Freedom. Not the kind of freedom where your sitting behind an office desk waiting for you paycheck and not the kind of freedom when your a kid, going where ever you want unless it’s past your cerfew or too far from home. I mean like in Lord of the Rings type freedom— going where ever you want when ever, and having no one questioning your authority. I know it sounds real stupid, but what I would give to run amok on top a horse slaying orks and ogres. Nate Vacker the Great people would call me as they celebrate my recent victory. Then, once they party and celebrating is over I’d head off, not quite sure where I was going, but I wouldn’t care. I’d meet people like hobbits, wizards, elves, and dwarves, not real estate agents, bosses, and teenagers. I guess that’s want I want. But not what I can have. I guess I gotta be content with what I have. It could be worse.

I rested with a rather large tome on my face. The gentle rocking of the train helped me drift to sleep. But before I can push myself over the threshold, a hard knocked pulled me away.

I pulled the tome off my face and adjusted myself in my chair. The knock came again. “Enter.” I mumbled as I pretended to read. Abigail and Shea both entered with bows.

“Forgive my intrusion, sire. But dinner is ready,” the prim and proper Abigail state matter of factly.

“Yeah. So get your goat legged ass up. We are having Saponin,” Shea said as he rose from his bow.

“Saponin? We are passing through the realm of Beduo? I may have to stop,” I stated standing up and motioned for my two enforcers to lead the way.

Saponin was a Beduo delicacy. It was an odd fusion of Talro and Alro. Sadly, the chef only makes it when we pass through Beduo or close enough to it.

Once we in the dining car, the chefs brought out plates. Shea sharpened the carving knife as Abigail prepared herself. Several of the golems carried out one the large Adapii Hounds I have seen.

“Boss, what piece would you like?” Shea said asked as he sliced off several of eye stalks.

I put my napkin in my lap. “The golly and fore throat.” I need not look up to see Shea rolling his eyes.

“You know I hate cutting that it part out. I always get sprayed by the throat bladder.”

“Well if you had a steady hand,” Abigail started but a glance from me silenced her.

My time in Purgatory was drawing to an end. There were a few more sins that needed to be addressed before moving on to the interview stage. I didn’t know whether God and Satan would speak with me at the same time or in separate meetings. Once completed, a decision would be made about my final destination. I hoped God wasn’t the only one who made that determination. Having that much power was far greater than any one person should possess.

In order to attain the necessary holiness for exiting Purgatory, my soul had to be purified; that much I knew. But what then? Heaven? I wasn’t certain whether that was my preferred destination. It seemed a bit stuffy. I guessed it was the type of place where the furniture was covered with a form fitted, plastic sheathing that was never allowed to be sat upon. One could look at and admire it, but that was all.

The longer I considered abdicating the remainder of my purgatorial obligations, the clearer it became that I didn’t want to spend the entirety of my afterlife in the hellish camps of eternal damnation. Residing in Hell with the sinners might be more fun, but that would grow monotonous. It would be like hanging out with practical jokers who never realized that, at some point, enough was enough.

A few repentant apologies later, a robed gentleman stepped into my path and introduced himself as a chaperone. His oversized robe dragged behind him like the sweep train of a wedding dress. The upturned hood masked his face in darkness. Tasked with overseeing my progress, he escorted me to an adjoining room. A single folding chair was set up in the middle of the oval room. Positioned directly above the chair hung a spotlight which dangled from the ceiling like a boxing ring announcer’s microphone.

“Sit down.”

Without waiting for a response, my guide stepped to the back of the room. After leaning against the wall, he faded into the shadows, though I could still feel his presence. I sat down and waited. It felt like I was on display, in a viewing booth for unnamed voyeurs. Beads of perspiration were quick to form during the awkward silence that followed.

After an hour of quiet contemplation, I asked for an explanation but received no response. Someone somewhere must have thought this exercise was a good idea. Without clarification or context, though, it seemed like the intended purpose was to waste my time. It was a realization that made me curious which master my chaperone worked for.

