Juice And Candy Really Do Mix

She’s on the couch now — he’s left — she gets up; third glass now. Eight in the morning now with a toothache. Pops another bottle. That’s three labels covered in her name in the trash now. Swallows hard — it’s a habit now. Sits down — her shows on now. She falls asleep and dreams of sound. Heart pumping hard, she wakes up and he’s there with new legs now. He’s on TV and she yells. He cuts her throat and he’s gone now. The blood is pink insulation and she’s up now. Door’s still locked but he’s back in the bathroom brushing his teeth when they all fell out. She picks them up off the floor and he’s out the door. She starts crying; can’t remember high school. Black and blue, she gets another bottle. Three down, asses up, one straight up, asses down. She’s sitting in the kitchen in her own blood and vomit now. Hair’s thinning now. She needs a minute now. But now is gone and hits the pavement now. And that’s it. Dropped the bottles and that’s when mommy stopped drinking juice and eating so much candy. That’s when mommy’s brain was never the same. That’s when mommy’s heart twisted up and squeezed all of the sugar out of her lungs. Oh — that’s when mommy died too.

Preview of “Parasite”

He lies in a clear glass box almost like an empty fish tank. His wrists and ankles are bolted down under sleek cylinders of some sort of metal he’s never felt before. His neck is under a ring of the same material, bolted down to the glass below him. As he adjusts to the extreme light from all around him and even underneath the glass case, he feels as though he is in an empty pinball machine.

He looks up to find three analogous shadows stirring back and forth above the chamber. He realizes that he is in the floor and they are walking around above him. He tilts his head to the side and sees more shadows below him on another floor. They are all looking at him, waiting for him to say something, but when he opens his mouth to speak all he can hear are the muffled words inside his head. His ears are bleeding from some sort of penetration.

He finds himself naked in the chamber and the distance between the top and bottom glass surfaces feel so much smaller. All around is light and the shadows that every now and then spare his eyes.

The chamber reminds him of a pinball machine because of an opening at his feet that curves downward and leads through the floor below him. On the other side of his left foot is another smaller gateway that extends straight and into the wall of light. This is normally where the ball would deploy, but instead of dropping off near his head, the passageway for the ball curves straight into his shins.

The shadows pace back and forth watching him anxiously. He can barely move under the strange binds and the blinding white light. All is quiet until he hears some sort of machine charging up. The sound oscillates from the pinball alley at his feet. The opening carries to sound into the chamber as it gets louder and louder and suddenly a shadow emerges from the white.

It seems to have been shot from a pressurized contraption for the speed it is traveling at. As the shadow passes through the light and closer to the chamber, its detail is revealed. The object is long and fat almost like a baguette. As it comes closer to the chamber, the object reveals a long, sharp bayonet coming for its head. Beyond the razor sharp blade is the head of what now appears to be a creature. Its face is comprised of a narrow opening, which appears to be its mouth. Along the body of the animal are small protruding barbs much like those on a cactus plant. At the end of the body is another sharp bayonet, but unlike the one at the head, it lays like a tail.

He struggles as the monster no longer than his thigh flies around the curve at the opening and into his legs. The sharp object at the head rips its way through his lower legs like a bullet through water. The chamber is instantly spattered in crimson and he begins to scream inside his head. He shakes around as the monster doubles back and shallows what remains of his feet whole. The slug-like thing circles back with little effort leaving on blood and scrap flesh below his knees. Then the worm makes its way up his legs and continues to feast without any obvious exertion of energy.

In a short matter of time the worm is swimming around in his torso as his heart stops beating and slips from out of his ribs. His remaining organs also slip out and sail down the river of blood that leads to the ball return. The shadows below swirl around as blood passes through the pipe before them. The shadows above kneel down and look him in the eyes.
With his last breath on of the shadow’s face splits open and fades away revealing his own face looking down on him.

Kevin wakes up cold and shivering. His bed sheets are wet with his sweat. His legs still kick in reaction of the dream.

Preview of “The Final Level”

This is an excerpt from the first chapter of a book I’m writing called “The Final Level”

We march in line
All battered and bruised
Covered in Kevlar
Marked civilians

I have trouble
Twisted ankle
From the window I threw
My self out of

Another second
My head would have been all over the floor
Several of them over me
On their way to genocide

But now I am safe
Among strangers that may be traitors
With knives hidden under their skin
But soldiers are within arms reach

So my worries fade
As we march out of the city
And into the dark jungle
Deep away from the war

Our home burn behind us
Masking the sky in black blood
Drawn from our friends and family
Just moments ago

The soldiers escort us away
Not enough in number to stay and fight
Never enough
We will all die the same way

Alone