Fiction
Proposals
by Aurora Panzica
“When I was a kid, the doctors gave me a deadline. I heard what they said to my parents when they thought I couldn’t hear. First, I wouldn’t make it to eight, then eleven, then fifteen.”
“You’re still alive though,” Jack pointed out.
He and Ash sat at the dining room table. On it sat a pale green vase with forget-me-nots, Ash’s favorite flower for reasons he never disclosed. It was something from his childhood, Jack knew.
There was one more thing on the table now, though: a little velvet box. It was small enough to fit in Jack’s palm, and Jack knew exactly what was inside. He had a similar box in his own pocket, after all, though his was purple rather than Ash’s blue.
Jack shifted his gaze to his love. His dark brown hair was tamer than usual, with no noticeable tangles at all. And his eyes, purple like the flowers in the vase, looked brighter than usual. The color was accented by the black eyeliner he wore. It was a rare sight to see Ash with makeup. He only dolled himself up for special occasions.
“Yeah,” Ash agreed. “But because of all that stuff, I fell into a bad crowd, and spent all that time high. I destroyed my life.”
“I remember,” Jack said. “I helped you clean up.”
Ash’s lips quirked. “You told me to go to rehab or you’d leave me to die alone. I was sick in a hospital bed, Jack.”
“I thought you were going to die,” Jack said. He forced a smile.
“So you threatened to abandon me.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
Ash sighed. “Wish I’d met you sooner.” Ash cleared his throat and nudged the box toward Jack. “I know better than to think I’ll live ‘until we’re gray and old,’ as you humans like to put it. But, while I’m still here, I want to stay with you. I want to be by your side. And I can promise you that I won’t ever relapse again, and I won’t keep any secrets. I swear to the gods.”
Jack’s heart fluttered and his breaths quickened, but he forced down the grin trying to form and nudged the box back toward his love. “None of that, Ash. I’m not accepting it unless you get on one knee and propose to me properly.”
Ash’s flush spread from his neck all the way to the tips of his ears. He stood quickly and rounded the table before grabbing the box and dropping clumsily to one knee at Jack’s side. He jerked the box open and exposed the silver band within. A glistening zultanite was set right in the center. It was small but noticeable. The light reflecting off it made it look like it was changing colors.
This time, no matter how hard Jack tried, he couldn’t fight the grin on his lips.
“Jack, will you… marry me?”
Ash started out firmly, but with every new word, his strength decreased exponentially, until his final two were hardly louder than a breath.
“Yes,” Jack whispered. He couldn’t recall ever being happier than he was now, in this very moment, as the love of his life slid that zultanite ring onto his finger.
“I was worried,” Ash commented as he leaned back. His eyes were fixed on the ring.
Jack’s eyebrows rose. “You were? Why?”
“I just thought- I got it in my head that-” Ash paused and drew a breath before starting again. “Relationships with people like me tend not to work. I’ve been getting sicker recently, having more episodes. I’ll need to start taking meds again very soon, and I’ll depend on you. You’ll be under so much more stress.” He faltered. “Have you thought about this?”
Jack hesitated. He didn’t fight with his parents much. They’d done more for him than anyone in his life, and he loved them dearly. However, since he met Ash, their fights had grown more serious and occurred more often. They also revolved almost exclusively around the issues Ash was bringing up now.
“I have,” Jack admitted. “And I’ve had a lot of indecision about it. You know me, Ash. You know how I do things, how decisive I am.”
“Yeah.” Ash’s lips twitched upward. “Works great on date night.”
Jack snorted before he could stop himself. He took several deep breaths to calm the racing of his heart before he spoke again. “When I saw you have an episode for the first time, I was terrified, more so than I ever was before. You just crumbled right in front of me. I couldn’t wake you up. And when I took you to the hospital and learned how sick you really were…”
“I told them not to tell you,” Ash mumbled. “I didn’t want to worry you.”
Jack gave Ash a hard look. “My best friend’s girlfriend died, Ash. She was seventeen, only five years younger than you are now. She had the same diagnosis, and she died. This is terminal. Not ‘if’ but ‘when’. What if you came in one day and I was dead on the floor? Apparently I was sick for the last two decades of my life and I decided not to tell you, my partner. How would you react?”
