word count

so I only managed about 1300 words yesterday. Not horrible, but not good either.

In other news... my allergies are killing me. I had thought that they were nearly over with, I had been doing better. Then the smoke pours in, literally. Yesterday the sky had a gray/brown haze. I know this color, it is the color of smoke. I read the news and there were a couple of prescribed burns and some of the smoke was coming from arizona.

Still... uugh.

So for my aimless rant of the day... What is up with SUV's?

AT one point I was considering buying one of the small suv's, not because I needed the space, definately not because I needed the fuel prices. It was a matter of self-preservation.

I have been threatened with the prospect of having my car rammed by an suv to the point where I actually had to consider buying one. What the hell is wrong with that? Why should I have to consider a car that I don't want because another driver is too rude to stay off of my ass?

And why is it that these people think that because I am in a car I need to do as they want? I pay taxes, and the road definately does not belong to them. SO why do these people feel the need to threaten me?

Ok, so I know that not everybody who drives an suv is like this, but It sure seems like I encounter these types way more than my fair share.

I ended up not buying an suv, I didn't cave. But why should I even have to consider that?

So how do you all feel about suv's?

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Old news

So I was watching the news a about a week ago, and this story comes on about how college graduates are mooching off of their parents.

So the report goes on, and this old guy comes on and states that the cause for this is young people not knowing what they want to do.

EXCUSE ME!!! Dude, just because your kids don't know what to do does not mean it applies to everybody. I would love to get out of my parent's house, but with the job situation in the US right now I don't see that happening in the near future.

Competition is fierce for jobs right now. Large numbers of graduates are competing with people who lost jobs when the economy was flushed a few years ago. Squeezed out are the students who have less than a three-five gpa.

When I entered college I made a choice. I went to a school that would challenge me. I knew that my grades would suffer, but that was my choice. I wanted the education, not the easy A. I wasn't disappointed. But now I am starting to wish that I had gone to an easy school. I have to fight people who were able to slack in comparison for jobs.

I know that I have taken classes that would be honors classes at other schools, and I passed my Fundementals of Engineering exam, which is also optional at other schools. Required at Tech.

What's funny is that even recruiters know the difference in education. But their hands are tied, HR departments set standards and most of the time they cannot get around these minimum req's.

With all of this in mind... What reason is there left for students to challenge themselves by going to "harder" schools? If the grades go down because the cirruculum is harder, but minimum gpa dictates who gets hired why not go to the easy school? Granted, there are a few people who have the money in the family to be able to learn for fun. But the rest of us have loans that will need to be paid. If we cannot find the jobs to pay those loans because we challenged ourselves what is the point?

I know that this is a little off of the original topic, but it is a good question. I know what I wanted to do... but my gpa isn't enough to get out of the parents house. What do you think?

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Welcome!

I see that I am sorta poopular on the next blog button again today, so to all the new visitors. Welcome.

Feel free to check out whatever I might have had to say and don't forget to check out Bumpersticker Rant.

Thanks for stopping in.

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Nothing much to say.

So after last night's post I realized that I really don't have much to say right now. I mean I could probably find something to complain about, but I'm kinda in a mental fog and doon't want to think riht now.

So please use the comments for whatever, just play nice. Check out past posts, and don't forget to look at bumpersticker rant.

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Single, and still hating it.

So it's been just over a year since I became single. (Almost a month over to be precise.) And sometimes the question just pops into my head... How is a fat girl like me supposed to compete with all the beauties I see around all the time?

The first question is usually proceeded with the Second: Will I hold the next guy up to the impossible standards that I enjoyed in my last relationship?

Ok and if those nagging questions aren't enough, I am picky and shy. Actually I need to explain the shy part. I am usually confident around guys, guys usually make the best friends. But I am not confident when it comes to flirting with them, been burned too many times. This leaves me in the impossible state of waiting for a guy to come to me. Problem, the only guys I works with are old enough to be my parents, and I don't have much of a social life and can't afford the gas for the half hour trip into town to find a social life.

Which bring me back to the first question. The one social thing I do is dance on monday nights, but there are a whole lot of good looking girls there, and Sometimes I just get the feeling that I am being passed over for dances for the more attractive girl. This only strengthens the first question... I mean if I can't even get in as many dances as I'd like how am I ever supposed to find a nice guy.

That's the other problem. Like I said earlier, I'm picky. I guess I have to be, i don't have the personality for relationship hopping. I am a person who just wants to settle down and be happy, even if the relationship doesn't work out in the end I would probably still want it to last a while.

Now there's probably somebody out there asking what reasons there are to go out with somebody like me. What are the good qualities about me? I think I'll save that for another post.

So while you wait, let's play this game...

comment on what you feel is important to get a relationship started. What makes you look? What makes you take interest or make the leap into actually asking? Are you a guy or girl? Maybe by doing this we can all learn something about each other, and about the opposite sex ;-)

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Car problems

so my car has been having issues lately. It wants to hesitate at lights and sometimes shudders when I am at constant speed.

So not being a slacker when it comes to my car I have already taken some measure to fix this, and it has gotten better. At least my car isn't stalling at lights anymore. But some of the issues are still there, so to any mechanic types who happen to come across this today:

1989 Chevy corsica
51,200 mi
4 cyl

I have already done oil change with new air filter, new gas filter, fuel injector treatment. I have on my to do list new spark plugs, and new pcv.

Any other simple things that it could be? I hate to think it could be a fuel pump, or anything major, especially at that low a mileage.

Anyway, just a puzzle that's been shuddering at me for a few weeks.

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Dedications

So when i was asked about dedications for torn I was almost immediately thinking that of who to thank. Then I realized that I had a laundry list. So I started to tone it back, and ended up with only one person.

Then the opinions of others cut in. Because I started writing the book at work my bosses said that they needed a dedication. Well just because I started it there doesn't mean that even a majority was written there. I think most of the book was written at home.

SO now I am trying to decide, even while it may be too late for a dedication page.

So for the laundry list Thanks to:
Everybody (you know who you are)
Especially Aunt Sarah for all her help.

There it is, so if it doesn't make it into the book I thanks you publicly anyway.

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No child left undrugged

We call our campaign, "No Child Left Undrugged," but the real title of the bill is HR 181 - The Parental Consent Act of 2005. You can send a message to Congress right now, or continue reading to obtain more information and talking points: http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=15

As reported yesterday by the Liberty Committee, the American tradition of parents deciding what is best for their children is under attack. The major pharmaceutical lobby wants universal mental screening for every child in America, including preschool children.

But universal screening alone is not what the pharmaceutical lobbyists want. The real payoff for these select drug companies is the drugging of children that will result - as we learned tragically with Ritalin - even when parents refuse!

