Chapter 3 Part 1: Dragon Guard

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Dragon Guard

Chapter 3

Part 1

Andi walked into this new house and yelled out, "I'm home!" even if it didn't feel like home yet.

"In the kitchen," her mom called. "Come in and tell me about your day."

As she breezed through the short entry hall, a strange scent hit her. It was mostly cleaning disinfectant, but something she couldn't place lay underneath it. Something that hadn't been there this morning. Something yucky. It faded as she passed through the living room, which still had boxes stacked against the bare walls. Mom must've tackled other parts of the house today.

She pushed into the kitchen and found her mom pulling plates out of the dishwasher and stacking them in one of the cabinets above the sink. When she saw Andi, Mom stopped and turned towards her.

"How was your first day?"

"Same as any first day, I guess."

"Meet any nice people?"

Andi shrugged, and though she tried her hardest not to, her face flushed. "There was this one guy."

Her mom had started stocking the cabinet again, but that statement froze her. Only her amazing dexterity kept her from dropping a plate. "Doesn't sound like a normal first day to me."

"Whatever. Not like it matters. Even if I liked him and started going out, it wouldn't mean anything. We'll still have to leave in a couple of years."

"What's wrong with having fun until then? Be a teenager."

She wanted to. For some reason, she really liked Ben, even though she didn't know anything about him. Sure, he looked good, with his playfully unkempt brown hair and understated fashion sense of a plain t-shirt and simple jeans that actually fit right, unlike how many boys wore them nowadays. But aside from his looks, there was something different about him, something she'd never noticed in any of the other boys she'd met. She felt it from that first second they locked eyes at break. And what about that shock when she'd touched his arm after lunch? That was definitely a first.

"I guess," she said. "Do we have any venison jerky left?"

"Sorry, your dad polished it off. We'll get more this weekend." Mom turned to the mostly empty fridge. "We do have bacon. I can heat it up, if you'd like."

"That's okay. I like it cold." Andi opened the package, peeled a strip off, and took a bite.

Mom took a seat in one of the chairs opposite her. "So, tell me about this boy. His name wasn't Ben, was it?"

Andi stared at her mom. "How did you know?"

Mom had a hard time hiding a smile. "That poor boy had an interesting morning. I told him to say hi if he saw you."

"Wait. What's going on?"

"We had a couple of, uh, strange visitors this morning, and poor Ben got caught in the middle on his way to school."

Andi got up and crossed to the refrigerator. "Did you buy any soda yet?"

"Wouldn't you rather have milk?"

"Not after I found out my mother's trying to set me up with boys. So what do you mean by strange visitors and him being caught in the middle?" She found a can of generic caffeine-free soda and popped it open.

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Dragon Guard Description

Dragons and the undead only exist in fairy tales and video games. Fifteen year-old Ben Phillips knows this as surely as he knows the sun rises in the morning and sets at night. And then he gets attacked by zombies on his way to school. But that’s not the worst thing that’s happened to him lately. He’s also fallen for the new girl in school, Andi Thomas, who turns out to be a 758 year-old dragon in a fifteen year-old girl's body. If that wasn’t enough to make it the worst school year of his life, fate has also decided Ben should be Andi's Dragon Guard, her bound mate with superpowers right out of comic books. And then an ancient evil bent on destroying the world kidnaps Ben's parents. Ben’s had better years. But evil necromancers and over-protective parents aside, Ben’s going to do everything he can, with or without the full powers of Dragon Guard, to do the right thing, not just for Andi, but for the world. 

And still get his math homework done on time.

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Chapter 2 Part 2: Dragon Guard

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Dragon Guard
Chapter 2
Part 2

Ben walked from his normal lunch spot to fifth period PE, a smile on his lips. His friends had resumed their teasing from break, but it had been good-natured, so he didn't mind. And each got a turn in getting picked on about a girl, so it was all fair. He supposed he liked Melissa well enough, and they'd probably be going out again, as soon as she pushed the topic enough for him to ask her. But there was something about the new girl. He'd never felt this way about Melissa, and he hadn't even talked to Andi yet. She'd been in his thoughts nonstop since break. He'd hardly even thought about the zombies.

Whoa! He stopped in his tracks. What was stranger? The fact that he'd seen what he assumed were real zombies, or that a few hours later it hardly phased him? Shouldn't something like that consume his thoughts? Give him walking nightmares? But it didn't bother him at all.