Ash lowered his head. “I didn’t think about that.”
“Ash, I’m not saying this to hurt you. I just want you to see it from my side. I worry every time you have an episode. I wonder if you may fall one day, and you won’t get back up again. That horrifies me. The idea that I could be out working one day while you-” His voice choked and he drew in a sharp breath.
“But I realized that despite my fear, I still want to be with you. I want to be able to love you, make memories with you, and make your last years happy.” Jack reached down and drew out the box in his pocket. “This might be a little selfish, but I’ve been holding this ring for the last two months, stalling and trying to find a good time, and I’m not letting this go to waste.”
Ash’s eyes widened and he coughed into his hand.
Jack noticed the little details, like how he kept his hand up, pressed it to his cheek, and failed to hide the blush that crept across his face.
“You wanted to propose?” Ash croaked.
Jack grinned and chose not to mention Ash’s display, for now. “Does that surprise you much?”
Ash huffed. “No, not really.” He cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders. “So, you want to propose to me? Go on, then.”
Jack bit back a laugh at Ash’s bravado. “It’ll sound short because I already said half of it.” He breathed in and out, slow and deep, to calm the rapid pace of his heart. “When I first saw you, I was bewildered. You were an odd sight. Five feet tall, carrying a basket of baked goods nearly half your height. You gave me the basket as if I could eat even a quarter of it on my own.”
“I forgot humans don’t eat as much as shifters,” Ash muttered.
As a puma shifter, Ash’s anatomy was different from Jack’s, as was his need to eat twice his weight on a regular basis. While most people might have been alarmed, Jack recognized his father’s appetites.
“You were secretly hoping I’d ask you to stay.”
“Just a little.”
Jack remembered the day they met like it was yesterday. “We sat in the YA section, surrounded by books I hadn't put away yet. You ate more than half the food in the basket.”
“I was hungry.”
Jack didn’t try to hide his smile. “And after that impromptu first date, you tried to leave without even telling me your name.”
“I got nervous.”
“I dragged you back to me, got your name, and, gods, you made the prettiest sound when I kissed you.”
“You surprised me.”
Ash’s eyes were fixed on him, and when Jack knelt and opened the box, Ash tracked his movements with the predatory stare of a feline.
It was a small ring, made of silver with an inscription inside, a secret phrase only the two of them would ever need to know. It didn’t look like a normal engagement ring would, with eye-catching gems of various colors and sizes, but Ash never cared much for material goods, and Jack knew that. As with most shifters, it was the gesture that mattered most.
Jack stared at the ring and felt a sudden, inexplicable bout of nervousness. Ash already proposed. In fact, he proposed first. Why wouldn’t he accept? Yet as Jack examined the ring, caught a glimpse of the words inside, he couldn’t help but feel inadequate. The ring wasn’t enough, or maybe he should’ve waited to propose, or maybe he just shouldn’t have proposed at all.
Jack realized he was spiraling and took a steadying breath. He pushed all the negative thoughts to the back of his mind and forced out the words that had been stuck in his throat since he picked up the ring from the jeweler. “Ash, will you give me the honor of calling you my husband?”
With every second of silence that followed, Jack’s heartbeat that much harder. Finally, after way too much time, Ash let out a sharp breath and nodded rapidly. Jack let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as Ash held out his hand.
“You left me hanging on purpose,” Jack accused as he slid the ring onto Ash’s finger.
“I did not,” Ash replied as he sank to the floor in front of Jack. “Mostly.”
“Mostly,” Jack echoed. Before he knew it, he was laughing.
Ash smiled. “You’re very good with your words, Jack.”
Jack calmed and looked down at where his fingers were entwined with Ash’s. “I mean, I do pride myself on my ability to tell stories, don’t I?”
Implication
by Aurora Panzica
Children’s laughter filled the air as they jumped in the bounce house and ran back and forth between tables of food and games set up at intervals. Men and women were interspersed through the backyard and around the tables. Two of them stood apart from the rest, just outside the glass door leading into the kitchen, beneath a large banner that read ‘Happy Birthday Jake!’.
