Category: fiction

Captain Apathy

smackyjackjackLeave a comment

Captain Apathy was in his Lair of Indifference when the apathy meter went in to overdrive.

“Good lord!” The Captain said as he read the meter.  “The museum is on fire! I’m going to make myself a sandwich.”

After Captain Apathy ate his sandwich he took a lackadaisical stroll down to the museum.

“Captain Apathy!” The museum curator said. “Where have you been?! The museum is almost gone!!”

“Meh.” Grunted the Captain.

“Well, are you going to do anything to save what’s left?” The curator said.

“I mean…I could.”

“Well would you?!”

“Ughhhhhhhhh, FINE.”

Captain Apathy slowly walked towards the almost burnt down museum.

“Hurry up Captain!! Try to save the Picassos!” The curator turned to his assistant. “Dammit, why couldn’t this town have gotten a normal superhero?”

Captain Apathy stumbled through the flames into the lobby of the Museum. He looked at the map to see how to get to the art wing, but saw directions to the food wing instead.

“Ooh! Food wing!”

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The Outbreak

displacedlocalLeave a comment

Subject 0 noticed his first symptom on November 5, 2012, A pinching feeling in the area of the brain stem. He thought nothing of it, this was his first mistake.

He was a large man who looks as though he had given up; the people of the town he lived in, Romero, referred to him as “genetic garbage.” An ironic nickname for the person who would be the downfall of that community.

His fever progressed quickly. It didn’t help that he was a cook at the most famous restaurant in town. Every cough, every sneeze spread the disease. It spread like wildfire. 90% of the people in town had gotten the bug when it became active.

It was like the collective life force of every person in town just decided to walk out. A soul on strike.

For 3 hours and 6 minutes they were proclaimed dead. After that point a sudden electrical pulse went through their inner brain and the brain stem. They were “alive” again. The survivors of the initial infection went out to embrace family members only to be surrounded and devoured alive.

Piece by piece, bit by bit they were ripped apart. It was gruesome and sickening.

As a doctor I was in the epicenter of the danger. I had subject 0 in my operating room at the time, cut open and currently being autopsied. when his eyes opened I jolted backwards nearly cutting myself with a scalpel.

He started pulling himself up, his entrails sliding out of his recently opened stomach. I stood there, awestruck at the giant man whose heart was still beating through his bare ribcage. He charged at me dragging his organs behind him. I took my scalpel and dug it into the right eye of the brutish beast.

He fell immediately as his brain was no longer functioning.

I heard a scream from the hallway.

I decided it was time to leave the hospital.

I exited out the only window in the room and managed to make it to a store nearby.

I fortified my little shelter with boards on the windows and building up what food stores I had in the convenience store I decided to stay in. There was a ladder to the top of the store and I decided that it would be a good idea to check it out.

I pulled myself over the top of the ladder and looked out over the town.

I was shocked. There were mobs of the zombies in the street, people were screaming across town, and the military had set up a barricade on the major street out of town.

I decided to get some sleep after a long day.

On day 2 I had a… rude awakening. There was a crash of glass at the front of the store as a huge hoard of zombies crashed in the front door. They were upon me nearly immediately. I ran for the back door as the filthy monsters shambled directly behind me.

I grabbed the door handle and gave it a firm twist.

A feeling of dread moved through my entire body as the handle refused to move. I stepped back and dove towards the door.

As I was charging at the door, it swung wide open. I fell flat on my face and saw a small blond woman laughing at me, slicing the head of the next zombie with the katana by her side.

“Hey dummy! get up and do something will you!” she yelled.

I jumped to my feet and she yelled “follow me!”

We ran through the alley to a small door in a wall.

I asked her who she was.

“I’m the person who is going to get you out of here, I am a journalist that is a master in 10 different types of martial art. I saw you on the roof of that store when I flew over in my helicopter.”

“I would have settled for a name,” I said.
“I’m Senior Aria Ellett editor-in-chief of On The Hill newspaper and you are going to have to follow me.”

She led me down a dark hallway to a set of stairs and we climbed up them.

She opened the door at the top of the stairs to a helicopter.

She said “Get in we don’t have much time.”

I hopped in and she started it up.

I now noticed the military personnel crowding the building. One of the soldiers fired a heat-seeking missile at our helicopter. It was speeding towards our helicopter. It would kill both of us it it collided with us. While it approached she fired a signal flare out the side and diverted the missile.

We were now out of range.

We had escaped.

But I couldn’t get rid of this slight pinching in my head.

Rebecca’s Outlook

Daphne Psaledakis1 Comment

(The following is a work of fiction)

I walk into my third-grade classroom with my head down, my eyes purposely averting the stares of my fellow classmates. I sit down in the back, alone, as usual. My classmates began avoiding me long ago, and truthfully I am thankful for it.

