The Experience

Author's Notes: I wrote this story for a short story contest. It was based upon this one time in my Filipino-American studies class where we visited the Historic Filipino Town in the Los Angeles area. Everything was old, and it was clearly a low-income area. I made the decision to have the main character only speak at the end to be something of a blank canvas.

Sitting on the sidewalk in front of my house, I wait for my brother. The house address was once painted on the front of the sidewalk, but now, only two numbers remain. With this warm California weather , I choose not to sit underneath the mandarin orange tree in the front yard. Old cars pass by the thin two-way street with cars parked almost squished on both sides. More than once a month does the narrowness of the street cause accidents or near-accidents from cars coming towards each other.
    My brother, Victor, picks me up in an old, white Honda Accord. His girlfriend sits in the passenger seat while his best friend, David, sits quietly and menacingly in the back seat. 
    “Get in the back, Edrian,” Victor tells me authoritatively.
    As I sit in the back, Victor’s girlfriend gives me a ‘hello’ with a smile and goes back to looking at the mirror to put on lipstick. David lightly punches me in the shoulder and asks with a smirk, “So, do you have a girlfriend yet?”
“He’s only twelve,” Victor tells him with just a slight Filipino accent where the “V” almost sounds like a “B”.
    Victor drops me off at Goldlake Middle School, where most of the students and their parents either walk or take the bus. The sound of broken English from those who came straight from the Philippines can be heard throughout the quad area. 
    The bell rings, and everyone scrambles to their classes. With the large amount of students in this area, the school cafeteria has to be used as multiple classrooms. As I walk through the halls, a group of older students approach me. The leader of this group is Boy Ramos, who used to play with me when we were kids. Once Boy started to skip school and hang out in the streets, my parents did not allow me to be friends with him anymore.
“Forget this place and hang out with us, Edrian Rubic” Boy tells me in a haughty and mocking tone. 
It is somewhat difficult to take him seriously when his “F” still sounds like “P”. I turn around and try to walk away.
“You’re coming with us,” Boy tells me as he tries to grab my arm.
A proctor sees us and demands that we go to class. I hurriedly rush to the other direction that Boy is headed even though my class is in the opposite direction. I wrap around the old and dilapidated portables on the outskirts of school and enter my history class. My teacher, Mr. Payne, a young Caucasian male who felt that he could make a difference in a lower-class town reprimands me for being tardy. I take my seat to the sound of snickers from the other students. 
Sitting through the lecture, I daydream of being a basketball player that I have seen in television.  I run through the basketball court with the crowd cheering loudly, as I cut through defenders and jump in the air for a slam dunk. While in mid-air, the ball is swatted away by none other than Boy. 
I wake up from the daydream and look around the classroom. Seeing my classmates with obvious hand-me-down clothes and torn-apart shoes, I try to imagine something greater again. However, Mr. Payne calls me to answer a question, but I am just not paying attention. All the other students have their eyes on me as I stutter to say something, and I look down and slump further into my chair. Disappointed and a bit frustrated, Mr. Payne calls on someone else.
At lunch, I am used to sitting alone on an isolated planter that is held together by cracked bricks. Boy approaches me with his friends and block any chance for me to escape.
“After school, meet us next to the liquor store by your house,” Boy tells me.
Once school ends, I have to walk home since my brother is too busy with his girlfriend to pick me up. Walking up and down the hilly streets, I pass by three churches that sit atop the hills. My family and I attend church every Sunday, but I only attend because my parents force me to go. I look at the giant cross on top of one of the churches, The Church of Christ, that has graffiti on its side.
A middle-aged Caucasian man with hair turning gray and a noticeable beard approaches me and asks, “Are you looking for something?”
I nod my head ‘no.’ 
“Maybe you’re looking for God.”
I am caught off-guard by his statement, so I walk away quickly and avoid making eye contact with him. As I am wandering about, I really do not know what made me uneasy about his statement.
I pass through a row of houses, and most of them are old and have not been renovated since they were bought. However, three homes on the block have newly green and well-groomed front yards. The other homes contain brown and yellow grass or pure dirt for front yards. The rotted steps that lead to their front porches look as if they cannot carry any more weight. 
I head towards the liquor store that sits in the corner of my neighborhood. Its handwritten signs are spelled incorrectly, and a large golden retriever guards it from any delinquents looking for trouble. Boy and his friends wait on the side of the liquor store where the guard dog cannot see them. When he sees me, he greets me with half a nod where his eyebrows raise and his head tilts upwards slightly. 
“What’s going on, Edrian?” Boy asks.
A Caucasian artisan who just moved into the neighborhood passes by and heads to the liquor store. Boy is in his pathway, and he shuffles to the side and politely says to him, “Excuse me, sir.”
The man walks past him and gives a slight nod, as Boy looks down at the concrete sidewalk. Once he enters the liquor store, we all leave, with Boy grabbing me by my shirt and pulling me. After walking down the block, Boy releases his hold on my shirt and tells me, “We’re going to the churches.”
We take the main street to the churches where there is a beggar with a sign in every corner. We pass by the small community center that is the main place for parties and where Filipina girls have their debuts. On the other side of the street is a small café with a stage where teenagers and young adults hang out to listen to spoken-word poems. 
A family-owned Filipino restaurant or a Vietnamese Pho noodle shop sits in every plaza. Shops that closed down are being re-opened as Starbucks or other national restaurant chains. The graffiti on some walls have been painted over by the professional artists that have been buying homes in the area.
We eventually reach the hills and stand in front of the gates of The Church of Christ. Boy gets out a spray can and tells everyone, “We’re tagging this place.”
He shakes the canister and hands it to me. I point it to a part of the wall that is still white and look at Boy, as if I am looking for his approval. He gives a slight nod, and right when I am about to stain the church, the middle-aged man that I saw earlier yells loudly, “What’s going on here?”
Boy and his friends run away, but I stand still as if something froze me. I manage to turn around with the spray can still in my hand, and the man just looks at me. 
“Hey look, I’m the new minister to this church. I don’t know what’s going on, but you can’t do something like this.”
I sit still quietly.
“Put that away and put this in your hand, and don’t let it go.”
The minister gives me an old, hardcover Bible. I place the spray can on the ground, and he puts the Bible in my hand. It is a lot heavier than it looks.
“Once you begin to read this, you’ll begin to really exist. If you stay with those guys and do this crazy stuff, you won’t go anywhere in life.”
“Thank you for this,” I tell him, as I hug the book close to me.