“When are we going to tell them, Ian?” the woman asked.
“Tell them?” the man echoed. “Tell them what?”
“You know.”
“I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t.”
He looked at the nearest game, where kids attempted to throw bean bags into the hole in the board in order to win candy. A boy complained as a girl’s bag soared through the hole, whereas his bag hit the board and landed in the grass.
“Ian,” the woman snapped.
“Kathy, I don’t know what you want me to say,” he replied without facing her.
“The kids asked me where you’ve been all day. I told them you were working.”
He turned to her. “I was working.”
Kathy raised her head. “Emma had a nightmare a few nights ago. She came into my room. She saw. She knows.”
“Daddy!”
A little boy parted from the rest of the kids and ran to Ian and Kathy. Ian knelt and caught the child in his arms.
“Hey, Jakey. How’s your birthday been so far?” Ian asked.
Jake withdrew from the hug. “It’s good, Daddy. All my friends are here!” He stuck out his lip in a pout. “It would’ve been better with you though.”
“I’m here now,” Ian said. “Have you opened your presents yet?”
“Nope!” Jake bounced on the balls of his feet. “Mommy said to wait until after the cake.”
“You must’ve been waiting forever,” Ian sympathized. Jack nodded along with his words. “How about you go find Grandma and ask her to get the cake ready?”
“Okay!” Jake bared all his teeth in a grin and ran into the house.
“I told you about Emma’s nightmare, right?” Kathy questioned.
“Yup.”
“She knows.”
“She’s ten,” Ian muttered. “What does she know?”
Kathy growled under her breath. “She knows Daddy never came to bed that night. That’s what she knows.”
“What’d you tell her?”
“That you were working.” She sighed. “But that excuse won’t last forever.”
The door opened and Jake came out with an older girl.
“Grandma needs help finding the candles,” the girl said.
“Alright,” Ian said. “You two go play while I help her.”
Jake grinned and ran off. The girl didn’t follow.
“What are you guys talking about?” she asked.
Ian bent at the waist and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “S-E-X.”
The girl’s face turned bright red. “Eww!”
Ian stood. “Go play with your brother.”
Emma stuck her tongue out at him, then ran after Jake.
“Ian, I need to talk to you,” Kathy said after Emma was out of earshot.
“I need to help with the cake,” he replied, turning toward the door.
“Fine.” She adjusted her glasses. “Next time, I’ll just tell them ‘Daddy isn’t-’”
He spun to face her. “Don’t. Don’t pin this on me. You did it too. You did it first. Don’t you remember?”
“Of course, I remember!” She stiffened and took a deep breath as several heads turned their way. “Ian, talk to me.”
“I need to help my mom find the candles.”
He turned and slipped inside. She followed at his heels.
Ian’s mom was sifting through a drawer full of paper when they found her. She looked up at their approach. “Ian, I can’t find the candles.”
“I’ve got it, Mom.” He nudged her aside and shut the drawer. “Kathy, dear, where’d you leave the candles?”
“Under the microwave,” Kathy quipped.
Ian took out the candles and lighter and set them on the counter. “Eight candles, Mom.”
“Plus one for good luck,” the older woman replied.
Kathy grabbed his arm and steered him down the hallway to the master bedroom without waiting for him to respond.
“You kids have fun!” Ian’s mom called at their backs.
Kathy ushered him into the room and shut the door behind them. “Finally, I have you alone.”
Ian smirked. “Isn’t this scandalous.”
Kathy scowled at him. “Quit joking, Ian. We can’t keep dragging this on.”
“Dragging what-”
“I am sick of your stalling!” she exclaimed. “Be a man and face it. Own up to what you’ve done.”
He let out a manic laugh. “And I am sick of your hypocrisy! What I’ve done? You did it first, Kathy.”
“I stopped, Ian. I tried to fix it. Can you say the same?
“The damage was already done. There was nothing left to fix.”
“So this is revenge now? You’re doing it to spite me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You implied it.”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“It never is, is it?”
“Now whose tone is implying?”
“This isn’t working.”
“What gives you that idea?”