The drug companies want your children to be "screened." The psychiatric establishment wants to do the "screening." And even a recent presidential commission (New Freedom Commission on Mental Health) supports it all.

These powerful groups want your children "screened" whether or not you, as parents, give permission. Congressman Ron Paul, an OB/GYN physician for over 30 years, is desperately trying to keep the drug companies, politicians and federal bureaucrats from becoming "parents" to your children. Dr. Paul will introduce this week an amendment to the Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Act for FY 2006 that will withhold funds from being used to implement or support any federal, mental screening program.

In a letter to his congressional colleagues, Dr. Paul states: "As you know, psychotropic drugs are increasingly prescribed for children who show nothing more than children's typical rambunctious behavior.

Many children have suffered harmful effects from these drugs. Yet some parents have even been charged with child abuse for refusing to drug their children. The federal government should not promote national mental health screening programs that will force the use of these psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin."



If you think this action alert is about something that "can't happen here," think again. In 1995, the state of Texas launched the Texas Medication Algorithm Project and then Governor George W. Bush signed it into law. (WorldNetDaily.com, June 21, 2004)

The state of Illinois has also approved a mental health screening program. The Illinois legislature passed the Children's Mental Health Act of 2003 which will provide screening for "all children ages 0-18" and "ensure appropriate and culturally relevant assessment of your children's social and emotional development with the use of standardized tools." In addition, all pregnant women in Illinois are to be screened for depression.

Dr. Karen R. Effrem, a pediatrician and leading opponent of universal screening with EdAction states: "Universal mental health screening and the drugging of children, as recommended by the New Freedom Commission [presidential commission], needs to be stopped so that many thousands if not millions of children will be saved from receiving stigmatizing diagnoses that would follow them for the rest of their lives. America's school children should not be medicated by expensive, ineffective, and dangerous medications based on vague and dubious diagnoses."

Dr. Effrem warns:
1. Parental rights are unclear or non-existent under these screening programs.

2. Parents are already being coerced to put their children on psychiatric medications and some

children are dying because of it.

3. Mental health screening does not prevent suicide.

4. Mental health diagnoses are "subjective" and "social constructions" as admitted by the

authors of the diagnostic manuals themselves.

5. Most psychiatric medications do not work in children.

6. The side effects of these medications in children are severe.

7. The untoward influence by the pharmaceutical industry, or at least the impropriety, is

abundantly clear in two important aspects of this issue.

8. Merging screening with the academic standards

required by No Child Left Behind, as is happening in Illinois, will lead to diagnosis

for political reasons. School mental health and violence prevention programs funded by NCLB and

government counterterrorism operations are already using such criteria as "homophobia" and

[b]"defenders of the US Constitution against federal government and the UN"[/b] to label school

children and US citizens as [b]mentally unstable and violent.[/b] (source: EdAction.org)



Urge your U.S. representative to vote "yes" on the Paul amendment to stop universal mental screening of children.

http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=15

If your U.S. representative does not vote "yes" on the Paul amendment, he or she supports screening your children without your permission -- just as the drug companies want.

The U.S. House will vote on the Paul amendment Thursday or Friday.
http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=15

Also, please be sure to tell others to come to DownsizeDC.org and send a message because time is running short.

DO SOMETHING - if you want to, folks.

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friday afternoon boredom 

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Page loads

So right now it looks like I am popular on the next blog button today. I am getting more referral hits than normal from blogspot addresses. I hope that this continues. I am seeing increased traffic on bumpersticker rant as well.

I hope everybody stops to take a look at both sites. And to new visitors today... Welcome.

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Beautiful cactus flowers 

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This one is blooming nicely 

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These will probably bloom in a day or two 

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A nice pic, hard to get. Had to hold the camera off to the side to avoid the cactus since this was around one side. 

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A little blurry, but a beautiful flower 

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words

So my word count is not as good from yesterday. I only managed to get about a thousand out, but included in that thousand is one of the earliest major events. So I guess it's not all bad.

I took some time yesterday to walk along the driveway and take more cactus pictures, so at least one or two will be posted later today. I don't know if I will post them all since there are six or seven pics and they are only cacti.

Anyway... That's all I can think of to say right now. So Bye.

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Yeah.

So I finally got around to writing last night. I managed to crank just over two thousand words before going to bed.If I can manage to make this my pace I may actually finish book one before going back to school.

After that I may have to do something else before moving on to book two. I am still working out the details in my head for the other two books. In the meanwhile I have other stories that are trying to get out.

So I realized some time ago that I write in threes, but in disconnected threes. When I say that ds is a trilogy I do mean it, but it doesn't have the same characters and even the way I will tell the stories will be somewhat different. But they are connected by a sinlge idea and somehow for me that idea is enough to hold it as a trilogy. Strange.

Don't have anything else to say right now. Not even interested in crucifying myself by spewing out my opinions. So Bye.

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...

Really don't know what to say today. Have been bad, and not written much since my awesome run over the weekend.

In the meanwhile I have been working with the cafepress templates and uploading art for bumpersticker rant. hope that here soon I will be satisfied and ready to just let the store go on it's own for a while.

I am waiting to hear from my publisher again. I think that the internet connection problems have hit there again. Hope it clears up soon, I would like to know what it going on.

So with nothing much else to say I think I will post my opinions on a hot button issue.

My views on Abortion.

So to start off... Most people on either side would consider me a fence sitter. I am against abortion, but I do have some exceptions where I see the necessity.

Now I am not against abortion for such high-minded ideals as religion. I do not follow the "God gave you this child..." nonsense. I am against it because of self-control and responsibility reasons.

My reasoning is that there are a number of commercially available contrceptives. If a person doesn't want to get pregnant, but doesn't use contraceptives it really is there own fault. Any girl with a choice should just say no if there isn't some contraceptive use. And if the condom fails, then there is the morning after pill. Don't wait until you know that there's something there. I hear the pro-choice group use the excuse that it is her choice and her body, I say exactly. Don't have sex unless the contraceptive is there, it is your body girls and you have the right to say no rubber means no lover.

Now this bring us to my first exception... rape. If a girl is raped then she should not be forced to carry that child if she doesn't want to. I consider that double punishment.

Another reason I am against abortion is that there are many people willing to adopt infants. And last time I heard there are waiting lists for infants. Now I consider it a shame that with waiting list for some adoptions there are older children who will never know the comfort of a stable home. But there is no reason for an abortion when there is somebody who would love that child.