The Locket

Genre: Children's Fiction/Mystery

Author's Notes: I wrote this for a short story contest that was limited to 750 words, and it had to be a children's mystery. It was a challenge for sure considering the limitations, but getting characters and a simple plot together, it was doable. It's very dialogue-heavy, and the focus of this short story was to work on dialogue.

I left my locket on my desk between first and second period as I got something to eat. Maybe someone thought it was real gold, or it might be someone who does not like me, but when I returned, my locket vanished. 
    My first suspect is that bully, Langston Bullman, who is a sixth-grader like me but got held back because he is not very bright. It could have been May Bellerin, who lives in a large house in the nice community. Really, it could have been anyone like my teacher, Mark who sits next to me and picks his nose, or Lisa Soundless who sits alone in the corner.
    Class starts, and I look around to see if anyone has my locket. I do not care about the locket itself, but there is an old picture with me and my mom and dad inside of it. Mom was sick and did not make it, so it has just been me and dad this last year. 
I look over and stare at May’s desk to see if she has it. 
“Rose Lockheart! Will you pay attention in class? Don’t make me send you to the principal’s office again,” Mrs. Peeveman says sternly.
Giggles and a few whispers fill the classroom. I look at the teacher and say, “What?”
“What? Indeed. You have to answer this math question.”
“Sure. Sorry, teach.”
I am pretty smart and did the homework, so I know the answer. After that, I go back to answering the question of who stole my locket. Once lunch time starts, I go behind the portables to find Langston Bullman. Langston and his friends are picking on some first-grader. It is not something I have not seen before, so I let them finish their business so that I could get down to business.
“Still picking on first-graders, I see?”
“What’s it to you, Rose?” Langston says to me annoyed by my presence.
“Look, I’ll just get right to it. Someone stole a locket of mine, and I want it back.”
 
“Don’t have it. Don’t know what happened to it,” he says while looking down.
“Is that so? And maybe I don’t know how the toilet in the boys’ bathroom got clogged up.”
“Okay. Okay. While you were gone, I saw May Bellerin snooping around your desk. I swear, that’s all I know.”
I head to the lunch tables where May and her glam friends hang out. They look at me with catty eyes and mean facial expressions as I take a seat next to them. 
“What do you want, Rose? We have a ‘no tomboys’ rule here in this group,” May says mockingly. 
“Don’t worry. Wouldn’t want phony friends like you guys anyways.”
They all glare at her.
 “I’ll get to the point. Someone told me you were around my desk while I was gone. My locket was on it.”
“And you think I took your cheap thing?”
“I sure did, and it’s not any cheaper than that fake bracelet you’re wearing.”
“No need to be all mean. I didn’t take your locket thingy. I’ll admit that I saw it and went to your desk to get a closer look. Someone called out to me, and I turned around to chit-chat. I looked back at your desk and didn’t see it. I’m, like, totally being honest.”
I leave their table and walk around the field. Lost in my thoughts, someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and see Lisa Soundless looking down timidly as she says, “I know where your locket is.”
As I follow her, I notice that my shoulder is a bit dirty. She points to a spot on the ground and tells me, “I saw May Bellerin bury it here.”
I dig at the spot and find the locket. I open it, but the picture of my family is gone.
“Why’d you take the locket, Lisa?” I tell her directly.
 
“I, I didn’t take it.”
“You tapped me on the shoulder, and there’s dirt on my clothes. Your hands look awfully dirty too.”
She breaks down and cries.
“I’m so sorry. My parents separated, and I’m living with my aunt and uncle now. There’s a picture with a mom, dad, and daughter. It was……...nice.”
“I always see you sitting alone.”
“I don’t really get along with other people that well.”
“I guess you’re stuck with me then.”
I found my locket, but I also found a friend too.

The Snake Thief

Genre: Fiction/Comedy

Author's Notes: I write in a way that is not totally planned out, and I allow the characters to move the story. However, with The Snake Thief, the story turned into something that I did not intend. I got the idea of this story from an old legend that an Indonesian co-worker told me, but it was something more of a horror story. The way that The Snake Thief turned out became a comedy. 

