Ashley burst through the screen door at a dead run, barely slowing down to open the door. It flew back slamming into the porch rail as she lept down the stairs and took off running again as soon as her feel hit the ground.

“Don’t slam the …” her mother stopped yelling as the screen door slammed back into place. “… door.” She said quietly to herself. She just smiled and shook her head as she went back to washing the lunch dishes.

Ashley hadn’t heard a word her mother had said. She was on a mission. The ice cream truck was pulling away and she was not about miss it. Her mother rarely let her get ice cream and she was going to make sure she got hers today.

Ashley ran just ahead of the truck and waved at the driver. The man behind the wheel smiled and waved and pulled back to the curb. He went to the back, opened the service window and leaned out on the ledge.

“Looks like I just about missed you. What can I get for you?” The man smiled and waited while Ashley caught her breath.

Taking a few deep breaths Ashley didn’t even look at the menu on the side of his truck, she already knew what she wanted.

“I need a bomb pop, please.” Ashley smiled and help up her dollar.

The man laughed. “Need, huh? That sounds desperate.”

“Huh?” Ashley wasn’t sure what he meant. The man just smiled, took her dollar and handed her a bomb pop.

“Never mind, I was just teasing anyway. How old are you?” The man smiled as he watched Ashley unwrap her bomp pop.

“I’m going to be 6 this summer. Mom says I get to go to real school this year. I’m all done with preschool.” Ashley smiled at the man then started eating her popsicle. She looked at her hand that held the wrapper then looked around trying to decide what to do with it.

“Here, I can toss the wrapper for you.” The man reached down and took the wrapper from her. “Can I get you anything else?”

Ashley quit eating her popsicle for a moment to just say, “nope.” Then she went back to eating it as she waved at the man and walked away.

Ashley walked slowly towards her house, but instead of going back inside she walked past her house and went two lots over. Her neighborhood had a small playground there the size of one house lot. It was so nice out today Ashley just wanted to lay on the little hill by the swing sets and look at the sky while she ate her popsicle.

The grass and earth felt warm under the summer sun. Ashley kicked off her shoes and wiggled her toes in the grass. If her mom would let her, she’d run around barefoot all the time.

Ashley closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the sun warm her as she sucked on the cold icy popsicle. She started humming to herself when a shadow blocked out the sun’s light. Ashley opened her eyes and saw who was standing over her. She knew the man. He lived on their block and was friends with her parents, but she couldn’t think of his name. He smiled at her.

“That looks good.” He said pointing to her bomb pop.

“They are good. They are my favorite.” Ashley finished her popsicle and held the stick looking around for some place to throw it away.

The man realized what she was doing and reached out for the stick, “Here let me show you what to do with those.” The man took the stick from her and pushed it straight into the ground then stepped on it to make sure it was all the way in.

“It’s wood so you can bury them like this and they will eventually just fall apart and become part of the ground.”

Ashley looked at the spot where the stick was then back up at the man and smiled. “Cool.”

The man smiled back. “Where is your mom?”

“She’s at home. She says Saturday’s are her chores days.”

The man looked toward Ashley’s house. “I was hoping she wouldn’t mind letting me borrow you for a while. I just bought some clothes for my niece who is your age and I was hoping you would tell me if you think she would like them or not. I have no idea what a girl your age would want to wear. Think you could help me?” He smiled at Ashley.

“I guess so,” Ashley said.

The man stood up. “Come on. Let’s go ask your Mom. We’ll see if she wants to come along. She can tell me what she thinks too.” The man reached down and picked up Ashley’s shoes and held a hand out for her.

Ashley took his hand and let him help her up then they started walking toward her home.

Back in the house, Ashley’s mom, Lauren, was just finishing up the dishes. Walking through the house she picked up a few toys off the floor and put them on the coffee table then headed to the laundry room to switch the loads. Once she got the machines going again and the previous load folded and put away she made herself a cup of tea and sat down with her current book.

