Harmonic Downpour
by CorySmith

Comment:
It was a night, much like this one. Dark, stormy. A real bastard of a night.

I was standing alone, in that downpour, having just changed the tire on my car. The thing had blown on me at 90 miles an hour on the freeway, and I'd barely stopped from flipping off the edge. My nerves were shot, and the weather hadn't helped much. Thankfully, the act of putting on the spare had calmed me some, and I was just about to put the jack back in the trunk when she appeared.

Like an apparition, she came from out of the rain. A shadow at first, it was coming down that heavily, but then popping into existence in the glare of my headlights. I thought at first she was a hitchhiker, drawn to my car on the side of the road, wishing to solicit a ride. That thought was quickly put aside however, as I noticed her walk toward me. So confidently, that sly grin upon her face. I began to smile myself, and was about to greet her when I stopped. Something wasn't right, and suddenly every instinct I had was telling me to just get in the car and lock the door. Indeed, I was about to, but had run out of time.

Without a word, she sauntered up to me and enveloped me in her arms. I could only stand there, unmoving, as her touch was cold as ice and I knew she wasn't human. Not like you or me. Then her head leaned in and she whispered in my ear, a sound that was both from her throat yet also in my head as if it had come from all around me.

"Come with me," she said, "Come join us all."

With another sly look, and a half-a-grin, she backed up a step and gestured off the road. Through the rain, into the muddy wastes of the ditch, I could see a light gathering strength. An unnatural blue glow that seemed to penetrate, touch my very soul. I stared at that light and watched as this being, this woman that was not a woman, walked toward the light and gestured me on, and as god is my witness I actually began to move towards her. Towards that light.

Perhaps it was by the grace of that same god that that semi-truck suddenly appeared out of nowhere that night. Its lights suddenly burst through the rain and illuminated us. With a shriek that split my ears, the apparition that was this woman suddenly burst into a frozen mist that was quickly swallowed in the murk, and she was gone. The rig blasted its horn twice and then shot past me with only inches to spare. How I kept my feet in the riptide of wind that followed, I'll never know, but keep them I did. Had I fallen then, I believe that whatever was waiting out there, in the darkness, would have taken me anyway, angry at the interruption, but I did not fall.

For a couple of seconds more I stared off the side of the freeway, at the light that was still there, but it had faded, and with a sudden realization of terror and relief, I was knocked out of my reverie and bolted for my car.

Never in my life had I been so scared as I was that night, and I swear what I tell you is true. The night of that downpour. The night I was nearly taken by a modern day siren, the night I nearly lost myself to the evil on Freeway 101.

4:36 pm
by Pascal

Comment:
They watched as the last ships pulled out of the harbor and disappeared over the horizon. For whatever reasons, they had made the decision to remain behind. To try and eke out an existence in the now blasted and dying lands that they had called home all their lives.

The evacuation of the continent had been a long and terrible ordeal. The survivors and refugees had poured into the port in droves at first, overwhelming the disaster response teams and emergency medical teams that had set up there. The ships had come in as fast as they were able, and had left just as quickly, for remaining too long was to risk infection and disaster.

Over the next few weeks the flow of people dropped off significantly, and in the end, though there were many, there were also far too few. Millions had lived in the lands near this port, millions, but only a few hundred thousand had eventually arrived and were sent off to try and find a new beginning across the sea. It had all happened so quick, and nobody really understood why or how, just that they had to get away, for inland was a scene of devastation, death, and horror.

The three watched the last ship sink into the distance, then stood and hugged each other close. With a deep breath they turned and began to walk away from the sea, from safety. This was their land, and broken and diseased though it was, they were not about to give it up.

Slinging their packs on their backs, and a rifle over each shoulder they, like the ships, disappeared into the night.

Aidan
by shamer

Comment:
"Ok," thought Aiden, "I've had enough. This is the 30 gazillionth picture now. When will it end? I've smiled so much my cheeks hurt. I'm missing my favorite show and I know I heard Kenny ring the doorbell and ask if I could come play and my bum is getting sore sitting here so much and if that flash goes off in my eyes one more time I'm going to scream and fine I'll smile one more time for you HOW'S THIS don't tell me I'm getting a manic look in my eye I know I'm getting a manic look in my eye but you won't stop can we just stop now I'm hungry and tired and want to watch cartoons and..."

FLASH.

"Ok Aiden, that's enough. Thank you for being so good. I made some pudding if you want some."

"I love pudding!" thought Aiden, as he ran upstairs.

Off Road Warrior
by reephoto

Comment:
Henry always was a practical joker, so when he was accidentally shrunk to the size of an action figure, did he dismay? Did he demand they find some way to unshrink him? Did he worry? No, not he.