Right before I nodded off from boredom, the chaperone emerged from the shadows. Standing silent with outstretched hands, he offered a bowl containing a dark colored, gelatinous substance.

“An offering,” he explained.

“What is it?”

“Dove jello.”

“Why would you do that to a bird?” I asked.

“Most people ask how, not why.”

Refusing to accept the bowl, I stood and walked out, despite the chaperone’s insistence that I wasn’t allowed to leave. Upon my departure, both God and Satan stepped from the darkness and converged at the center of the room.

Scratching His head, Satan asked, “How DO you make dove jello?”

“It’s an old family recipe,” God explained.

Today is Lily’s 7th birthday and as a special treat her mother said she can go to Taylor’s Bakery for a birthday cake for the party later that night. Lily was so excited, Taylor’s was the best bakery in the city and they were so busy that people had to call months in advance for personalized items.

They pull up the bakery and the entire bakery is all ready for the summer festivities, “Father’s Day” brownies shaped like cigars, Mexican Wedding Cake cookies shaped like baseballs, and the red, white, and blue cupcakes for July Fourth were all sparkling in the main window. Lily couldn’t wait to get inside and choose her birthday treat.

“Good morning, Mr. Taylor”, Lily’s mother talks to the owner. “Do you have any birthday cakes that are ready serve a party of ten?,” Mr. Taylor says, “Hello Susan, yes I do have some cakes ready in that size, all it needs an inscription just write down what you would like it to say and I will have one of my staff take care of it for you.” Lily’s mother pays for the yellow cake with chocolate frosting and discusses the details with the clerk.

Meanwhile, Mr. Taylor spots Lily looking at some sugar sculptured pinwheels in the corner. “Well, hello there!” he says to Lily as he crouches down to her level. “What can I do for you today?” Lily tells him it’s her birthday today and she is 7 years old. “Wow, that is a special age,” he says. “I will have to check my recipe books for something extra special.”

“Want to help me look?”, as he gives Lily a wink and a nod from her mother. Mr. Taylor then takes Lily to small room in the back aside from the kitchen. In this room is a large island and some stools, along the wall is a large bookcase with many old cookbooks, some in English and others that Lily calls “scribbles” (Hebrew, Arabic) as well as many other languages.

Mr Taylor takes an old leather bound book from the shelf and places it on the island. “Hmmm..”as he gives Lily a concerned look while he keeps turning the pages. Then he stops, “There it is!” as he points down to page to Lily. “What?” Lily responds. “Flittertoot!”, Mr. Taylor says. “Flitterwood?” “Flittertoot!” he repeats. He leans toward Lily and looks in her eyes, “It’s the snack cake of the fairies”, he whispers. “FAIRIES!!” Lily shouts! “Shhhh” as he touches his finger to his lips. “They will hear you, we have to be careful.” “Unpredictable, they are, the fairies, they can appear at anytime and they are very fast. Fifty of them can run up quickly and just snatch this book off the table”.

“How is it made?”Lily whispers as her eyes scan the room looking for fairies. Mr. Taylor says, “magic” the ingredients themselves must be brought into this world from another realm he says. “We must manifest them” he says and the first thing we need is someone who is seven. “Hmmm, where can we find someone like that” he says as he looks around the room. “Me, me Lily says as she raises her hand, I can help”. “Oh, you are? Perfect!” he says as his eyes twinkle.

He tells her that in order to manifest the ingredients a seven year old is needed to think very hard and to have faith and believe in the fairies. If the person does not believe in fairies how can the ingredients come from the other dimension. Lily puts on her “thinking cap” and starts putting all her effort and focus on “manifesting” the ingredients. Mr. Taylor reads the list to Lily, he says: two hummingbird (aka chicken) eggs, a cup of milk from the milky way (cows milk), some snow taken from Jack Frost (flour), some pixie dust (sugar), sprite dust (baking powder) and lastly a fairy stick (vanilla stick). Mix all ingredients in a magic bowl and stir with a magic wand, he reads. Luckily, Mr. Taylor had his magic wand (wooden spoon) gifted to him by the fairies he says.

