Short Story~Climbing out the Nursing Home Window~~AF~17

                “Medley.  How are you holding up dear.”  Stanza asked handing her a tissue.

                “Fifty-five years.  Fifty-five years of caring for this man and he’s gone.  Just like that.”

                The girls pulled her into a hug.  By “the girls” I mean Stanza, Capella, and Carol.  They met in college.  A bunch of band girls who had become fast friends and somehow managed to stay close throughout the years regardless of where their careers and husbands took them.  They kept talking about moving in together all their lives, but it never worked out.  It always seemed like someone was getting married, someone didn’t want to quit their job just to have to find another, someone was in the wrong country…..  Then when they all got married all their husbands thought it was kind of a weird idea.  But now, everyone was widowed except Carol.  Ironic, because Carol used to joke about killing Medley’s husband when she became a widow so they could grow old in a nursing home together.  Medley would always tell her that her kids would love her entirely too much to ever put her in a nursing home. 

               

                A few weeks after the funeral, Medley’s children broke it to her that they were going to have to put her in a nursing home.

                “You can’t put me a nursing home George!”  She shouted.  “I fed you!  I clothed you! I paid for your education!  You ungrateful little chicken s***!”

                “Mom.  I appreciate all those things and you know that.  But I have a wife, two kids, and I’m working on my Ph.D.  I can’t keep driving two and a half hours for your so-called emergencies.”

                “So-called?  My emergencies are real!”

                “Mom, you called me down here to open a pickle jar.”

                “Well, I was working on a recipe that called for pickles!  Your dad used to open those for me.”  She started tearing up again. 

                “I would just feel better if you had some people near that could help you.”

                “You can’t make me!  I will go in kicking and screaming!”

                Well,…she couldn’t really kick as she was in a wheelchair, but she did go in screaming.  “George you ungrateful wretch!  You were supposed to love me enough to keep me out of one of these places!” As she snatched a little old man’s walker out from underneath him and hurled it at George’s head. 

                “Mother!  Stop!” 

                “Take me home!”  She said as she grabbed at a lady’s cane.

                “Oh no, you don’t.”  He steered her away and up to the front desk. 

                He smiled at the front desk lady who looked horrified.  “I’ve come to offer you a new resident.”

                “No, he didn’t!”  She went for his neck, but it was just out of reach.

                “Oh well, of course, we would love to have her.  She seems darling.  Let me just check and see if we have any rooms available.”  She fiddled around on the computer a little.  “Oh.  We are all full!  I’m sorry.”

                And the pattern continued.  Until they finally found one that would take on the challenge.  George was pretty sure they took her because they were desperate for residents.  The place was absolutely depressing.  The walls were this ugly yellow.  You know the darker yellow that kind of looks like it wants to be gold without any of the beauty that comes with gold.  Yeah, that color.  There was no art on the walls.  There was a small TV in the lobby area, but it was an old black and white TV.  George momentarily felt bad about leaving his mother there.  Then he remembered the man with the walker that she tried to kill.   He shook it off and drove away.

                Medley remained in her room alone, all day every day.  They sent in a nurse three times a day to give her a tray of food that she threw across the room.  Once a week a scared looking nurse would come in and give her her sponge bath.  It was never the same nurse.   And so, Medley was forced to be alone with her thoughts, day after day with very little human interaction.  She was absolutely miserable.  She often thought of a time when she wasn’t miserable.  In college, she was never miserable.  The shenanigans of her, Stanza, Carol, and Capella were enough to make sure she didn’t have time to be miserable. 

After about three weeks of this madness, she hatched a plan.  She was going to get the girls back together again.  They were all retired so their jobs wouldn’t miss them.  The only thing standing in their way was that pesky Jacob!  Carol’s husband.  So naturally, her first order of business was to get rid of him.  The trouble was, he was as fit as a fiddle and twenty years younger than all the girls!  So poison would be suspicious.  But the more she was left alone with her thoughts, the more refined her plans became. 

Finally, at midnight, she opened her window, used her bedsheets to lower her wheelchair down to the ground, while supporting herself on the windowsill.  She then threw herself down into it.  Surprisingly she stuck the landing!  This alone gave her hope that her plan would work!  She hotwired one of the night nurse’s cars, rigged up a system to work the peddles and drove to California!  Switching cars along the way to avoid two things, running out of gas and getting caught.