Legends pass on in small villages across the countryside. From tales of animals stealing money simply by rubbing their bodies against a house to legends of magical creatures, these stories have obscure or unknown origins. In one village, a man named Ular just had his heart broken by a woman. He visits his best friend Setia and tells him, “My girlfriend, after being together for over two years has broken up with me. I bought her everything that she wanted. I think she just wanted my money, and now I’m poor.”
Setia responds, “The last man to date her had a similar story.”
“It’s women, Setia. They’re no different from the leeches in the river. They suck men dry and leave you with nothing but wounds.”
“I don’t know about that, Ular. I think that it’s just her.”
“No Setia. I cannot get over this. All this time, money, and energy spent to be with someone only to end up alone.”
“Let’s just forget about this for now, Ular. You need to get out of the poor house, or else you’ll be eating grass, leaves and insects again.”
“You see what women do to us men? I bought her so many gifts, yet here I am eating such things.”
“But you made that choice, Ular.”
“No, no, no. It is them, Setia. They sing their sweetness to my ear, and I become forced to buy them what they want.”
“Take a walk around the village or something.”
Ular walks past the straw-roofed huts that rest on wooden pillars. Flooding from heavy rains comes abruptly, so homes are elevated. As Ular strolls through the dirt streets, he smells cooked fish. Like a starving man lured to food, he ends up in front of a hut. Inside, a woman cooks fish for her husband, who is happily waiting for his meal. The man and woman sneak loving looks at each other to the chagrin of Ular. He exits the home and says to himself, “My ex-girlfriend would never do that.”
He cannot stop thinking about what he witnessed and says to himself, “I bet that woman is simply a vile enchantress. Yes, that’s it. She stuffs his belly with food, and he does her absolute bidding.”  
Ular ends up back at Setia’s doorstep. He invites him in, and Ular declares, “I want food, Setia. More importantly, I want revenge.”
“What is it now, Ular?” Setia asks exasperated by Ular’s moodiness. 
“I need a plan that will get me revenge on these evil temptresses. Then, I will find a way to get food in my belly and out of the poor house.”
“Ular, your hunger is making you delusional. Women are not evil, and you need to find an honest way to make money.”
“Honesty will get me thrown to the snakes. I must do whatever it takes, even if it is underhanded.”
“Oh Ular, why must you be so impulsive?”
“Forget about that, Setia. You must help me with this.”
“Come back later tonight. I think that I have something that may help you with this ridiculous scheme.”
Ular leaves Setia’s hut, but not before he eats a few of his fish. As he walks home, he passes by his ex-girlfriend’s hut. Anxiety overcomes him, and he tells himself, “I don’t even know Setia’s plan. I must take action now, or else I will lose my nerve.”
Ular sneaks into her hut and looks around. He sees a precious stone that he bought her and snatches it. However, his ex-girlfriend enters the hut and catches him in the act of stealing. Behind her is her new boyfriend, Kuat, who is the strongest man in the village. 
Ular tells her, "I am only here to get the things that I bought for you."
His ex-girlfriend replies, "Oh Ular, you are as stupid as ever. What am I to do without my precious stones? You bought them for me, so now they are my property. I must treat you as a thief now."
He looks for an exit, but Kuat’s massive body blocks the way. He then thinks about breaking through one of the flimsy walls. Before he could make his escape, Kuat approaches him and lifts him over his head. Ular’s ex-girlfriend instructs him, “Kuat, please treat Ular like the trash that he is.”
Ular yells while being carried overhead by Kuat, “You devilish woman. Your kind is evil!”
Kuat removes Ular from the village and into the forest. While being held above Kuat’s head, Ular asks, “Where are you taking me? Isn’t it about time you put me down?”
Kuat replies, “I heard that you like fish, so I thought it’d be nice for you to swim with them in the river.”
At the riverbank, he throws Ular into the water. He hits his head on a rock and drifts down the river unconscious. Downstream, Setia is fishing as he sees Ular’s lifeless body floating on the water. He jumps in the river and pulls him onto land. Once Ular wakes up, Setia asks, “Ular, what has happened to you?”
“Awakening, Setia. Whatever your plan is, we must act now.”
“Are you sure that you don’t want to tend to your wounds.”
“No, Setia. Waiting will only allow the she-devils to plan more ways to embarrass me.”
“Ular, I think that you are crazy, but I will help you nonetheless. The elders have told me stories of gods inside of great trees in the forest that will offer their power. We will find one of them and pray to it. Hopefully, it will give you some sort of power to get your silly revenge.”
    Ular and Setia venture into the forest with torches in hand. While humidity persists throughout the night, both feel cold chills along their bodies. Darkness surrounds them as the branches and leaves act as one big roof while bushes and trees make it difficult to see far ahead. Ular tells Setia, “Do you know where this great tree is? Without these torches, I wouldn’t even be able to see my hands in front of me.”
Setia replies, “As children, we used to play in this forest when there were fewer trees. I remember us climbing a gigantic one, and I think that was a great tree.”
“You remember the tree, but do you remember how to get there?”
“Yes. It is not that far from the river where I found you floating like a dead fish.”
    They make it to the river, but Ular does not watch his step and falls into it. Setia pulls him out, and Ular says aloud, “Cursed river. It must be inhabited by a female spirit out to get me.”
They continue along the river and eventually reach a very tall and wide tree. Walking closer to it, they see a large carving in its bark in the shape of a snake-like head. “I do not remember this carving on the tree from when we were younger, Ular,” Setia says aloud. 
“It does not matter Setia. What must I do to receive power from these gods?”
“Pray to that carving, I suppose.”
Ular gets on his knees and prays aloud to the carving. Most of his prayer consists of him lambasting the female race and wishing for revenge. He cries while yelling how his own mother would slap him when he was not behaving. Setia looks at him with embarrassment and is ashamed to be his only friend. 
A giant white snake appears before them and asks, "Who is this fool that is praying to me? I have not heard this much whining from a man in all the years of my existence."
Ular replies while still on his knees, "I am Ular, oh sacred God of this great tree."
"I am not who you think I am."
"If you can grant me the power to get revenge on the female race, then you are a God to me."
"I possess that type of power. However, it will not be free."
"I will do whatever you want."
Setia interjects, "No Ular! We do not even know what this creature wants in return. You cannot make such quick decisions in circumstances like this."
The giant snake tells them, "Your friend has already made the agreement, and it cannot be undone. Now, this fool will be given the power to become a snake. However, when your body as a snake touches a person’s home, all of their money and valuable possessions will end up in your home.”
“Thank you. Oh, great snake,” Ular says.
The giant snake turns his attention to Setia, “You are obviously a loyal friend to this idiot. Listen carefully. You will be given a candle. When you light this candle, it will turn him into a snake. In order for him to revert back to a human, you must blow it out. If it is blown out in any other way, then he will die. Also, if the candle flickers, then it signals that your friend is in danger.”
Setia asks, “What do you want in return?”
“You will find out soon enough,” The giant snake says before it vanishes. 
With the sun setting, they walk back towards the village to Setia’s hut. He asks, “Ular, do you really believe in this power that the giant snake gave to you?”
Ular replies, “Yes Setia. We have made it this far, so there is no turning back now. 
“I have a bad feeling about this. The only outcome I see is a total disaster.”
