sarah just couldn’t stop smiling. she and her boyfriend danny had just hosted a very successful dinner party for all their friends. the couple made steak, chicken, salad, stuffed bell peppers, and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. it had been exhausting, but worth it. there were absolutely no leftovers. sarah made her way to the kitchen sink with a stack of plates. as she set them down, about to wash them, something caught her eye. a handle was sticking out under a dishcloth on the counter by the backdoor. sarah walked over to it and picked up the knife. she screamed and dropped it, backing away as it scattered across the floor. danny came rushing in to see what was wrong. “babe, are you ok?” he said. sarah pointed at the blood-stained knife on the floor. “what the hell?” danny whispered. he bent down and picked up the knife, tossing it into the sink. “call the police,” he instructed. sarah went into the living room to find her phone, which was near impossible with the tears blurring her vision. she found the phone and dialed 911, told them what happened and their address, and soon two officers knocked on their door. sarah sat on the sofa to compose herself while danny answered the door. the officers were both women, one with long blonde hair and the other with a red bob. sarah watched as they inspected the house, the kitchen impacticular. “nothing abnormal happened at any point during your party?” the blonde one asked. “no, everyone was always together eating or playing games,” danny answered. Sarah realized something. “no. gina and walker went outside at one point. walker came back in and said gina had to rush home, something with her mom. i called her later and she never answered. what if it was him?” “that could be a possibility. the situation sounds suspicious. let’s check the backyard.” the red-haired woman led the couple out of their house into their backyard. it was nothing much, a couple of dead patches of grass and a shed. danny and sarah watched as the women sweeped the yard with their flashlights, and sarah’s heart stopped when the blonde-haired woman said she found something behind the shed. the other three walked swiftly towards the shed, sarah’s heart hammering. what would she do if she found one her best friends dead in her yard? there was nothing but a tarp behind the shed, and it was obviously covering something. the officer gripped the side and pulled the tarp back, revealing gina’s body. she had multiple stab wounds in her chest, explaining the bloody knife. sarah screamed and backed away from gina very quickly, sinking to the ground, unable to handle the sudden murder of her friend. what had made walker do such a thing?
“can we please go inside!” i said. “no! the weather is to beautiful to stay inside!” logan exclaimed. rain fell in heavy sheets around us and he simply closed his eyes and let his face be washed. i walked towards him and connected our lips, and we shared a passionate kiss. “i love you,” i said after we broke off. he opened his eyes and looked into mine. “i love you, too.” we both smiled as i put my arms around his neck. his strong hands grabbed my waist and we danced, not caring if anyone saw us, if anyone judged us. we just got lost in the rhythm, even though there was no music. i knew we were both singing our song in our heads. “what the hell are you two doing? get the hell inside!” my mom yelled from my porch. “the neighbors are staring!” neither of moved towards the house. again, neither of us cared. we were too in love for such things.
“good night sweet girl,” melissa said. “good night mommy!” lily exclaimed. her mother turned on her night light and walked out of the pink-walled room, leaving lily to sleep. melissa had just read lily her favorite story, alice in wonderland, and lily was anxious to read what happens next, even though she already knew. as she nodded off, she pictured she was alice, falling down the rabbit hole. falling, falling, falling…
lily awoke with a start. she was laying on soft ground, what felt like dirt. her red hair was sprawled out above her head, as though she had just fallen. lily sat up and was very surprised at what she saw. there was a door some way down the path that was very colorful. she got up and walked hesitantly towards the door. there were messily painted words that said “to wonderland!” could this be real? was lily about to walk into her favorite story of all time? lily grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. a warm wind gently greeted her as she looked onto the fantastical world. large mushrooms towered over like trees, and she spotted multiple creatures throughout the forest, but on particular one caught her eye; a white rabbit. it was hopping along very frantically, glancing down at a pocket watch every once in a while. lily smiled and stepped into wonderland.
“it felt so real, yet so magical!” i exclaimed. my mommy patted my arm as we reached our metal box. the nice lady in the funny shoes rolled me to the door on the magic spinny chair. she was so silly! “my teethies hurt!” i yelled, yanking my mom’s arm. “i know, sweetie. they took our your wisdom teeth.” “they took them?! but they were mine!” i wailed. they couldn’t take my teethies without asking! the funny shoe lady and my mommy helped me into the metal box, and mommy put a strap around me. i tried to escape, but it was to much for my weak body. curse you funny shoe lady! mommy took the metal box to our den, while i told her all about how unfair it was that they took my teethies without asking! the audacity! once we got to our den, mommy helped me to the den’s mouth. it ate us! mommy brought me to my sleeping pad, and i went to dreamy land. i had some weird dreamies! in my dreamies, i beat up funny shoe lady and made her give me back her teethies back! it was so fun to beat her up! that bitch deserved it! once my dreamie was finished, i woke up! can you believe it?!