When she reached California, she watched him!  Everywhere he went.  Work, home, kickboxing with Carol, taking Carol on dates.  It seemed that the only place he went that Carol wasn’t with him was work.  So, that settled it! 

She waited for him at an intersection one morning.  Angry cars kept honking at her to go every time the light turned green, but she had to be patient.  He finally got there!  And when his light turned green, she hit the gas and crashed into him, when she was certain he was dead, she sped off!  She switched cars again in the parking lot of some apartments she found.  Luckily, her fingerprints were on none of these cars!  She was smart enough to wear gloves. 

Once her Jacob problem was solved.  She waited for the funeral to be over so that Carol could have her time of morning.  Though of course, she couldn’t go to the funeral.  Because no one knew where she was.  Besides, George might have been at the funeral.  Medley did appear however when Carol went to the bathroom. 

“Carol.”

“Medley!  Where have you been?  George has been looking everywhere for you!”

“I broke out of that awful nursing home he put me in.”

“Well, now where are you living?”

“I’m on the run.”

“That’s silly Medley.  Just come with me.”  And she looked towards the door.   “George is here.  We will figure out a solution.”  But by the time she looked back.  Medley was gone. 

But of course, she wasn’t just gone!  She was sitting on the commode in the handicapped bathroom being very quiet and still.  She was hoping Carol wouldn’t think to check under the stalls because she couldn’t lift her wheelchair off the ground for that long.  But to Carol, she seemed to be gone. 

“Medley?”  Carol looked around.  “I always knew I’d go crazy eventually.”

The next step of the plan was a go!  She robbed a bank.  Of course, she was very careful.  She picked one in a small town where no one knew her, wore a ski mask, colored contacts, and gloves.  After the bank had placed all the money in the bag, she rolled out of there, stole a teller’s minivan and was off. 

Now that she had money, she could hire her favorite hitman, Lance!  Lance was to kidnap all her friends but specifically instructed him not to hurt them!  

He kidnapped Stanza under the cover of nightfall right after a bowling tournament.  Capella, he took after Bible study and Carol was easy.  He just broke into her house as she now lived alone. 

The great thing about hiring Lance as your hitman was, he had a helicopter!  So when he had successfully kidnapped everyone, he flew them to Norway.  There he gently placed them gently in recliners in the living room of a house.  He untied their hands and disappeared. 

Soon after they had taken off their blindfolds, Medley came in the house. “Hi girls!”

“Medley.  What is going on?”  Capella asked.

“I got the girls back together.”

“Ummm did you have to kidnap us to do that?”  said Stanza.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because all of our plans to live together again have failed!  Something was always getting in our way.  This way none of you could back out!”

“But we’re all retired, and all of our husbands have passed so what would have stopped us?”  Stanza argued.  Carol started to tear up at the thought of her husband.

“Nothing!  That’s why this is the perfect time.”  Medley was all smiles.

“I don’t know what I would have done anyways…”  Said Carol, “now that Jacob is gone.  I can’t believe he was the one to die first.” 

The girls all came over to comfort her. 

“Okay.  Well, we’re already in…,”  said Capella.

“Norway.”

“Norway.  We’re already in Norway.  We might as well make the most of it.  I was sad and pitiful all by myself anyway.” 

“So you’re gonna stay?”  Medley said.  “You’re not going to turn me into George!”

“Well it’s not like you gave us much of a choice you crazy old bat!” said Stanza.

“Yay!  Now we’ve gotta go exploring!  What are we going to see first?” 

They went on discussing what to see and when to go for hours.  They lived out the rest of their lives blissfully running around Norway like tourists and Carol never figured out who killed Jacob.  Said she didn’t have the energy, besides God would take care of them for her.  They were happy until they started to pass away.  Capella went first, then Stanza.  Carol stayed alive until there was only one day til her hundredth birthday. 

When she passed…Medley was again left alone with her thoughts….

By: Acacia Faye 

Short Story~Janie~AD~17

Janie 

Written by: Atlas Dax

After Church, Andrew, prepared lunch for his eight-year-old daughter and himself. He wore an olive-green bowling shirt and ancient cargo pants. Janie sat across the bar watching him.  She was still in her Sunday dress. It was white, and floral.  Jeanette, her mother, claimed it was a "preacher's kid" dress. She wore white stockings, and little black flats to accent the PK aspects of it.  Andrew was used to cooking for three, but his wife was out of town visiting her sister. 

