Tag Archives: A to Z Challenge

April 18, 2013

Pink

{This is NOT a children’s story}

“Momma, will you tell me a bedtime story?”

“Have you brushed your teeth and gotten ready for bed yet?” She yelled back.

“Yes,” little Kevin squealed, hopping nervously from foot to foot in anticipation of her answer.

“Alright then, I’ll be up in just a moment. Climb in bed and I’ll bring you a glass of warm milk to drink, then I’ll tell you a bedtime story.”

“What? You busy with that kid again? You know I got plans for that fine little bod of yours…”

“Hush. He’ll hear you! Besides, he always falls asleep quickly after my special milk and a story. I’ll keep it short, then you can have my fine little whatever afterward!” she mocked with a giggle as she scooted out of the way of the swat she knew would be headed for her backside.

Upstairs, little Kevin ran to his room and flung himself on the bed. After kicking off his slippers, he climbed between his Captain America sheets and waited for Momma to come tell him a bedtime tale.

Smiling as she entered the room, she headed over to the bed, and dimmed the bedside lamp. She handed Kevin the milk and joked while he drank the whole glass down in one gulp. “Hulk PJ’s tonight, huh kiddo?” She ruffled his hair.

“Yup! Gonna need ‘em,” he replied smiling a broad, milk-smeared grin.

“Oh yeah, what makes you think so?”

“It’s one of your bedtime stories, Momma, I always need my Hulk jammies when you tell a story!” His bright eyes sparkled as she sat down alongside him.

“Well, in that case, I guess we better get to it. What kind of story do you want tonight?”

“Tell me about Unicorns, Momma! The teacher read a story about Unicorns today in class, but she got it all wrong! There were Unicorns and rainbows and…”

“Unicorns and rainbows, huh? Let’s see what we can do. All snuggly?” He nodded an enthusiastic yes as she wiped his milk mustache away.

“Once upon a time,” he immediately giggled. “Stop, silly. Do you want to hear my story or not?” He nodded again with an even wider grin on his face.

“Once upon a time there was a beautiful Unicorn Princess, who lived in the big Unicorn city. The streets of Unicorn city were dark and filled with trash, but the Unicorn Princess never noticed; her daddy owned this city. And all the other Unicorns had to pay him rent for the sleazy, run down, rat infested rooms they rented from him. If you didn’t rent from the Unicorn King, you couldn’t work in Unicorn city. Those were the rules.

“Anyway, the Unicorn Princess didn’t have to worry about any of that. She had her daddy’s Unicorn knights to take her everywhere she wanted to go. They would never let her get mixed up with the pink, working class riff-raff that lived on the streets. They protected her always, and always made sure she got what she wanted. If she wanted to get a mani-pedi, they would just go in and tell the shop keeper – who worked for her daddy – to give her what she wanted. She loved being fawned over by all the pink Unicorns. They adored her, and she liked nothing more than to be adored.

“One night she heard her daddy’s loud voice arguing from his study and, being used to going where she wanted, when she wanted, she barged right in to tell that other meanie to stop talking to her daddy that way!”

Kevin giggled as he held the covers scrunched under his little chin. “What’s next, what’s next?”

“What happened next? Well, I’ll tell you. After barging in, hands on her hips, ready to tell that meanie where to go; the princess stopped dead in her tracks – speechless. She had never seen anything so big and brown and ugly before. The meanie had big splotches of white on his gross old body, and was in the middle of saying something about the dump. Both her father and the meanie looked her way. One of her father’s knights rushed in and tried to apologize, but before he could get the words out, the big brown thing shot him!

“The Unicorn Princess screamed, and at the same time, more of her daddy’s knights came rushing in. They must have been being watched, because just at that moment, other big brown things started crashing in through the windows! Glass flew everywhere, the room started to fill with smoke, and the last thing the Unicorn Princess heard was her father pleading ‘No, no please… we had a deal’ and then everything went blank. The Unicorn Princess fell to her side and was out cold.”

“Oh no, Momma, what happened? Did a meanie get her? A meanie can’t get her yet, I’m not even sleepy,” his slurred little voice said.

Smirking to herself, Kevin’s Mother began to tell her tale once more.

“When the Unicorn Princess woke up, she was laying in a gooey puddle of muck. Confused at first, she looked around and saw garbage, piles and piles of it, she was outside – all alone. Then she looked up and saw the most magnificent thing she had ever seen. Because her daddy had never bought her one, she didn’t think they were real, but right above her was a rainbow…”

“Awwh, Ma! That’s like the story the teacher told!” Kevin pouted through thick lips and drooping eyes.

