Multi-Part Story

slasHim – Part Two

/ Ben Van Dongen / Leave a comment

By Edle Winnie

She felt trapped. They sat at a beautiful table in an elegant dining room but she could feel the invisible bars around them. The supper was some fancy stuff but she could not taste it. Her boyfriend Morman the giraffe was a talkative animal and he and his mother kept the conversation light and constant. Oblivious. She sawed at everything with her table knife. Daddy scarface sat silent, smiling politely and staring at her. She glared back and sawed her potatoes into even smaller pebbles.

The rest of the evening was spent in banal conversation. As they were leaving Norman’s father managed to catch her alone, a strong hand on her thin arm.

“What are you going to do?” He hissed.

“What are you going to do?” She hissed back and twisted his grip away. Continue reading →

The Dale of Five Worlds (Part 5)

/ Christian Laforet / 1 Comment

By Christian Laforet

The Dread Rainbow Emperor moved across his throne room towards the monitors. “Report,” he demanded.

On the screen, a soldier in rainbow body armor held up a name tag. “We found this in what was left of The Sensation’s palace here on hEarth.”

The Emperor stared at the piece of plastic. “It would appear that the every present thorn in my side, Sam, has found some companions. If The Sensation has already fallen, then it’s clear that his pieces of the hEarth Dale are now in her possession.”

“What would you have us do, my lord?” The soldier asked.

The Emperor thought for a moment, before waving a hand towards his minion. “Nothing. If my suspicions are correct, then Sam and her band of rebels have found their way to Teardrop. What they don’t know, is that I’ll have a little surprise waiting for them.”

Emperor Shawn turned away from the monitor, with a flick of his wrist, the call to the soldier ended. He strode towards his mighty throne and sat down. He pressed a small button on the armrest which opened a channel to his agents on Teardrop.

“Release the Nicktopus!” The Dread Rainbow Emperor smiled as he received the confirmation of his order.

—

The Em-Jay rocked gently through the calm waves. Gascogne Isle loomed in the fog like a colossal ghost.

Sam, Felicia and Robi-Jo stood at the bow of the ship.

“So, that’s not too foreboding looking or anything.” Felicia chuckled nervously.

Robi leaned on the rail to get a better look at the approaching land mass. The moon bathed what was visible through the fog in silver tones. “You really think this Stephanie-Siren girl, is as scary as they say?”

“No, she’s much worse.” Captain Zack approached Continue reading →

Dime Store Detective – Part Four

/ Ben Van Dongen / Leave a comment

While walking back to the train station, Thomas called Rachel. The day was wearing into the afternoon and he figured she would be at work by then.

She answered on the third ring. “Thomas Holliday Private Investigations; how may I direct your call?”

“It’s me.” Thomas smiled hearing her nasally voice.

“Oh, well you better not have messed this case up already. You haven’t had one in months.”

“I need a warrant to access the student records.” He stopped walking, bursting with excitement. “She was actually going to throw me out!”

“I’ve already applied for the warrant, it should be in the records by now. I’ll upload it to your file and send one to the school.”

“You’re the best.”

“Don’t forget it come bonus time.” She hung up on him. Continue reading →

slasHIM – Part One

/ Ben Van Dongen / Leave a comment

By Edele Winnie

She could not pinpoint the beginning of it.   As a child she had been obsessed with knives. A cute little girl with a shining blade in her hand. Her parents, predictably, had scolded and slapped and shaken and hidden the knives until she learned to pretend that she was not interested in them.   She was only nine when her mother found the first scars on her arms. That had been a freak out. She’d been hauled away to see doctors and therapists and she told them whatever she thought they wanted to hear.   Now, as a woman in her twenties, she realized that those therapists had just nodded and collected their hourly fees. No one can care forever. No one can understand everyone. What if you were born not caring or not understandable?

She liked blades because they were powerful. They shined. They were hard, yet they could easily slip into a stuffed animal, or an armchair or a thigh. They could transcend barriers. They could take life. And sometimes when life was taken, it could give life. She didn’t believe in vampires but she knew that humans had always killed and eaten. And that was how she thought of herself. Huntress. Continue reading →

Dime Store Detective – Part Three

/ Ben Van Dongen / 2 Comments

Ben Van Dongen

A cool breeze blew through the open ends of the train station. Thomas turned to it, relishing the feeling on his face as it eased the fatigue from the late night. He kept an eye out for the man he had seen the night before, but the only people there were three young men dressed in casual clothes. They sat at a table eating food from the vending machines and watched a music video, projected over the center of the table by one of their phones. The music, something Thomas didn’t recognize, boomed and twittered across the platform. One of them pointed at him and encouraged the other two to laugh.

The feeder car arrived and Thomas got in, ignoring the taunts he was used to hearing. He sat in a seat across from the doors and adjusted the collar on his tan trench coat. The empty car whooshed into the open and caught up to the train, connecting long enough for him to enter and find another seat. He huffed as he sat, and stretched his neck, cracking it. A woman with a baby carriage made a sour face at the sound and went back to cooing her child. Continue reading →

The Dale of Five Worlds (Part 3)

/ Christian Laforet / Leave a comment

By Christian Laforet

The lift descended into the blackened earth. Felicia and Robi-Jo stood rigidly between the armed men. Overhead, through rusted mesh speakers, crappy pop music assaulted their ears.