As he chopped potatoes he asked Janie, "So, how was church?" 

Janie just sighed. Her facial expression became serious.

"Well..." She paused to collect her thoughts, "I like Sunday School. But...." She paused again.  

"But..." Andrew said encouraging her to say the thing she wanted to say. 

"Our Church has really weird old ladies." She finally said.

  

Andrew laughed. Loud. Like a Gorilla. " Okay, I'm not going to argue that. What happened today? What makes you feel this way?"

"They're everywhere Daddy! Remember this morning? When we were greeted by the lady with the motorcycle helmet? She laughs like a Hyena! And then the Horse-lady came up from behind us. She scared me superbad!" 

Andrew couldn’t stop smiling at her, "The Horse-lady? Do you mean Mrs. Paisley?" 

"Yes. When she smiles she looks exactly like a horse, its uncanny." 

He made a face at her. Uncanny was a big word for an eight-year-old, "Where did you learn that word?" 

"Did I say it wrong? Is it a bad word?" She asked with mild concern. 

"No, you used the right word, and no it's not a bad word. Where did you hear it?" He asked. It was curious to him that she automatically assumed it was a bad word.  

"Mommy," she answered. 

Andrew laughed. This had to be one of the best conversations he'd ever had with her. Maybe he was just missing his wife, but Janie was talking and acting just like her mother. He finished chopping the ingredients and put them in the pot to let them boil for a while. He put the lid on the pot and turned his attention back to Janie.  

She was holding a small Ziploc bag. 

"What's that, honey?" He asked. 

"The Giraffe-lady decided today was a good day to pull kid's teeth," Janie answered. "Do you want it?"  

"Put it under your pillow, when your mom gets home. You know she likes to play tooth fairy for you," He replied. Andrew and Jeanette decided not to teach Janie about the Tooth-fairy, Santa, or other silly things like that. They wanted her to still enjoy the benefits of those said characters, so she still received a dollar under her pillow, but she knew Mommy gave it to her not the tooth fairy.  

The part that bothered Andrew the most, was that Mary didn't ask him for permission to pull his child's tooth out of its socket. That Giraffe-lady should have known better, she was a school teacher. 

"So, I think you’ve come to a conclusion about our church." Andrew said.  

"What's a conclusion?" She asked. 

"Hmmm... a Decision? A Judgement? A final thought on a subject?" He answered. 

"Oh. Okay. What's my conclusion?" She asked. 

"Your saying our church is like a free zoo."  

This time Janie Laughed. Like a little chimpanzee. 

Prose~Coveting Blindness~AF~16

I found her in the kitchen, doing dishes and listening to some old black lady sing about wanting to be blind on repeat.  She had tears in her eyes.  I had never seen my jolly little curly headed roommate cry before.  I didn’t know what to do.  I just stood there for a few seconds and watched her wash dishes.  “What’s wrong Bliss?” 

“I’ll be fine.”  She says.

“Okay.” I sat down for a minute, because you can’t really give a crying woman a hug while she’s frantically cleaning. But I couldn't just sit there so I got up abruptly.  “I’m going to the store.”  I realize that this wasn’t the time to go to the store, but my thought process was, Ice cream fixes everything.  I got chocolate because this seemed like an emergency.

          

  By the time I got back with her ice cream, she had the living room and the kitchen spotless.  I found her in the bathroom scrubbing the tub. “Bliss.  I got you ice cream.  Come sit down, eat some, and talk to me.  This excessive cleaning doesn’t seem to be helping.”

            “No. I’m not done with the bathroom yet.  I still have to finish cleaning the tub, then there is the sink, and the mirrors and the drawers need to be organized and....  I just.  I need everything clean!”

            “It can wait Bliss.  Tell me what’s wrong.”

            “No!”  She snapped.  “I have to clean it.  I needs it to be spotless!” 

            There was a long silence before I spoke, besides the sound of scrubbing and that sad lady singing the song. 

            “Well let me help you.”  I grabbed a disinfectant wipe. 

            “No no no.  You go sit down and watch T.V. in the nice, clean living room.”  She said ripping the wipe out of my hands and shoving me away from the bathroom. 

            So I put the ice cream in the freezer, sat on the couch, and turn on the T.V. like a good girl.  I was starting to think Bliss was catching O.C.D. so I started googling O.C.D. symptoms.  I didn’t know what to do, but I didn’t want to leave her to deal on her own, so I just sat there and pretended to be interested in some documentary about cannibals. 