“Do not worry. Once I return to your hut, you can blow out the candle.”
 Setia puts the candle on a table and lights it. Ular shrinks into a small white snake and crawls under his own clothes. Setia asks the little snake, “Can you understand what I am saying?”
Ular wiggles his way towards Setia and lifts his head up. With hisses as a response, Setia says, “Since you cannot seem to talk, I kind of like you better like this.”
 Ular whips Setia in the leg with his tail as he slithers out of the hut. With the villagers asleep, he first goes to his ex-grilfriend’s home. He touches it with his body and heads back to Setia’s hut. Once there, he taps him with his tail as he is so focused on the candle’s fire. Seeing the snake back in his hut, he blows out the candle. 
Ular returns to his human form naked, so he quickly puts his clothes back on. He tells Setia, “I wonder if that really worked. I must go back to my hut now to see if that seductress’s money and valuables are there.”
    Back at his hut, he sees money and the jewelry that he bought for his ex-girlfriend on the floor. He jumps around excitedly while grabbing onto the valuables. “Now I do not have to eat leaves tomorrow. I can buy all the fish that I want.” He puts the valuables under his bed and goes to sleep with a smile on his face.
    Ular wakes up to the sight of his ex-girlfriend and Kuat. She tells him in a conceited tone, “I seem to have lost my valuables. I have a hunch that they might be here.”
“There is nothing here, as you can see. You have taken everything of value from me. Now, you take my dignity as well?” He responds.
“Spare me the acting, Ular. I am not in the mood for your foolishness. Kuat, please check every corner of this filthy place for my possessions.”
Kuat throws tables, chairs, and any pieces of furniture that Ular owns onto the street. Leaves and little grubs fly off one table, and Ular says, “My lunch!” With nowhere left to look, Kuat and his girlfriend leave. However, she turns around and tells him, “There is a place that we have not checked yet. Please lift this pauper into the air and see if any of my precious stones are on his person.”
    Kuat lifts Ular off from his bed and shakes him over his head. With nothing dropping to the floor. Ular’s persecutor tells Kuat, “Please put my dear Ular back in bed.” He throws him onto the bed, and it collapses. A precious stone rolls out of it and stops at the woman’s feet. She then tells him, “So this is where you were hiding my things? Ular, I have no idea when you stole this from me, but I must take back what is mine. You have been very bad, so I will have Kuat punish you for your sins.”
Kuat slowly stalks towards Ular, but he crawls between his legs and runs away. On the road, he sees someone and tells him, “Kuat is trying to kill me. I need help.”
“Oh Ular, of course you need help. You always say such ridiculous things.” The person responds as he walks away.
Ular frantically runs up to people on the street asking for assistance, but they all refuse him. He runs to Setia’s hut and announces to his startled friend. “We must talk, but not here. Kuat is out to hurt me!”
    They go deep into the forest, and Setia asks, “Ular, what is this about?”
Ular responds hysterically, “The whole village is against me, Setia. I must become the snake tonight and make them pay.”
“This is now getting very concerning. I think that you should go see the witch doctor.”
“Even the witch doctor told me that I am crazy. Me, crazy? That is totally false.”
“You did make a deal with a giant talking snake, Ular. Some would say that is the decision of a crazy man.”
“That was smart, not crazy. He seemed like a perfectly normal magical creature.”
“What is your plan?” Setia asks tired of trying to reason with Ular.
“Tonight, I will turn into the snake and take everyone’s money.”
“That just makes you a petty thief, Ular. I am sorry, but I cannot be a part of this.”
“You were already helping me steal from my ex-girlfriend.”
“That is different. I have seen how she treated you, and you were not wrong in wanting valuables back that you bought for her.”
“Setia, I will either do this as a snake with your help, or as a human without your help.”
“Why must you put me in this position? I feel as if I have no choice but to help you.”
“So, you will help me?”
“Yes.”
    That night at Setia’s hut, Setia puts the candle on the table. He asks Ular, “How do you expect to get away with this? You have a very small hut that will not hold all that mess.”
“I can bury it all. We will take from a few homes every night just to be careful.”
“I do not look forward to this, Ular.”
“I will share a coin or two with you………..unless I have already bought fish with them.”
“I already expect that you would buy food before offering your money.”
“I am not that selfish, Setia,” Ular says as he takes and eats one of Setia’s fish.
    Every night, Ular becomes the snake and targets no more than two huts. After changing back to a human, he buries the money that he stole. After days of these excursions, the victims start to speak out and warn their fellow villagers. 
One morning, a recently-robbed neighbor approaches Ular on the street and says, “Ular, you are very poor, and no one would waste their time stealing from you. We already checked your hut and found that you own absolutely nothing. With that said, we would like to ask for your help in finding this thief. We are going to assemble teams to watch the village every night until we find him.”
“If that is the case, then I will join you.”
That night, Ular and a small group of villagers look for the thief. After an hour of patrolling, he tells them, “I’ll check Setia’s hut. He still hasn’t been robbed.”
Ular goes to Setia’s hut while occasionally checking to see if anyone followed him. Once there, he tells his friend, “Turn me into the snake.”
Setia responds worriedly, “There are villagers out there looking for the thief. Even as a snake, you may be seen and attacked.”
“It does not matter to me. As a snake, I can elude them much better than if I were human.”
“This is a mistake, but I know that I cannot change your mind.”
    Setia lights the candle, and Ular becomes a snake. He slithers outside towards a neighbor’s hut and successfully steals from it. The white snake moves across the village to get to the huts that are not robbed. Crawling about, he sees the fire from torches being held by various villagers patrolling the streets. Someone in the distance says, “What is that over there?” Ular slithers away from the direction of the voice. 
    Setia watches the candle intently and starts to see it flicker. He panics and makes a motion to blow out the candle but stops himself. He quickly gets out of his seat and looks to see if Ular is nearby, but he does not see him. He goes back to his seat and sees the candle still flickering. 
    Ular slithers underneath a hut once he sees the fire of a torch coming towards his direction. While hiding, he hears someone’s footsteps coming from inside the home and a yell. He then hears that person running out of the hut. Ular crawls away, but he realizes that he had not previously robbed that residence. He heads back towards Setia’s home, but on his way there, he sees a villager quickly enter it. Ular slithers his way to the front entrance and looks to see what is going on.
    He hears the man yelling at Setia, “Where is Ular? I went back to my hut but found my money and valuables stolen. I was suspicious of Ular leaving so suddenly, so I went into his hut and he was not there. However, all of my expensive possessions and money were lying about.”
Setia responds nervously while looking at the flickering candle, “I do not know where he ran off to.”
“How did he get my things so quickly?”
“It is very hard to explain,” he says as he stares at the candlelight. 
The man becomes irritated at Setia and asks, “Why do you not look me in the eyes when I talk to you? Is this candle so special that you must act like I am not here?”
The villager blows out the candle, and they subsequently hear the sound of something collapsing at the front entryway. Rushing towards the sound, they see a dead white snake on the floor. Setia drops to his knees and starts to cry. The villager asks, “Was that your friend or something?”
“Yes, he was my best friend,” Setia says through tears while holding the snake in his arms.
    The man looks at Setia confused. They then go back into the hut.

