snow man
by leon-D-leon

Comment:
He had been the consort of the Ice Queen. Not a henchman, far more than that, but handled most of the duties that a henchman would handle. He had seen her through the Battle of Harpies, he had been there for the uprising of the Pixies, and the Centaur incident. He had served her, and worshipped her and, yes, even loved her.

Yet when he let his guard down that one single time, and let compassion shine through him, and help to save a little girl from her clutches that was destined to grow up and end her reign of terror, her wrath knew no bounds. His loyalty was considered worthless in that moment, and he was turned to an ever-lasting reminder of what happened to those that angered her.

Blind Faith
by hihosilver

Comment:
Her pain would last until the end of time.

She was a beautiful princess, that is how all stories like this go. Beautiful, smart, kind, beloved by all. That she earned the wrath of a jealous sorceress almost goes without saying, but I repeat it here. A sorceress of much renown in the land, heart turned twisted and evil by her seething envy.

So it was hardly with surprise that the princess was hunted down, tricked into an horrid plot, and transformed into a monstrous beast. Then, if that were not enough, after being tormented and hunted and beat and reviled by all the people of the land, the princess was chased to the sea and there changed into a thing of stone, for all to see, a humpbacked vision of pain and torture, head lifted in perpetuity to the heavens above in a plea that would never be answered.

This is where my story deviates from those that have gone before it. There was no handsome prince. No dwarves. No fairy godmothers. No Deus Ex Machina.

No, in this story the sorceress' envy won, and life discovered that sometimes evil does prevail over good. As for the Princess?

Her pain would last until the end of time.

Horton Hears He Has to Detour
by elemess

Comment:
They just stood there. Even while the people before them pointed and shouted and screamed and began to run for their lives, they just stood there.

Why, nobody will ever know, but when that giant evil creature came down upon them, it felt as though their screams would never end.

Russ and Rachel
by Rompy

Comment:
Their love showed. Even though he had come down with a terrible case of The Bokeh, a highly contagious affliction, she showed no fear. No revulsion. She leaned in and kissed him with all her feeling. Then, tears in her eyes, she said goodbye as he was taken away to quarantine.

The Bokeh epidemic tore many lives apart that year.

Curiosity
by bruski

Comment:
It shocked the entire Savannah that day. The day that Clarence just up and ran himself straight through the fabric of time and space, leaving a gigantic Giraffe shaped hole in reality.

Where he went, and what adventures he had while there, are stories for another day.

Head Games
by scarbrd

Comment:
Carl?

Yes Keith?

What, were you thinking?

I dunno, I just thought it would be funny. You know, a good laugh. Hah hah.

Oh, yes, Hah, fricking, HAH.

I didn't think they meant it in those commercials. I didn't know that this would happen.

It's SUPERGLUE Carl, SUPER and GLUE. Glue that is SUPER. What did you think was going to happen?!


And so Carl and Keith became the laughing stock of all the Rams, and they never did win the chance to woo Penelope.

Superststion Wilderness, Arizona
by xerophyte

Comment:
He was only able to do this once a year. Get away from it all, leave the office, leave the city, leave it all behind.

Once a year he was able to get back to the land of his childhood, the land of his forefathers, the land that still, miraculously, remained virtually untouched. He came and he payed tribute. He came and he camped and hiked and lived for awhile in the open air and the brush and rocks and the rare oases.

He came to this particular oasis each time. It was a ritual. Tradition. Never had he even begun to think of it as anything but a place of calm and reflection and meditation.

As he stood and gazed skyward, Scout, his faithful companion of many years, suddenly sat bolt upright. He was snarling, his fur on edge.

His instincts kicked in, and a dread rose in him. What was out there? Why would Scout react so? Then he saw them. The snarling, red-eyed beasts across the water. Fear threatened to take him over then, but suddenly it turned away from fear. Something inside him snapped, and fear turned to anger. More than anger, he was furious. Furious that these, beasts, would dare to disturb his sanctuary.

Pulling a knife from a scabbard at his side, he suddenly dropped into a defensive stance and growled, like some feral animal, a challenge to these outsiders. Scout, following suit, growled with him, and took a defensive stance of his own.

Seeing their prey defy them, the beasts on the opposite bank suddenly let loose cries of anger and hatred and hunger, and leapt across the waters as if they could fly.

At the same time, he bellowed a defiant cry of his own, and met the first of the beasts head on, knife plunging into his flank before they both went toppling down the side of the rock.

He fought for his very life and for the sacredness of this place, and Scout fought beside him, and never before had there been such a ferocious battle.

The Red Road
by desertsnail

Comment:
Dorothy thought that perhaps she might be lost.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road, they had sung. Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
Well, she had followed that damnable yellow brick road until it had slowly deteriorated into this dirty red track. She'd followed it alright, and NOW where was she?

She didn't think she was in Oz anymore, but she sure as heck wasn't in Kansas either. Oh, sure, it looked like Kansas. Trees, grass, clouds, sky, but there was something in the air. It was too thick. The wind too clean, too there. She didn't know how to describe it better than that.

With nothing else to do, she began to trek forward once again, Toto trotting by her side. It was then that he began to growl, low in his throat, his fur bristling suddenly. Dorothy stopped dead in her tracks and looked around wildly.

What was it? What was out there. She suddenly felt far more frightened than she ever had when she'd first found herself in Oz. That was a fear of the unknown, of finding yourself in a strange new land. This was a fear of knowing all too well. Of finding yourself in a place both familiar, and utterly not so. Of feeling that something out of the darkest depths of nightmare was coming. Coming out of the grass.

That's when the other-worldly howling began, and Dorothy's tension snapped, and with a scream she bolted along the path in a race for her very life as shadowy hate-filled forms bolted out of the grasses around her, hot on her heels, Toto's frantic snarling and barking suddenly cut off with a brutal and final yelp. Sobbing, she ran on, finding energy where she never thought it could exist, but there was nowhere to go.

Nowhere to go.

It's The Little Things
by optix

Comment:
Grapes had a problem.

He was never sure exactly when it began. He couldn't pinpoint the day when he first start snuffing. He couldn't remember when it had gone from "just once in awhile" to "Need my fix NOW!", but it did.

Grapes had a problem, and everyone whispered behind his back and gave him those looks and his friends slowly deserted him and his family turned their backs. He was tired and sick all the time now, and lonely, and he knew, yes, he knew that he had to change and give this up now, or he would lose more than just friends and family.

Grapes had a problem. He wanted it to end. He wanted it to stop, and he would. He would.

Right after this last one.

Christmas Day Dreams
by TCGuru

Comment:
They never did figure out how she was able to do it, hovering there in mid-air, like some mini version of SuperGirl or something. Not that she had ever shown the ability to actually fly, no, that would have just elevated her to the level of freakish.

Yet for as much as she would do this trick of hers (while watching TV, or reading a book, or to delight friends on the playground), it always caused her mother's heart to leap into her throat when she rounded and corner to come face to face with her floating daughter.

In later years, when she made a fortune from her ability and was able to keep her mother, suffering from Alzheimer's, in the best medical care, it was often only this ability that her mother would remember, and every time she used it her mother would laugh like a child again. She may not remember her name, or how to control her bladder, but she would laugh every time. Right until the end.

She wiped a tear and closed the album and smiled, and then slowly lowered herself to the floor.