The song she kept replaying over and over again was officially on my nerves.  It was some old black lady whining, I mean uhhh singing about how she would rather go blind than see her significant other leave her.  I looked up the song, I’d Rather Go Blind by Etta James.  The song made me think Guy trouble?  But I knew it wasn’t guy trouble because Bliss didn’t even date.  I don’t even think I have ever heard her say a guy was cute. Maybe she had a crush on someone for like years and he just got married.  I thought up a million different scenarios while she cleaned the bathtub, the toilet, the mirrors, the walls, the floor…. She even took down the shower curtain and scrubbed it too; this made me more nervous than anything.  Who scrubs a shower curtain?

            A couple hours later, she comes out of the bathroom, red face and sweaty, with hair flying everywhere.  She sits down beside me and sobs.  “There is nothing else to clean.”

            I got up, got two bowls of ice cream, sat back down and handed one to her.  “Bliss.  What are you trying to scrub away?”

            “Dad’s blood.”  She says.

            I was quiet, so she could explain.

            “I dropped by today and he was…he was….  He shot himself.”

            I tried to pull her close to comfort her, but she just sat stiff.  She hadn’t touched the ice cream, but her eyes shifted back and forth between it and the floor.  After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, she slowly poured the ice cream on the floor and set the bowl and spoon neatly next to it.  She pulled her knees up to her chest and starred at the mess.  

By: Acacia Faye 

Story ~ "When My Mouth Opened" ~ AF ~ 5

When My Mouth Opened

By: Acacia Faye

     When I was a child, the sirena only had one purpose among the triton. We were to breed with the them. The triton believed they all needed a smaller triton that looked like them. They took them from us after they were weened and raised them to believe they were above us. Our entire purpose was to make the baby triton and give them away when it was time.

     We lived in the coldest, darkest part of the ocean. The triton lived in the castle on top of the hill beside us. We couldn't swim or explore too much. The triton told us it was because a sirena was most beautiful when she was skinny, not muscular. But, it was really because if we got strong, they could no longer control us. The triton brought us enough food to keep us alive, but not enough to create the beautiful curves that we wear with such pride now. 

     If we swam passed the foreign artifact for any reason, at any time, we would be punished. I saw the triton punish my mom's best friend as a kid. She had just had a beautiful baby sirena. The baby needed her to produce milk. She couldn't because she herself was starving. So, she took a chance that no one else would have dared. She waited until all of the triton had left for the day. It was the perfect time because it was to be a full moon that day. The triton always go to watch the moon hit the ocean.  My mom and several other sirena tried to stop her, but they couldn't. She told them in our own way of communicating, "I don't care what they do to me. My baby needs food to live." She broke away from the other sirena. All of the sirena just watched her as she swam into the forbidden sea. 

We were all nervous, but no one expected one of the triton to come back. He found her right as she had crammed the last bite of fish in her mouth. He took the sirena by her gorgeous red curls, opened his mouth and made sound in her ear. You see, sirena can't make sound, we wouldn't want to. I'm not sure I have the words to describe how it hurts our ears when the triton make sound. Everything in the sea hears a triton's sound. If he makes sound in your ear, you will never hear again and be glad of it because you will never again have to hear that awful noise. Not long after that, all of the triton in our glamor were on top of her, ripping out her gorgeous curls. They never grew back. 

My mom said, "You shouldn't have done that. You should have waited for them to feed us." 
"Look," she said as she lifted her baby to her chest, "my baby eats."
I know it doesn't make sense, but ever since that moment, I wanted to be just like her.

     One of the triton picked me to be his breeder.  Every.  Freaking.  Time.  There was something terrible about him. I mean all of the triton were terrible, but this one especially. He was the leader of our glamour and I hated him. I can't tell you why he got under my skin so much, but every time he came for me I pictured him dying mid-breed. He was old, with a grey beard and these offensive green eyes. He had this way of swimming... and communicating...and chewing, even pooping that just made me angry. Every move he made was more arrogant than anyone. I still can't understand how someone can poop as if he thought he excreted waste better than anyone. 
   
     When the triton came back from one of their excursions, he would come to me. If I wasn't pregant, he would take me. Again. This time I was. I thanked God for the baby in my womb because for the year it took for the baby to come, no one would touch me. It was a triton.  We knew this because one of the sirena in our glamour can tell by putting her ear to our bellies. I was almost happy for him. How is a mother supposed to feel knowing her baby would one day grow to oppress her and yet would never be oppressed because of it?

