Shoebill
by andrewt

Comment:
He had been teased endlessly. For most of his school life, it was Big Bill Billy (and wasn't that an unfortunate name his parents had given him), and Billy the Billy Beak, among countless others. Relentless they were, the other children. Relentless and cruel. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and Billy had absorbed it all.

Had absorbed it all until today. He stood there, watching the children exit the school, and his eyes narrowed, and a grin that could wilt a rose grew on his face...

... and his revenge became infamous.

ageless
by tate

Comment:
He hadn't been feeling good. A little cough, a little listlessness, he didn't feel like nursing much. His toys didn't interest him, playing peekaboo just wasn't funny today, and he felt pretty warm.

So when he heard his mom say it was time to take his temperature, he wasn't really sure what that meant. Then, she lay him over her lap, undressed him, and...

His head snapped up and his eyes went wide as one of the more humiliating horrors of babydom was perpetrated upon him and he was suddenly initiated into what "taking a temperature" meant, and one aspect of his innocence was forever tainted.

A Moment in Time
by TCGuru

Comment:
A tilt of the head and a gaze to the sky,
a head full of wonder and a dream in her eye.
A smile on her face and one wonders why,
what goes on in the mind of a child?

A shrug very shyly, a toss of the hair,
a kiss on your cheek she will bashfully share.
A hug and a cuddle and a touch full of care,
what a lot for the heart of a child.

The loss of a pet that was her pride and her joy,
a breaking of what was her favorite toy.
Getting in trouble for kissing a boy,
what a weight in the soul of a child.

The learning and growing and laughing and play,
the changes that happen on every foray,
The happy and sad, which one for today?
this is the life of a child.

Sara's First Snow
by Ubersteiny

Comment:
She did not know what this stuff was, but oh, the fun!

She ran and jumped and rolled and dug and flung about. She nipped and barked and chased.

She did not know what this stuff was, but she was glad to have discovered it, and hoped that it would never go away, and even has it clung to her and got in her eyes and started to soak her to the skin, she wouldn't have it any other way.

Girl and Horse
by lovethelight

Comment:
The wind whisked her hair as she stood there, looking out over the world, so many miles from home. A single tear built in the corner of her eye, and her mind ran through so many things. They whys, the why nots, the hows, the how nots, the what could bes, the what shouldn't bes. Her companion slowly walked over and nudged her shoulder, perhaps because of some emphathy they shared. She smiled sadly and scratched his nose, and lay her head against him.

It was a hard world sometimes, and she just had to get away, to come out here where her father and her had come so many times before. To this place where they would talk and laugh and he would teach her so very much about the land and the trees and birds and the way things worked. Now, she was here alone, and he would never come with her again.

The tears flowed more freely now, and the wind continued to blow, and upon it it seemed to whisper to her in his voice, to let her know that eventually it would be all right. Eventually.

With one last tear-filled gaze at their special place, she got back on the horse that had been her father's favorite, now passed to her, and hugged him tight, and together they began the journey home.

Global Trees
by JeffryZ

Comment:
It descended from the heavens, to settle between the trees. There it sat, and slowly spun, the message upon it terrestrial, but this was no terrestrial object.

From whence did it come? Why was it here? What purpose could it possibly have to visit this planet yet tell us of things we already knew? The human DNA helix, the continents, earthly language.

What did it all mean? So they gathered, the people of earth. They gathered and tried to figure it out. They gathered in awe and confusion and curiosity.

They gathered, and then, they died.

When it was all over, it began to spin once more, and lifted above the trees and vanished into the heavens.

Three Graces
by Alicia

Comment:
Their presence was barely felt as they strolled down that stretch of sodden sand. For most, it would have been like a brush of wind, or a sudden chill, or perhaps even like a breath of warm air on the back of the neck. Not enough to alarm anyone, but certainly enough that the subconscious stopped briefly to wonder just what it was.

So they passed, these three, on their timeless journey that occupied not only that space, but every space in the universe, simultaneously, such was their power. In front of them, an endless nothing. Around them coursed all life and time and happening. Behind them, a decaying of time. Erased as they passed as if it had not happened at all.

They were the fates, the three. The beginning, the now, and the end. All of existence was owed to them, and all of existence was theirs, not to command or control, but to watch over and keep.

Their presence was barely felt as they passed, but their impact was undeniable.

A New Dawn
by GregoryB

Comment:
He woke from the sleep of all his kind, and crawled out onto the nearest platform. The sun shone, and the dew had already fled, so it was a good beginning for him. The right beginning. He spread his sodden wings and let the shine of the sun do its work, a small near unnoticeable mist of steam rose from them as they dried. He raised his head and closed his eyes and let the warmth beat upon him, basking in the new that was his transformation. Reveling in the wonder that was this day.

Then, moments later, a twitch of the wings to test their readiness, and with a slight jump of the blade of grass he was away. Brushing the air with wings that shouldn't be able to move it, the tiniest of breezes pushed off with those wonderous things. The slightest of shock waves felt by nothing but the dust in the air around him.

Days later, in the aftermath of the Tsunami, he settled on a lone flower among the debris, his life nearing the end of its time, never knowing the destruction his birth and life had wrought, in the ever continuing cycle of all things.

Superciliary
by Jutilda

Comment:
He peeked over the edge, and a slight grin emerged in his eyes. A clever grin, a hungry grin, an evil grin. There, across the room, was his prey, and it hadn't noticed him. Not yet.

Slowly, muscles tensing, he began to creep over the edge, paw over paw, inch by inch, tail twitching for balance. His prey remained, still unaware, and his grin expanded.

Like a shadow in the darkness, he advanced. Ever so slowly, as if he wasn't moving at all. Patience in the hunt, creeping silently, onward towards the unsuspecting.

Then, without warning, he pounced, screeching and hissing in the air in a vain attempt to give his victim a fighting chance. It was futile, of course. His was a mastery. He was an instrument of death and destruction. He was like lightning and quicksilver, and the Yarn Ball's existence was ended in tragedy and horror.

Face Rock
by SouthCoastOr3gon

Comment:
In the time of the Titans, the tragedy would unfold. It was a tale that was forgotten, an unknown daughter of Kronos, who defied her father and defected to the side of Zeus, for a love that was unrequited. In vengeful anger at being turned aside by the King of Gods, she tried to defeat him but was cast down from Olympus to land in the sea, broken. Her dying wails reached the ears of her father, who, out of pity, cast her broken body to stone, and she would remain there for all to remember. It was to be a catalyst for the Titan's uprising against the Gods of Olympus, but would be lost to the memory of greater deeds and better tales.