Kathy huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Ian, we need to tell the kids. For real. We’ll sit them down. Say, ‘Mommy and Daddy are-’”
A knock came to the door beside them. They exchanged a glance and a sigh. Ian stood to the side as Kathy went to the door.
On the other side, Jake bounced on the balls of his feet. He grinned widely. “Grandma’s ready with the cake!”
“Okay, honey,” Kathy said. “Daddy and I will be right out.”
Jake threw his hands into the air and let loose a wild whoop before barreling down the hallway.
“Tomorrow,” Ian murmured as the sound of Jake’s footsteps became distant, then inaudible. “Let them have today and we’ll tell them tomorrow.”
Tall tails
by Cassie Ursich
The sun set over the hill as Neil crawled into his bed. He was about to close his eyes when he heard a soft knock on the door. Neil’s grandfather gave a soft smile to the boy as he walked into the room.
“Hey kiddo, all ready for bed?” Grandpa chuckled as he took a seat on the edge bed. Neil nodded, the dinosaur covers up to his shoulders.
“I know your parents don’t like me keepin’ you up, but how about a story? Just a quick one before you hit the hay,” Grandpa asked as he adjusted the pair of glasses on his face.
“Yes please, the one about grandma.” Neil’s quiet voice said.
“Now let’s see here, a story about grandma Ann.” Grandpa paused for a moment as he tapped his chin.”
“I’ve got it, this one’s a little cheesy, ok?” Neil nodded silently, waiting patiently for the story to begin.
“I was just a young chap at the time. New recruit in the marines, enrolled straight after high school. I can remember the day perfectly. The boys and I had been worked to the bone that morning, so we were looking for a nice place to get a few drinks and relax. We found a little bar not too far from the base. The second I walked in the door my eyes were on her. The bartender that is. She was a tiny woman, no taller than 5’4”.
She had the most gorgeous green eyes that sparkled like emeralds. Her smile lit up the whole room, I swear on it. I just had to talk to her, and that I did. Talked for hours, maybe the whole night. Time didn’t seem to matter when we were in that room. We talked about jobs, family, pets, friends, anything and everything. I didn’t even realize she kept the place open a good hour longer just to talk to me. My buds had long gone back to base, but I guess I just didn’t notice. The last thing I asked was her name and number. Till then I completely forgot to ask, it felt like she knew me longer than I knew myself.
‘Annabella, but you can call me Ann.’ That’s what she said. Then she slid me a piece of paper with her phone number on it.
When I went back to base I got an earful from my Sargent, even had to scrub the cafeteria floor the next day. I couldn’t have cared less though, all that I cared about was that number.”
Grandpa let out a small sigh as he thought for a moment.
“I held on to that paper, till we buried her. I thought she’d like that little piece of our history.” Grandpa wiped a small tear from his cheek.
Neil placed his small hand on his grandfather's hand as a sign of comfort.
“Thanks kiddo, you’re just as sweet as she was.” Grandpa said with a tired smile, but it never fell from his face.
“Richard,” called a voice from the hall.
The two looked over toward the doorway, knowing that their time was up.
Grandpa stood up, tucking in Neil for bed.
“I’ll let you get some shut eye. Gooodnight, Neil.”
“Night, grandpa.” Was the last thing Neil said before drifting off to sleep.
Boulders and Bobs
by Cassie Ursich
I’m a hard working man. I’ve put in the time; I’ve put food on the table. I took over the household when dad died. I got my little sister through college. I dropped out my sophomore year just to work to support the family. I let the love of my life go. The string that once connected us, cut.
I rolled my boulder up Mount Everest to the yard of stones. I thought about everyone, but myself. This cannot be my peak. The sun shines bright over my sister, the rays clash against her black dress. A single tear falls from her dreary face.
I attempt to call out to her trying to rest a gentle hand upon her shoulder. “Alison. Alison, I'm here!”
My call falls short as it hits the barrier between reality and fantasy, I can no longer feel the life from my sister that I once felt before.
I feel a cold tap on my shoulder. A woman dressed in a long black gown with pale skin stands behind me. A dark halo covers the eyes of the woman so that only a friendly smile can be seen. Yet she’s too far out of reach to come any closer, and show her full figure.