“Really, she told you a story about the Unicorn Princess and her daddy – the King, and the men who tried to hurt them?”

Little Kevin barely managed to answer, “Kinda, but I meant the rainbow part, not the stuff about the bad guys…” Poor little thing, he could barely think he was so tired. “Fimish your story, Mommmma, plweease…”

“Okay you little rascal, hush up, and I’ll finish the story.”

Yawning and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands, little Kevin nodded as his eyes drooped closer and closer to being closed. He was fighting it tonight, she could tell, but a warm glass of milk, a snuggly bed and a good story were guaranteed to knock her little guy out for the night. Taking a deep breath, she started the end of her tale.

“Looking up, the Unicorn Princess saw the most beautiful rainbow, and the best part was that it ended right over her! Forgetting all about the goo she was laying in, the Unicorn Princess was mesmerized by the colors. Brilliant blues, shimmering golds, vibrant reds, and a purple so dark it was almost black. Then she noticed it. There, just on the edge of the red, and another just about to fall from the purple. There were droplets of the rainbow falling… and they were plunking right on her pretty blonde head! Pulling herself out of the goo, she jumped up with glee and snapped at the edge of the rainbow with her teeth, but it hurt. Ouch, she thought, rainbows don’t hurt, do they? It didn’t matter, because now that she had gotten a good bite out of it, the rainbow started to gush its colors all over her.

“Laughing and dancing around the best she could in the quickly browning gunk at her feet, she saw that there were spots of blue and gold and red and purple all over her beautiful yellow fur and white mane. Then she started to notice that it itched a little bit. As a matter of fact, it itched a lotta bit, and was starting to burn! She tried to wipe it off. But her joy was short lived, for as she scratched the newly colored spots, her fur pulled out in giant clumps with icky, sticky bits of flesh stuck to it. Trying to run away from the evil rainbow, she realized that her feet had gotten stuck in the big puddle of brown goo. All she could do was scream, and scratch, and pull the itching, burning fur from her body while the rainbow continued to pour all over her.

“Sometime later, how long she didn’t know, she managed to finally drag herself out of the brown glop. By then, she had stopped screaming and had become numb and tingly all over. There was only a tuft or two of her beautiful fur left, and her skin was almost all gone – at least the outside part was. Now she just looked like one of those ugly Unicorns before they turned all pink and fleshy. What would her father say?

“Her father! She hadn’t thought about him the whole time! Free of the muck and goo, she stumbled to the edge of the dump and could see her father’s mansion on fire. Tears stung her eyes; she knew her daddy was gone. She knew she was going to have to be just another ugly pink Unicorn with no fur. She sat down, and cried; she cried harder than she ever had before! But she wasn’t crying for her daddy, or for the other Unicorns that got hurt, she was crying because all her beautiful yellow fur was gone. She was crying because her fancy bedroom with all her shiny trinkets was burned. She was crying because now there would be no one to take her for her mani-pedi appointments…”

Hearing the first of his snores, she stopped telling the story, reached over and turned off the lamp. Just as she was about to get up and leave the room, she heard her little Kevin mumbling.

“What’s that honey? Mommy didn’t understand you.”

With a giant yawn, Kevin asked her to make sure the closet door was shut before she left.

“Of course honey. Did Mommy’s story scare you?”

Turning over, still half asleep, little Kevin answered, “No Momma, I just don’t want that skanky Unicorn Princess to get blood on the carpet if she tries to get in here.”

After shutting the closet door, she leaned over and kissed her son on the head and whispered, “That’s my boy.” With a smirk on her face, she left the room and locked him in for the night.

Back down in the living room, she sat on her husband’s lap and gave him a warm, inviting kiss. “So, did you put the kid to sleep or what?” He asked.

“Yup, he’s out cold. But he did say something odd.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” Her husband responded disinterestedly as he began to unbutton her blouse.

“He said his teacher told them a story about a mob Kingpin, and a spoiled little bitch who was kidnapped by a bunch of lowlifes thugs who were sick of paying to illegally dump chemicals in a landfill. She really shouldn’t be telling children about that sort of thing. I don’t think the other parents would appreciate it anymore than I do, and I think I’m gonna tell her that tomorrow.”

Distracted and not caring as he fumbled to remove her bra, he said, “Is that the story you told him?”

