The Scarab

A scientist leading an expedition into the Amazon is stung by an unusual-looking insect.
*******************************************************

“AH! Bloody hell!” Screamed Reginald as he quickly pulled his foot from the boot. Something fell out and scurried to a dark corner.

“What’s happened?!” Reginald’s assistant burst into the tent brandishing an iron cooking pot. “Are you all right sir?”

“Yes, yes, Percy. I’m fine. I merely forgot to check my boots before putting them on and I seem to have been bitten by something.” Reginald waved to the corner where the creature had retreated.”The little bugger headed over there.”

“We better find him, sir.” Percy raised his upper lip as he squinted into the dark corner. “Could be dangerous, sir.”

“Quite.” Reginald said as he tried to stand. Pain shot through the bite area causing him to hiss through gritted teeth.”You sure you’re alright, sir?” Percy asked.

“I said I’m fine. Do make yourself useful, and help me find the damned thing.” Reginald said impatiently. He limped towards his desk and grabbed a large rock he had been using as a paperweight. Percy went to another table and lit a small oil lamp.
Weapons in hand, both men carefully crept towards the dark corner. Eventually, Percy’s lamp revealed an inky black scarab beetle.

“There’s the offender!” Reginald hissed while raising his rock high overhead. Percy moved first however, and swung his pot down to the floor with a hollow bang. Unfortunately, he missed and the black insect took flight straight at him. Eyes wide, Percy ran from the counter attack hooting.

“Calm down you twit!” Reginald chided as he took the pot from the floor. “I’ll handle the little bugger.” Reginald focused on timing his swing just as Percy ran past and successfully connected with the perusing insect. The pot dinged like a bell and the scarab hit the far tent wall with a soft puff.
“That’s how you do it.” Reginald said proudly as Percy continued running around the room.

“Settle down Percy! It’s over!” Reginald yelled. Percy gave a surprised look and panted to a stop.

“Sorry sir,” He bent over leaning on his knees. “I aint never had such an insect chase me before.”

“Yes well, perhaps the next time you find yourself in such… mortal danger you will do better to keep your head about you?” Reginald stood over his kill. “Remember, I’m the one who was stung. Besides, it’s merely an insect. What harm could it do really?”

Little did Reginald know that, even as he spoke those words, a metamorphosis was beginning to take place within his body. Fortunately, Percy had taken Reginald’s chastisements to heart and was able to dispatch a man-sized scarab that he later found in Reginald’s room.

Levitation

A woman awakens to find herself levitating above her bed.            

She woke up hovering a foot above her bed.

            “Dang it,” she murmured, “Not again.”  Her body tightened in anxiety, and she saw the walls growing up around her until she felt the welcome pressure of the mattress on her body once again.  She lay still for a moment just to feel something holding her up, then moved her feet off the bed and sat up.

She hated it, hated this inexplicable experience that woke her up night after night, invading her peace just when she needed it the most.  She grasped one of several small, open containers that littered her bedside table and shook its contents out onto her shuddering palm.  She selected a pill and threw it into her throat, gulping it down dry.  Then she returned the rest of the sleeping pills to their bottle, resisting the temptation to take two. 

She needed to be calm; that was the thing.  She was close to her breaking point, and she knew it.  She began running her fingers through her hair, its gloss and her watering eyes catching the soft blue glow of her alarm clock.  Images kept coming to her mind unbidden, and she tried to pull, pull them away with each stroke through her hair, but they crowded in all the same.  Images of this bedroom only a year before, images of Leo’s reassuring eyes and his thick brown hair, of him sitting right there, just where she was now, reasoning with her as she told him the troubles of her day—oh the troubles she had thought she had.  And now she was alone, and now this bedroom was her secret hell.

She felt a tug on her head as her fingers found a tangle, and she quickly lowered her clenched hand to keep herself from yanking it out.  She needed to be held, for someone to understand her rearing fears and whisper them away, and for a delirious moment she imagined herself going into Joey’s room, waking him up to tell him everything, crying her apology for not being strong enough.  But she was supposed to comfort the children, not the other way around.  With their father gone, she was all they had.  And so she tried to calm herself, to wipe away the memories of this night and every other night, so that tomorrow morning she could be their mother again.

Levitation

“A woman awakens to find herself levitating above the bed.”
************

A tiny silver light shines like a brilliant star in the near total blackness of a bedroom. It’s steady beam faintly illuminating the pause/play symbols on a set of headphones. Within their while plastic shell, small magnetic drivers pulse a faint rhythmic beat into a woman’s ears.
If this woman is listening, we can’t tell as she is making no expression. Her only sign of movement is the equally rhythmic rise and fall of her chest as she takes in and releases air.