“Anthony,” she beckons me forth. Her amber coated lips speak my name with a calm grace I cannot comprehend.
I began to feel myself moving towards her, as if I’ve known her all along.
The sound of my heartbeat echoes through the void, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. I stand in front of the truth I’ve known.
Her arms extend around me before I can react. Her embrace is warm, calling to something in my chest.
“It’s ok, Anthony.” She whispers.
I cry in her arms. I cry. Every tear that I’ve been told to hold slips from my grasp.
The mortician's dance
by Justin Schumacher
There he was my father sitting in his favorite black, leather chair. I walked right up to him with a big smile as I bent over giving him a hug. He looked at me with his misty, gray eyes, “There’s my favorite boy.”
I gave my father a small smile as I held back the tears that started to form. It was hard seeing him like this, and after just losing my best friend; my wife. “I can’t believe I lost her dad. She was my best friend.”
My dad lifted up his right hand placing it on top of mine as he looked longingly to the side as if he was recalling his favorite memories. “I had a best friend once. His name was Scout, he was always with me. Through thick and thin,” a small chuckle escaped his lips.
I sat down onto the ground as I looked up at him with beady eyes as if I was a little kid again, listening to one of his old stories. My father cleared his throat as he continued his story.
“We first got Scout at the pound, it was no place for a loving German Shepherd like him to stay. I was only 14 at the time and he just turned 1, and I didn’t have many friends around that age. I would get bullied and picked on at school by the other kids in my grade, I was considered an outcast. Scout was my safety blanket. He was always there for me when I needed him. When I’d come home crying from school because the kids at lunch would throw mashed potatoes in my face. Scout would be there waiting for me with his favorite chew toy in his mouth, and when he saw me his whole face would light up. I was his world and he was mine.
During the weekends we would go on walks together around the neighborhood, and when we reached the dog park I would take him off his leash and throw around his favorite tennis ball. We would play fetch for hours until the street lights turned on. When I was with Scout I was the happiest I ever was.
A few years passed, and this is around the time your old man was turning 17 and that was when I met your mother. Oh how gorgeous she was when I first saw her. Her voice was like music to my ears, as she spoke. The teacher assigned us as partners for a fruit battery project. Your mother definitely had all the brains when it came to chemistry, I knew nothing. I invited her over to my place so we could work on the project together, and that’s when she met Scout and where I can truly say I fell in love with her. Scout loved her and she loved Scout. As we worked on the project we talked the day away and took breaks to hangout with Scout too. He was definitely my wingman and helped me get your mother to date me.
Your mother and I went on many dates after that and I still hung out with my best friend, sometimes even brought him along on the dates but that was your mother’s doing. I still believe she loved him more than me.”
I smiled at my father as I listened to his story as the memories of me and wife flooded through my mind. The good and the bad. I would be lying if I didn’t say I missed her. My father continued on;
“When I turned 19 my mother became very ill and was diagnosed with cancer. It was the hardest 5 months of my life, I shut everyone out including your mother. I even pushed away Scout, which I regret the most. I didn’t let anyone in no matter how hard they tried. I would visit my mother everyday until she took her last breath. I remember it as if it were yesterday; I sat in the hospital room as she laid in the bed with all sorts of wires connected to her. It looked as if they were running experiments on her and everything they tried to cure her with was only worsening it. I updated her about my life as she laid there silently until the clock struck midnight and all I heard was the sound of her heart monitor flat lining. I rushed out the door screaming for a doctor, but it was too late she was already gone. That was the first time I experienced the hurt of death’s touch.
Throughout the couple of months I was a wreck, but luckily I had Scout by my side. I would cry with him, talk to him as if he were a person. He was always there for me, and I couldn’t thank him enough for helping me through that tough time in my life.
It was only 4 months after my mother had passed away, me and Scout were on one of our usual walks. When we got to the park I took him off his leash and we played fetch like the good old days, but I must have thrown the ball too far. It rolled into the streets and my poor boy chased after it. He didn’t see the car coming, but I did.”