“So, that is what everything was all about,” the villager says to Setia.
“Yes, Ular is now in the afterlife.”
“Life is nothing more than the light of a candle. It was a dangerous thing that Ular got involved with.”
“I wish that I could have stopped him somehow.”
“Setia, why did you stay friends with Ular? You are a well-liked working young man, and he was, to put it plainly, an idiot.”
“As a child, I was weak and timid. Ular was very confident even though he could not back that confidence up and was something of a simpleton. He saw me one day and pretty much forced me to be his friend. He would come over and force me to play with him, but he was also the first to come to my aid as well.”
“I can see Ular do something like that.”
“Wherever he is, I hope that he is doing well.”
    Ular’s spirit walks around the forest. He heads towards the great tree and sees the giant snake in front of it as if he were waiting for someone. He looks down on Ular and tells him, “I knew that I would see you here. It was inevitable.” 
“What do you mean?” Ular replies.
 “I mean that there was no way that a fool like you would be able to use that power without eventually getting killed. What do you think would have happened to you once that candle melted?”
“I did not even think about that.”
“That is what I expected from you. You just act without thinking, don’t you?”
“Where is this place?”
“Welcome to what people call purgatory. You are going to walk this land forever with no destination. This is your payment for making a deal with me!”

Christmas Wealth

Genre: Fiction

Author's Notes: I wrote this story last year during the Christmas season. It was one of the first "mundane" stories that I wrote for a short story contest. I purposefully made it ambiguous whether or not the three people who meet the Solace family are real or spirits. I generally do not write happy endings, but I had to make one especially for a Christmas story.