As if on cue, he looked to his left and saw Andi by herself at a drinking fountain. It was the perfect opportunity. With the distraction of everyone heading to class, no one would notice him talking to her. And her mom did tell him to say hi, right?

Who was he kidding? He couldn't do that. What would he say? Yes, he'd dated Melissa last year, but the guys were right. If she hadn't initiated it all, basically insisted, they'd have never gone out. And they'd been flirting on and off since elementary school. How would he start something with a girl he didn't even know?

She finished her drink and turned towards him. He should go, continue on to the locker room for PE, but his feet wouldn't move. What was it about this girl? He needed to at least look somewhere else so she didn't think he was some creepy stalker.

Too late. Her eyes caught his, and she smiled, ducked her head, and looked up again. C'mon, do it. There would never be a better opportunity. He'd faced zombies that morning. This whole day was probably a dream anyway, right? Go up to her. Say hi.

His legs obeyed even as him mind screamed, "No!" What was he doing? He couldn't think of anything to say. Wasn't his first remark supposed to be witty or funny or something? This could only end with him looking dumb.

Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, she didn't run away. Her smile brightened and her cheeks blushed, but she held eye contact. "Hi," he said when he was close enough. "My name's Ben." Somehow his voice came out comprehensible.

"Hi, I'm Andi. Well, really Alexandria, but I go by Andi."

"Cool. First day, huh?" What? Lead with that? Stupid-stupid-stupid.

"Yeah. Seems like a good school. People have been really great so far."

"Nice. Where are you off to next?" Better.

"Algebra with Mr. Simms. Do you have him?"

"Yeah. First period. Always do your homework and you'll be fine."

"You can pretty much say that for any class, though, right?" she said with a laugh.

"He gets mean when you don't do it. Way more than other teachers. I'm still stinging from this morning."

"But I bet it motivates you to finish your assignments for the rest of the week." A half-smile lingered on her lips.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"So there you go." She gave him a playful nudge on the arm, and a spark shot between them. Not like a static electricity shock, but something deeper, something he couldn't explain. She felt it, too, because her eyes went wide.

"Can I eat lunch with you tomorrow?" he asked, the question coming out all at once. "I mean, unless you already have someone to sit with. Or something." Not only did he have no clue where that came from, but it sounded way too lame for her to accept.

"Yeah, that sounds great."

Wait, had he heard her right? She said yes? Yeah, she did. "Meet me here and we'll pick a spot." Did she notice he had a hard time getting it out without hyperventilating?

Her slight smile said yes, but instead of commenting, she said, "Sounds good. I'll be here."

"Awesome."

"We better get to class. You already skipped homework today, so you probably don't want to get a tardy, too."

"I'll be fine. I have PE. But you shouldn't be late to Simms's class. I'll see you tomorrow, if not later today."

"Sounds great. Thanks for everything."

She smiled, waved, and headed towards the math building. He watched for a second, and then turned towards the locker rooms. As he did, he gave a start. Across the way stood Melissa, dressed head to toe in her signature pink, staring at him with a big frown on her face. He contemplated waving, but that might make things worse. Instead he ducked his head and pretended he hadn't seen her. It wouldn't work, but at least it would keep him out of a confrontation for the moment. As he walked into the locker room, it came to him that he didn't care if he smoothed things over with Melissa. There was something special about Andi Thomas.

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Chapter 2 Part 1: Dragon Guard

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Dragon Guard
Chapter 2
Part 1

"So you played all night instead of doing homework for Simms's class?" Randy said, laughing.

"Man," Jay said. "Even if you found good groups, it couldn't make up for the wrath of Old Man Simms."

"I didn't mean to," Ben said. "Every group I joined couldn't lose. I kept saying I was going to get to my homework, but all of the sudden it was after eleven."

"You should have seen it," Vince said. "Simms was in fine form. Especially since Ben was the only one who didn't finish."

His three friends laughed while Ben polished off the bag of potato chips he brought for a snack. "Glad you guys are enjoying this. It was a pretty crappy morning." He sighed. And they didn't know the half of it. In a way, he didn't mind the tongue lashing Old Man Simms gave him. It felt normal.

Jay punched Ben's arm. "Melissa says hi, by the way."

"When are you going to ask her out again?" Randy said. "She's only going to keep bugging us until you do."