“what time is it?” i said, rubbing my eyes. “ten. how does your mouth feel?” “hurts like hell. hey, was i saying weird stuff yesterday?” “no, not really,”
“come on, just do it!” “no, have you never been in one of these? i’d rather eat that raw chicken.” “it’s the rules, dude. you got this.” lida, jon, beck, harry, georgie, and tina all stood in the men’s bathroom at an empty gas station. the group was playing truth or dare, and harry was dared to lick the bathroom floor. “if you don’t do it, you’re disqualified,” lida reminded him. harry took a deep breath, found the cleanest looking spot of the bathroom, and licked the floor. everyone cheered, and harry rinsed his mouth out at the sink. “alright harry, it’s your turn,” jon said. “beck, truth or dare?” “truth,” beck answered. harry contemplated what he was going to ask beck. “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” beck had an answer in seconds. “when i broke my great-grandmothers urn playing soccer in the house.” “oh that’s not that bad,” georgie exclaimed. “what if i was aiming for it?” “beck!” “yeah, that’s pretty bad.” “jesus christ!” beck smiled at his friends reactions. he made up the urn story. he had an answer for all the common truth or dare questions. he knew how to make it interesting. “ok, tina. truth or dare?” tina thought about it. “dare,” she said. “let us dm someone from your insta account.” tina regretted her decision immediately. “screw you,” she said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. the other four gathered around beck as they decided who to message. they finally settled on one of their classmates, reggie lake, who tina hated with all her heart and soul (she reminded them of this on a daily basis). the message read, “hey regsicle! it’s titi!!!! i hope you’re having a funky friday!!! would you do me a favor and send me all your used tissues???!!!! thanks so much honey bunny!!!!” “i fucking hate all of you,” tina said when she read the message. but that was the price of playing the game.
a soft breeze tickled the face of grogoogagan, waking him from his slumber. he blinked a few times, suddenly being blinded by the sunlight. once his eyes adjusted, he saw that the sun had not yet gone down completely; he was up early. this was a good thing, for he could do his chores early and have the rest of the night to do whatever he liked. grogoogagan rose onto his four legs, all covered with light brown hair. he had six claws on each of his feet and hands, which were also covered in fur. he had only two arms, but they were massive, larger than tree trunks. he was about ten feet in height, just barely missing the ceiling of his cave. he would have to move soon, seeing as he was still growing. hemlaties grew steadily for 17 years. each year, they gained exactly 1 foot of height. this meant that gorgoogagan was about ten years old. after they stopped growing, they had to make marks on their cave walls. grogoogagan stepped out of his cave, watching as the sun sank. the village at the base of the hemlaties’ mountain would be settling down and going to sleep soon. this made it easier for grog to get his chores done. grog had the daily tasks of collecting water, firewood, and rocks from the river. the river was two miles away, and he had to walk four miles total, two of which with a bag of rocks. it was tiring, but not nearly as much as others had to do. grog started with the rocks every night, since it took the longest. he walked to the river, frightening a poor traveler in the process. grog didn’t mind. he’d be terrified of himself, too. after collecting about 40 rocks, grog walked back. the rocks were a popular snack among the hemlaties, and the best ones were from the yikalope river. this resulted in grog’s daily task. after he brought the rocks to the rock pit, he collected the water. they had their very own river winding through the mountain in which they lived in, but it took a lot of strength to haul up the buckets. luckily, grog was very strong. after he finished that, he had to get firewood for the heart. the hearth was located in the center of the mountain, equally heating everything. it had to be fed throughout the day, and grog was one of the hemlaties selected to feed it. all he had to do was snap branches off of a few branches and bring them to the fire. once he did that, he was finished. what was he going to do with all this free time?