Minutes flow on with no change to the muted scene.
The headphones continue to pulse.
The woman continues to breathe.

Before we loose interest, however, a car passes silently outside. The light from it’s headlights rush across the room and momentarily reveal a hidden world we couldn’t see before. Warm, red colored walls. Photographs framed in rough golden wood. The open door to what looks to be a bathroom. The silky shine on the folds of the woman’s pajamas as she lays above her covers.
Within this sudden visual revelation, we are also able to see a movement that we could not perceive before. Wisps of black smoke are silently curling from underneath the woman’s still body. Once the light is gone, we can no longer see them but the density of blackness within the room falls even heavier than before.

Though we can no longer see the room’s details, we know that things are changing. The rhythm from the headphones no longer matches the woman’s excelerated breathing. The black smoke fills the room and we can no longer see the details of her face as we could before. The small silver light remains our only visual guide.

The light begins to move. Slowly at first, then more quickly, it rises high into the air. The woman’s breathing continues to quicken and follow the light upward until we hear a sudden gasp. Instantly, the black shroud fades from the room and we can see the woman is levitating far above her bed. From our viewing angle, we can barely make out a surprised expression as she continues to gasp the air.

Another car silently passes outside and the beam from it’s headlights track across the room from right to left. As the bright light scans over the levitating woman, her body falls slowly and silently back atop the covers of her bed.

Power Rangers Episode

Ok, here’s an episode of Power Rangers that Holly and I wrote at about two in the morning!

It’s Morphin Time!!!

(Rita bursts out of cage): At last!  After 10,000 years I am free!

(Theme song)

The Rangers are walking somewhere and wearing 90’s clothing.

Trini: What a great idea, Kimberly, to host a charity ball to find the cure for cat allergies!

Kimberly: Thanks, Trini.  Cat allergies are so not awesome.

Tommy: Wow, Kimberly.  You’re so caring.

Billy: Look, I just built my own iPhone!  Starts playing music.

Zach: Cool tunes, bro!  Starts dancing with soul.

Jason: Cut it out guys, we’ve got to plan this charity ball!

Trini: Yeah!  It’ll be great guys!

Cut to the moon

Rita: RAH!  Those Rangers are foiling my plans again!  But this time I’ll do something they won’t expect!  RAHAHAHAHA!

Random minion: Yes, my empress/queen.

A Few Weeks Later

Trini: Man, I’m having a hard time getting together these decorations!

Billy: Yes, it is hard.  Look, I invented the internet!

Kimberly: Walks in Guess what guys!  Guess who I got for the ball!

Everyone: Who?

Kimberly: The Great Caroline O’Connor!

Everyone: No way!  That’s so great!  

Trini: That’s the greatest idea ever!

Zach: Caroline O’Connor’s my favorite musical artist!  Right after Boys 2 Men!

Something breaks

Trini: Oh no!  I broke it!  This is so hard!  She starts crying

Jason: What’s wrong, Trini?

Trini: Oh nothing.  It’s just a lot of work, and I’m so tired!

Zach: Yes, it is very hard.

Trini: How will we ever be able to do this?  I just don’t think we can!

Zach: Yeah, maybe we should give up.

Jason: No, you guys!  We can’t give up!  We’re Power Rangers!

Everyone: Yeah!

Tommy: Shh!  You’re about to break one of the three cardinal rules of being a Power Ranger!  I’ll never forget what Zordon told me: Never reveal your identity as a Power Ranger!

Kimberly: Yeah!  I remember that!  And never leave the Rangers to pursue gymnastics and then write your boyfriend a random letter breaking up with him when you’re really living at UF and pregnant with his BABY!

Tommy: Um….

Jason: …  POWER RANGERS!  They all do that hand thing.

Kimberly: Well, I guess I broke the rules too.

Suddenly a bunch of Putties run in and a fight ensues.  Kimberly hits them with her purse.  Lots of puns are involved.  Soon the Putties are defeated.

Jason: What’s Rita want with us now?

Billy: Yeah!

Cats run at them too.

Kimberly: Noooo!  The failure of all I stand foooor!

Cut to moon

Rita: RAAAH!  The Rangers have defeated my Putties yet again!

Goldar: Let me go down and get them, my Empress.

Rita:  Perfect!  Go finish the Rangers once and for all!  ….  RAAAAH!

Goldar shows up where the Rangers are and for some reason instead of finishing them once and for all kidnaps Trini.

Goldar:  Hello, Rangers!

Rangers: Oh no!  It’s Goldar!

Jason: You won’t get away with this!

Billy: With what?

Goldar: With THIS!  Grabs Trini and runs.

Rangers: Noooooo!  Trini!  