He then finds his fairy box (snack tins) and says to Lily he must go to his secret place and put the fairy boxes in the magic cabinet (oven) once the boxes are in the cabinet it will be transported to the land of the fairies and they will use their “magic” to create the “Flittertoot”. In 200 *nicules (*fairy time = 30 human minutes) the Flittertoot will be transported back to room they are in. Lily’s eyes are enlarged with amazement as Mr. Taylor continues. He then looks up at the clock and says, “We must wait now” Fairies do not like to be rushed in their work. He says wait for the sign from the fairies, he says they just whispered in his ear that they will come later that night to see Lily, if she believed. She said, “Yes, I believe, I believe” as she hears her mother’s voice in the other room telling her that it was time to leave.

Later that night at the party, Lily’s cake is brought out, and on the cake is a small plastic fairy, the sign? Lily wonders as she looks around if there are any others. Then she sees it, at the bottom of the main cake on either side, are two smaller cakes, about the size of a snack size Kit-kat bar. The Flittertoot!

If you leaned in real close on the Flittertoot the inscription said “Thank you” on one and “Believing in Us” on the other. Lily’s facial expression was one of pure awe, and wonder. And behind her in the corner of the room was Mr. Taylor with a twinkle in his eye and small little chuckle on his face. Who knows what is in store for Lily on her next birthday?

A bell chimes in the distance as a hot tray made its way upon a shelf amongst a myriad of other platters. All the food had a corresponding number,letter and color sitting next to it waiting to be served and eaten.

“Are you sure this place is up to regulation?” I whined.

Trevor snarled back “You always hate on my suggestions whenever we’re in port”.

He began to hiss his teeth as he smiled menacingly across the table.

“Besides this is the only place in the sector that’ll even serve the both of us ,and you know what ….”. Before Trevor could trail off into another tangent our waitress tossed both our meals on the table with haste. She quickly went to tend to the many seated guests around us.

“Finally”We both exclaimed.

“So how exactly do I eat this?”.

I turned my face for an answer but Trevor had already began to sink his reptilian incisors into the perplexing meal in front of him. We both ordered the same thing on Trevor’s good word but staring at it brought with it many doubts.

The menu classified it as a sandwich according to the very little phlemonian I knew. On the other hand it presented itself as a pile of scaly meat with an almost aqua dye to it. Upon closer inspection the entire dish was cold , it had char marks on the top and distinctly smelled of plums.

Our food came with a pair of chopsticks which I used to poke and prod it around. The meat appeared gelatinous in consistency and every touch caused a purple liquid to leak out of the bottom of the pile.

“You better eat it before it burns” Trevor warned.

At this point he had eaten over half of his meal revealing two pieces of what I can only assume was bread protruding from inside of it. The extremely burnt toast completely contrasted the meat glittering in multiple shades of purple. I couldn’t fathom how hot it was as I could see the steam rising off of it.

He began shoveling the slippery meat on the flakey and frail bread pressing down as much of it as he could fit on top. Disbelief struck my face as I immediately picked up my utensils to sort through the muck. Seven soggy and squelching loaves were found underneath cold and jiggly mound of flesh.

I picked up a piece of bread and a single chopstick in preparation to eat.So many questions raced through my mind as I began to finally imitate my friend in the consumption of our meals.

“Is this dinosaur food?” I proposed genuinely confused.

Trevor stopped engulfing his food to sigh and suggest that I should try it and find out. I continued to stare at my food for a while before eventually scooping myself a charred cut of the mire I had ordered. Holding chopsticks with one hand and putting it in my mouth was an acrobatic feat I was not confident in doing at all.

I picked pieces of crust out of my facial hair as I wasn’t prepared for how crunchy my first bite would end up being. It was sweet at first but the meat resembled an overcooked beef .chewing it made the flavor more spicy and it gradually heated up in my mouth with each bite.

A delighted smile tricked across my face as Trevor snickered( or his best attempt at one since alligators have vocal folds and not vocal chords).as I slurped most of the remaining food I could barely eat what was left in front of me.