Lauren was reading the latest Mercy book by Patricia Briggs. She loved that series and couldn’t wait to get back to it. She set the alarm on her cell phone to let her know when it would be time to switch the laundry again. She knew if she didn’t she would get so lost in her book and would read for hours and never finish the laundry today.

The alarm on Lauren’s phone began to chime. She put down her book and stretched and reached for her phone. It was 2 PM. She had been reading for an hour straight. She stretched again and went to finish the laundry. As she went from room to room putting away all of clean clothes she realized she was still alone in the house.

“Ashley?” she called out in the house. When there was no answer she went to the front porch.

Stepping out into the warm air Lauren took a deep breath. She could smell the hyacinths she had planted by the porch last year. She loved that smell.

Lauren looked up and down the street trying to spot Ashley. She saw a few of the neighbor kids playing in different yards but she didn’t see Ashley with any of them.

Lauren stepped off the porch and headed to the park. She expected to find Ashley asleep on the hill in the park. It wouldn’t be the first time. When Lauren reached the park it was empty.

Lauren started to get a little nervous. Looking around she surveyed the neighborhood again. She didn’t see her daughter anywhere. She could feel the panic starting to fill her chest.Lauren ran to the nearest group of children and asked them if they had seen Ashley.

Peter, who lives across the street from them, said he had seen her going into the park before 1 PM but he hadn’t seen her since then. No one else had seen her. Lauren thanked him and told all the kids that if they see her to tell her to come straight home. They all agreed.

Lauren went around to the other children she saw who were outside playing but no one else had seen Ashley. Lauren went back to her house and called out for Ashley again in case she had come home while Lauren was out looking for her, silence.

Lauren pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and called 911. She knew she was overreacting and was sure the police would tell her so but she didn’t know what else to do.

The operator picked up almost immediately. “911 dispatch. What’s your emergency?”

Lauren took a deep breath, “It’s my daughter, I’m sure it’s nothing but …she’s missing.”

* * * * * *

Rachel Ferris tried to manage the 6 soccer balls she was carrying. Walking down the hall to the locker room was proving to be a real challenge. She was doing her best to weave between various spectators who were milling around the tunnel that leads from the field to the locker rooms. She was just about to the gate that leads to the locker room when someone bumped into her sending one of the balls bouncing away.

Officer Krantz, who guards the gate, stepped out and stopped the balls progress with his foot then picked it up. Many off duty police served as security at the arena for events and she knew them all.

“You almost made it,” Officer Krantz laughed as he opened the gate for Rachel.

“I would have too if I hadn’t been sabotaged.” Rachel walked through the gate trying to keep from losing another ball.

“What are all the balls for?” Officer Krantz asked.

“The coach is going to a fan club dinner tomorrow and wants some signed balls to give away and for a silent auction.”

Officer Krantz leaned in close and whispered, “Are you going to be doing the signing again or are you going to make the players do it themselves this time?”

Rachel jumped a little at hearing his comment. She was shocked and her expression showed every bit of it. Officer Krantz let out a burst of laughter.

When Rachel recovered a bit she leaned in and whispered, “How did you know?”

Officer Krantz smiled and said, “You hear a lot of things working security. After a while the players just walk past us talking to each other and don’t even notice us.” Officer Krantz laughed again and said, “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me, as long as you are only signing the balls that are being given away.”

“I’ve only done it once and they were given away.” Rachel shifted trying to keep the balls in her arms in balance. “I’d cross my heart but that might be a bit hard right now.”

Officer Krantz held out the ball he had retrieved for her.

Rachel looked from the ball to the locker room. She still had quite a distance to walk with all the balls in her arms. “Um … would you mind holding onto that while I go drop these in the locker room and I’ll come back and get it? Rachel asked.

Officer Krantz laughed, “Sure thing.” Just then Officer Krantz got a phone call. He turned his attention to his phone as Rachel headed off to the locker room.