“Me?” playfully shoving her husband away, she grabbed her clothes and his arm as she headed for the master bedroom. “Please! I just told him a little story about a flesh eating rainbow, and toxically mutated unicorns.” Her giggling could be heard as the bedroom door shut behind them.

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

16 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, Bloghop, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela, NOT FOR KIDS, P, Pink, Rainbow, Toxic, Unicorn | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, twisted

April 17, 2013

Otter

By Nina D'Arcangela

Mr. Otter knocks upon the door, hoping she is home, yet hoping she isn’t at the same time. He is so nervous he can barely stand still.

The door opens. “Yes, Mr. Otter, how may I help you?”

Fussing with his tail, head bashfully low, he replies, “Well, I was wondering if I could… You see, I would like to ask you for… What I mean to say is… I’d like your… Well, I’m right in the middle of building, and I’ve run out…”

“Come in, come in.” She says, nervous laughter in her voice as she waves a tiny hand in the air and turns toward the kitchen to begin fixing a pot of tea for Mr. Otter; he is such a fine gentleman, after all.

“Well, I didn’t wish to be rude…” he stammers. It seems this isn’t going to plan at all, he’s muttering like a fool, trying desperately to recover his fumbling tongue. “But you do always have the most wonderful twigs come dam season, and well, I was hoping… seeing as I had run out…”

“Yes, Mr. Otter?” She inquires over her shoulder.

Oh, you’re going to make me ask directly, aren’t you, he thinks to himself. Tail tucked firmly between his legs, hair quite the unruly mess, he manages to get the words past his dry lips. “Miss Otter, may I have… May I please have…” feeling quite the buffoon, he finishes quietly, “some of your twigs?”

“Why, Mr. Otter, there is no need to be so shy. You are more than welcome to borrow my twigs anytime you’d like. It’s been a busy season and I…” As she turns around, she sees Mr. Otter down on one knee, holding the sack tightly in his grip.

“Miss Otter, may I have the honor of borrowing… having all of your twigs, now and forevermore?”

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

4 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, love, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela, O, Otter, silly, Twigs | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, Quirky

April 16, 2013

Nothing

By Nina D'Arcangela

To feel nothing is the complete and utter loss of hope; the devastation of a void where something of value once existed; it is a vast open space, cracked and scorched before you – not a inch to lay your bare naked foot upon.

To feel nothing is to float in an endless sea of grey; to drift on a current that carries you without sensation; to hear a cosmic rush of silence so loud that it is utterly deafening.

To feel nothing is to be looked upon, but know the other sees through you, past you; recognition no longer a possibility.

To feel nothing is to exist in this world alone, yet surrounded; loved, yet insignificant; you, but not even there.

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

12 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, N, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela, nothing | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

April 15, 2013

The Morning After

By Nina D'Arcangela

(the continuation of Fjord)

The jarl descends to the water’s edge to await the triumphant return of his sons as he does each morning. This morning, as he approaches the icy depths, he spies their craft, though not in the manner in which he hopes.

Standing at the shoreline amidst the wreckage, he waits. It is not long before the wife of each man who boarded the vessel is standing beside him. Among the splintered wooden remains of the ship, treasures of gold and jewels manage to glisten in the cool morning mist.

He tells them not to mourn; those who set sail would have been victorious in battle for the vessel to have been laden with such riches. Viking women do not wail for their men who have been lost to the sea. When a youth reaches forward to pick up a trinket, the jarl’s booming voice echoes back from the walls of the narrow passageway.

“No!”

Turning to his people, he instructs that no one is to touch the plunder. The fjord will take what it will with the lapping tide; the rest remains as tribute to be called upon as the gods see fit.

That night, the jarl prays that his sons died well, and now sit in the halls among the warriors who have gone before them. They were good strong men, of this he is certain. What fate may have brought their ruined craft to this shore, he does not know; he knows only that the light of the following day will bring him the answer he seeks.

Upon waking, the jarl makes his way to the fjord’s rocky shore once again. What he finds sickens his heart. The wood of the wreckage has been claimed by the water, in its place, the flesh and bones of all but one man have been spit upon the shore and left to rot. His spirit rejoices that he is unable to find his eldest son, and crumbles when he sees the other among the mangled and broken corpses. He did not die a good death, this younger son.

A Sea-Eagle soars overhead, screeching out a final anguished cry before its soul joins the ranks of those who departed this world with courage and honor.