Not quite a good a segway... but the next exception is extrenuating circumstances. The example I will use is the 13 year old firl from Florida. She had my two other biggest reasons, medical and lifestyle. At thirteen it would have been extremely dangerous for that girl to carry a baby to term. I see no reason to deny an abortion if just carrying presents the possibility of death in this day and age. Medical advances have reduced the danger for most women, but if there is the possibility that the baby could kill the mother, then I see no point in the loss of two lives.

Which leads us to my last exception. Some people could not imagine giving up their baby. If they carry the child then they would want to keep them, but they know that they do not have the resouces to support a child. That thirteen year old was heard on tape saying that she knew she could not support the child. In some other circumstances I would argue that the whole contraceptive idea could be applied, but at that age she couldn't have even bought them.

Now with all of that said... I have issues with actually making abortion illegal. Whether we are against or for it we all have to realize that it will happen. If it is illegal than it will become a black market procedure. This will make it a dangerous procedure rather than the standardized procedure that it is today. There would be many deaths because of badly done abortions, and I think the death toll would be unaceptable.

SO after all of this I will say that the best strategy will probably be education. We need to get over the victorian attitudes in this country and actually talk about sex. This is not an issue that can be ignored. We have rapid spreading of STD's and education is the only way that we can put a stop to some of these problems.

I hope that I don't get hate mail from this. I feel that my stance is probably understandable at least on some level to both sides of this issue.

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close up of cactus 

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this cactus is in my driveway 

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Code.

I swear if I stare at the html templates for this site and bumpersticker rant much more I will start to dream in code.

I don't code, I have never sat down and tried to learn html. But I can look at the template and have a fairly good idea of what I am doing as long as I cut and paste. Doing this I have managed to make this template into what I like right now. Now I am working on the rant, but since it is (hopefully, eventually) a community thing I need to make it different than I would my own page.Wish me luck.

I also took some pictures of a cactus in bloom this morning. SO watch for that post later today.

Bye.

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Just for fun...

Let's play a game. Good commercial/ Bad commercial

These are totally defined in the minds of the viewer. I'll give a couple of examples, just so everybody can see how I play this game.

Good Commercial:
The nike barefoot commercial. I especially like the one on the beach, makes you wonder before getting to the pitch.

Bad Commercial:
Smith's Market Fresh Commercials. HAHA Smith's made a funny. I think that they sould look at the quality of what they are selling before claiming it is fresh.

Good commercial:
I need to convince the wife. I think that Kia did this commercial. The husband is in the car making grand hand gestures. The punchline is along the lines of "I have to make it look like I am really working you over to make this deal." I always laugh when I see this commercial. It got the point across well, in an amusing way.

Bad Commercial:
Sonic Stupids. Sorry... but these are really annoying. I think that if I were an actor in these I would walk around trying not to be noticed. The characters are annoying, and the commercials have really only managed to turn me off of sonic food.

Let's see what everybody else comes up with.

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??

Wow. No hate mail from my saturday post, not many visitors either, so that could explain it.

Anyway... I managed to crank out just under 6000 words in DS over the weekend. Yeah! It helps to make up for my dismal word count all of last week. Right now my personal goal is to finish writing the first book of ds before going back to school. I think I can do it, but it'll be close.

I also set up a cafepress store for Bumper Sticker Rant over the weekend. Right now (of course) I only have bumperstickers in there, but I have some ideas for more stuff soon enough.

Not much else to say right now.

Bye.

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Ha!

So all week I was thinking that I would have today off. No such luck. I am at work.

It's not so bad though. I mean I am getting paid, and I had nothing to do at home anyway. It's just that I was looking foward to sleeping in. Oh well can't win them all.

Writing is going slow. Managed about 1000 words in DS yesterday, but it feels like I am trying to run through water. At such a slow pace it'll take me forever to write the thing. I hope that I get some writing energy next week to try and tch up for the shortcomings of this one.

Anyway... I was watching PBS last night and the show Now had a special about the religious right trying to control the actions of judges. It was kinda scary. I mean, we scorn countries that are run by religious laws, but there is this segment in our country trying to make us one of those countries. Personally, that is a bad idea. We would lose one of the basic rights in this country, freedom of religion, if these people win. We do not need to equate morality with religion. There are a number of highly moral people who do not practice religion.

There are a number of you out there who can glimpse my views on the religious movement in the country right now, but I am kicking around the idea of an opinion essay on the subject. If we who don't want to be controlled by religion don't speak out then we will be controlled. Christianity as a whole is an extremely intolerant religion. I'm not saying that the people are intolerant, I know several very tolerant christians, but the religion and ideals can be very intolerant.

I know that I will probably be comment spammed for this from those who think that religious law is the way to go... but as a non-christian I feel that having a religion forced upon me is extremely offensive. We apologize for history, and scorn our ancestors, but we fail to see that there are those doing the exact same thing today.

So before I ramble any more I'll post this, and wait for the hate mail to arrive.

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Yawn...

so I am still a little tired, but much better than earlier this week.

I managed to get a little bit written last night, not as much as I wanted but any progress is better than none.

I am waiting impatiently to hear what my publisher thought of Torn. If everything went as planned then the first readthrough should have been completed yesterday. Of course life may have interfered, but from the last update the story was liked.

So today is the last post for Torn. Chapter 62, the epilogue. Kinda feels weird. But the point is that come next week I have nothing to attach to the end of these depressingly short posts. I don't think that I will be posting Dark system, it will just be too long. For now I may post some short stories, or maybe my opinions on current events. Lemme know if there are any favorites.

This ending was almost depressingly flat, and was later expanded upon. Watch for info about publication if you want to know how I changed it.

Torn
62

The fight had seemed endless, but as time wore on all could see the fighters losing strength.

Jack had made an attack, and Maureen had barely avoided it.

Jack moved in.

Jack’s head was disconnected from his shoulders as Maureen turned in an attempt to recover ground.

She watched in amazement as Jack’s body collapsed on the ground.

She looked around, trying to recover her bearings.

Her eyes fell on Karen.

She looked up at Malchevio. “Give me my daughter.”

The old man knew better than to disobey. He released the girl, and disappeared.

Maureen fell to her knees as her daughter ran toward her. She embraced the girl, held her away as she checked her for injury, and held her close again.

“Mommy! You’re making me all slobbery,” protested Karen at the attention and kisses her mother was bestowing on her.

Maureen scooped Karen into her arms, and started walking toward the house.

Scott met her halfway there. He pulled both his wife and child into his arms.

Julius watched from the trees. He wished that he could stay, but he knew better. His job here was done, and he was needed in his own realm.

He watched as the family walked back into the house.

He smiled. She had kept her promise. He knew that he would see her again, but for now he had other things to attend to.