Luckily the door was propped open. All the doors in this part of the building had keypad locks. It would have been a challenge to get through and not drop more balls.

Rachel went into the side team room where the table was and sat the balls on the table. She pulled several permanent markers out of her back pocket and laid them on the table as well. Rachel headed back to retrieve the last ball from Officer Krantz.

When she got to the gate Officer Krantz was gone and Officer O’Neil was in his place.

“Where’s Officer Krantz?” Rachel asked.

“He got a call and had to leave. But he left that for you,” Officer O’Neil pointed to the soccer ball propped on a chair in the corner.

Rachel picked up the ball and went back to Officer O’Neil. “I hope everything is okay.”

Officer O’Neil gave her a blank expression. “Duty calls,” he said then turned back to the gate to check an ID before letting someone through the gate.

Rachel felt her heart sink. Officer Krantz and a handful of the other police working security worked in the Missing and Exploited Children’s Unit. If he was called to work that could only mean one thing, a child was in danger and they had to act fast.

As Rachel was walking back into the locker room she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out she noticed it was an Amber Alert on her phone. She had signed up for the service months ago. Tapping on the screen brought up the photo of a smiling little girl in a Pink shirt with a purple flower on the front. Above the photo was the word missing in big block letters. Rachel had a feeling she knew what had pulled Officer Krantz back into work.

TWO

Rachel looked at the clock on the library wall. It was only 5 minutes after the last time she had looked. Sometimes having study hall the last hour of her school day was a blessing and sometimes, like today, it was complete hell.

Remy

(a paranormal/horror sample)

Posted on October 24, 2014

#Horror #ShapeShifter #WereAnimal

The minute Remy began to regain consciousness; he knew something was not right. He was cold and damp and could smell too many earthy smells. The fact that he was naked was troubling too. He could feel things scratching and poking against his bare skin. Unsure of why he was naked and what he would find when he opened his eyes, he kept still and listened.

Nothing seemed to be moving nearby. The wind was blowing gently through trees and somewhere not too far away a rusty hinge was crying out in desperate need of oil. Remy suspected that, wherever he was, he was alone. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

The wooded area he saw was a picture postcard example of fall; trees ablaze with the colors of the autumn palate and the forest floor carpeted with leaves of the same colors. It was beautiful.

As Remy sat up he closed his eyes and stretched. Involuntarily, he yawned. He must have slept deep, he felt sluggish and everything ached, probably from sleeping on the cold damp ground. He stretched again and took a deep breath, that is when he smelled it: blood. Remy froze and opened his eyes. He tried to push his senses to search everything in his surroundings.

The only sounds were still the wind in the trees and the whine of the hinge. He smelled the earth, the rotting leaves, and blood. He still felt alone. Slowly he began to turn his head to take in the full view of the forest around him. The sight behind him was macabre.

His mind tried to make sense of the devastation he was seeing. His first thought was it looked like a grotesque Jackson Pollock interpretation of slaughter. His mind didn’t seem to want to understand what he was looking at. There was much too much to take in.

About 50 feet away, at the far edge of the clearing, was an outcropping of rocks. One boulder sat in the middle of the grouping. It was large and flat on top and looked like table with an odd collection of stone seats around it. In the center of the table was a heap of meat and bones. It looked like Thanksgiving dinner for werewolves.

Splatters dotted the scene as unidentified chunks oozed and dripped from the edges of things. A faint haze seemed to distort the air above the chaotic pile of flesh. It looked like a dark cloud floating and curing like a storm cloud before all hell broke loose. Flies had found the kill.

Remy swallowed the bile that rose as he continued to stare at the pile trying to make sense of the mess. His eyes finally focused on a something near the bottom of the heap. He kept staring, trying to get his brain to make sense of what he was seeing. Suddenly his mind deciphered the image. He was looking at a face, a human face. His eyes locked on to the clear blue eye and empty eye socket that was staring back at him.