With a whoop of joy, he hot-wired his son's RC dune buggy, stuck a hundred dollar bill on the antenna in a show of defiance, and raced off into the sunset. Legends are told of the adventures he had, and the mischief he caused, but those are for another place and time.

River of Fire
by jtlee321

Comment:
By the time the evidence of the fierce and deadly battles of the north began to show in the more peaceful lands of the south, the streams and the rivers flowed in a rose hued torrent of the blood of those slain in battle. However, unlike the battles themselves, which were ugly and violent and filled with horrors unimaginable, what came down out of those lands was not so. No, not so.

For it was beautiful.

Uyuni Dawn
by beamsclan

Comment:
The cracks appeared that night, in the quiet, without a sound. A glow came from within, but nobody was there to see it, none awake to notice what was happening. As the cracks grew wider, and the blue glow ever brighter, the darkness of the sky took on that unnatural blue, and soon it became almost as day, only with all natural color washed out of everything. Yet still we slept, yet still there was no cry of alarm, or concern, or even of wonder.

When They that lived beneath us finally rose to claim our realm as their own, they did it without a sound, and took us with hardly a fight at all.

sofia
by b0gdan

Comment:
Little Jackie pondered. She'd been sent to fetch the evening meal. A bit of beans, a small roast, some greens, and perhaps a small pie were there coppers enough left over. She'd gone about her errand diligently enough, at first, but Little Jackie was always so easily distracted. Always so easily put off her task by the smallest thing.

So here she stood, in front of these lovely things. They shone with a wonderful glow, so bright and colorful.

"Ahhh, my good lady," began the shopkeeper, "You do indeed have a good eye, for those well, those are MAGICAL you see." His voice dropped to a conspiratal whisper. "Aye, that's right, 'tis said they bring wishes to one with the desire to use them, they do."

Little Jackie looked at him with awe in her eyes. Imagine if she brought such a thing home! No more scrounging for coppers for their meals, not with wishes! She looked at the glowing ornaments some more, trying desperately not to look too interested, but the shopkeeper must have sensed her desire. "Aye, I can see you're havin' troubles decidin'. That is why I will give one to you for almost nothing. 5 coppers, and it is yours. The wife will strip my flesh if she found out, but you look a decent sort and I believe it is calling to you." He grinned wide, a greedy grin, but Little Jackie didn't notice.

With a slight nod, and a grimace at the thought that 5 coppers would leave her with only the beans she'd managed to buy before now and nothing left to purchase the rest of the meal, Little Jackie handed over the money.

She'd always been one that was easily distracted, was Little Jackie, and as she walked back home with her shiny bauble and not much else, she would soon earn another title.

Little Jackie, The Foolish, would never be sent to get the evening meal again.

Enchanted
by Zoomdak

Comment:
The human ability to survive takes many forms, and for Carl and Edna, that survival instinct was discovered in them on a day in late November, when on their usual walk they found themselves inexplicably transported to a dimension that was not their own.

Finding themselves surrounded by surrealistic colors, and landscapes they did not recognize, they nonetheless eventually made a simple life for themselves there. While they longed for the familiarity of home, their instincts made them hunt, and gather, and build. For many years they existed with only each other, and for them, that was all they needed. In the end, they survived in another world, and never once did they miss their daily walk.

Something as "life" under a tree
by the99

Comment:
It was funny, how life worked sometimes. They were ladies of legend, that held in their hands the very fabric of existence. They controlled birth, and death, and everything that happened in between. One drew the thread from the ether of the cosmos, one wove it into the pattern of life, and the third would snip that thread at the close of each of our time in the world.

Yet for all that power, for all their importance, they were not beyond the ravages of time. Time, well he was a power unto himself, and had mastery over even the Fates.

For these three, their time was winding down, and soon they would be replaced by three more, and the cycle would begin anew. For now, however, they sat and conversed, and took a break from their work, and none that passed would guess at who they truly were. For now, they were still Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. For now.

Taking a Break
by izadoodle

Comment:
They came out here to get away from it all. To avoid the traffic, the noise, the lights, the people. They came out here to refresh themselves, recharge, get back to nature. They came out here so that they didn't have to deal with the city, if only for a little while.

So when they came across the boy, holding out his hat, looking at them with those puppy dog eyes, it was the final straw. Vanessa snapped and ran screaming back towards the cabin, while Tom dropped to the ground and sobbed uncontrollably.

As for the boy, he finished picking the leaves from out of his hat, gave the man a strange look, then put it back on his head and ran off to re-join his friends in a game of leaf-pile jumping.