The teacher comes into the room, a bright smile on her face. She’s young, and this is only her third year teaching. As she begins the lesson, she glances to me. I notice the moment of hesitation in her voice as he takes in my bruised eye, before she continues on with what she was saying before.

This isn’t the first time I have come to school bruised, and I know that at recess I’ll be pulled aside and asked what has happened. I’ll give the usual answer, “I ran into something,” or “I tripped.” But the excuse barely worked the last time, and I know that this time it will be harder to cover for Daddy.

As I suspected, I am pulled from the bench where I sit and eat, and taken to the principal’s office. When I walk in I notice the young lady sitting across from Mrs. Wilkon, easily making small talk.

The next hour goes as I suspected, with the young social worker asking me questions about my dad and what it’s like at home, with Mrs. Wilkon looking on.

By the end of it, I’m not so confident that they won’t be taking Daddy away from me this time. I consider this as I make my way home after school, retreating immediately to my bedroom upon walking in the door. That way Daddy doesn’t know I’m home, and can’t blame me for anything.

I go to school the next morning as usual, and the day after that as well. I’ve begun to relax, having not heard anything of the events a few days before. Then a week after everything has happened, I am once again called into Mrs. Wilkons office.

The social worker is there once again, and she explains to me in a calm voice that I am being moved to a foster family who lives nearby. She takes me home, and waits patiently while I pack my few belongings.

Daddy isn’t home, and she explains to me that he won’t be coming back for a very long time. I”m not very sad about it. We lost Mommy to cancer years ago, and since then Daddy hasn’t been the same. But now it’s just me, Rebecca, who’s still here.

It doesn’t take very long to get to the foster family’s house, and once we’re there I’m lead inside and introduced to my new parents and siblings. They show me the house, and finally my room, leaving me to unpack and settle in. They have a nice house, and seem like a nice family.

I don’t think I mind them too much.

It takes me a while to adjust to my new life, and especially to stop being so nervous all the time. My new family is nice, and they explained to me that they would never hit me like Daddy did if anything went wrong. I even find myself relaxing.

And I think to myself, I could get used to this.

Bedtime Story

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

Once upon a time, there was a little Koi fish named Paz. He lived with his friends and family, in a giant school. The school of fish had made it’s home in Brazil years before, and that was where Paz had lived his entire life.

His family loved him, and did their best to give him everything that he wished for. Very quickly, Paz’s friends started to become jealous of him, and didn’t spend time with him anymore.

As the weeks passed, his friends not only didn’t spend time with him anymore, but they made fun of him as well. Poor Paz would be swimming by, minding his own business, when all of a sudden he would hear giggles from the Koi his age.

Paz was so upset, he would spend hours in his room crying, wondering what he had done wrong. He could not imagine why having things given to him by his parents had been twisted into such a bad thing. He had not rubbed the presents in his friends faces, or bragged every time he got a new one. No, Paz had been respectful, always offering to share.

Eventually, Paz became so upset that he saw no other option but to leave his school. He brought nothing with him, leaving all his beloved presents behind. Paz had no idea where he was going, or when he would return. He only knew that he could stay no longer.

For years, Paz went from place to place. He saw the shores of Africa, Japan, France, and Canada.

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Family Guy/Seth MacFarlane

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

For years this cartoon has been enchanting the homes of those young and old.

This show first aired on January 31, 1999.

File:Family Guy Logo.svg

I feel like I have watched this show since birth, and while this is not true, I have seen every episode, all 190 of them.

When this show first aired I was two and a half years old, so i don’t think it was exactly appropriate for me to watch it at that age.

Family guy is a hilarious adult cartoon created by the wonderful mind of Seth Macfarlane.

Family Guy may be MacFarlane’s most famous piece, but he has done many other shows such as “American Dad!” and the “Cleveland Show“.

He has is also a fantastic vocalist, and just recently put out is first feature length film, “Ted“.

Here MacFarlane can be heard doing the voice of Ted.

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Five seconds

displacedlocalLeave a comment

One
Your heart pulses
Your muscles prepare for the explosion of force that explodes from your muscles.
You take a breath in
Your mind does a quick recap of your preparations
Your body is ready
Two
A huge push
A signal from your brain reaches the muscles in your legs
The muscles expand throwing you off the ledge
The tendons in your knees expand and contract
Gravity is no longer a boundary
Your brain works tirelessly sharpening the senses
Three
The brisk air flies by your face
you feel weightless
Gravity again grips at your feet
Your brain again fears the earth and prepares itself for impact
Your legs reach out for land
The ledge comes into sight
You close your eyes for the last moment of bliss
Four
Contact
Your muscles absorb the shock
You roll from the balls of your feet, throwing your weight forward
The earth is cold and it grips to your hand
Your brain recovers from the impact bringing blood back to the extremeties to heal
You stand and open your eyes
Five
You let out a sigh of relief
You are alive
You look back at your accomplishment
a ten foot gap cleared
back to work

Home of Soul.

eternity1030Leave a comment

I was lucky enough to have a chance to visit Lijiang with my parents this summer. And till now, I still believe that my soul has settled in Lijiang and it could not escape from there any more.