“So what is actually in this dish?” I finally asked.

“Are you sure you can handle it?” Trevor advised.

I nodded vehemently as he tried to reenact the mannerisms of the animal I was consuming. At first he meowed and I creased my face in horror at our platters ,but then he also gestured toward wings and horns. I ultimately had no idea what he was referring to but I would definitely order this again. Trevor’s mother might even have a family recipe she could share with me.

Thick rivets of sappy liquid slid down the curve of his sharp jaw, pooling on the ruffled collar of his shirt like iridescence bile.

He smacked his lips once, then twice, and finally let his heavy lids flutter shut.

“Ah yes, that’s much better than the last”, he exclaimed, swiping at his chin with the lace hankerchief in his hand.

He marvelled at the flavours still lingering on his tongue: sweet and tart and salty with fear.

He, unlike many of his kind, savoured his meals in tiny morsels rather than swallowing them whole.

Dreams, he found, tasted better the longer you fed on them.

Give someone a single nightmare and you had a quick meal that was neither bad nor good, just satiating.

But repeat that same nightmare time and time again, letting it build and grow in intensity, and suddenly, you fattened the meal tenfold.

With chaos unravelling down below, the human world beneath his feet had full with nightmares, like an overflowing basket of provisions. Their nightmares, fuelled by their incessant curiosity of the unknown, were the best delicacies of all the animal kingdoms.

Warm and sticky, sliding down his throat like honey pouring down the rim of a glass, their dreams were something he soon realized, had become addictive.

——— This was going to be a bigger piece but I got so uninspired halfway through. It’s still a fragment piece and lacks depth, but I might add to it later.

We ran. We ran as fast as our sore, bare feet could carry us. But still they gained on us. Tears streamed down my face as I fought to catch my breath, muscles screaming in agony as I pushed myself past exhaustion.

“Quick!” Dip whispered, suddenly grabbing my forearm and veering off towards a weeping tree. “Here! Down here, I see some berry-pods!”

He saw some what?

We scrambled down the bank of tall violet grass, and ran under the safety of the weeping tree, it’s violet, leafy tendrils forming a graceful, three-hundred-and-sixty degree shelter from prying eyes.

I bent over and put my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. But as soon as we had entered, Dip darted back out again. I had to stop myself from screaming in sheer panic. Where was he going? They were going to see him!

Seconds later he re-emerged through the dangling, delicate branches with something luminescent in his hand. He came closer and opened up his hand to show me a couple of bright orange, glowing orbs. Anyone would think they were tiny fruit - almost like kumquats. Except kumquats didn’t glow, nor were they transparent.

I eyed them warily and looked up at Dip, “What?”

“Eat it,” he said, putting one into my hand, “it’s the only way they won’t find us.”

I started to protest but he grabbed my forearms and looked me in the eye, the way he always had done when he wanted to me to focus.

“You’ve got to trust me Shu, ok?”, he said, his big brown eyes boring into mine. “Trust me. We don’t have time. Eat it now. All of it.”

With that, he put his into his mouth and swallowed it hole. I followed suit. I was too tired to question anything right now.

I put the strange orange, glowing orb into my mouth and swallowed. An overwhelming tingling sensation came over me as the strange fruit slid down into my insides.

I looked over at Dip and watched in horror as his eyes changed from dark brown to that slightly transparent and bright orange glow that the fruit had. And then, Dip… disappeared.

It was like the air swallowed him up.

Where did he…?

No time to finish that thought. Something was happening inside me. Suddenly, I felt as though I was being sucked in through my belly button. Shrinking, shrinking, and sucked backwards through a tiny vortex mid-air. Next thing I knew, I was growing back to my original size again, but from the other side.

The other side of what though?

It felt as though I was on the inside looking out. I was in some kind of… what? A bubble or some sort. Almost like a womb. Transparent orange. Tingly.

Over to my left I could see Dip in a bubble too. I saw him put his finger to his lips and then point to my right.