Billy: Now we’re no longer ethnic at all!

Zach: Racist.

Oh, and Goldar kicks Tommy or something.

Tommy: OWIE!

At the random prison thing.

Trini: Power Rangers!  Come in!  She uses that watch thing.

Goldar: That will not work here, my pet!  And how can you transform without yooour MORPHING COIN!!!

Trini:  OH NO!  What am I going to dooo?

Cut to random desert where Rangers are for some reason trying to carry Tommy to hideout instead of zapping themselves there.

Kimberly: How far are we from Zordon?

Billy: According to my calculations, about 2.3 miles.

Kim: We’ll never make it!  And how can we save Tommy and Trini?

Jason: Keep trying guys!

Tommy: Oooooh!  Falls even more

Zach: Hang in there, Tommy!  We’re with you!

Tommy: Ooooooooooh!

Kimberly: Tommy!!!

Back to random prison thing.

Goldar: I would kill you now, but Rita said to finish the Rangers once and for all.  Besides, I like to toy with people.

Trini: Power Rangers!  Come in!  Still trying to use the watch thingy because she’s dumb.

Goldar: AlakaZAM!  HAHHAHHA!  Puts the Necklace of Darkness on her.  Now that you are wearing the Necklace of Darkness, you are under a spell and in love with ME!

Trini: Why, Goldar, you are so beautiful!

Goldar: Take me to your friends at once!

Trini: Of course, divine god of goldness.  Anything for you.

They zap to the random desert where the Rangers are carrying Tommy.

All Rangers but Tommy: Trini!  You’re ok!

Trini: I am more than ok.  I am in love.

Kim: You are?  With that guy from gym class?

Trini: I like men, not boys.

Goldar: RAHAHA!  She is mine!

Jason: Goldar!  How did you get here?

Trini: Goldar is my love!  He goes wherever I go, like with John and Yoko!

Kim: What??

Trini: I know he may be different, but we should remember what Zordon taught us.  That we should love everyone, despite our differences.

Jason: But not Goldar!  He’s a creep!  He drops Tommy and gets all excited.

Tommy: ….ow.

Jason and Goldar tussle while Trini talks to people.

Trini: What’s wrong with Tommy?

Zach: Your boyfriend hurt him!  We need to get him to Zordon, and quickly!

Goldar: Time’s up, Power Rangers!  Time for you to die!

Trini: Well that’s easy.  Why didn’t you just transport to the hideout?

Kim: No!  Not with Goldar!

Too late!  They transport to the hideout place.

Zordon: What is wrong, Power Rangers?  I sense a great disturbance in the force!

Kim: Tommy’s hurt!

Zach: And Trini’s in love with a bad guy!

Trini: I’m tired of your stereotypes!  First I had to be the yellow ranger, now Goldar is bad!  Love is love, and the love I share with Goldar is beautiful!  He doesn’t care that I’m Asian and have no personality!

Zordon: Trini!  Open your eyes!  Goldar is deceiving you.

Trini: NO!

Zordon: I can see that you are under a powerful spell.  It must be the Necklace of Darkness!

Trini: No, Goldar promised me a house in the country where our children can play!  He’ll still love me if I don’t get into medical school!

Tommy: OUCH!

Kimberly: Tommy!  Zordon, we need your help!  Tommy is hurt!

Zordon: Yes, he is hurt badly.  Alpha, what can you do?

Alpha: Ay yi yi nothing!  I am a useless Spanish robot!

Zordon: Billy, then it is up to you.  Build something to save him.

Billy: Why didn’t I think of it before?  I’ll build a dialysis machine!

Tommy: OH!  My kidneys!

Zach: Hang in there, bro!

Trini: Guess what!  Goldar and I are engaged!

Goldar: Yes, and you must marry us, Zordon, or I will blow up this hideout and expose the Power Rangers to the world!

Zordon: Oh no!  With Tommy in such a weak state, the Power Rangers cannot help me!  Alpha?

Alpha: Ay yi yi!

Zordon: I guess not.

Goldar: I’m waiting.  I have the explosives right here!

Zordon: Dearly beloved—

Trini: No, wait!  I wrote my own vows!  I promise to love Goldar for all of my years, to serve him as a dutiful wife, to honor and cherish his beautiful gold armor, and to cook and clean for him and never touch his wings.

Zordon: That was beautiful.  Trini you have touched me.

Kimberly: Wait!  Is it because of this necklace?  Kimberly takes off necklace.  Gasp!  They fall to the floor in slow motion.

Trini: Oh no!  I was about to marry…this creep!  What was I thinking?

Goldar: You said you loved me!  And that you didn’t care about my dog snout!

Zach: Almost finished Billy?  Things are about to get a little intense.