Ben was about to say something about finding the right time when she caught his eye. Not Melissa, but the new girl, Mrs. Thomas's daughter. What was her name? Angie? Annie? Andi? Yes, Andi. As Mrs. Thomas said, there was no doubt who her parents were. She had long dark hair, the color of her father's, the petite, athletic frame and good looks of her mother, and…

She looked up at him, and her bright blue eyes pierced through him, like her father's. But unlike his stare, which brought intimidation, hers filled him with a sense of peace and happiness. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. She smiled, and he tried to smile back, hoped he did. He didn't dare look down because he was afraid he'd find himself floating a few inches off the ground.

His buddies burst out laughing.

"What?" he said, breaking eye contact. When he glanced back, she was already on her way in the opposite direction.

"Nothing," Vince said. "It was just perfect timing. We're talking about Melissa, and you're making eyes at the new girl."

"Yeah," Randy said. "That chick's pretty hot. You should've said hi, Benny."

"I don't know…"

"Sure, just like he did with Melissa last year," Jay said. "Oh, wait, that never happened. She had to finally make him ask her out."

Randy took a turn punching him in the arm. Like Jay's punch, it didn't hurt. Luckily, Ben's friends were all built like him, more for video games than physical activity. "For a guy with no game, you sure are a chick magnet."

"Whatever."

Before he had to endure any more, the bell rang, ending break and signaling the start of third period. The guys all said bye and headed for class. Ben hurried to Language Arts, hopeful this would be the one he shared with Andi Thomas.

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Chapter 1 Part 3: Dragon Guard

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Dragon Guard
Chapter1
Part 3

The front door thudded open, and Ben couldn't stand it. He had to see what was going on. He snuck into the living room and peeked around the corner to the entry hall. The two zombies stumbled in through the open door, and the man, Lee, moved too fast for Ben to see. The first zombie fell, decapitated. The woman leapt at the second, two swords in her hands. A few quick swipes and it dropped headless next to the first on the tile floor. Lee slammed the door shut and the lady headed back towards Ben, who retreated to the kitchen.

"Don't see that sort of stuff everyday, do you?" the woman said as she walked in.

Did she know he'd been watching, or had she meant zombies in general? His "No," wasn't a lie either way.

"Sorry you had to get mixed up in that. Let me get you to school. I wouldn't want you to be late on top of everything else."

Ben nodded, not trusting his voice enough even to mutter an "Okay," and followed her though a side door in the kitchen which led to the garage. School wasn't too far away, just a couple more blocks. Normally he'd have turned down a ride, but today he didn't want to risk running into any more zombies. Or worse, if there was such a thing.

A sporty red four-door and a big blue SUV sat parked in the garage. She unlocked the four-door, and he climbed in the passenger seat. As she backed out, she started talking as if nothing weird had just happened.

"You can probably tell by the mess in there that we just moved in. Today's our daughter's first day of school. She'd usually be leaving by the time you showed up, but she wanted to get there early to get a lay of the land, so to speak. We picked up her schedule on Friday, but didn't have a chance to explore. What grade are you in?"

"Tenth."

"Wonderful! A sophomore. So is my daughter, Alexandria. And I'm sorry, sweetie, I forgot to ask your name."

"Ben. Ben Phillips."

"So nice to meet you, Ben, though I wish it'd been under better circumstances. I'm Cassandra Thomas, and you met my husband, Leon. Maybe you'll meet Andi today."

"Yeah." He couldn't think of anything to add to that.

Like most mornings, there was a huge line getting into the parking lot, so he had Cassandra, Mrs. Thomas he should probably call her, stop across the street. Before he got out, she put a hand on his arm. "Ben, it might be best for all involved if you chose not to mention what you saw this morning."

Somehow he managed to smile. "I don't think anyone would believe me anyway."

"No, probably not," she said with a chuckle. "And if you see Andi, don't be afraid to go up to her and say hi. I'm sure she could use a friend today. You'll know her when you see her. She looks quite a bit like me except for her eyes and her hair color. Those she got from her father."

Ben said he would and thanked her for the ride, and she gave a wave as she drove off. He sighed and headed for the crosswalk. At least all of that had taken his mind off his unfinished math homework.

