fruity urge, after seeing so many of its brethren go before it. Seeing the joy it brought to small children, adults, even those awkward teenagers who hate anything healthy – even they can't resist a banana for a quick energy boost or sugar fix. So convenient a snack are we! Pack us in your bag, we might get a little bashed, a touch bruised, but there's a thick skin there to protect our nutritious insides.

But despite all the smiles that Banana saw others bringing to the faces of the hungry, the expre

Dark Side Of IapetusI've been between the rings for a while now, repeating the same tasks every day. Refuel this ship, fix this engine or that one. One of the first pit stops to the stars was built here on Pandora, though it's grown out of style in recent years. The gas giants are no longer more interesting than the icy bodies in the far reaches of the solar system, and the rings of Saturn are no longer the most beautiful sight there is.

Apparently.

There's always talk about shutting down. Big ships headed to the next star over can't navigate through the ring system and other ships would rather just stop on Triton.&#

Ashes! Ashes! We All Fall Down.    Petr Novikov was dead before he hit the floor.

    Aleksey froze; he'd heard the bang, and for one heart-stopping moment he thought he'd been shot too. But he quickly realized the only thing that hit him was blood. Petr's blood. The slightly cloying smell of iron and salt met his nostrils before he even saw it.

    Cautiously, he crawled towards Petr, squinting through the dim light of the room. His stomach lurched as he took in the gaping hole in the dead man's forehead. The amount of red it released was unbelievable—some had even splattered onto t

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Submitted: October 10, 2011
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Failureby ~Balaria

Literature / Prose / Fiction / Science Fiction / Short Stories

Mature Content

My submission to the Hope and Despair Under Empire contest: [link]

Hope you find it enjoyable. Comments are welcome.

*** 01/11/2011 ***

Did some pretty significant changes to the text. Changed the title. All around better I think.

*** 23/01/2012 ***

So the contest has ended. My piece came in a tied fourth place

You can find the full winner list here: [link]

*** 02/09/2012 ***
Some minor edits for better readability.

love 1 1

~~joy 0 0~~

~~wow 0 0~~

~~mad 0 0~~

sad 1 1

~~fear 0 0~~

~~neutral 0 0~~

~ragnaice Oct 12, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Wow. I wasn't sure about the squids in beginning but you really made it unfunny. It was actually pretty depressing but intense and captivating too, had me on the edge of my seat.

~Balaria Oct 12, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

Thank you for the comment.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the story

~cristinewakesuphappy Sep 22, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

^{congratulations on your DLD!}

~Balaria Sep 22, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

Thank you

You might also enjoy one of my other stories, which got a DD the next day. Similar sort of dark story: [link]

~cristinewakesuphappy Sep 22, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

^{that's definitely worth checking out. congratulations for the DD!}

~cristinewakesuphappy Sep 22, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

^{i'll definitely check it out.}

=DailyLitDeviations Sep 17, 2012

Your wonderful literary work has been chosen to be featured by =DailyLitDeviations and has been selected as our "Pick of the Day". It is featured in a news article here: [link] and on our main page.

Be sure to check out the other artists featured and show your support by

ing the News Article. Keep writing and keep creating.

~Balaria Sep 17, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

Wow. Thank you so much for the feature

*DamonWakes Sep 4, 2012 Writer

Despite the fantastical situation, this is all pretty believable. The mention of the old National Geographics was what really made it for me, though I also liked how human the squids were.

I noticed a few errors in this that I suspect might have been introduced while editing (where one word doesn't quite agree with the next, etc.). If you fancy going over this one more time, it might be worth it: but wait a while first so you don't just read what you remember writing. Easily worthy of a mention for the contest though, I think.

*0hgravity Aug 27, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Interesting plot, the world felt fully-realized even though there was no extensive description of it (which is great). Great pace and the narrator was fun to follow.

The ending was desperately sad though.

I enjoyed reading nonetheless

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