Tears rolled down my father’s face as he finished his story. I quickly stood up wrapping my arms around him. Tears flooded my eyes as we held each other in our arms. “Death is truly a force to not upset, because he will always take away the people you love.”
The Little Things
by Justin Schumacher
Horns blared from car to car as voices shouted from the nearby streets. The streetlights illuminated the cold night as the busy city was loud like fireworks. At the 11 story apartment building on Madison Avenue lived two best friends up on the 4th floor in the 10th room. While the noisy city was awake, a tall male with dark blonde hair was just getting home from a busy day at work.
The jingling of a key alerted Jack as he looked beyond the couch at the front door of the apartment.
“I’m home,” Kyle said as he entered the apartment and grabbed a coat hanger to hang up his coat.
“How was work?” the male on the couch asked.
“It was alright. Jack, did you go shopping like I asked?”
Jack looked up at Kyle from behind the couch before getting up and walking into the kitchen, “Sorry Kyle, I didn’t get to it.”
“This is the third time this week! At this rate, we’re going to be starving to death before you go to the store,” Kyle said glaring at Jack as he opened up the fridge to see the small amount of food they had.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t expect me to do everything around here!”
“Expect you to do everything! Are you crazy? You are the laziest roommate I’ve ever had.” Kyle exclaimed.
Jack walked over to the kitchen island as a beautiful rose laid in the center going unnoticed. He reached out his hand and softly caressed the petals of the single rose as a small sigh escaped his lips, “Well at least I notice little things around here!”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kyle said as he closed the fridge door holding onto a cheese stick and taking a bite.
Jack looked away as he leaned back against the counter trying to avoid eye contact with Kyle.
“You never notice the smallest details, and all the things I do for you.” Jack said, still looking away.
Kyle looked across the island noticing the rose, “That is not true Jack, I notice the small things as well but maybe all they are is small.”
Jack stood up straight from his leaning position on the counter and crossed his arms upon his chest as he turned to face Kyle, “Well maybe they aren’t just small things to me, maybe they mean more to me than just ‘small things’.”
“Oh I see,” Kyle said as he slipped his warm hands into his jean pockets.
“But that doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Why doesn’t it?”
“Because no matter how small the detail is, you wouldn’t care.” Jack objected.
“And why wouldn’t I care?”
“Because why would you? It would be new for you, and you don’t like change.”
“Not all change is bad,” Kyle said.
“Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
Jack walked back into the living room leaving Kyle alone in the kitchen. The TV flicked on as the Cartoon Network came onto the screen. Kyle walked over to the couch that Jack was sitting on before placing a gentle hand upon Jack’s shoulder. “Listen maybe I don’t see all the small details, but the ones that matter I do. Trust me on that one, and when I said not all change is bad I did mean that.”
Jack looked up at Kyle and then over to the rose that still laid on the kitchen island as he pushed himself away from Jack, “But it would never work out.”
“Why would you say that?”
Jack got up from the couch walking over to his bedroom door as he looked up at the clock to see what time it was, “Because the universe says so Kyle.”
“But we can make it work.”
“But we can’t.”
“We can try!”
“We can’t..”
Jack opened up the door to his bedroom getting ready to walk into his room before stopping in the entryway, “It’s just not meant to be in the long run.”
“But it could.”
Jack turned around giving Kyle a soft smile, “Goodnight Kyle.”
Subject 243
by Katelyn Menck
Under the buzz of the dim light lay a small mouse. Just eight months old he shriveled his body against the unforgiving metal that shook him. The door from across the room unlocked and opened. Subject 243 felt his fear scratch and crawl up his spine.
“We have three tests to complete today, Doctor Bryan. Each one of them is for Calvin Klein.” Announced an assistant. The lab scientist rarely pays attention to his peers as if he stayed in his own world. He preferred to separate himself from his work.
“Prepare six mice. We will be testing their fabric dye.” Muttered Doctor Bryan. Carefully he slid his cold hands into bright blue surgeon gloves. His assistant gently picked up and carried Subject 243 to a small white box on a stainless steel table. Beside the box resided multiple surgeon tools and a brown pair of electric clippers.