Billy: Just nearly….YES!  I’ve done!  I’ve built a dialysis machine out of three paper clips and some Scotch tape!

Kim: Tommy will be saved!

Billy: I’ll just turn it on….

Jason: Nothing’s happening!

Billy: What?  I don’t understand?

Zach: Are you sure you put those batteries in right?

Billy: Oh yeah!  Turns batteries around, uses machine, Tommy is healed.

Tommy: I am HEALED!

Kimberly: Oh, Tommy!

They share a moment.

Meanwhile Goldar is rigging the place with explosives.

Goldar: Maahahha!

Rangers: Ok, beat him up!

Goldar is beat up.  He disappears.  Cut to moon.

Rita: RAAAAH!  What are you doing back here, Goldar?  You have failed me once again!

Goldar: No, my queen, give me one more chance!

Rita: Ok, fine.  This time I’ll turn you big!  RAAAAH!

In city, Goldar is really big and is destroying buildings.

Rangers randomly appear.

Rangers: Oh no!  What will we do?

Caroline: I’m HEEERE!  And my eyebrows are perfect!

Billy: But there’s a monster we must defeat!

Caroline: Oh, I’m great at show biz.  I’ll woo it.

Caroline sings and Goldar looks woozy.  The Rangers transform and become the Megazord.

Jason: Let’s fry this creep!

Zach: Yeah, he’s going down!

Trini: It’s the last time I’ll ever try to marry him!

Tommy: Come on, Rangers!

Kim: For Tommy!

Tommy: Yeah, for me!

Billy: Let’s go!

So basically, big Goldar is defeated.  Cut to charity ball.  Caroline is singing and everyone is having a great time.

Zach: Alright guys, we did it!

Billy: Yeah, great work!

Jason: We’re a team!

Rangers: Do the hand thing and disperse.

Tommy comes nervously up to Kimberly.

Tommy: Um, Kimberly, would you like to dance?

Kimberly: ….yes.

They have another moment.  Then Bulk and Skull come over to interrupt and fall over.  Everybody laughs.  Freeze-frame, the end!

Fanged Baby!

“A woman becomes frightened when she notices that her two-month-old baby is growing what appear to be fangs.”

I should note that this writing prompt has haunted me for a year now and I hate it. I am writing this to get it done and out of my life.

**********************

Once upon a time, there was a cute baby. This baby had a wonderful mother who cared for the cute baby night and day. The baby was so cute, the wonderful mother would often say, ”Oh, what a cute baby I have!”

One day, the wonderful mother noticed the cute baby was growing what appeared to be tiny fangs. This disturbed the wonderful mother and caused her to cry, “Oh, dear! What has become of my cute baby?!”

The wonderful mother took the cute baby to the ugly alchemist. The ugly alchemist told her, “Wonderful mother, your cute baby is indeed growing tiny fangs. I have sundry potions with which to help your cute baby, but none can provide a cure to such a tiny affliction.”

“Drat!” The wonderful mother shouted. Then looked pensive, “I wish I had something more clever to say.”

With no more to be done, the wonderful mother took her cute tiny fanged baby home from the ugly alchemist and they all lived happily ever after.

The End …thank goodness that’s over!

Fanged Baby!

“A woman becomes frightened when she notices that her two-month-old baby is growing what appear to be fangs.”

Just to start out, I figured I’d post what I had written for this a million years ago when we decided to do it.  These were just some tenuously connected doodlings about the backstory of the baby’s mother.

**********************

Her future was entirely planned out.  Not that she knew where she was going to live after high school or how she was going to earn enough money to stay afloat; she knew instead the layout of the garden that was going to surround her house, what names and nicknames she was going to give each of her children.  She was a dreamer.

It was in high school that her self-awareness awoke, and she realized that she had inherited her father’s large nose and had never been kissed.  She never purposely displayed her insecurities, but they were spelled out like confessions in her actions.

She had seen enough movies on the subject of romance to be able to create story after elaborate story of them whenever she couldn’t sleep at night, so when Tomko, the school rebel, began to notice her more and more, she knew her time had come.

Everything about the pregnancy had frightened her.  No matter how hard her mother had tried, she could not make Kara understand her nausea, her disorientation, her weight, the way her stomach swelled out of her control.  She woke up every morning expecting the physique of a dancer and found herself instead colossal, unable to move.  It was as though an alien were taking over her body.
The birth was almost a relief, a release of the grasping thing that had demanded half of her sustenance for its growth by day and had kicked her from inside through the night.  In a fit of piety she had named it Thomas, the patron saint of her town.  It was only after she had seen the birth certificate that she realized Thomas was probably Tomko’s real name.

-Kellia