Uncontrollable! Dangerous! Do not approach!

Writing prompt:

Uncontrollable! Dangerous! Do not approach! These words were plastered across every news feeds.

 

Uncontrollable! Dangerous! Do not approach! These words were plastered across every news feeds.

“What is that?” she asked leaning closer to the screen.

“Hey! Honey, you make a lousy window!” One of the patrons behind her barked.

She scooted back out of the way but continued to stare at the screen. She couldn’t make out the image under the words. It was too blurry.

“Ruby!” The head bartender snapped making her jump. He shoved a tray of glasses surrounding a pitcher of beer into her hands nearly spilling the golden liquid. Quickly balancing the tray, she hustled over to the corner booth. Four business men in suits looked up as she stopped by their table.

“Damn scientists.” One of the men muttered.

“Scientists?” Another countered, “It’s those self-righteous activists’ fault.”

She set the tray down and started to pass out the glasses.

“You’d think they’d be a little more circumspect before bursting in and releasing dangerous animals like that.” A third man in an expensive suit leaned back as she filled his glass.

“Eco-terrorists are not known for thinking anything through.” The first man scoffed.

“I heard they weren’t animals. I heard they were some kind of engineered weapon.”

Ruby slowed down a little trying to stay for the conversation.

“I hear they were some kind of mutation grown in the lab.”

“All the more reason to leave them there.” The well-dressed man frowned.

“Still, “The second man added. “What kind of experiment were they doing? Sounds a little creepy to me.”

Ruby ran out of glasses to fill. She couldn’t stay any longer. She picked up her tray and went back to the bar.

“Go take your break.” The bartender jerked his head toward the back.

Ruby nodded more than happy to get a moment away. She grabbed her phone and disappeared through the alley door. Quickly she found her normal seat on the broken cinder block and started Googling the news story.

That’s when she heard the growl. She looked up from her phone wondering if she had imagined it, but she heard it again. It came from behind the dumpster.  It was low and guttural. It sang to her primal survival instincts.  She kept trying to tell herself it was a dog or something, but deep down she knew it was the thing on the news. Slowly she came to her feet. She edged back toward the door behind her but before she could escape to the safety of the bar the growling thing stepped out. She froze staring in surprised at the child. Its hair was ragged and scraggly. She wasn’t even sure if it was girl or a boy. Its eyes were huge and sad like a doll’s. There was something appealing about it. Part of her wanted to run to it and scoop it up and tell it that it would be all right. Its sad eyes drew her in tugging on her heart strings. It was a child not some beast to be hunted. Anyone would see it and want to help and protect it.

However, part of her wanted to stay as far away as possible. There was blood staining its already dirty clothes.  She had heard it growl. She knew it wasn’t just a child. Everything in her screamed RUN!

Before she could follow that instinct, it surged forward. Running straight for her, it bared its teeth.

Ruby screamed.

Her phone fell to the pavement. The screen cracked but Google stayed open displaying a picture of the child with the caption warning: Dangerous! Uncontrollable! Do not approach!

Advertisement

Silence is a Great Healer

I found a writing prompt that said weave a story around this sentence: Silence is a great healer. So here it is…

Silence is a Great Healer.

She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly through her nose. Even the musty damp air of the basement seemed fresh, like the first breath on a crisp winter morning. For a moment she just stood there, listening.

It was so quiet.

It was so quiet she could hear nothing. Finally, she could hear nothing.

With some difficultly she swallowed, a rush of emotion struck her chest. It was such a swirl of feelings that it almost drowned out the silence shrouding the tiny side room. She put her hand out to the cold hard wall of the foundation and opened her eyes. The cold seeped into her hand making it ache. It always ached where the old break was. She blinked away the unnecessary tears as she stared at her crooked little finger. There had been no silence in the house that day.

She stopped and listened again savoring the absence. Then, sighing, she began to work again. Her bruised ribs throbbed with each shovel full of dirt. Every time she thrust the shovel into the floor of the basement it jarred her bruises. But with every joyous ache she came closer and closer to being free. To being healed. To finally bringing silence to this house.