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Chapter 1 Part 2: Dragon Guard

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Dragon Guard

Chapter 1

Part 2

He turned to knock on the door but stopped himself. What right did he have to bring trouble to these nice people? Assuming they were nice, anyway. Maybe he'd be in worse shape if he got their attention. The zombies might be the lesser of two evils. And what if they were in league with the zombies? Not that he believed that, but all kinds of horrible scenarios ran though his mind. Before he made a decision, the door opened and a big hand grabbed his upper arm, dragging him inside.

"Should have run, boy. They weren't after you."

Ben turned and looked at the man. He was huge, standing at least six and a half feet tall and built like a truck, as Ben's dad liked to say. He had short dark hair and a thick mustache, but the thing that stood out most, which both scared and comforted him, was the man's piercing dark blue eyes. It was as if they saw right through Ben's skull and directly into his soul.

Ben gave a start and looked away. A woman also stood there, probably the guy's wife. The two appeared to be in their mid-30s, about the same age his parents. She was much shorter than the hulking man, around five and a half feet tall. She was pretty, and it helped that her eyes were plain green, not so noticeable as her husband's. Her hair was a stylish short blonde, dropping down just below her jaw line. He knew it was stylish because it looked similar to how his mom often appeared after a trip to the salon, and she always kept up on the latest trends.

"No need to scare him, Lee," the woman said. "I'm sure he's already freaked out of his mind."

The man, Lee, let go of Ben, who backed away. Would his shoulders have bruises from the grip? He looked at the adults. "What's going on?"

"Nothing to concern yourself with, sweetie," the woman said. "Why don't you head into the kitchen for a minute? There are some granola bars on the counter if you're hungry. I'll drive you to school in a few moments so you're not late. I assume you go to Valley Citrus?"

He nodded and followed her point out of the entry hall and to the left. He didn't know these people, so why should he trust them? But for some reason, he did. The floor plan wasn't much different from his own house and others in the neighborhood. The entryway opened into a living room, and a door to the left led to the kitchen. Were all the houses in the area just copies of each other?

He could tell these people hadn't been here very long. The living room had a half-finished feel to it. The furniture and television and other big stuff were set up, but the walls were bare, and there were a few boxes in the corner with family photos and other decorations peeking out. Everything had a new smell that he figured was from carpet cleaners. He remembered the scent from when Grandma Phillips passed a couple of years back. His parents, along with his aunts and uncles, cleaned her house top to bottom in order to sell it.

The kitchen held more clutter. Dishes, cooking utensils, and other things lay in a few of the open boxes. If he poked through the cupboards, pantry, and refrigerator, he knew he wouldn't find much. No breakfast odor lingered. The granola bars were indeed on the counter, but even if he hadn't already eaten, he wouldn't have the appetite for one now.

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Cover for Dragon Guard

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Dragon Guard Hub

Dragon Guard is available in paperback:
Buy it at Lulu

Dragon Guard is also available as an e-book:
Buy it at Amazon
Buy it at Amazon UK

Large Cover Image of Dragon Guard:
Cover Image

Description of Dragon Guard:
Description 

Interview about Dragon Guard:
Crazy/Awkward Interview

Links to Sample Chapters:
Chapter One Part One
Chapter One Part Two
Chapter One Part Three
Chapter Two Part One
Chapter Two Part Two
Chapter Three Part One
Chapter Three Part Two
Chapter Three Part Three
Chapter Four Part One
Chapter Four Part Two
Chapter Four Part Three

Chapter 1 Part 1: Dragon Guard

Dragon Guard
Chapter 1 Part 1

Ben Phillips dragged his feet and hated the heft of his backpack. Not that it was heavy, but it reminded him that his math homework wasn't in there. He'd planned to do it last night, but made the mistake of turning on his Xbox before cracking the books. Neither Mom nor Dad would walk in on him, so his only enemy was willpower, which he thought he could beat. He kept getting in better and better battle groups, and before he knew it, it was after eleven. Even with their constant bickering, Mom and Dad would notice him still up that late on a school night. Probably.

Okay, so maybe playing too many video games instead of doing homework wasn't that rare of an occurrence. It wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't Mr. Simms. The math teacher notoriously yelled at students who didn't finish their assignments. Ben was pretty good about getting math homework done as he'd been on the receiving end of the browbeating before, and it wasn't fun. Since today was Monday, it would be worse. Sure, he had all weekend to finish, but he also had other classes. Why didn't teachers get this?

