slasHim – Part Two

June 15, 2015May 2, 2015 / 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 →

slasHIM – Part One

May 18, 2015May 2, 2015 / 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 →

Spider-man vs. Dracula

October 27, 2014December 4, 2014 / Ben Van Dongen / 5 Comments

Spider-man and Dracula stepped off the porch.

“What did she give us? I can’t see.” Dave pulled his Spider-man mask to adjust the eye holes.

“Take your stupid mask off, we’re not even at the door anymore.” Twin lines of spit dribbled down Rob’s chin from where his plastic fangs poked out past his lips.

Dave shook his head emphatically. “Sorry dude, with great power comes great responsibility.”

Rob raised his arms and looked around with exaggerated movements. “There aren’t even anymore house on this street.”

Behind them, two Batmans, a Transformer and Princess Bubblegum ran up to the steps.

—

The pair walked to the edge of the sidewalk and stopped.

“Where to now?” Rob glanced to where the street ended at a large woods, then back up the newly built road. Only one house was finished on their path back out, the owners opting to move in after Halloween. There were three muddy pits dug for future houses, but no other prospects for candy.

“This area’s tapped out. We can check out the action on the other side of the bush.” Dave slung his pillowcase over his shoulder.

“I don’t want to go all the way around. It’s already getting dark; by the time we get there all the candy’ll be gone.” Rob wiped his chin, taking off some of the white makeup. “We’ve got a lot already man.”

“Blasphemy!” Dave made his best Spidy pose, almost knocking over Princess Bubblegum, who was trying to get to the sidewalk. He adjusted his mask again. “Sorry kid.” He shifted the sack and moved out of the way of the other kids. “This is the last year we’re gonna get to go trick-or-treating. I’m not going home until we’ve knocked on every door in town.”Peering out of the one hole he managed to align with his eyes, he pointed at the mass of bare trees separating the neighbourhood from the older ones on the other side. “Let’s just cut through the woods.” Continue reading →