My eyes grew wider as I turned my head to see a dark figure move through the violet tendrils. They’d found us. Or at least one had.

I froze, barely breathing as he strode straight into the space under the tree and stopped less than a pace from me. But for some peculiar reason, he didn’t seem to see me, nor Dip. I could hear him breathe, he was so close. He was dressed all in black, his face covered in a black metal helmet, his cloak falling to just above his knees.

He turned his head away from mine, and then slowly turned it back towards me.

Could he sense me even?

He turned on his heel and exited back the way he came, his cloak billowing behind me.

I let out a gasp and looked at Dip, bewildered at what just happened.

Had anyone ever got so close to a Forbidden Knight and lived to tell the tale? And what was that fruit I’d just eaten? Dip seemed to know about them, or at least enough to insist we eat them. And sure enough, those strange glowing orbs saved our lives.

Dip sure had a lot of explaining to do. But first, I needed to get out of this bubble. I gestured silently to Dip, signalling that I wanted to get out. Dip looked around his own bubble, prodding and poking around. After a couple of minutes he gave me a faltering smile and shrugged.

Oh, great.

The air smells so divine We saw clouds of green and white mist that can mistakenly be mistaken for Vapours that one might think could smell like a fishy toot But NO this wasn’t just an ordinary meal, this was Mr. Castorpher lively meal……..

I mean it was alive!! Explained Tim, The black yellow testicles were slowly moving in the weep of the air, the smoke heatedly bubbled.’ I asked Nina to help lift me higher so I could see better As I look closer I see beside him his bowl was full of live squid and his side dish was Scaley scallops ?!? His best Choice of beverage was a cup of red eye ball juice topped with a blueberry whipped cream.

OHH You could see Mr Castopher smile widen as he looks at me! I jump off Nina shoulders And YELL OUT TO RUN!

As we’re running Nina asked me What I Saw as her eyes fear I’m shock.

Castorpher saw me and HE SMILED I gasped as we are running. I try to breath. I huff then say from what he was eating i am pretty sure he wouldn’t mind taken us alive in his next meal!. LETS GO

Jane spat the food out from her mouth and and gagged “My God is this your first time cooking” she said of the 10 Junior chefs in the class This is not a surprise for her nor her classmates as she has always had a higher tiar pallet of food however that still doesn’t fix the hurt they felt

“Jane if think you can do better then this only then will I take your critique seriously” a man had said

“Yeah okay we understand that you have a tongue unlike our’s but it must be blind if you can’t eat the food our Michael made” another group of Ladies crowed.

Jane said “fine then I will show you I will cook you something grand but if you start begging or another helping I win and you do me a favor”she said as she knew she had it in the bag already as she was a gifted chef.

Time had passed cooking her dish and gave it to the 10 onlookers.

“Oh what is this slopp oh right Jane seriously is this a joke it looks pink” Michael said “Go on to taste it don’t be afraid to criticize it as well I dare you” Jane said

“It’s your funeral I’m gonna let the teachers taste this as well just letting you know so if it was poison you will have to answer for it” Michael gleeful as he took a spoonful of the pink gum like soup.

His face started changing several times from disgust to literately eating it like a dog.

“Jane my god this food” he looked at her expectantly before he could finish Jane said “nope let the others try first then you can have seconds” she Grinned as she spoke.

he looked at the pot and wanted to guard it from others but did as she asked.

The others went to try it one by one they went from expecting the worst to wishing for more the faces said it all they all begged her for seconds as she knew they would she said

“Then you recognize that I win right I just need all of you to vote for me in the junior cook off next week you can do it right? her still grinning

“Yes my queen…er I meant Jane” Michael spoke breathlessly “The rest are all yours” she said plainly.

The rest ate like animals and fought over what was left.

She walked away thinking her plan will work as her goal to be a star over this planet through her cuisine is under way though that’s not to say that Michael’s dish was truly horrible however it was a far cry from her home planet food that engaged in all 6 senses.

Though privately her main goal was more human.