Something buzzed on the back of his neck. It was a prickly feeling, like when he woke his foot up after it fell asleep, that feeling of a thousand tiny needles sticking him. His hand flew up there, but nothing sat on his neck. He looked around and found himself in front of that house that sold a few weeks back. He still hadn't seen who moved in. Whoever it was, they certainly didn't come out very often.

Come to think of it, the whole neighborhood was quiet this morning. Usually there were people leaving for work, walking their dogs, or simply out to get their morning paper. But this morning? Nothing.

The prickly sensation hit harder, moving up his head and down his back. Movement caught his eye at the sidewalk by the property boundary. He let out a yell and stepped back. His foot fell on the edge of the grass and sidewalk, and he tumbled onto his butt. Instead of pushing back up, he turned and scurried on all fours up the lawn towards the porch. There was no way he saw what he thought he did.

Ben bolted up to the front door and spun to look, sure his imagination had gotten the best of him. It was a holdover in his mind from the zombie mode in Warfare Zone, the first-person shooter he'd been playing last night. But instead of an empty lawn, there were two people lumbering towards him. No, not people, not really. They were walking corpses, zombies. Had to be. Their skin was a pale mixture of blue and green, and open sores littered every bit of exposed surface. Their tattered dress shirts and pants wore stains of dirt and who knew what else. Both of their jaws moved up and down as if they were trying to speak. Or, more likely, ready to chew up anything that got in their way.

If he ran quick enough, he could skirt past them. These looked to be the classic slow-moving zombies, not the super fast ones from some of the more recent horror flicks. But weren't they, regardless of speed, relentless? If they really were after him, they wouldn't give up, no matter where he ran, until they caught him.

Hysterical giggles threatened to overwhelm him. Here he was, trying to sort this out as if it were science, not fiction. But, then again, there were two creatures he could only think of as zombies coming right at him. How much more real could this get?

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Writing Prompt #123

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm not labeling it this week, so take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Your imagination runs wild - everything you imagine comes true.

National Novel Reading Month (#NaNoReMo)

Over on his blog, The Bathroom Monologues, John Wiswell has organized a group to read classic titles for this year's National Novel Reading Month (#NaNoReMo). Check that link above to see his megapost about the month-long event. Basically, for February, you choose a classic novel of any genre (and you can decide if the book is a "classic" or not), and read it. Simple as that! Nothing else is needed. Of course, if you want to add a bit more participation, you're encouraged to talk about your book as you read it, be it on social media (Twitter - tag your posts with #NaNoReMo, Facebook, Google+, wherever) and/or your blog. You don't need to do a big book report, of course; simply give your thoughts on the title as you read. This isn't a literature course, after all! Have fun with it, and broaden your lit mind.

I'll be reading A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (the one the movie, John Carter, was based on). I've wanted to read it ever since I saw the movie, but I've never bothered to pick it up. This is the perfect time to do so! In addition, I've decided to dedicate the entire month of #NaNoReMo to classics. What I mean is, if I finish A Princess of Mars before the month ends, I'm going to move onto another classics I've always wanted to read but have never picked up. I've already downloaded The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray from the free classics section of Amazon, so I'm set. I have no idea if I'll get to them, but since they're right there on my Kindle, it'll give me added incentive to finish and start on a new one.

How about you? Any interest in joining? Should be a blast!

Writing Prompt #122

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm not labeling it this week, so take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Your parents reveal a dark family secret.

A Few Things That Kill a Story

There are plenty of things that kill stories and make you put down a book or turn off a movie. Today I'm going to cover just a few based on a film I watched last night (or the half of it I watched before I couldn't take anymore.) I'm not going to outright name the movie, but I'll give examples right from it.

This movie actually had a pretty cool premise, and I was excited to give it a view on Netflix Instant. A man accidentally kills his wife, puts her in his trunk, and drives a sparsely-traveled road to dump her in a lake that she'd loved in life. While he's driving, he's not sure if he's being attacked by supernatural events or if he's losing his mind. Dark, and if done properly, it could be really neat, especially since I enjoy stories where it's a mystery as to if it's all in someone's mind or not. The beginning was actually pretty cool; it drew me in. A few seemingly supernatural events happened that opened my eyes and made me realize I made the right choice in choosing to watch this film. I was invested and wanted to see where it all went. Too bad the storytelling made me realize quickly that my first impressions were wrong. Hopefully my reactions can help others in their writing.