“just grab it!” i said. my mom ran into the house and came back out with a flashdrive. we were on our way to school, and i had a presentation today. leave it to us to forget it halfway there. my mom ran back to the car and we sped off. she handed me the flashdrive, which i shoved into my backpack. unfortunately, i didn’t read what the label on the side said. if i had, i wouldn’t be in the situation i am now. we got to school in five minutes, which is a record time. i got out and walked quickly towards the doors. i didn’t even bother saying bye to my mom. i had to be to class in less than a minute, and we both know how important this presentation was for my grade. i hurried through the nearly empty hall and walked into class the second the bell rang. “you’re late!” mr. hemmings said. “damnit,” i whispered. i trudged back down the hall to the front office. i didn’t even have to ask for the slip. they had learned the drill. when i got back, i handed the slip to mr. hemmings and took my seat. isaac had already started his presentation, which meant i was third to present. mr. hemming always picked a random number, and whoever’s number that was on the roster, went first. i rehearsed my presentation in my head while jenna baker went. after she finished, i fished the flashdrive out of my school bag and plugged it into mr. hemmings computer. i stood there for a good five minutes before anything happened. mr. hemming insisted on keeping the same computer he had used for his first year of teaching. nine years ago. it was a miracle it worked at all. i stepped to the side of the promethean board so my classmates could see the slideshow. my grades had been slipping lately, so my mom had made me really buckle down for this project. “i did my project on the renaissance. i will be talking about how it started, the most famous things to come out of it, and how it still affects us today.” i hit the arrow on the computer to switch to the next slide. this stirred up giggles from my class. i looked at the board and was horrified by what i saw. there, on display for my entire class, was a picture of my sister and i standing on our stairs, making the weirdest faces and poses imaginable. i wanted to die right there. tessa and i had done a photoshoot late one night when we were bored. it had been fun, and when i found out i had to do this project, i put the photos on a flashdrive to see if i could figure it out. once i did, i labeled them so this exact situation wouldn’t happen. i don’t even know how they ended up near each other. wait! my mom had grabbed the flashdrive, and she didn’t know there were two! i blame my lack of memory. i pressed every key on mr. hemmings computer, and nothing happened. somehow the slideshow started automatically switching slides, showing more and more embarrassing pictures. i finally ran and turned the board off, my classmates laughter slowly dying. i didn’t say anything as i went back to my seat. i just sat there and stared at my desk, hoping that class would be over soon. “well, that was interesting.” i glanced up at mr. hemmings, who had a smile on his face. “a plus.”
“gavin, dinner!” gavin’s mom yelled. gavin had just climbed into the attic after hearing a weird thumping noise above his room. “coming!” he answered, walked towards the sound quicker. he clicked on the flashlight he had grabbed once the light from the hall wasn’t enough. the noise was getting louder as he moved farther into the attic. he finally spotted a chest sitting against the back wall. gavin took a step towards the chest when it suddenly started shaking violently. it only lasted a few seconds, but gavin was terrified. the chest was unlocked, so he raised the lid with a shaking hand. the moment he saw what the chest contained, he wished he’d never opened it…but it was too late now. the most hideous creature gavin had ever seen was writhing around in the box. it had no eyes, and it’s skin seemed to be entirely just brown slime. it had rows of spiked teeth and wings about two feet long. it screamed when gavin pointed his flashlight at it, and he slammed the box shut before it could escape. gavin quickly ran back to the attic door and climbed down. he was never going in the attic again.
“i’ve told you before. i don’t need your help.” i continued gathering my things, despite the protests of the creature in my window. “you don’t understand, boy,” he growled. “this journey will be your undoing. you will perish alone. you need my help. i know that land better than any being. it is mine after all.” “i don’t care! you’ve caused enough problems in my life! the drugs, the stealing, marissa. i’ve had enough. now get the hell out of my house!” i walked to the window and slammed it, the creature sulking backwards. i turned back around and was suddenly face to face with the devil. “i don’t care what kind of trouble you’ve had in your sad little life or how big of a pity party you throw. i am coming with you whether you like it or not. you dying is not in my favor.” “then who the hell’s favor is it in?” i yelled. “you know who’s! you dying will cut me off from the world. and then all of hell will break loose. literally. so, it’s your choice. destroy the world as you know it because you were being a stubborn baby, or swallow your pride and let me come with you.” i thought about my options. obviously i didn’t want to destroy the entire world, but i really hated this guy. he had completely ruined my life. but, i had to do the selfless thing. i’ve been selfish enough in my life. “fine. let’s go to hell.”
humans are WEIRD. i mean, they’ve accomplished a lot of great things, but they do some weird shit down there on their planet. i live on the planet in front of them, venus. it’s great and all, but it’s so HOT. i wish i could experience the cold they have on earth. i think that it comes from a place called anratica? i think that's right. anyway, i enjoy watching the humans on the thousands of cameras that we’ve planted all over the globe. my favorite place is louis angelinas. or was it los angeles? whatever. the humans there seem to be extra stupid, because some of them walk around with barley any clothing on! are they trying to get a full body sunburn? the landscape of earth is nothing like venus. the earth has lush forests, dry deserts, icy mountains, and everything in between. here, we have desert. and thats it. now you see why i want to live on earth. that’s it. bye humans.