“I know my dad is here somewhere in this camp once he tastes my food he can no longer not know that I am his daughter” she spoke to herself as she laid down the crystal keeping her human form in her hand and went to sleep.

The antique glass and wood shop door was impossibly heavy. Sabrina pushed with all her might until the door suddenly sprang open launching her into the apothecary. Sabrina spun slowly. Most magic ingredient stores lean heavily towards eclectic thrift shop meets extreme hoarder but Notions & Potions was giving upscale home goods vibes. There were intricate sawgrass rugs and hyacinth baskets. Neat and organized the white washed shelves carried uniformed labeled jars with the occasional hand carved bowl or artistic spindle. A large snow owl fluffed in Sabrina’s direction. “Would you like to browse witchling? Or would you prefer a guided tour?” Sabrina gawked at the bird. “Umm,” Sabrina mumbled. I’ve seen witch shifters before but this was so realistic. “He is real my princess. His name is MacGuffin, he’s an idiot, and I’m bird sitting the wretched thing for my accountant.” Sabrina jumped as the lithe proprietress unfolded from an egg chair partially behind a japanned screen in ivory and orange. “Let me show you the goods. We’re a little bit different. Notions & Potions specializes in edible experiences. Our edibles enhances your spells, give your clients a unique enchantment with our emotions,” the shop owner said. Her lanky limbs floated in rhythm with her words. Sabrina found herself smiling in agreement without understanding a word. “Here your head’s spinning. Try a sample of Waking Up from a Full Night’s Sleep.” The shop owner poured a thimble of green apple colored liquid. Sabrina sniffed and her nose tingled. Invigorated the young witch took a shot of Waking. “Wow!” Sabrina vibrated with energy. “All of our experiences are pure, concentrated, and of course organic and ethically sourced. With practice they can be combined. Try this our bestseller, Good Cry with a sprinkle of Dreary Autumn Night: Warm Blanket edition The owner opened a glass jar and sliced off a small indigo sliver. Sabrina sank in her teeth. There was a pleasant unpleasant sensation of biting an unripe melon. As she chewed waves of sadness rushed over her. The owner lead Sabrina to a low divan. Sabrina felt shaky yet relaxed. She shut her eyes allowing relief to trickle down to her ankles. Sabrina opened her lids to the owner’s concerned face and a bottle of water. “Hydrate, Sabrina. I’m Gladys by the way. What are you here for baby witch?” “Love.” Sabrina drew a long drink. “I mean my clients want love potions, getting over heartbreak and finding someone new.” Gladys looked pensive. She tapped Sabrina’s bottle and it turned in a glass of Chardonnay. “As you know there are no real love potions, no short cuts but an enhanced spell is like a good drink after a bad day.” Sabrina took an oaky sip. Gladys gathered a chunk of A Visit to a Secondhand Bookshop, two bottles of Christmas Morning, a dime bag Butterflies in the Stomach, and finally a few slivers of the Smell Of Coming Rain. Sabrina downed her glass while Gladys rang up her order. “Unfortunately First Kiss is back ordered but I have powdered Falling Asleep and Being Gently Carried and a twig of Meet Cute.” Sabrina thought it was best to agree to anything the powerful witch recommended. Her credit card groaned. Gladys individually boxed and wrapped each item. Instead of a shopping bag Sabrina walked towards the door with a teetering stack of red twined packages. She struggled with the door. Suddenly the heavy door swung open knocking Sabrina backwards. A strong hand grabbed her waist steadying her while the other hand flexed. All of the packages stopped reversed and reassembled into Sabrina’s arms. The strong hands were attached to strong arms on a handsome stormy faced warlock. “Oh,” they both exclaimed. With a flash of white the owl made a break for the open door. Over the stranger’s head, Sabrina tossed a binding spell and MacGuffin landed angrily but gently on the shop floor. Chuckling they untangled. Gladys picked up the bird. “Brogan if you’re through battering my customers please help Sabrina with her purchases and take her for a coffee to thank her for rescuing your birdbrained familiar.” Flustered they leaned into Gladys’ authority and left together. “Meet Cute works every time.”