When the hole was nearly waist deep, she stopped. Slowly, wincing with every movement, she climbed out of the hole. She hobbled over to where the sheet wrapped body of her husband lay. Sweating with the effort, she pushed and rolled him closer to the hole. Pushing inch by inch, foot by foot until finally he rolled over the edge and fell in.

Panting she looked down. He lay there at the bottom like some seed in the garden. She scoffed out a little laugh thinking how much he had hated her garden and how many times he had beat her for keeping it growing. Now he was the last seed she would plant at this house, and from his grave would grow peace and safety.

She began to scoop the dirt back into the hole one painful shovel full at a time. But the pain was only physical this time, her soul was free. It took less time to fill the hole than it had to make it. She stopped one last time leaning on the shovel and listened.

She heard nothing. She smiled. The violence that screamed constantly through every wall and floor of this house was finally silent and silence was a great healer.

Writing Prompt: Tunnel Patrol

Tunnel Patrol

“This is the worst job I the world.” Peter mumbled as his boots sloshed and squished through the rancid black water covering the bottom of the tunnel. It had been running at one time but Peter always suspected that after trying to flow down the pipe it had lost its motivation after about 50 yards and decided to try stagnation.

“Anything in tunnel 5?” Peter’s radio crackled echoing off the metal walls.

Sighing he pulled his radio off his belt. “Nope”

“Nothing in 7 either.” His supervisor replied. “Keep going.”

Peter replaced the radio and sloshed forward again. His foot kicked something that he really didn’t want to identify.

“Join the Tunnel Patrol,” he mimicked his girlfriend’s squeaky voice. “It’s a great opportunity. Yeah right, Cara, you’re not the one getting goo in your boots.”

A few more steps and Peter stopped suddenly. Had there been a sound? He listened harder but there were no sounds that hadn’t been there already. He waited 30 more seconds then picked his foot up to take a step.

He heard it this time, a rustling vibration coming from the darkness of the tunnel in front of him.

Peter froze. His heart set up its own vibration as the sound resonated again.

Slowly he reached for his radio. He keyed the mike. “Bobby?” He whispered. “Bobby! There’s something here.”

“Say again?” He supervisor’s voice blasted out. Peter slapped a hand over the speaker and stared into the darkness hoping it hadn’t heard him. But hope wasn’t in the tunnel anymore.

The rustling started again grating ever louder. The tunnel floor started to vibrate sending droplets of stagnate water splattering. It was coming.

Autism, Shopping and the GIANT SPIDER

Oh what fun…..not!

I hate shopping. Not because of Autism but because I hate shopping. I have a hard time finding what I want, I never have money, and I don’t deal with people well (I’m an introvert). Add my teenage daughter who loves to shop and wants to look at everything causing many squirrel moments (You know the ones I mean-we’re looking for socks and she sees a fluffy pillow and off she goes.) Now add my Autistic son into the mix.

In Autistic kids over stimulation is always a problem: too many people, too many lights, too many colors, too many things moving by at the speed of commerce and suddenly his ears are turning red and the whites of his eyes are turning pink. Those are a sure sign of an over-stimulated, agitation migraine headed our way. First thing to do is to find a quiet place with little or no decoration and let him get calmed down for a little bit.

Unfortunately the materialistic world we live in is driven by constant stimulation and not even the bathrooms are quiet anymore. There are often times when we will find a quiet corner of the store, like the garden center, and just hang out for a while to try and keep him from boiling over.

Now add in that ultimate fun…Holidays!

That’s right folk, holidays, when all the special crazy stuff comes out, for example, Halloween. Don’t get me wrong. I love Halloween. It was always one of my favorite holidays. I love dressing up and even my son loves to play dress up. But Halloween is about scary things and that isn’t always a good thing for us now.

Let’s take the other day as an example. We went to Party America to get some supplies for my daughter’s class for their Homecoming float. Found some great stuff, but my son didn’t enjoy that store very much. To start with right inside the front door was a GIANT INFLATABLE SPIDER! It was goofy looking and stood almost 6 feet tall. It was black and white and had LED lights inside. For a normal person that wouldn’t be a big problem even if you didn’t like spiders. You know that it isn’t real.