“Easy there,” spoke the assistant softly. “We wouldn’t want you to get hurt.” The mouse could barely hear nor understand the woman talking to him. It sounded like groans of foreign speech he never could comprehend. No comfort was found in her words. By this time the scientist had been slowly gliding the blade up Subject 243’s spine. Blood surged through the mouse’s body. High pitched screeching filled the room enough to make someone go deaf.
“Hand me the fluid.” Said Doctor Bryan in a demanding but calm tone. The assistant nodded and briefly left the area of the room to gather what he had asked for. In the few moments that the doctor was left isolated with the test subject he lightly traced over where he had made the previous cuts to the subject's fur. A complicated expression was painted on his face. Before he could marinate enough in his own choices the assistant was back at the table. She had a syringe on a neat metal tray with a sort of paper on the bottom. The liquid contained in the syringe was an ominous gray color.
“Perfect.” The scientist said with a deep sigh. The needle was placed carefully near the arch of the mouse’s back; trembling with fear so hard it was difficult for the scientist to keep the needle straight. The fluid was dispersed on the subject's sensitive pink skin and immediately something had smelt as if it were burning. A curdling screech came from the small white box however both the scientist and the assistant had mute expressions. The entire shaved area was burning red with bumps forming on the top of the skin.
“Variable inconsistent, unusable.” The scientist mumbled as he wrote down the results of his test.
“Bring six more subjects in we have to test again. They’ve been difficult with receiving new synthetics.” The assistant nodded and headed out of the room to complete what he had asked. The scientist had been very aware of the fact that the mouse was already beginning to slip away. However it didn’t phase him anymore. He believed that in order to improve the world we all had to make sacrifices. In this case though the improvement was a new dye used for underwear. The cold basket comforted Subject 243 as he pushed the final breath from his body. In his little mind rang words he couldn’t ever say.
“Please, let death be kinder than man.”
Mind melding
by Sage-Elizabeth Questore
Nora walked into the bathroom where Jason waited as she yelled across the house to his sister.
“Kim, are we out of tissues? Kim?” Nora called.
“What?” Kim proclaimed, walking in. “Are you kidding?”
“Yes and no. You know I have my days,” Nora remarked. “So, no tissues?”
“Why do we need tissues?”
“Your stupid brother Jason over there got another bloody lip,” Nora stated.
From his perch on the toilet seat, Jason sulked. “I’m not to blame for this. Why don’t you have tissues? You should have multiple packs in every room.”
As they looked over to Jason, they left him and ran out the door, exclaiming “Shut it!” over their shoulders.
“Where are you going?” Nora asked as Kim went to the door and put on her shoes.
“I’m running to the store,” Kim replied as she looked back at Nora.
“You can’t possibly ask me to stay in the same house as your brother,” Nora remarked. “Why wouldn’t I wanna leave after he just fell down the stairs? How about, you stay with him and I’ll go to the store.”
“No, you stay,” Kim protested. “I have a list of things to pick up anyway.”
“But if I stay, I feel like I’ll do something stupid,” Nora mumbled.
Kim winked. “You feel like you’ll do something stupid and my brother has stupid ideas. You have that in common then.”
Nora followed her to the car and watched as she drove away.
“Walking back into the house is probably the worst thing I can do right now,” Nora muttered under her breath. “I’ve always had a problem with Jason. He’s clumsy and acts like a cute idiot.”
On the other side of the front door, Jason stood holding a blood-stained towel to his face. “Cute?” he whispered. “She thinks I’m cute?”
“Huh?” he pondered as he opened the door. “Nora, how am I cute? I am not cute.”
“I’m sorry, but you totally are a cutie. And you made me jump!”
“Really? You literally laughed when I fell down the stairs! And falling down the stairs hurts more than jumping.”
Nora walked past him, back into the house. She smirked as her shoulder touched his.
“You can’t avoid me now,” he teased.
“Oh, but I can.” Nora stuck her tongue out at him over her shoulder.
“Kim texted me that she’ll be back in half an hour,” Jason told her. “How about we spend that time going over all the reasons you won’t want to avoid me.”
As she watched him walk past her, she felt a spark before she found herself following him deeper into the house.