The main character drives down the sparsely-populated rural road, and a few strange occurrences leave him doubting his sanity. Because of this, he speeds through the winding mountain passes. A police officer pulls him over, which is a bad thing because he has his dead wife wrapped in a sheet in his trunk. So far so good. The police officer is quite suspicious, not just because our anti-hero is acting strange due to his wife being in the trunk, but because the officer received a report that he behaved oddly back down the road in another incident. This is still good storytelling; a real-world problem has come prove a real menace to our main character. The scene escalates to the officer wanting to search the car. Our main character obviously does not want the officer to look in the trunk, and the officer has taken note of this. He's about to force the man to open the trunk when he gets a call on his radio. Here's where the scene takes a nose-dive.  The officer tells the dispatcher on the radio that he'll be right there, and he very pleasantly tells our main character that he's free to go, but please slow down next time. And that's it. With how suspicious the cop was, coupled with the main character desperately not wanting the officer to look in the trunk, there's no way that scene would have ended like that. It was unbelievable, and it drew me right out of the story despite the fact that I was all in up to that moment. Take that advice, writers; even if your readers love how the story is going, a blunder can still take them right out of the story. I continued, but with less enjoyment. Some readers (or viewers, in this case) won't.

At one point, our main character was 90 miles away from his destination. A few minutes later, which didn't skip much, if any, time, he was 45 miles away. There was no way he was going that fast, especially on that road. He also calls his mistress (the center of the problem with his wife), and leaves a message for her to call him as soon as possible. He then sets his phone down on the seat next to him and turns on the radio, cranking up the volume. No problem, right? Music, especially loud music, can help calm the nerves. Where this movie goes wrong, however, is that he leaves the radio on only long enough to miss the inevitable call seconds later. Little things like these matter. These again drew me right out of the story, and the great feelings about this movie I had at the beginning were quickly evaporating. I almost gave up right there, but pressed on. The lesson here for you is to make sure all of your details, even the little ones, match up. If your reader stops thinking about the story and instead questions your, the author's, motives/style, you have trouble. Question a character's motives is one thing, but a reader should never question the author's.

The thing that ultimately got me to turn off the movie was not only a cliche I knew was coming, but the way it was handled. The car ran out of gas. Sure, it could happen, but how often does it? I'd have had a better reaction to a flat tire or some other minor malfunction. That simply seems more believable to me. But, ultimately, it wasn't the running out of gas that got me; I could have stuck that out. Once he's stopped, he opens the trunk and whispers to his dead wife that she's not going to make it to the lake, but he's going to have to bury her in these woods because he doesn't want to get caught there with her. Good, good, he's thinking again. But then a car speeds by and he can't flag it down. So he stops and smokes a cigarette. I'm still okay with this, as he's calming his nerves. But then one smoke turns into a half-dozen, which is showing a passage of quite a bit of time. Wait, why did his plan change? He was all hot-to-trot about getting her out of his trunk, but now he's completely abandoned this plan? If he'd given a good reason, maybe, but he doesn't. Sure, you can infer reasons, and I'm sure the screenwriter and/or director was hoping the audience would, but that's a sign of poor writing. There are times when writers need to give the audience credit and let them piece together ideas, but this wasn't one of them; this stank of poor, lazy writing. This did nothing but allow the story to get to the next part of the scene.

Someone finally comes, and he manages to flag them down. When he tells the driver that he ran out of gas, not only was there a gas station not far back, but this guy had actually stopped, put some in a gas canister for his generator, and he's willing to give it to our main character. What luck! My finger went to the stop button on my remote, but I didn't push it yet. I waited until the main character looks back at his car and sees his dead wife's bloody sheet flapping about out of the trunk right by where the gas cap was. The Good Samaritan will see that for sure! The only problem is that there was not only no chance of her sheet getting in that position, but very little chance he wouldn't notice it while he was standing there smoking for the past hour (or however long). This reeked of lazy, desperate writing, and I'd been taken out of the story for the last time. Maybe these problems were something that was explained later in the movie, or maybe they weren't. All I know is that I hit stop and didn't finish watching.

Learn from these mistakes. Don't be a lazy writer. If you need your character to do something, make it believable, not a cliche. Give reasons for your character's actions. Pay attention to little details in your story. Never take your reader out of the moment to wonder if such a thing is possible or plausible. Don't make your reader want to close your book before the end. That's our goal as authors, right?

Writing Prompt #121

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction, but, as always, take it whichever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Unbeknownst to you, an alien has been visiting you in your sleep for years.