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

4 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, death, fiction, Fjord, gods, jarl, loss, M, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela, offering, The Morning After | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, loss

April 13, 2013

Languishing

By Nina D'Arcangela

Languishing in a field of lavender, lying upon my back, I stare at a clear cerulean sky. I think of you. I think of all we have done, the things we have not. I think of all you have brought to my life, what I have taken from yours, all that has passed between us. I remember moments of laughter, tears of joy, those of pain as well. Moments of unimaginable bliss, happiness never deserved, yet found – shared – cherished.

Languishing in a field of lavender, lying upon my back, I watch the gnats buzz, the bees flit about, the curious flies that have begun to swarm. The sky is still, the field quiet, the echoes of sound only in my mind. I hear the remembered rustling as you walked away, your hesitation, your mournful cry. So brave, so kind, my understanding savior. I know it was a world of anguish for you to do this, but it was the only choice.

Languishing in a field of lavender, lying upon my back, my chest no longer heaves, my blood no longer seeps, a calm serenity has taken over my thoughts. A white cloud drifts by on my cerulean sky, a dog sniffs my hand. No, not yet. Let me watch the sky a little longer – just until my eyes cloud over…

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

20 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, choice, death, field, freedom, L, languish, Languishing, lavender, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, Reflections

April 12, 2013

K’ant

By Nina D'Arcangela

“K’ant make it fit!”
“Really? Why can’t you make it fit?”
“Don’t know, k’ant seem to do it…”
“Well, that’s a square peg.”
“Yeah, and I k’ant get it through the hole.”
“That’s because it’s a round hole.”
“That’s what I’m saying. I k’ant get it!”
“You can’t fit a square peg in a round hole.”
“K’ant ya? Seems to me that would depend.”
“On what?”
“On the peg and the whole.”
“K’ant argue with that.”

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

12 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, fit, fun-ny, hole, humor, K, K'ant, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela, peg, round, square | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, Humor

April 11, 2013

Just

By Nina D'Arcangela

Skipping, hopping, feet three-stroke flopping. Tail guiding, hands reaching, eyes darting – never stopping.

Deftly left, back right again, charge on my little friend!

Day is not safe, but you cannot cross at night; so this journey you must make, regardless of its plight.

Shall it be life or death? The bird of prey watches, daily you two dance, as to the air he launches.

Run faster from bubble to bubble, overhead is feathered trouble!

A quick burst of energy will bring you to shore, and you shall be basilisk for at least one day more.

Just a bit too late, to make it across, Jesus Christ Lizard – your life is now lost!

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

6 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, dance, death, J, Jesus Christ, Just, life, Lizard, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela, not a poet ;), Run | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, Quirky

April 10, 2013

I

By Nina D'Arcangela

I sit here alone, thoroughly abandoned, and deservingly so. Awash in paralytic dread, I mourn what I have not yet lost, but know will soon be stolen from me. I yearn to believe hope is not dying, I long to hold it near, to cherish it dearly. I ache to know some degree of stability; struggle to somehow make it last, even for just a moment longer. But assigned the jester’s roll, I am yet again the patch, never the permanent fixture. Brilliant shimmering trinkets surround me, I see their shine, their gleam, yet I shield my eyes from the pain I know awaits if I gaze upon them. To feel what I have felt, to know what I have know, to watch it dissolve from a distance is a torture I cannot express. I slam my fists impudently against this barbed barrier, but again, I act the fool. I can only hide for so long. Reality slams against my senses, intrudes upon my torment, dares me to call this solitude. This damning truth insists that I allow the glimmer to dim, to see with wide eyes what would be shown to me, that which will be stolen from me. Yet still, for all the anguish, the tears, the pain that will not allow me to draw even a single quelling breath, I see beauty. I see only you.

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

6 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, alone, beauty, hope, hurt, I, loss, muse, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela, pain | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, muse, pain

April 9, 2013

Hard

By Nina D'Arcangela

I sit here sipping from my glass, a fine glass at that; delicate in nature, with spinning hues of barest midnight blue drawn through its perfect surface, creating an undulating wave of confused beauty. Beauty; I look at the cavern around me, the carved seat I rest upon, my enclave, my domain, my perfect world. Things of beauty surround me, but only at my beck and call. True, some have come crawling, but I find I’ve no use for such sniveling. They – are no longer amongst us. Is there not a creature worthy of my attentiveness? Ordering one of the grovlings to fetch me a new pet, I wait with little patience.