As his mind decoded the scene, Remy lost control of his stomach. Turning away from, what he assumed could only be a murder victim or victims, Remy got on all fours, closed his eyes, and wretched and heaved until he felt he didn’t have the strength to vomit anymore, even if there had been anything left to expel.

Remy took a few slow breaths to try to calm down. Sitting back on his heels, Remy kept his back to the slaughter. What the hell had happened here and did he have anything to do with this? Remy took another calming breath and opened his eyes. On the forest floor in front of him was the contents of his stomach. Sitting in the middle, staring up at him, was the remnants of one clear blue eye.

The realization of what he was looking at hit Remy like a hammer to the chest. Panic overtook him and he started crab-walking backward trying to distance himself from the evidence of his crime. His hand hit in a wet spot and slid causing him to land, splayed out on his back. Lifting his hand he saw it was coated in blood and mud and bits of forest debris. Remy started to hyperventilate as he realized he had backed up right into hell’s dining room.

Overhead a raven squawked its displeasure at Remy’s movements. Remy looked up just as the raven took flight. It had apparently been dinning on, what appeared to be, part of the intestines. As the bird took flight the limb it had been sitting on bounced, sending its dinner bouncing along with it. Splatters of dark blood and other matter found in intestines showered down over his face and upper body. That was when he lost all control.

Remy jumped to his feet and ran. He didn’t know where he was or where he was going but he knew he had to put as much distance between himself and that scene as he could. He knew he was hyperventilating and most likely going into shock but he didn’t care. He had to keep running.

Remy pushed himself until he could barely take a breath. He was getting dizzy and finally tripped sending him crashing to the ground where an unfortunately placed rock connected with his more tender bits and took even more of his breath away. He lay in the dirt in the fetal position panting.

Remy had no idea how long he lay there. He thought he might have even lost consciousness at one point. When he finally rolled onto his back and looked at the sky he knew it had to be late afternoon but he wasn’t sure what day it was.

Remy tried not to think about the clearing and thought he should focus on finding out where he was and how to get home. Given that he was naked, finding clothes might be a good start. As he lay looking at the sky, he noticed the sound of the creaking hinge was much louder. He had run toward the only sign of civilization he had.

Rolling over, Remy stayed flat on the ground and looked around. There was an old wire fence not far from him. Letting his eyes follow the line it led straight to what looked like an old barn. Looking around Remy didn’t see a house close by. Slowly he stood up as he continued to check the surroundings. When Remy was finally standing up he could see the farmhouse several acres away. Slowly he started toward the barn. He was trying to keep watch on his surroundings with all of his sense.

When he reached the gate that had been his beacon, he saw that it was actually chained so that he couldn’t open it enough to walk through. The top was further protected with strands of barbed wire, as was the top of the fence surrounding the area. Nothing was going to be easy or pleasant today.

Considering his state of undress, Remy decided that trying to climb either the gate or the fence was not a good idea. He decided the best bet was to try to squeeze through opening. Pushing as hard as he could, Remy forced the gate to yield as much as the chain would let him. He was just beginning to push through, the wires sticking out from the fence already adding more nicks and cuts to his body, when he looked at the hinges.

The hinges on the gate were old hooked pin style hinges. Remy smiled and silently thanked God for this one small favor. He reached over and grabbed the pin and with a little work was able to get the pins to pull out. Once on the other side he replaced the pins and headed toward the barn.

Remy slowly entered the barn, ready to run again if he ran into anyone. His second gift from God that day was the barn was empty except for an old horse trying to get the last few bits of feed out of a trough. A breeze came through the barn from behind Remy and carried his scent toward the horse. As soon as it reached him, the horse reared and whinnied and bolted from the barn putting distance between him and the predator he smelled. Horses had never liked Remy.

Looking around the barn it was old but obviously well kempt. One side was a large open area with one end open to a pasture. There were a few small rooms that were obviously meant to house animals in the more harsh weather, and the far side was a small dairy room set up for milking a few cows.