Sitting on the edge of his bed while playing the newest online first-person shooter, Nicky Solace smiles and cheers every time that he shoots down another player. His friends, or to be precise, made-up usernames,  talk to each other in code using a language that only the most avid players would understand. With only the vacuum used by the maid, Isabella, heard in the background, Nicky’s eyes do not leave the television screen and the near-realistic graphics of the game. 
An hour passes, and school starts in an hour. It is the last Friday before a two-week vacation for winter break with Christmas coming in six days. However, Nicky’s stomach needs food. He slowly gets up to turn off the console and heads downstairs to eat. He looks out the window and sees the city view from his parents’ multi-million-dollar home. Southern California does not snow during December, and at worst, it rains, but the sun shows itself this morning bringing with it a slight chill. 
Nicky’s father is already in his executive corner office that has windows that look down on the city from the top-floor.  Nicky does not ever expect to see his father at the breakfast table anyways, or the dinner table for that matter. His mother makes more appearances in the house than his father, but her work as a fashion designer has her meeting clients or spending time in the studio. 
Nicky sits at the kitchen table looking at a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast. A row of empty chairs join him while the maid watches television in the family room. Once he finishes eating, Nicky’s mother, on schedule, comes downstairs to take Nicky to school. 
“How are you, cutie?” Nicky’s mother asks
“Don’t call me that,” Nicky says with a hint of anger even though she has been calling him that since he was a baby.
“Make sure to get changed. Don’t forget to shower.”
    Nicky takes a shower and changes his clothes. They head to school in their Range Rover, and Nicky plays his Nintendo 3DS on the way. His mother attempts to start a conversation with him, but she stops when she realizes that she is being ignored. In her mind, she imagines that she swipes the handheld game system from his hands and throws it out the window. In reality, she drops her son off school, smiles and tells him to have a nice day. 
    Nicky walks through the quad of the elementary school while hearing chatter from other students. Everything from the hallways to the doors is covered in reds, greens, and whites. He walks by himself to class as he sees various cliques talking in delight. Everyone is anticipating winter break, even the teachers.  
Nicky heads to the bathroom before class. In the stall, he overhears a conversation between two older students.
“So, do you know what your parents are getting you for Christmas?”
“Not really. I’m hoping to get a Nintendo 3DS.”
“Dude, I see that Nicky Solace kid always playing his. He, like, gets everything I’ve ever wanted.”
“You ever see his house? It’s seriously, like, four of my houses combined.”
“Seriously, he doesn’t need Christmas presents. He’s got, like, all this stuff I want. He doesn’t need a thing.”
Nicky stays in the bathroom stall until he hears the boys’ footsteps leave the bathroom. Solemnly, he walks to his classroom, but the bell rings on the way. He enters the classroom with all eyes on him while his unpleased teacher marks him as tardy. 
Nicky daydreams while the lesson is taught and thinks about what the boys in the bathroom said about him. Last Christmas, he received a new computer and laptop from his mother, and money from his father. Because he has every new electronic device, maybe he will get money this year. 
During lunch, Nicky sits by himself on a brick planter. His school serves Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, and he bought pizza since he ate tacos yesterday. Throughout the crowded quad area filled with lunch tables and groups of friends gossiping, a boy dressed in red and white approaches Nicky’s direction. Dressed in what appears to be a Santa Claus outfit, hat and everything, no one except Nicky notices him. He walks with a step that looks like he has no worries in the world and wears a happy-go-lucky smile. He stands in front of Nicky and says to him in cheer, “Don’t you feel the Christmas spirit?”
“Not really, dude,” Nicky responds indifferently.
“Why not? Everyone is full of glee and can’t wait to spend time with their friends and families.”
“Sounds boring. I’m just happy there’s a break from school. Who are you anyways?”
“I’m Kris. Aren’t you spending Christmas with your family?”
Nicky starts to become frustrated.
“What are you talking to me for anyways? Don’t you have someone else to bug?”
“Ba-hum-bug! Someone needs a hug.”
“Look, my parents are never even home. I hardly see them in the year. Why’s it any different that it’s Christmas?”
“You and your family just haven’t felt the Christmas spirit yet. It’ll come. Don’t worry.”
Kris heads into a crowd of students and out of Nicky’s sight.
“That kid was weird,” Nicky says to himself.
After school, Nicky’s mother picks him up. In the Range Rover, she tells him, “I’m going to be in the studio working with some models. I’ll be out of the house a lot. Hopefully, I won’t miss spending Christmas Eve with you guys like last year.”
“That’s fine,” Nicky says since he has heard this before. 
Nicky’s mother takes him home, and she takes a few belongings before telling him, “Don’t go outside by yourself. Also, don’t give any trouble to the maid. She’s pretty much going to take care of you.”
Nicky’s mother rushes out of the house and drives to the studio. Passing by stores, she sees sales for various consumer goods. Lights and decorations litter the store fronts hoping to get customers to walk through their doors. The distractions end once her cell phone rings, and she speaks to someone through her Bluetooth. 
At the studio, her assistants and fellow designers put up Christmas decorations. The desks contain glass vases of red and white flowers while ribbon of various colors hangs off the walls. The single women chat about what they expect their boyfriends to get them as gifts, while the married women talk about taking vacations with their families. 
Nicky’s mother sits alone at her desk thinking of new clothing designs and reviewing current designs. An assistant approaches her and says, “The models are ready.”
Three female models who will wear the winter-line clothes to be put on the studio website present themselves to Nicky’s mother. All are young, energetic, confident yet a bit anxious as well. However, one of them appears to be ecstatic. She chats with the other models and all of the employees as well as if she knew them for a long time. Her energy noticeably lightens up the already gleeful studio. When she meets Nicky’s mother, she says, “Hello, I’m Kristine. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Hello, Kristine. I’m Joy. I’m the designer for the clothes that you’ll be modeling,” Joy responds as she shakes Kristine’s hand.
They take pictures for the photo-shoot with no problems. The photographer and the camera itself love Kristine. After the photo-shoot, Joy sits at her desk while everyone else mingles. Kristine approaches her and says with a smile, “It’s the holidays. Why are you working so hard?”
“I don’t know. It gets my mind off things when I stay busy.”