Finally, she is brought before me. “Kneel.” There is no question she will do as instructed, they all do. I toss a collar onto the floor, it is attached to a leash fastened to the arm of my perch. “Put it on.” She begins to speak.

“I do not recall telling you to open your lips. Put it on, and do so with your mouth shut!” She scrambles to do as ordered, but the idiot grovling has yet to release her from the crude looped choker used to drag her here. A glance at the grovling and he realizes his folly. He apologizes profusely, trying to loosen the choker as she desperately tries to fasten the collar around her bleeding neck with shaking hands. I let him babble, his stupidity is quite amusing, then I bore of hearing it. Standing, I descend the two steps that separate myself from the others. She shivers uncontrollably as I pass by. He drops to a knee while still begging forgiveness for his lack of foresight. Foolish, that. The assumption that he’s been given the right to foreshadow my thoughts or wishes, a mistake I would not have made had I been in his position. Crouching in front of him, my wing tips curling against the stone floor, I order him to lift his chin. As he does so, he pisses himself. Glancing down to the puddle growing beneath him, I gently tap the edge of the glass against the floor. It fractures magnificently.

“Do you recall when this glass was made for me, grovling?” Desperately, he tries to hold my eye, but cannot. His own orbs flick quickly to the glass, I smile. He opens his mouth to respond and I shush him with a gentle, garnet adorned finger upon his lips. “My question did not require an answer, or did your foresight fail you yet again?” Trembling with indecision, he is unsure if a response is expected. I’m of the opinion it is not, but I’ll allow his inner torment to continue a bit longer. The jingling to my right finally stops; she has managed to fasten the collar around her neck. I hear a slight tinkling, the metal chain leading from the collar back to the leashed handle affixed to my seat; she is frightened, but doing admirably well – so far.

Waiting is the sweetest torture, one my many eons in this festering shit hole has taught me well how to exploit. The grovling on the other hand, is finding the wait – arduous. I can sense his overwhelming desire to speak; I can see the thoughts flick through his feeble little mind. Dragging the now jagged edge of the glass through his own urine, I provoke him. “It must be so difficult kneeling before me, wanting to speak your mind, but knowing you probably should not. I almost feel compassion for you, honestly, I almost do. Was being obedient and keeping your mouth shut so very hard that you simply found yourself incapable of the task?” His lips part, bait taken. If I were a sport fisherman, this is the point at which I would yank the line, one quick hard pull to set my hook. In what is a blink in his world, I ram the piss covered broken glass through his eye socket clean into his brain cavity. The ickor that oozes into the glass is proof enough that his brief squeal will be his final utterance.

I turn to the captive beside me, realizing that the grovling’s piss has spread to her knees. Retrieving the handle of the leash, I gently guide her to the hot spring welling in the far corner of the cavern. “Come, let’s clean you, then we shall figure out what purpose you might serve.”

(…more on this piece as other letters crop up…)

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}

17 Comments | tags: A to Z Challenge, Angel, Dark Angel, fiction, flash, H, Hard, horror, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela, pain, pet, power, slave, Sotet Angyal | posted in 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, darkness, Flash, Flash Fiction, Horror

April 8, 2013

Grave

By Nina D'Arcangela

I sit before your grave and mourn you, or perhaps I mourn for me. The light that was stolen from my life is unjust, leaving behind a harsh glare where once there was a gentle glow. I still feel your touch, your hand gently caressing my face as it slowly slides into my hair, cupping the back of my head. I feel my eyes flutter shut as you gently glide my lips toward yours. A final remembered glance of your amber tinted eyes as your deliciously long lashes flutter shut as well. My hand falls, not to rest on your soft, warm thigh, but upon this cold stone monument. Jarred from my revere, my tear moistened eyes open to see not your liquid eyes looking back, but the hard edifice that now entombs all that you were. If there had been one final moment, what would we have done; what would we have said; would you have allowed me to come with you? Is what was shared between us enough to carry me though another day in this world while you exist in another?

I sit before your grave and mourn you, or perhaps I mourn for me. The light that was stolen from my life is unjust, leaving behind a harsh glare that blinds me to all the beauty you once revealed. Perhaps I will lay my head down and rest with you one last time. The snow my cushion, my memories the only warmth I need on this cold, heartless night.

I’m doing the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Pop back everyday but Sunday through the month of April for a new letter prompt to spawn my deranged ramblings! ;}