In the dairy room was a small bathroom that looked like a newer addition. No doubt the people who worked this farm had gotten tired of either doing their business out in the field or trekking all the way back to the house when the need arose and had this room added in. On one wall were two hooks. Each had an apron hanging on it. It wasn’t the clothing option he could hope for it was better than walking around nude.

Remy went to clean up in the sink. Hooked to the wall above the sink was an old metal medicine cabinet with a mirror on the door. The image he saw in that mirror was another shock he hadn’t expected today. His hair was a wild riot of twigs, leaves, and what he assumed was a mixture of blood, gore, and dirt. His face looked like he had at some point bobbed for apples in a vat of blood. His entire body was a riddled with nicks and cuts and what looked like a few claw marks.

Remy tried not to think and just began cleaning himself up. He was not surprised to find out there was no hot water. It took a good long time to get even a semblance of being clean given the layers he was trying to scrub off in the small basin. It was made harder by the fact that he was trying to not leave a mess behind to alert the owners to what had been cleaned up in their bathroom. It was bad enough he was going to have to take their aprons.

When he was satisfied that he was as clean as he was going to be able to get he looked in the medicine cabinet. Inside were a few things you might expect in a barn bathroom: a big jar of bag balm, a tin of Band-Aids, a glass bottle of Mercurochrome, and a few rolls of gauze and first-aid tape. It was obvious they hadn’t had to restock their supplies in a good long time and they didn’t seem to worry about expiration dates. Remy wondered if you could even still buy Mercurochrome.

Remy did a quick doctoring of his worst wounds. He was lucky that he healed faster than most but the deep wounds would still take a while. Keeping them as clean as possible was still a good idea. When he was patched up, Remy reached for the aprons. They were slightly soiled but not too bad. The worst part was they had a faint smell of sour milk. He assumed their owners wore them while milking and tending to the few dairy cows the family kept.

Remy took the first apron and folded over the bib and moved it around behind him to literally cover his ass. Wrapping the strings around his waist he tied them off then reached for the second apron. Slipping the neck string over his head he adjusted the apron to cover his front and wrapped the strings around his waist and tied them off behind his back. This outfit wouldn’t win him any fashion awards but at least he wasn’t walking around buck ass naked anymore.

Remy suddenly realized he was starving. He took a few good drinks of water from the facet. At least is tasted like it was fit for drinking even if it did taste like it was heavy on minerals. Remy decided to look around the barn and see if he could find anything of use.

There was a tack room and near that a set of stair leading up to a hay loft. In the tack room, Remy found the usual saddles, bridals, and horse blankets. On one wall hung a few tools including a few knives that could come in handy. There were also barrels with different kinds of feed for the horses and cattle. Remy was starving. There was no doubt that he had eaten something, or someone, recently but he had left that meal on the ground in the clearing. His stomach was really starting to protest the lack of food.

Remy decided to give the barrel with what looked like oats of some kind a try. He reached in and took a handful. He hesitated long enough for his stomach to growl its objection to the delay then shoved the oats into his mouth. It was so dry it made it hard to swallow. He decided it might be better to see if he could find something to put them in and try adding a little water to them. Poor man’s oatmeal didn’t sound so bad. He was sure people had survived on worse at some point in history.

Looking around there was a cabinet on the wall at the back of the room. It looked like it was a quick afternoon project made from a few pieces of plywood quickly slapped together. In the cabinet were a few old coffee cans filled with odds and ends. Remy picked out the least rusted one to use as a makeshift bowl. On the bottom shelf was a burlap sack. For some reason Remy took it out and was thrilled to find it was filled with carrots. This had to be a treat bag for the horse. He hoped the horse would forgive him for the theft but right now Remy needed them worse than the horse did.

Searching through a few more containers Remy found some sugar cubes and decided to take them too. He had no idea how long it was going to take him to get home and he might need them for energy if he couldn’t find more palatable food. Plain sugar was better than starvation even if only slightly.