Friday Flash: Little Miss Muffet: The True Story

LITTLE MISS MUFFET: THE TRUE STORY

by Eric J. Krause

I think most everyone knows Little Miss Muffet's story. If not, here you go:

          Little Miss Muffet/ Sat on a tuffet/ Eating her curds and whey/

Along came a spider/ Who sat down beside her/

And frightened Miss Muffet away

Straight forward enough, right? She was eating breakfast when a spider dropped down, scared the crud out of her, and ruined her meal. But what would you say if I told you Mother Goose (who isn't really a goose, but something far stranger – ask me again sometime and I might regale you with her tale) changed quite a bit to create that little rhyme? She was, after all, writing for children. You may not believe me, but I promise you I speak the truth. At least my version of the truth.

Her name wasn't Miss Muffet, but Karina McDonald. (Not of the famous Old McDonald Had a Farm McDonalds,' though she and her family were farmers.) The McDonalds' were dirt-poor, barely growing, harvesting, and slaughtering enough to get by. And forget about any excess to sell or trade off at the nearby market. Father and Mother McDonald couldn't, of course, afford to hire workers, so Karina and her younger brother, William, were the only extra hands available.

The family typically worked from before sunrise to well beyond sunset, seven days a week, through the coldest, wettest winter days to the hottest and driest the summer threw at them. Meals were often taken on the go. All four became masterful at balancing and juggling any sort of food while they worked.

Though Karina never had time to be a sickly child, she wasn't the strongest specimen. Therefore, she was the one relegated to the housework and other non-back-breaking chores, as her father put it. It also gave her access to the cute neighbor boy, Alexander, who would often stop by when his own chores were done so he could talk to Karina. When they grew to the age where such things became important, the two fell in love, which the McDonald parents whole-heartedly supported. Not only did they figure they'd gain Alexander as a son-in-law, but also as a new farmhand, as his family could afford to replace him on their own farm. Not to mention the children the two would spawn. There would soon be more than enough able bodies to tend the McDonald fields.

Alexander didn't see things that way. He wanted his own farm, and he wasn't content to take over that of the McDonalds' (which, truth be told, wasn't great land to begin with). Karina couldn't wait to begin her new life, and her parents saw no way to convince her otherwise. When Alexander set out on a quest to find farmland for him and his soon-to-be bride, Father McDonald followed. He had no idea of what he would do: Would he reason with the boy? Plead with him? Threaten him? Hurt him? Maybe even kill him? So he did the only right thing; he hung back and let fate decide.

As it turned out, fate truly did make the decision, and Father McDonald didn't have to do anything. Poor Alexander, while hiking through the forest and most likely dreaming of his future life with his beloved, stumbled through a giant widowmaker web. And while it didn't technically make Karina a widow since she and Alexander weren't yet wed, the two overgrown beasts that hung in the middle of their silk trap did kill the boy almost instantly.

One would think Father McDonald would have jumped for joy and left the boy's corpse there to rot, but he couldn't. Alexander really had been a good lad, and McDonald realized he wouldn’t have killed, or even threatened, the boy. He crushed the two spiders under his heal and dragged Alexander's poison-bloated body home. Karina, of course, as youngsters tend to do, saw him and Alexander much before he intended, and she flew into hysterics until she wore herself out.

Father McDonald laid Alexander's body next to the hearth where Karina stood vigil all night. In the morning, he headed over to the neighboring farm to break the terrible news to the boy's family. Mother McDonald placed a bowl of curds and whey in Karina's lap and took William out to begin their daily chores. Karina couldn't eat; she could only stare at her lost love's lifeless body.

Not too much time had passed (her porridge was still warm) when a tiny spider, a baby widowmaker, crawled out of Alexander's shirt and towards Karina. Instead of throwing her bowl aside and running for safety, as she would have done the previous morning, she slowly lowered her hand and let the miniscule monster climb aboard. Everyone, including Karina, knew a baby widowmaker was twice as deadly as its full-grown counterpart. Not only was its bite certain death, but the poison took longer to spread and proved much more painful in the process. When the tiny thing inevitably sank its fangs into the flesh of her palm, burning the veins in her arm worse than any flame could, she smiled and squished the pinprick of death between her forefinger and thumb. Soon she'd be with her Alexander, this time forever. Her still-full bowl fell to the ground as her soul escaped from this mortal coil.