“The Christmas spirit hasn’t hit you yet?”
“It’s just another day for me. Maybe I’ll get my son a present…… or money. I don’t know.”
“You have a family? You should be with them. That’s a better present than any object or money.”
“You know what? You’re really sweet. If I have the time, then I’ll try to make it home.”
Her office phone rings, and Nicky’s father is on the other line. She tells Kristine, “I have to take this. Will you excuse me?”
“Hey, honey. It’s me,” Nicky’s father says on the other line.
“How’s it going, dear? Is everything good in the office?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll probably be here for a while and won’t be home until late. How about you?”
“Same here.”
“Any idea what to get Nicky?”
“I don’t know. He has everything already. Maybe money or gift cards.”
“I don’t know what to get him either. He’s got all those electronic things already. Well, I have to get going. See you at home.”
Nicky’s father hangs up the office phone and gets back to work in his upper-level corner office. The administrative assistant knocks on his door to remind him of the upcoming office party on December 24. 
He steps outside his office and sees that many employees have decorated their cubicles. Blue wrapping paper that line the walls and an arch created out of cardboard and paper act as an entrance to a particle row of cubicles. The mail courier, dressed with a Santa’s hat, delivers boxes of gifts on a cart. Nicky’s father signs off on a box of Omaha Steaks given to him by a client. 
After an eleven-hour work day, he drives home in his white Mercedes with his Omaha Steaks. He knows that he will not eat them, as he usually eats out, but the maid may want them. When he steps through the front door, he can hear the loud sounds of a television in his son’s room. He takes his shoes off and immediately heads to the upstairs master bedroom. His wife, already asleep, left the master bathroom light on knowing that he still has to shower, change his clothes and brush his teeth.
*************************************************************************************
On December 24, Nicky’s father leaves for work before his son wakes up. Driving along relatively empty roads and many green lights, he makes it to work earlier than usual. 
The work day moves along slowly, and the anxiety of having a short vacation makes everyone who has not taken the day off yearn to leave. However, everyone is excited when the office party starts, as they know that the work day is pretty much over. Chatter ensues as paper plates are filed with lasagna, bread, salad, fruits and chicken wings in a conference room.
A jolly elderly man approaches Nicky’s father. He has a white beard and wears small round glasses. Nicky’s father knows that he is not an employee on the floor that he works in, but he figures that he could be from a different floor or possibly related to an employee.
“Hello, sir. Are you having a good time?” the elderly man asks Nicky’s father.
“Call me Pete. That’s what everyone calls me.” 
“So, Pete, I see that everyone here is filled with the Christmas spirit. I’m sure that you have something wonderful planned with your friends and family.”
“To be honest, I haven’t even gotten my son a real Christmas present. I’ll probably give him money again this year.”
“Why is that, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I bought my son, Nicky, all this nice stuff already. When some new electronic gadget or whatever comes out, me or my wife would buy it for him. I’m so occupied with my work that I don’t ever see him. I work hard so we can live in a nice, big house and have everything we ever wanted.”
“You can’t buy happiness, you know, but I’ve always found that the greatest gift is that which came from the heart.”
“You’re right, but it’s Christmas Eve. I think all the stores might be closed.”
“There’s still time, but you have to hurry.”
Pete looks at his watch and hurriedly says his goodbyes to everyone. He runs to the elevator and sees the elderly man standing next to it. The elevator door opens, and he gets in. Before the door closes, he says, “By the way, I never got your name.”
“It’s Kristoff. I’m just glad because I see that you’re filled with the Christmas spirit.”
“Thanks.”
The door closes, and when he reaches the lobby, Pete runs to his car. He drives to the nearest Target, and he sees from the many cars in the parking lot that he is not the only one getting a last-minute Christmas gift. He enters the store with a natural inclination to look through the electronics section. Seeing that he has bought everything in that section already for Nicky, he seeks out other departments hoping to find the right gift. 
Through what feels like hours of searching, he sees the perfect gift in front of his eyes. He calls his wife on his cell phone, and once she picks up, he tells her, “Honey, I think that I’ve found the perfect gift for Nicky.”
“What is it, honey?”
“I’ll show it to both you and Nicky at home,” Pete says with obvious excitement in his voice.
Joy Solace hangs up her cell phone while sitting alone at a Starbucks next to the studio. 
“The Christmas spirit hasn’t hit you yet?” A familiar woman’s voice says to her from behind.
She turns around and sees Kristine dressed in a green and red elf costume. 
“Why aren’t you home yet? It’s Christmas Eve,” Kristine asks.
“I don’t know. I just never got my son a Christmas present, and even my husband, who’s always stuck in the office all day, managed to find something.”
“Just be with them. That’s all.”
A smile lights up on Joy’s face as if a light went on inside her head.
“What am I doing sitting all alone in a coffee shop? I need to be home. Thanks Kristine,” Joy tells her happily as she runs out the door.
Joy makes it home first, and she sees a boy dressed in a Santa Claus suit walking out the door merrily. Curious, she walks in and sees Nicky, He runs up to his mother and gives her a hug. As they are hugging, she asks, “Who was that kid who I saw walking out of the house.”
“Some kid from school. He was caroling around the neighborhood, and I let him in.”
“You seem pretty happy right now.”
Pete walks in with a long, gift-wrapped present and a smile. He sees Nicky and Joy hugging and joins in. They disengage and sit by the fireplace. Pete hands his son the present and tells him, “I know it’s not Christmas day, but I want you to open this.”
Nicky rips open the gift wrap and sees a box with baseball equipment: one bat, three baseballs, and two gloves. 
“Since you have all this baseball equipment, I’m going to have to be home a lot more now. Who else are you going to play catch with, or hit the old baseball with? It’ll get you away from all those video games, tv and all that other stuff that you’re on,” Pete tells his son assuredly.
“I guess I have to be home a lot more now, too. I got to watch you guys and make sure that you two aren’t getting too crazy out there,” Joy interjects. 
They sit silently by the fireplace with joy and content in their expressions. Pete then says, “You know, I met the nicest and jolliest guy at the office party. His happiness was contagious.”
“That’s funny because I met the sweetest girl at the studio. She just lit up the room,” Joy says.
“Yeah. That’s crazy because I met some kid at school who was like that. He couldn’t stop smiling,” Nicky says.
And the Solace family could not stop smiling.