Remy went back to the barrel and filled his can with oats. He grabbed one of the knives and a pair of wire cutters and dropped them in the burlap sack with the carrots and sugar. Remy grabbed one of the horse blankets as he headed to the bathroom again for some water. After his meal was prepared he retired to the hayloft. If he could get a little sleep maybe he could figure things out.

At each end of the loft was a big square door that Remy knew was used to load and unload hay bales. Beams stuck out above the doors with a pulley and rope attached for raising the bales. There were also a few trap doors that opened into the different animal stalls in the lower level so fresh hay could be dumped in the rooms. One side of the loft was stacked from floor to ceiling with bales while on the other side near the trap door were a few piles where bales had been broken open to push through the doors.

Remy walked to the end of the loft and looked out the open door. He could see a small farm house several acres away. Like the barn, it looked older but not unkempt. There was a truck, a car and motorcycle out front. Behind the house he could see a clothes line that was unfortunately bare of any clothes he could steal. He could tell people were home.

Remy sat back away from the doorway and ate his oatmeal and watched the house. Lights came on and went off as he watched and a slow steady stream of smoke signaled from the fireplace. What he wouldn’t give for a warm bed and hot meal in that home right now.

A yawn forced its way out and his eyes seemed to be getting harder to keep open. Remy carried his food to the wall of hay bales and started to climb. He laughed as the thought he probably looked like a psycho Santa climbing the stack with his pack hanging over his shoulder.

When he reached the top he crawled to the wall. Setting his supplies to the side, Remy maneuvered two bales out of their places to make a small pit. Using the wire cutter he had found in the tack room he broke open the two bales and dumped one in the bottom of the pit to make a bed. The other he spread around the tops of the other bales to hide the fact that is was out of place just in case anyone should come in while he was sleeping they wouldn’t notice an odd bale out of place and come investigate. Remy suspected that he was begin overly cautious but considering the day he had had that didn’t seem like a bad idea.

Remy climbed down into his makeshift bed and sandwiched himself in the blanket then piled hay on top. He hoped it would serve two purposes, to keep him warm and camouflage him should anyone happen to find him while he slept.

Laying there Remy stared at the beams and listened to the sounds of the farm around him. He wanted to sleep and forget everything he had seen since he woke up naked in the forest. Where was he? How did he get here? Who was that on the table and did he kill them? How could he not know the answers to any of this?

As Remy’s thoughts drifted back to that eyeball staring at him from the forest floor he was startled by a phone ringing. Jumping up, he crawled over to the edge of the tower of hay bales. The sound was coming from down stairs. Quickly he moved toward the sound wanting to find the phone before it quit ringing. Near the main door where Remy had come in the barn was a small wooden box on the wall. It looked like it was made with the same material and care that the cabinet in the tack room had been made. The ringing was coming from inside.

Just as Remy opened the box the phone stopped ringing. He smiled when he saw it. It fit with these surroundings. The phone was an old dark green rotary dial phone. Assuming that the phone was on the same line as the phone in the farm house, Remy carefully picked up the handset while holding down the receiver arm. Slowly he let the arm up, trying to be as quiet as possible.

The Beast

(An Erotic Sample)

Posted on October 22, 2014

#Erotica #BDSM #Submissive #Dominance

Rachel Crowe pulled into her driveway and hit the garage door opener. She cursed the thing as she frantically pushed the button several times. She was late and she knew he would be angry.

As soon as the door cleared the roof of the car, Rachel sped into the garage. She had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting a tool box. She quickly turned off the engine and ripped the keys out of the ignition and began to frantically gather up her belongings. She lost her grip on her purse and watched as it fell upside down in the floor of the passenger side of the car, spilling everything that had been inside.

“No! No! No!” Rachel screamed as she threw her keys on top of the pile. She wanted to cry but instead she just gripped the steering wheel tight and took a deep breath. When she let it out she checked the time. She still had 2 minutes by her dash clock but she knew it was his clock that mattered, not h