One battle had been won. But the war was just starting.

-End

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Cool Text

So looking at my new template on my blog, and looking at my website it occurred to me... I like cool text waaaaay to much.

Oh well. The service is free, and allows me to make banners and buttons without thinking about it. I'm not all that good with imaging software, so I'll take what I can get.

SO just in case anybody likes all my overdone banners please give cooltext a chance: www.cooltext.com

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Bleh...

Ug...

That's about how I feel today. Just a pervading sense of tired and boredom.

Haven't written for a few days.
Mon --> dancing
Tues --> company
Wed --> Brain dead

So I'm hoping to get to the point where I can write today. No indications yet, but I can hope.

Second to end. At least of the unedited version.

Torn
61

They went out to the patio at about a quarter to ten. Maureen was focused. Scott was terrified. Julius sad.

They chose their respective seats. Julius set his pack on the ground before sitting.

“Why do you have your bag out, Julius?” asked Maureen.

Julius turned away. “I am leaving after your fight.”

“What? Why?”

“Because my work is done here. I have given you everything. It is now up to you to use it.”

“Surely this can’t be the end of my training. We’ve barely begun.”

“You have all of the tools. The rest of your training is in your hands.”

“But can’t you teach me?”

“What need you have left I cannot give. It is up to you to find it.”

“What is it?”

“Experience.” Julius looked at her with a smile, pride in his eyes.

He stood up and walked over to her, knelt, and cupped her face in his hands.

“I know that you can win. And once you have won we will see each other again, I have no doubt about it. But for now you need to spend what peace we have left with your family. They need you now, and you must prepare them for when we need you, when they will be forced to be without you.”

Maureen nodded, understanding completely.

Julius walked back to his chair, he almost made it when Maureen spoke up.

“Julius?”

He turned, “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

He smiled. “Seeing you again after today will be the greatest thanks you can give me.”

Maureen smiled in return. She planned to give him those thanks.

Across the yard a ring of fire appeared. Maureen and Julius stood up. Scott started to, but Maureen pushed him back down.

“There’s nothing you can do except stay out of the way. I don’t want to see you hurt.” Maureen smiled at her husband, then strode confidently into the yard.

The first to emerge from the ring of fire was a tall man. Incredibly handsome, he would have fit into almost any society if it weren’t for the black eyes, and the evil that surrounded him.

He held in one hand a rope. He used it to pull the next person through. Karen started crying as she hit the ground. She didn’t appear injured. Jack choked her with the rope as he pulled her back to her feet.

Maureen knew what she had to do. “How dare you treat my daughter like that?” she yelled, mock anger hiding her calm.

Jack smiled, “Just giving her a taste of what’s to come.”

A third person emerged from the flames. An old man, grown weary with age.

Karen finally started to look around. She spotted Maureen.

“Mommy!” she cried as she started to run.

Jack yanked on the rope, pulling the girl to the ground and cutting off her air again.

Maureen saw her chance.

She pulled her sword. “I’ll teach you to treat my daughter like that,” she yelled, mock anger overtaking her voice. She charged.

Jack let go of the rope. “Hold her,” he told Malchevio as he pulled his own sword. He ran in a charge of his own.

They met in the center of the yard.

Steel rang.

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Template changes

Ok, working with the template. My HTML is weak, so let me know if there are problems. Also what does everybody think about it? I wanted to differentiate from the standard template without weeks of html learning (I love cut and paste, and gimp which gives me the html color name).

Anyway, please tell me what you think.

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Tired

Ugh. Company was over last night. Didn't get to bed until midnight, which is normal, but I am having a hard time staying awake today.

Had three cups of coffee. Actually 1 large red eye shot in the dark, but when I sugared and creamed it and poured it into my cup it turned into three cups. Of course my stomach is screaming at me about that now. I really should have known better, but I am just barely staying awake now even after that.

So with nothing else right now here is chapter 60. Which means that if everything goes well you will get the end of the story, chapter 62 on fri. I hope everybody has enjoyed this.

Torn
60

Maureen woke just after the dawn. She slipped out of Scott’s arms and went to the kitchen to make coffee.

It was going to be a long morning. She had better than three hours before she would know if her daughter was alive or dead.

Julius entered the kitchen. “How are you doing this morning?”

“I think that my nerves are going to kill me before he even gets the chance.”

“Kyra, don’t think that way. You know how well prepared you are. All you have left to do is go out there and win.”

She smiled. “I feel like I should be doing something, practicing, preparing in some way.”

He took her trembling hands. “Being calm and collected will be the best preparation you can have.”

“I know. It’s just hard to get that right now.”

“Think of it this way. Jack will try to use your nerves against you. He will try to make you second-guess yourself. If he succeeds he has won the mind game. Winning that is halfway to winning altogether.

If you can keep your nerves in check you will not have doubts. Without doubts you will be stronger and you attack will be better.

Do not let him control your emotions.”

She smiled, confidence in herself renewed. “I still feel like I should be doing something. I just don’t know what.”

“How about you make me a cup of that coffee.”

She turned to see Scott standing in the doorway.

She walked over and embraced him.

“I’ll get that coffee. How about you call your parents. See if anything was found overnight on their end, also let them know that you made it home ok.”

He kissed her nose. “Good idea.”

She handed him the coffee just as there was a knock on the door. They looked at each other, and tensed. Maureen looked at the clock; it was just past seven in the morning.

“Call your parents, I’ll get the door.”

Scott started dialing. Maureen went to the door, mussing her hair a little along the way.

Cameras and flashbulbs greeted her as she opened the door.

She wasn’t in the mood to deal with this.

“Leave us alone,” she shouted in mock agony. “All we want is the safe return of our little girl. We are praying for her return and here you are interrupting that.

Leave us alone,” she said again as she closed the door.

She walked back into the kitchen. “Anything?” she asked Scott who had just hung up the phone.

He shook his head, “No. Who was at the door?”

“The press. I gave them a good clip. Heartbroken mother praying for the return of her child. It’s all the truth, it’s just I am taking getting Karen back into my own hands”

Scott gave his wife a wan smile. He was having a hard time. He didn’t know whether he should fear for her or not. It was all just too much, first the disappearance of his daughter and now the possibility of his wife’s death.

Maureen kissed his cheek, and headed into the living room.

***

She spent until about nine that morning in easy preparations.

She made sure that her sword was in good condition. She did some minor magical practice.

Scott watched, and prayed. He prayed for his wife. He prayed for his daughter. He knew that prayers were all that he had to offer.

At nine Maureen went into the bedroom to change. She wanted to be ready with plenty of time. Fifteen minutes later she came back into the living room.