Lijiang, a popular destination in Yunnan,the southern part in China, is considered a fairyland blessed with fresh air, clear streams, breathtaking snow mountains and an undisturbed landscape inhabited by a friendly group of people. The Old Town there is graced by well preserved ancient buildings and the Naxi culture.

One of the most attractive feature is the way people live and the  mood of the city. I clearly remember the very first moment when I stepped into the Old Town which lied in the center of the city – the peace and comfort strongly flipped my heart.

The small-sized houses stand together to create an atmosphere of unity. The colors are mostly grey and dark blue that take people back to the past. People live in a slow  and leisurely pace. Most residents work as tour guides and the olds spend most of  their time dancing and singing. The whole mood of the town is peace but joy.

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Featured Song: Abraham’s Daughter – Featured Book: The Hunger Games

kirbyfullyloaded2 Comments

Abraham took Isaac‘s hand
And led him to the lonesome hill
While his daughter hid and watched
She dared not breathe; she was so still

Just as an angel cried for the slaughter
Abraham’s daughter raised her voice

Then the angel asked her what her name was
She said, “I have none.”
Then he asked, “How can this be?”
“My father never gave me one.”

And when he saw her raised for the slaughter
Abraham’s daughter raised her bow
“How darest you, child, defy your father?”
“You better let young Isaac go.”

-“Abraham’s Daughter,” by Arcade Fire

The story of Abraham and Isaac is one of the most important in the Old Testament.

God wants to test Abraham’s devotion to, and fear of him.  So he commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a testament to his loyalty.  Abraham takes Isaac to a mountain and tells him to gather up wood for a sacrifice.  When Isaac asks where the lamb for slaughter is, Abraham replies, “God will provide the lamb,” and together they ascend.

Abraham then lays Isaac down and raises his knife.

Convinced that Abraham is sufficiently God-fearing, an angel descends and stays his hand, thus, saving Isaac.

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Old Hands

displacedlocal3 Comments

His old hands are ready. He lets out a sigh and reaches for his paintbrush. For him, painting has evolved from a hobby into an obsession.

His weathered fingers clutch the brush carefully, examining the shape and age. He views his subject. His grip tightens as he combines colors into the shades he desires.

His first stroke comes with a splash of a deep blue. The brush has become an extension of himself. He takes another stroke, slowly mixing in white paint until his deep blue has become as pale as the midday sky.

The cool air blows across his face. A face that has been weathered by a life lived and time passed. Each crevice in his skin is a symbol of his experiences.

The sand brushes against his legs, slowly aging the skin. Yet his painting continues, never ceasing.

His arthritic joints have become painful once again. He winces at every movement. His painting is near completion mere strokes away from finality.

His hands no longer obey him and he must begin to slow.

With a fine needle he signs his name and titles the piece.

His painting complete.

    “beach” by Stephen Giannetti, Paint on canvas

Breaking Through

displacedlocal3 Comments


Breaking through was the hardest part. They said that on the other side we would find happiness, answers, something. There must have been a reason the universe inexplicably stopped expanding.

The crew of our small expedition consisted of five of us. The “best” people for the job. Best. I would describe us as inexperienced. Too young. Lost.

The greatest minds of our time wanted answers and we were the crew assigned to the job. The journey to the edge was instantaneous.

To break through we had to bend the laws of what we thought was possible. We [Process Classified].

When we breached the edge of the universe there was nothing but darkness. Then it started infecting us.

[Name removed] was the first infected by the bug.

The parasite’s symptoms were unlike any others any of us had ever seen.

It was not a physical disease. It starts with projecting an image of unbelievable beauty. It captivates you. Seeing it absorbs your every thought. Nothing else matters.

Then, like a candle burning out for the last time, it disappears and never returns.

It fills you with a need for it. It becomes an addiction. You beg for it to return.

After days of waiting. It returns, but it isn’t the same. Something is wrong. The happiness is replaced by fear. It consumes you. It hurts to live. [Names removed] ended their lives at this point. I locked the last survivor other than myself in a cell at his request.

He lives through the fear and walks up to the window and explains to me what he feels. “I have seen all. We should never have tested these limits. Life isn’t meant to be tested like this. GO LEAVE.” The rest of his words were muddled and unrecognizable.

Looking outside the window of my quarters I have to wonder why I haven’t been infected, but my mind has been fixated on a thought. A thought I can’t quite place, but It is beautiful.

Just beautiful.