“So…what do you guys do for fun around here?” Felicia flashed a smile to the man on her left. A grunt and a don’t-talk-to-me glare shot back.

The elevator came to a grinding halt. As soon as the doors opened, the guards shoved the girls out.

“Wow!” Robi whistled as she and Felicia entered a massive foyer lined with various doors on either side, a huge, spiraled staircase at the back and a dozen marble statues stationed at even intervals along the walls.

One of the guards exited the lift with the girls.

“You think that’s The Sensation?” Robi-Jo pointed towards one of the statues.

“Jeez, I hope not. That guy looks a teenager.”

“No talking!” the guard barked.

The armed man led them down a series of labyrinthine corridors until finally coming to a stop at a set of silver doors which stretched almost all the way to the arched ceiling.

Felicia caressed the precious metal of the door. “Holy smokes! Is this real silver?”

“Shut up.” The guard pushed the door open, then nudged the girls inside.

The harem was a lavish display of comfort. Luxurious beds and couches were positioned around the room. Trays of food and a fully stocked cabinet of fine wines and spirits stood at each end of the space.

“Hey, booze!” Felicia started towards the bar. Continue reading →

The Fifth Monday: Hard-On’s Curse – Part One

/ Ben Van Dongen / 3 Comments

By Ben Van Dongen

Chad sat at a scarred counter, behind bulletproof glass. The pawn shop was empty and he was on the verge of beating his Joust high score, on his phone. His boss, Mr. T, was in the back office doing the day’s banking, and probably, he thought, some blow.

“Hard-on!” Mr. T’s yell was accompanied by a bang, crash, and swearing.

“I pity the fool who calls me Hard-on.” Chad ignored the continuing swearing that grew louder.

“Cut that shit out.”

Chad put one hand up, the other was furiously tapping his phone screen. “Don’t call me Hard-on and I won’t point out that you go by the name of an 80s icon.” Continue reading →

The Fifth Monday: Hard-On’s Curse – Complete

/ Ben Van Dongen / 1 Comment

Part One

Ben Van Dongen

Chad sat at a scarred counter, behind bulletproof glass. The pawn shop was empty and he was on the verge of beating his Joust high score, on his phone. His boss, Mr. T, was in the back office doing the day’s banking, and probably, he thought, some blow.

“Hard-on!” Mr. T’s yell was accompanied by a bang, crash, and swearing.

“I pity the fool who calls me Hard-on.” Chad ignored the continuing swearing that grew louder.

“Cut that shit out.”

Chad put one hand up, the other was furiously tapping his phone screen. “Don’t call me Hard-on and I won’t point out that you go by the name of an 80s icon.”

The owner of the pawn shop was perpetually sweaty. Thick black, sweaty, body hair poked through his t-shirt. Even his voice was greasy.

“Put that damn thing down. You responsible for that coin on my desk?” Mr. T swatted at Chad’s phone, but missed. Spit flew from his mouth and he pointed to his office.

Sad digital music played from the phone as the last ostrich-rider died.

“Come on T, I was going for the high score.”

“This is serious, little shit. The coin, on my desk.” Mr. T wiped his brow with a dirty handkerchief.

Chad pocketed his phone and swiveled to face his boss. “Yeah. Some super old, jacked-up, dude brought it in this morning.” Continue reading →

The Dale of Five Worlds (Part 2)

/ Christian Laforet / 1 Comment

By Christian Laforet

The Lorrza skittered across the blackened landscape. The heat, which escaped through the cracked earth, warmed the scales on its stomach, thermal energy powering the reptile’s meter long body. It would need the boost. In the distance, a leather winged Krillette, no bigger than a fist, had landed on a cooling lump of rock to pick the Sla gnats which had become lodged in the coarse hair covering its squat legs. The Lorrza flicked its tongue, the taste of the Krillette hanging heavy in the oppressively hot air. With a burst of power, the lizard sprang towards its prey. The Krillette had been too distracted by the parasites hiding on its body to notice the Lorrza, and now it would be too late.

An arc of blue energy pulsed and rippled across the torn earth, swirling and undulating like a living thing. Its sudden appearance caused the Lorrza to dance sideways frantically, its wide, black eyes like mirrors reflecting the disturbance. It twisted to look towards the Krillette, the delay enough time for the creature to stretch its wings and take flight. The reptile would not be eating tonight. With a savage hiss and a flick of its tongue, the Lorrza decided that the Krillette was right to flee, for whatever this new arrival was, it was beyond them. With a slash of its tri-coloured tail, it slid into a crack in the ground and was gone.

The energy dissipated into a flurry of dazzling blue sparks, at the middle of which stood three women. Continue reading →

Dime Store Detective – Part Two

/ Ben Van Dongen / 1 Comment

The office was quiet. Faint moonlight shone through the window marking a square on the floor that angled onto a corner of the desk. The building was too high for the glow of streetlights. Thomas considered adding a faux light source, but was rarely in the office late enough to bother.

The text on the digital file looked blurred and Thomas rubbed his eyes. He squinted in the dark office and looked for the old Union Station clock he’d bought at auction. It was past three. The excitement at having a case, that caused him to jump around the office and bounce in his seat when he started to work, had faded. Continue reading →