Scott’s jaw nearly hit the floor. He had never seen his wife dressed like she was, in the armor with her hair pulled back high on her head in a tight bun.

He walked up to her, and kissed her.

“You smell like bananas,” he said as he let her go.

She blushed. “Sunscreen. I was getting burned the past few days.”

He kissed her again. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Before we go outside I want you to promise me something.”

“What?”

“Promise me that you’ll win. Promise me that you won’t leave me and Karen here alone.”

She thought long about the request. It was a promise that she might not be able to keep, but would try desperately to.

“I promise.”

He kissed her again, long and deep and full of passion.

Julius looked on from the doorway. He too hoped that she could keep her promise.

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Testing a large file. This one is huge at over 2 megs 

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Playing with the template

So I have been making minor template changes today. Please let me know if anything is weird with it. The changes are fairly minor, and I doubt that anybody will really notice unless there is a problem. But look for the new subject in the sidebar (which changed sides). It is recommended reading. I really enjoyed all of these books (with the exception of the one I am still waiting for, which I have already heard great things about. You need to check them out to find out which 1, not 2 I am waiting for) and would recommend them to anybody. Please support these excellent authors!

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Inconsiderate people

I wonder what part of the food makes me ill for days at a stretch is confusing for people. I mean if a food makes a person sick then the person who has the ability to do something should take it into consideration.

It was suggested to me to contact the cafeteria and set up special dietary needs info. Um, excuse me! When I know from experience that the quality is bad and then heat lamps are used on top of it there is a problem. Honestly I don't even know the exact problems. Sometimes I will eat something that seems perfectly fine and be in pain later. Heck, not even my mother can always make food that doesn't cause problems.

Anyway, already sent an email asking people if I know if they know of anybody looking for a roommate for the fall semester. Got one reply back, so maybe this will work out.

Until later...

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roller coaster

So I feel like I am on a roller coaster right now. The stress of yesterday is evening out, but even still I am nervous. I can only hope that my request for a waiver is approved. If not, well...

Right now I'm hoping that everything evens out for me over the next few days, at least as much as they can. But right now hope is all I can do.

So for everybody who is tired of hearing me whine... Here is chapter 59.

Torn
59

Anguish turned to anger.

Maureen turned to Julius. “We’re gonna get this bastard.”

“Kyra?”

She stood up and headed for the swords. “Come on, let’s make sure that he doesn’t have a chance.”

Julius admired her resolve, but put his hand on her arm to hold her back.

“Let’s clean up this mess first.”

Maureen was astounded. “What do you mean? That bastard has my child. Karen is counting on me. The mess can wait. Right now I need to make sure that I am ready for this fight.”

“And in doing so you will play right into Jack’s trap.”

Maureen stopped, making sure that she was hearing right. “Say again.”

“Jack wants you to be emotional. He wants you to use up your energy today so that he has the upper hand tomorrow.”

“But… but Karen.”

“She is either alive, or already dead. If she’s alive Jack will keep her that way.

Kyra, Jack wants you to waste your energy either looking for your daughter or practicing for tomorrow. Do not give him the pleasure, do not allow yourself to be handicapped in this way.

So let’s clean up this mess, and instead of practicing lets decide how you should approach this fight.”

Maureen smiled. Julius was right.

***

They spent most of the day recovering the bases. Julius wanted to make sure that Maureen was strong enough to handle the fight without tiring her out.

They heard tires crunch in the driveway at about eight that evening.

Maureen opened the door for her husband.

Scott walked into the house, looking haggard and weary.

Maureen escorted him to the couch, then called Julius in from the other room.

She introduced them.

Scott barely registered the vampire’s presence.

Maureen sat on the couch and faced her husband. She took his hands in her own.

“Scott, we need to talk.”

Scott turned and faced her. The agony of loss clouded his normally bright eyes.

She turned to Julius, pleading with her eyes.

The vampire stood up and crossed the room. He laid a hand on Scott’s shoulder.

Scott turned and looked.

Julius felt for the man, understood his loss. He conveyed that understanding though his touch.

A moment of understanding passed between them.

“I know why this happened, so does your wife,” Julius said. “Now you need to know.”

Scott nodded.

***

Scott listened intently to what Julius had to say.

Every now and then he would look to Maureen to confirmation, she would nod and Julius would go on.

As the night wore on Julius could see the toll that the day had taken on both of them.

He looked at Maureen. “Kyra, you should go to bed. It is important that you have all of your strength for tomorrow.”

She nodded. “And Scott?”

Julius looked at him, then returned to facing her. “It is up to him. I can continue to tell him what you have heard, or he can go to bed as well.”

She turned to her husband. “Scott? What do you want to do?”

He thought for many minutes on his answer. “I want… I need to know. I need to know why. If what he says is true I may lose you tomorrow, I need to know why.”

“Ok. Come to bed when you’re ready.”

She headed out of the room.

“Maureen?” Scott called after her.

She poked her head back into the room. “Yes, Scott?”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why did I have to come home to learn of all of this?

“Would you have believed any of this over the phone?”

Scott thought about it. “No. I hardly believe it now. I wouldn’t believe it now, except you showed me the truth of it.”

“That’s why.”

She left the room.

***

Julius and Scott stayed up for a couple more hours, talking.

By the time they went to bed Scott understood, not everything, but enough.

For the first time in his stay there Julius retired to the guest bedroom.

Scott entered the bedroom where his wife was sleeping. He took her in his arms; intent on holding her all through what could be their last night together.

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Are you tired of hearing me whine yet?

SO my request for a meal plan waiver has been passed on to another administrative official. More waiting to come.

At least I was told that I was added to the waiting list after all. Maybe the whole thing will get better.

So in all the excitement of my room and board problems I forgot to mention that I sent Torn off to WordThunder Publications this morning. As far as I know right now it looks good for actual publication, even though I don't have a date yet. Thought anybody who actually reads this might want to know.

So right now my stress levels are high, but at least the good stress is working to ease the bad stress. Yes, there is a difference.

Hopefully over the next few days I will have some good news. Thanks for sticking with me today.

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Stress update

So no go on the waiting list. It is just too full.

So now I am trying to get a meal plan waiver. I hope that it is approved. To try and find other accommodations now will be difficult at best.

Why is getting this degree so difficult? Not even in the schoolwork way. It's difficult in the signing up for classes, making sure that I have bent over backwards to get what needs to be done way.

All I want is to get this done with so that I can get on with my life. I mean days like this I wonder if there isn't some cosmic force telling me to give up.

I hope I get the waiver, otherwise I don't know what I can do.

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STRESS!!

