Tag: fiction

Fiction: Prowlers

Posted on by bryon

Chet thumbed the safety off and gripped the pistol with both hands. He held it in front of him as he listened to the quiet, guiding noises. They had led him from his bedroom down the hall and toward the kitchen.

He stopped at the entrance to the living room. A half moon gazed through the bay window, affording just enough light to keep Chet from bumping into things. He stilled his breath and listened closely. Were there two intruders? The noise, or at least a noise, was now coming from the living room.

There … on the north … by the bookcase. Yes.

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Fiction: Moment of Truth

Posted on by bryon

Ship’s Captain Lut Nansen awoke from a dreamless nap. He was still in the pilot’s chair of the shuttlecraft.

“Keith?”

No … I haven’t spoken with my brother for years. He never listened to me.

“Filip?”

No … that’s not right either. I haven’t seen my son since he was six. He was so difficult to deal with. And so was his mother, by then.

On the floor around him were a few empty packets of food concentrate he didn’t remember eating.

He looked around. Yes, he was alone. He now remembered that part clearly.

Now that the rush of terror had dissipated, the other events of three days earlier were coming back to him and fitting into place. It had begun with an urgent beeping from the engineering status board on the Maher‘s bridge.

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Fiction: Beevey

Posted on by bryon

Beevey woke up. Large, dark eyes opened in a thickly furred head. Something had changed, Beevey – short for Black Velvet – knew.

The cat listened for a moment. Both the adult humans were still asleep. So he unfolded himself from the closet floor and set off into the dark to peruse the rest of the upstairs.

Beevey padded down the hall to the baby’s room. With the aid of a soft night light, he hopped up on a chest of drawers and looked down into the crib. The little girl was also asleep. Of course, had that changed, there would have been lots of noise and one of the adults would have gotten up.

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Fiction: In Sure and Certain Hope

Posted on by bryon

Seven-year-old Macey Yager tiptoed through the darkened house before dawn’s first light. She painstakingly unlocked and opened the kitchen door – the one farthest from her parents’ bedroom – and ever so carefully closed it again. She walked quickly and silently down the path away from the house and barnyard and toward the road.

Once there, she ran. She took nothing with her but her memories and her hope.

*

At the beginning of the summer, Macey’s dad, Ken, came home one day with an energetic bundle of fur, a one-year-old border collie.

“He looks like a panda,” Macey said, and Panda became the dog’s name. Ken built a doghouse and put it under a tree near the house and Macey and Panda played every day from sunup to sundown.

She gave Panda his breakfast and supper every day and sat with him while he ate. She threw a ball for him to fetch. She used him as a pillow and looked at the clouds and talked to him about everything.

*

Everything was fine until school started, she thought, walking around a road-kill possum.

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Fiction: Request Granted

Posted on by bryon

Ned sat in the least broken chair against the inside wall of his dingy apartment. A strong ammonia smell pervaded the place, but he hardly noticed. He ran down the list again, as he had done for the last three days.

Wife threw me out.

Filed for divorce.

Kept the kids.

And the dog.

Girlfriend not returning my calls.

Parents and sister ditto.

Lost my job.

And my medical license.

D.A. considering criminal charges.

Patient’s family considering civil lawsuit, too.

Reporters hounding me.

BMW trashed by angry mob.

Rent on apartment overdue.

Loan shark looking for me.

That covered things.

“It’s going to take a miracle to get me out of this,” he muttered.

The meth lab in the apartment next door exploded. The two meth heads and Ned died instantly.

“That butcher doctor sure got off easy, didn’t he?” everyone said later.

Fiction: Appeasing the Appetite

Posted on by bryon

The mouse’s eyes darted around. He had been maneuvered into a corner and there was no way out. He looked up and up again. There towered a great gray cat with evil and hunger in its eyes.

“Oh, please, please, Mr. Cat! Please don’t kill and eat me!”

The cat was amused. “Whyever not? I am hungry and you are food. This has been the way of things since our kind first shared the earth.”

“Please! I … I could pay. I could get something for you that you wanted,” the mouse pleaded.

“You are what I want,” the cat replied reasonably, and he lifted his right forepaw for the coup de grâce.

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Fiction: Crossing the Bridge

Posted on by bryon

In the light of the full moon on a cloudless night, Ron walked to the middle of the bridge and put one leg over the guardrail, and then the other. He stood on a narrow catwalk meant for the use of painters and inspectors. Ron planned to use it as a launching pad, to launch himself into the deep waters of the Tondoscinewa River and end it all.

He took a deep breath, and released it. Depressed as he was, he thought perhaps he should get right with God before jumping. Of course, jumping itself was guaranteed to get on God’s bad side, and there was no point in asking for forgiveness and then committing the sin. So, no prayer.

Ron took another deep breath, thinking it would be his last. Then he heard the footsteps approaching slowly from the tree-laden far end of the bridge. He blew out the breath and wondered who was coming.

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Fiction: At the Finish Line

Posted on by bryon

“So, Agent XR9 – or should I call you Major Arthur Shining? – you have found my final lair, my sanctum sanctorum, and defeated all my henchmen. I am defenseless … except for my attack robot!”

“Oh, please, Dr. Baddar; we both know that pile of nuts and bolts is worthless.”

Dr. Baddar aimed a remote control at the robot and pressed the activation sequence anyway. The silver robot, six feet tall, three feet wide, and designed with lots of odd, sharp angles, lurched toward XR9. It waved its arms menacingly and made a mechanical growling sound. XR9 watched idly as it slowly drew closer.

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Fiction: Halfway to China

Posted on by bryon

“Hey, Joey.”

“Hey, Tommy.”

“What’cha doin’?”

“Runnin’ away.”

Tommy took in the picture for a minute. There was simply no evidence to support Joey’s statement.

“How are you runnin’ away by diggin’ a hole in your back yard?”

“I’m goin’ to China.”

“Oh.” That made better sense.

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Fiction: Going Gently

Posted on by bryon

The cell door swung out, and Sherdon saw a beautiful young woman standing in the opening.

“Philip? I’m Jana, and I’ll be with you this morning. If you’ll stand up, please?”

She had a pretty smile, but she was not overdoing it. As the jailer handcuffed him behind his back, Sherdon noted that Jana’s dress was both low cut and short, but only pleasantly so, not enough to be titillating. The jailer led Sherdon out of the cell and Jana took over, putting her arm around him.

“It’s sunny and warm out in the yard. That’ll be nice after the cold cell and this hallway.” Continue reading “Fiction: Going Gently” →