The Bridge

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Range: 14+

Author's Notes: I wrote this short story for a sci-fi contest. With only 1,500 maximum words to work with, this story is pretty much the beginning of a bigger story. I thought of something like The Matrix when writing it, especially with the mechanical suits that everyone uses and the overall violence. The idea with the brothers came from Metal Gear Solid, with one brother modeled after Solid Snake, and the other one modeled after Liquid Snake. Maybe one of these days, I'll write the Malenheim novels that this is pretty much the beginning of.

Across Peacemaker Bridge lies one of three fortresses of the Malenheim Empire. Ten members of the resistance group, Spider, attempt to cross the heavily guarded metal walkway. Two robotic sea serpents with dragon-like heads circle underneath the bridge in brown, polluted water hoping to breathe their fire onto careless invaders.
    Jayce Everwright stations his companions in a crater right before the bridge. The heat of the sun and the dryness of the ground cause the party to sweat profusely. Looking through a telescope, Jayce sees the lush green hills of the Malenheim Empire riddled with holes from bomb attacks. Two soldiers in mechanical suits that are the height of two adults slowly walk across the other end of the bridge, keeping their eyes forward in anticipation of an attack. With their bulk and heavy artillery, they lumber about at a deliberate pace. However, a blue-painted mechanical suit stands farther back with his foot soldiers patrolling the immediate area.
    Jayce and his team have no vehicles, and he only has one mechanical suit that he uses. The rest of his team is equipped with guns and grenade launchers to fight their way into the fortress. Jayce, with a commanding voice that disguises his youth, speaks with the team, “Look, we’re clearly outnumbered and outgunned. Seeing what we have, and what we have to cross, we’re just going to fight through and hope for the best. If any of you want to leave, now is the time. Your chances of making it alive are slim.”
    “Can’t we wait for reinforcements?” Rett Braverly, Jayce’s second-in-command asks.
    “We’ll most likely starve if we just wait around since all of our manpower is spread out, and it will probably take a while for other teams to complete their missions. That’s if they even get that far and don’t get killed.”
    “Well, I’m with you to the end.”
    Inside of the rocky crater, the team waits until nightfall. As they move along the metal bridge, they hide behind its tall pillars as they advance forward. Jayce’s mechanical suit lumbers behind them so as not to draw attention. While patrolling, both mechanized sea serpents spot the intruders. They stick their long, metal necks to each side of the bridge and unleash burning flames. Hiding behind pillars, their skin can feel the heat of their fire and the steam of burning metal.
    Jayce, in his mechanical suit, fires his gatling guns at one of the sea serpents. The bullets shoot through its neck until its head falls into the water. Its remaining metal neck and burnt electric wires that make its insides subsequently fall and electrocute the dirty water. The surviving sea serpent lunges through the wires holding the bridge. Its sharp metal teeth rip into the flesh of the youngest team member, Matt Gazer. It raises its head high above the bridge and drops the lifeless corpse onto the direction of his comrades. 
    With horror-filled eyes stunned at Matt’s blood flowing freely away from his body, they look at the metallic murderer and shoot it at will. Bullet holes mark its face, and some bullets reach its eyes blinding it. It collapses backwards into the river.
    Alerted by the battle, five soldiers with shields advance into the bridge while the mechanical suits and a few other soldiers wait behind. The remaining members of Spider hide behind pillars and shoot back at their attackers. 
    “We can’t just waste ammo on these guys. Any ideas?” Rett yells to the rest of the group.
    “I’m going on in front. This hunk of metal should be able to withstand some of the bullets, so two of you will stay close behind me with those grenade launchers. Once we get close enough, start lobbing those grenades over their shields,” Jayce tells them.
    Jayce moves forward with two of his comrades following behind. He fires his gatling guns laterally as he lumbers ahead. The force of return fire pushes him backwards, but the bullets do not penetrate through the suit’s metal. Within feet of the shielded soldiers, Jayce’s two comrades run into the open and launch grenades at an upward angle. They explode onto the metal floor near their enemies’ feet, and blood along with body parts fly into the air once the grenades explode. 
    Jayce motions his comrades to move forward, but when he looks back, he sees that they are standing in a circle looking at the ground. One of his comrades that used a grenade launcher lies on the ground in agony with blood coming out of his stomach. After a short spurt of labored breathing, his glassy eyes stare at the sky. 
    “We gotta go, guys. We can’t just stand here unprotected. Get these shields and any weapons that you guys can use,” Jayce says bluntly while trying to keep his emotions in check.
    With only a few feet from the edge of the bridge, Jayce motions five members of his team with shields to stand in a row up front. 
    “Guys. We’re just going to advance forward and shoot our way inside. Once we get past the bridge, try and disperse to find anything to hide behind,” Jayce tells the team.
    “How are we getting past the mechanical suits?” Rett asks.
    The three mechanical suits stand at the edge of the bridge with the blue one in the middle. A row of foot soldiers position themselves with rifles in hand behind the metal wall. The mechanical suits point their gatling guns at Jayce’s team and open fire. Rett, equipped with a grenade launcher, shoots a grenade at the mechanical suit to the left. It explodes and pushes the mechanical suit backwards. With incoming fire, a bullet finds his grenade launcher and explodes in his arms. Bullets fly across the bridge with the sound of constant ricochet and grenade explosions, as everyone scatters about.
    The blue mechanical suit runs with surprising speed and mobility towards Jayce with a shoulder block. Jayce’s suit tumbles along the metal floor, and the blue mechanical suit gives chase. It runs and kicks Jayce’s downed mechanical suit, which launches it into the air and crashes onto the solid floor.
    The blue mechanical suit grabs the front cover of Jayce’s suit with its claw-like hands and rips it off. Two of Jayce’s comrades shoot at it, but it turns around and shoots them with its gatling gun. As their lifeless bodies fall onto the ground, laughter can be heard from inside the suit. It moves towards Jayce and stands tall in front of his badly damaged body that lies still inside of his suit. The front cover of the blue mechanical suit lifts up.
                “Hello, Jayce,” a young man with the same eye and hair color of Jayce says with a smirk.
                “Villsin, why? This place is a parasite to the world,” Jayce says weakly.
                “Why would I choose not to live in the glorious Malenheim Empire? Do you think that I want to live in this barren dreck? Do you think that it was fun wandering this desolate wilderness with our parents looking for scraps under the hot sun or freezing cold?”
    “It’s better than being a slave to this tyranny.”
    “I strongly disagree, brother. Look at our situation now. You are on the floor beaten and just barely surviving. I am in control and do not have a scratch on me. Also, your friends will not survive this attack.”
    Villsin closes the front cover of his suit and begins shooting at Jayce’s remaining comrades. Occupied with the mechanical suit at the edge of the bridge, all of them get shot in the back by Villsin’s gatling gun. He cheers as if he scored points in a game and walks towards his brother. 
    With the mechanical suit’s right claw, Villsin squeezes his brother’s battered body and slowly walks towards the side of the bridge. He hangs his body over the edge with the polluted water far underneath him. He opens the front cover of his suit and grins as he looks at his brother’s helpless body.
    “You were never going to cross this bridge, brother. I did, but I crossed it by not being a fool like you,” Villsin says mockingly to his brother.
    He releases his brother, and he free falls onto the polluted water. Villsin watches him fall with a big smile on his face. He then walks back to the fortress with his soldiers.
    Jayce’s body washes ashore against a rocky shoreline covered in sludge, blood and brown seaweed. His body lies on the sharp rocks as waves splash against his skin, washing away his blood. As the sun burns his body, he slowly opens his eyes.