SO I just recieved my housing information for the fall semester, and it is nothing like I asked for.

Ok, so you all know... I asked for an apartment. I did this because the campus food makes me ill, I know this and with an apartment I would be able to make my own meals. What I just recieved has me in one of the residence halls.

So this creates multiple problems. The first is that it is too late for me to try to find off campus housing without suffering a $250 penalty, on top of that I only plan to be down there for one semester. Most landlords would probably want me there longer than that.

All I can do right now is try and get an apartment through the waiting list process. EECH! fickle at best. Otherwise I will spend almost four months with a nasty case of food poisoning, or paying double for food.

I have already sent in my request to be added to the waiting list, but right now this doesn't look good. All I can do is hope that everything works out.

Wish me luck.

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SO Mom got word about me taking Pictures of the wildflowers for Aunt Sarah. So she decided to make a flower arrangement using only wildflowers. Here she is working on it. 

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finished flower arrangement 

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Closer look at flower arrangement 

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The curse of a creative mind

So late last week I was finishing up my edits of Torn and working on Dark Sys. Chugging along, and getting something done... And WHAM! over two nights of sleep a new story has invaded my life. It's almost as if I have to keep a rotating selection. But geez, why can't my mind give me a break.

By now everybody knows that I have moved onto writing a trilogy. What you don't know is that after that I still have two more trilogies waiting to get out of my head and at least one more single, and that was before this new story. I don't yet know if it will be a single or a trilogy, I'm hoping single. Sometimes it gets hard to keep all these things seperate.

SO I only managed to get two thousend words into DS yesterday. I would most likely have done more, but my mind kept trying to work on this other thing.

I hope that since I got the basic concepts worked out on paper it'll leave me alone long enough for me to get some other work done.

And for anybody who has managed to plough through these ramblings here is the next chapter.

Torn
58

Maureen poured herself a glass of red wine.

The morning’s success had been repeated inside.

It was no fluke, and for the ability just having shown itself it was strong.

Maureen was elated. Julius was jubilant.

Julius cut open a bloodroot and drained it into a glass.

They beamed at each other, clinked glasses and drank.

The phone rang.

Maureen was laughing. She walked over to it, leaned against the counter, and answered.

“Hello?” laughter lifting her voice.

“Maureen…” it was Scott, anguish tainted his voice.

Maureen’s euphoria faded. “Scott, what’s wrong?”

“She’s… she’s gone.” Scott was barely containing his tears.

Maureen started to panic. “Who’s gone?”

“Karen. She’s…” Scott broke down, crying over the phone.

Maureen heard the phone taken from her husband’s hands.

“Maureen, are you still there?” tears tainted the voice on the other end, but not as badly as her husband’s voice.

“Yes, Agnes. I’m still here. What’s going on?”

“Karen’s been taken.”

Maureen couldn’t support her own weight. She fell to the floor, knocking the wine glass off of the counter. It shattered next to her. She didn’t notice.

Maureen was in disbelief, she made sure that she had heard her mother-in-law correct. “What did you say?”

Agnes was choked up. “She’s been taken Maureen. Karen’s been taken.”

Maureen dropped the phone.

“Maureen… Maureen.” She heard coming from the handset.

She picked it back up, barely able to hold onto it.

“What happened?”

Agnes took a deep breath, shuddered as she let it out, and began.

“Scott put Karen down for a nap when we returned from the store. He wanted her to have her nap early so that she would sleep well tonight. He wanted to get an early start tomorrow.

I was ready to start baking the cake about an hour later, so he went to wake her up. She wasn’t in the room.

At first we thought that she had snuck outside, but the front door was still locked, and there was no way she could reach the latch on the fence out back.

Still we looked, finally going back into the room to make sure she wasn’t playing.

That was when we found the note…” Agnes started crying.

She heard the phone change hands again. Scott’s tearstained voice came back on the line, “Maureen, you have to come out here. She will need you when we find her.”

“Scott, what did the note say?”

The line was silent.

“What did it say?” she nearly screamed into the phone, urgency cracking her voice.

Scott sobbed. Then, “Kyra… Kira… Kera… I can’t read this name.”

“Go on Scott. I think that the content is more important.”

Scott hiccupped as he tried to control his emotions. “I have your daughter. If you want to see her again you will be ready tomorrow when the dial reads ten. I will find you.”

Scott stopped.

“Is it signed Scott?”

“Yes.”

“By whom?”

“Jack.”

Maureen nearly dropped the phone again.

“Come home Scott.”

“What!”

“Come home.”

“I… I can’t. The police are here. They are starting to look for her. She needs us. We need to be here when they find her.”

“Scott, if that note is correct she will be here tomorrow! Please come home!”

“I… I can’t just leave.”

“Yes, you can, and you must. Please, for Karen. Somebody has to be here… just in case.” Desperation was pronounced in her voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Please, just come. I’ll explain everything when you get here.”

“Maureen…?”

“Trust me… please.”

Scott let out a shuddering sigh. “Okay, I don’t know how I’ll get out of here, but I’ll come home.”

“Thank you,” she let out a sigh of relief.

“I have to go. The police want to talk to me. I’ll try to leave as soon as possible.”

“Ok, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Scott?”

“Yes?”

“We’ll see her again.”

“I know.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Maureen handed Julius the phone to hang up.

She pulled her knees to her chest and started crying.

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Decision

SO I have a decision to make. I found out last night that I managed to get this blog added to the New Mexican's reader blogs list along with Bumper Sticker Rant. I think it happened because I forgot to turn off the signature line on my email. Oops. SO now I have to decide if I want to keep typing whatever falls out of my head, or if I want to clean it up a little.

I guess the big question is whether people want content or updates.

I mean I am a very opinionated person. I could always offer my perspective on the issues that interest me. But somehow that doesn't seem to go with the idea of a personal blog. But if I'm getting readers through a newspaper link then I might want to offer those readers something.

Oh, well. I'll have to think about it. Anybody out there with an opinion please comment.

In book news...

One of the changes that my mother recommended was reworking the ending. I had already been toying with chaging it because it was a little flat. So last night I rewrote the ending. It is still a little flat, but I can work that out when I edit the new material. Editing shouldn't take long and then I can send the book off.

Now readers here are going to get the original ending. The version posted here is unedited and the rewrite is an edit to me. What does this mean to everybody here? Not much. The basic elements are essentially the same, and I didn't change outcomes. The biggest difference is that the new ending has a little more bulk to it.

So with only about another week to go for everybody... Here is chapter 57.

Torn
57

Jack had slept in. He felt great. He could count the hours left, both in terms of the elf’s life, and those that he was stuck in the cave.