My son, however, views the world in more of a literal sense. He was very sure that it was a real spider and that it was not safe to walk past. We almost didn’t get him in the store. Once inside, he was totally freaked by all the scary stuff right inside the door and then as we walked around he kept a sharp eye on the door just to make sure that the spider hadn’t moved or tried anything funny. Poor kid jumped at every sound and kept up a solid narrative that was mostly just the words “Spider, web, climb, giant spider” over and over again.

Some of you are thinking, “Why didn’t you just leave?” Well, life doesn’t work that way. I can’t choose one kid over the other. My daughter and her classmates needed to get the bits for their float and sometimes there isn’t another choice of store. Besides it wouldn’t matter because around the  holidays  everyone has the same type of decorations in their stores.

So once the girls had what they needed for their float it was time to leave. Unfortunately the GIANT SPIDER stood between us and freedom. William didn’t want to go anywhere near the door because the spider was waiting. He was shaking from head to toe, his ears were red and his eyes where pink.  It took a couple of tries, three teenage girls surrounding him while I held his hand in one of mine and wrapped my arm around is shoulders and then finally we got past the spider. As soon as we passed it, William burst away from me and ran out the door- straight into the street. Luckily there was no one coming at that moment, two seconds later would have had him run over but we lucked out.

All day after that he talked about the GIANT SPIDER. The spider was still dominating the conversation all through dinner and the bath. He refused to be alone in the bathroom during his bath because-GIANT SPIDER. Then it was off to bed and a running dialogue of GIANT SPIDER all through story time until he finally fell asleep. However, that wasn’t the end of it. He was up several times overnight asking about the GIANT SPIDER. Finally he got up at 5 AM and I gave up.

I don’t know how long the GIANT SPIDER will keep on keeping on for poor William but I imagine it will be closer to Christmas and then we can go back and start a whole new obsession about GIANT REINDEER!

Needless to say, I hate shopping.

The Invisible Menacing Monster caught on camera

I think I may have actually caught sight of the nasty little bugger.

I found this in the background of one of my X-Ray camera pictures. I think it’s studying us….

The cat plans her defense

Moonlight’s plans are almost complete for the defense of our yard from the Invisible Menacing Monster’s allies.

She is preparing the Vat of Wet Death. She’s certain it will be the secret weapon that may turn the tide in her favor.

The Invisible Menacing Monster III

Poor Moonlight. We left her alone in the house with the Invisible Menacing Monster while we were in Colorado.

I don’t know what battles may have taken place but there were reports of innocent plants being injured. Preliminary reports show collateral damage is minimal.

Moonlight seems to be ever vigilant when it comes to peering under the beds. Perhaps she has the enemy cornered?

The Invisible Menacing Monster has called for reinforcements

Moonlight is concerned. She recently made a discovery in our yard. She found what she believes to be a parachute belonging to allies of the Invisible Menacing Monster.
This doesn’t bode well for the safety of this kitty’s territory. She now feels that it is her duty to prowl the grounds and the house to keep us safe from this threat. She has taken up her guard post near the door to prevent and further reinforcements from being deployed into our house.

The Invisible Menacing Monster has Allies

So the cat is out numbered now. The Monster has recruited a few friends. The sheets and rubber bands. Moonlight has managed to beat the sheets into submission but the rubber bands remain loyal to the Invisible Monster. It is a continuing battle. I’ll try to keep you updated.

 

The Invisible Menacing Monster is allergic to sewing.

I think the invisible menacing monster has allergies.
I’m not hearing things or maybe I am.

I was home alone and the cat was outside. I was working on sewing some reusable shopping bags that I make out of recycled jeans and things when I heard a sneeze from behind me. I turned and saw nothing. I wandered around looking for the source of the sound. None of the windows were open and I couldn’t see anyone outside.

I don’t know what else was it could have been besides the invisible menacing monster. So either it has a cold or is allergic to sewing. There were  threads that I cut off littering the floor. Maybe that is what was making it sneeze. If that is the case then that kind of creeps me out because that means he was sitting under the table next to my feet.

I really think the cat needs to exterminate the invisible menacing monster.