He decided to provide the infuriating elf with one last meal, just to give him energy enough to truly suffer. He was still angry over the failed ploy from the day before.

He pulled out the last of his meat. He hoped that Malchevio came early, he would be quite angry if Malchevio was late and he was hungry.

He built a small fire and started cooking the elf’s meat. He ate his own cold and raw.

***

Jack had finished eating and cooking.

He stood over the sleeping form of the doomed elf.

He kicked the elf awake, careful not to break open any of the skin pockets.

The elf screamed, an involuntary reaction from all the pain he had experienced the past few days. Then he moaned, not at fresh pain but from the lingering pain of the wounds covering his body.

“Eat,” ordered Jack as he threw the food down onto the elf’s stomach.

The elf yelped as the hot food contacted the wounds.

“Eat.”

The elf carefully moved the food off of his body onto a rock. He then pulled himself across the floor and propped himself against the nearest wall.

Jack could see slight blood trails from the movement where rocks had cut into the back of the elf’s legs. At least the elf had been smart enough to drag himself backward and not open any of the pockets.

“Eat!” he ordered once again.

The elf simply glared.

Jack picked up the rock, took it over to the elf, and nearly set it down on the creature’s hand. The elf had to move the hand rapidly, causing pain all up that arm.

“Eat, or I will force feed you.”

The elf refused to move.

Jack grabbed a handful of food, opened the elf’s mouth and rammed the food to the back.

The elf almost choked, but couldn’t avoid coughing. White-faced he managed to chew the food and swallow.

Jack wasn’t smiling. “Do you want every bite to be like that or are you going to eat?”

The elf sullenly picked at his meal, forcing himself to eat rather than have the food shoved down his throat.

“When I get back that had better be all gone. If it isn’t you’ll be eating whatever is left in one bite.”

Jack left the room.

Defeated, the elf ate his final meal.

***

Jack watched from just outside the chamber. He almost wished that the elf had forced him to feed him.

Jack wandered to the entrance to the cave.

The day was bright. He wondered when Malchevio would arrive.

Screams echoed from the inner chamber.

Jack smiled; he had wondered when the show would start.

***

Jack made it into the back chamber to see that the elf had indeed finished his meal.

What made him smile, however, was seeing that the white things had awakened. The pockets on the elf’s skin were turning dark and writhing as the creatures contained within searched for an exit.

The elf looked frantically around the room, trying to find an escape for the fear and pain. Jack could see the whites of his eyes from across the chamber.

He decided to throw one more log on the fire.

He strode across the chamber, grabbed one of the elf’s arms and pulled free a knife.

The elf looked at him expectantly, pleading with his eyes for Jack to kill him.

Jack smiled.

He cut open one of the pockets of skin, and watched as the elf’s eyes grew so wide that it seemed the eyes would fall out of his head.

Spiders poured from the pocket, babies, just hatched and looking for their first meal.

The spiders decided that the skin of the elf would do just fine.

The elf screamed as he was eaten. Some of the pockets burst open with the tiny lives inside, others stayed closed as the spiders dug into his skin.

The screams were so loud and echoed so many times it was if they had been there forever. Pain and fear were the rulers of the cavern.

Jack smiled.

***

Jack sat in the main entrance to the cave as Malchevio walked up, smiling.

The elf had lasted nearly one and a half hours being eaten alive. He was strong through the end.

“Your toy still alive?”

“No, but what an exit.”

Malchevio raised an eyebrow, but really didn’t want to know.

Malchevio walked past Jack, and set his bag down.

He sat down against a wall.

“We’ll leave in a few hours, but first…”

It was Jack’s turn to raise eyebrows.

“I have news.”

Jack settled in. Waiting to hear what Malchevio had to say.

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Almost done

So my mother has finished her readthrough of Torn. I am making the changes that needed done and then I am ready to send it off. Exciting and terrifying at the same time.

In other news I am getting antsy again. I want to make more soaps and stuff, but I still have too much backstock, and no money to buy new supplies. I need to get to craft fair. That way I can get the necessary money for buying supplies, and get to try some of the new scents.

Anyway, here is the next chapter.

Torn
56

The morning was beautiful, and perfect for water practice.

Maureen insisted that if they were going to have water practice it be in the mornings and evenings when the sun was not as bad. Julius relented easily, knowing that the water was the most important thing to work on.

They suited up, and were outside playing with garden hoses before most of the neighborhood had even wakened.

The tactics grew more sophisticated as the morning progressed. So much so that Julius couldn’t deny that Maureen was a formidable opponent, even without water.

Lost in his thoughts for the briefest of times he found himself mired in mud. The dirt working it’s way up his leg to hold him for a final blow.

He tried to undo the magic that was working against him, but couldn’t.

He moved frantically in an attempt to force the mud off of himself. He only succeeded in getting himself trapped more.

Finally he found himself staring down the sharp edge of her sword.

“I give!” he said laughing.

The mud fell off of his legs, and he was able to move freely again.

They were about to start another bout when Maureen heard the phone ringing.

She ran into the house, dripping and tracking mud the whole way.

She barely answered before the messaging service would have picked up the call.

“Hello?” she asked out of breath.

“Maureen? What have you been up to that you are so out of breath at this time of day?”

“Scott!” she exclaimed.

“Yep, you know it. But you still didn’t answer my question.”

“I was outside watering. It has been too hot these past few days, and the plants are suffering.”

“Watering at eight-thirty in the morning?”

“Why not? The plants get more water when the sun isn’t ripping half of it away, and I would rather be outside now than later”

“Uh-huh.”

“So why are you calling Mr. Skeptical? Everything still on for you getting home tomorrow?”

“Absolutely, I was just letting you know that the roads have cleared pretty much as expected. We should leave about this time tomorrow morning.”

“Oh I can’t wait. I have missed you both so much.”

“We’ve missed you too.”

“Is Karen there?”

“No. Mother took her grocery shopping. She promised Karen a cake before we left, so she took her to pick out the one she wants.”

“Oh. Okay,” said Maureen, a little disappointed.

“So in all the excitement I forgot to ask. How was your friend’s visit? Did he have a good time?”

“You can ask him yourself. I think he’ll still be here tomorrow when you get home.”

“He’s still there?” Scott asked, a little concerned.

Maureen realized how bad it sounded.

“Sorry, he had some car trouble. I couldn’t just kick him out. Besides we have the room and I was in need of some company. So it all worked out.”

Scott was silent for a minute. “Ok. Well then we’ll see you both tomorrow. I need to go. I’m going to drive around a little myself and make sure the roads are as good as they say.”

“Ok. Be safe. I love you.”

“I love you too. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Maureen hung up the phone and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Why did you lie to him?”

Maureen jumped, even though by now she knew to expect Julius to have entered the room.

“It was easier than telling the truth right then. I don’t think he would have had an easy time accepting the truth.”

“So when do you plan on telling him the truth?”

“When he gets home. It will be easier when I can just show him.”

Julius nodded.

“Come on. We should keep practicing before the sun gets too hot.”

Maureen walked out of the house. Julius followed.

***

Hours passed.

Maureen had a defeated feeling. Even in the heat of the day she was almost cold with the amount of water dripping off of her.

Julius had just won a bout, his first in days.

He won because he was able to turn her water stream against her.

The sun beat down, almost too much to handle. Even with copious amount of sunscreen her skin had a distinct pink tone.

“Ok, Julius. Last bout of the morning.”

He merely nodded. The sun was bothering him as well.

Julius let free the first shot of water.

Maureen moved to avoid it, and fell on the slick ground.

Quickly needing to even the odds she tossed a blast of superheated air at the vampire. His only choice as the air expanded was to drop to the ground as well.

Maureen managed to struggle to her feet.

Seeing her coming for him Julius let loose a shot of water.

She was too close. She didn’t have time to avoid it.

Maureen crossed her arms in front of her face, blocking the oncoming water while willing it to stop.

It never came.

As she realized that she wasn’t dripping she uncrossed her arms. The water had stopped and was forming a giant ball in front of her, growing larger as Julius held onto the hose trigger.

“Julius… Stop feeding it.”

He slowly let go of the hose. It dropped to the ground.

“Are you doing this Julius?”

The vampire shook his head.

Maureen reached out with a trembling hand, almost scared to touch the ball of water.

The sun beat down, she wished she could be colder.

Her fingers touched the water. It froze when she did, encouraged by her cold thoughts.

The ball of ice fell to the ground.

Julius stood up. He walked around the ball, which was already starting to melt in the heat.

They looked at it, then each other.

Maureen let loose a shout of triumph.

They fell into each other’s arms, ecstatic.

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Yes, stupid mouse

Ok, it confirmed its stupidity last night. I standing in the living room talking to my mom, and I look over and the stupid thing is just staring at us. Almost as if it thinks that we will feed it. Yet it still manages to avoid the traps and the cat.

Anybody remember Mr. Jingles from the green mile? Yes that is the mouse that this mouse reminds me of. Small, brown, with oilspot eyes.

It's weird to be stared at by a wild mouse. I mean they normally avoid light and people, so this one is either incredibly stupid, or brave. Right now I am calling stupid.

It's funny though, I am worried that I will actually feel bad when it finally gets caught. I mean it has introduced itself.

Ok, enough mouse tales.

Torn
55

It had taken Jack the better part of the day to make all of the pockets on the elf’s front.

Jack was actually pleased though.

The elf had done better than expected, and had only passed out twice. The first time about a third of the way through. The second time was just as Jack was finishing.

Jack let the elf sleep the second time. He needed the time to gather the materials for the second part of this little project.

He also wanted to eat, and feed the elf so that it would have more energy for the grand finale.

He went to his food stash. It was getting low. He was glad that he didn’t have much longer in this cave.

He sniffed at the meat. It would have to do.

He lit a fire and started cooking the meat. As it cooked he sprinkled a little more of the motion inhibitor on the elf’s piece, but not nearly as much as he had that morning. This part of the task was not as delicate and he wanted the elf to squirm a little.

The smell of the meat revived the elf, who was able to walk into the room where the food was being prepared with great help from the wall.

“I see you survived.”

The elf supported himself against the wall and glared at Jack.

Jack laughed, and pulled another chair up to the table. “Crawl on over here and I’ll give you some food.”

The elf glared again, and then pushed himself off of the wall.

Jack was surprised again by the resilience of this elf. He actually managed to walk over to the table. It was slow and not without obvious pain, but he did it.

They ate in silence. Once done the elf stood up and silently walked back to the rear chamber.

It almost angered Jack. He preferred to have his toys try to escape the entire time. This one seemed to have accepted his fate, but it was obviously in a lot of pain, and knew that it didn’t have any hope of escaping.

Oh well, he didn’t have the time to try and give this one hope and he had no chance of catching another toy with so little time left.

He gathered his supplies and followed the elf.

***

The elf had resumed the chair that the morning’s exercises had been conducted in. He could barely hold his head up, but Jack could feel the hatred emanating from him.

That was good, at least it was some sort of defiance.

Jack pulled up his own chair, and laid his supplies in plain view of the elf.

He then looked at the tortured being and did something that he had never done before. “Why didn’t you try to run?”

The elf managed a weak laugh. “Didn’t want to give you the pleasure.”

Jack slapped the elf so hard that he fell out of the chair. The weak laughter continued from the floor.

Jack walked over and started kicking at the elf, trying to end this defiance. Then he realized what was happening.

Furious he pulled the elf off of the floor, and sat him back in the chair.

Clever, none of his toys had ever tried that ploy before. He would have to remember it. He had nearly killed his toy before finishing his fun. Just what the elf was hoping for.

The elf saw that his last try had failed. The laughter stopped and he watched as Jack took a wet towel and wiped the dried blood off of an area and started the last phase of this torture.

***

Jack considered telling the elf what he was putting in the pockets of skin. But he decided that the unknown would be more powerful than the known at this point.

He was glad that he hadn’t immobilized the elf as much as he had that morning. After that outrage that the elf had caused he deserved to be able to squirm as Jack worked. It meant more pain as Jack had to rework some areas because the elf had moved and caused a mistake.

Jack opened up another skin pocket, grabbed what looked like a small white rock, shoved it into the pocket and started to sew the pocket closed.

Jack had to be very careful. He didn’t want to awaken the white things before it was time. Some of them had been in a forced sleep for too long and would awaken easily, other would be forced to awaken early when he told them too.

He smiled. Early or late the white things would be angry. The effect was better when they were angry.

The elf was at the point where he didn’t care. He knew that he was all but dead. He was just waiting for that last part, hoping that his body would give out before Jack’s plan came to fulfillment. He didn’t want to know what the white things were, didn’t care. He knew what would happen when he found out though, more pain. He was tired of pain, wanted to die so that the pain would end.

He was almost disconnected as he watched Jack open a pocket of skin, shove in a white thing and sew it up. The flinching was involuntary, and he wished he could tell the muscles to stop. It only made matters worse.

He watched, and prayed that he would die before the torture came to its end. He prayed that he could deny Jack that final pleasure, that he could not give Jack the pain that he so desperately wanted.

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