When a triton reached the age of seventeen, they had The Ceremony of Tritonhood. We were only allowed to know about the part of the ceremony that concerned us.They brought our seventeen year old baby tritons in to pick the prettiest sirena to breed with. To be chosen at the ceremony of tritonhood was the highest honor. They lined us all up and examined every inch of us.  When he chose, he held her up in the air like a prize and carried her to the castle, then he would feed her double the size of our regular portions.
 
I had two more triton before my oldest reached seventeen. After examining us all, every young gorgeous sirena in our glamour, he picked me. I had never seen a young triton pick his mother before. They always picked younger, prettier sirena, the ones who are barely old enough to breed.  I thought, "Surely, he doesn't know I am his mother. He was too young when he was taken from me."  So, I politely told him. I caught every eye. The sirena all looked at me terrified. My mother tried to swim towards me, but the other sirena held her back. 

The old, arrogant triton that I hated knocked me out of consciousness with his tail. I then understood why I hated him so. His tail print marked me from the bottom of my stomach to the top of my head. It looked horrible, but when I woke up I still had to breed with my son. That's when I realized what a dishonor this great honor was.
 
After I was permitted to come home, my mom was there in an instant, doctoring my wounds, laying me down, and bringing me food. "Daughter, when your baby triton leaves you, he is no longer yours. You are his potential breeder. Nothing more. Just like the instant a baby sirena is born, she is no longer the triton's daughter. She is his potential breeder."

All of a sudden, I was curious.
"Which one of the triton is no longer my father?"
"You don't need to know."
She tried to swim away, but I wouldn't let her.
"Which one!?"
I was angry now. I felt I had a right to know. We all had a right to know. 
"Leader." 

     I had no idea I could find anymore hatred in my heart for him, but I did. I literally prayed for him to die. To who? I don't know. But when you're powerless, you just need someone to pray to. You just have to hope something out there is listening. Maybe God was a shark and would eat him for me. I fell asleep as I prayed. I dreamed of God. In my dream, God was a shark with hands to communicate like us. "You eat him." 
I said, "I can't. He's too big. He's too strong."
He started swimming away. "Open your mouth and eat him."  
"I can't." I kept saying, "I can't." But, he kept swimming. 
I looked around and I realized I was swimming in the exact spot where my mom's best friend lost her hearing. I panicked and swam as fast as I could back to safety, but there was a giant wall where the foreign artifact was supposed to be. So, I swam up and kept swimming until I ran into something. It was Leader. He grabbed my hair and I opened my mouth and I woke up. 

     I told my mother about the dream, but she stopped me. "Never tell anyone about this. Dreams like this are a death sentence. The triton would kill you if they knew you even had it. They fear dreams like this spark rebellions. They would count it as treason." 

     A few years later, I had the most beautiful sirena baby in the world. There was no way I could be sad that day. She lit up my entire world. The best part was, I would never have to give her away. I knew it was a selfish reason to be happy, but I now had something to live for.

     I was distraught when she turned thirteen. She was old enough to breed. That very day, guess who came: Leader. But, not for me this time, instead he came for her. He came for my child! His child! I was too angry to think. Sometimes, you just can't think. You act before you know you've done it. I jumped between them and before he realized what happened, I opened my mouth, wide. I guess I thought I was really going to eat him, but I let something came out instead.  It wasn't sound and I couldn't see it, but it was everything I had been feeling for years. It was what I wished for most. It was the death of Leader. It was the rebellion of my mom's best friend. It was the power of God, the shark. It was the love of a mother coming out of my mouth. It was so many things and it was all too much for Leader. He couldn't even make sound. He grabbed at his neck like I was choking him and fell over dead. 

     There was stillness among the sirena after the death of Leader. I wasn't sure if the stillness was to honor the dead or the soon to be dead. This was treason. I was going to die, but I was going to die fighting, because I had already started. So I grabbed Leaders body, held it above my head, and threw it in the middle of the sirena calling them all to battle. My mom's best friend, bald as she was, grabbed my hand. My daughter grabbed my other hand, and my mom hers. Pretty soon, everyone was holding hands, telling me in our own way they would die fighting, too. 

     We waited hand in hand, completely still for the rest of the triton. Soon, one came, saw his fallen leader, and made sound. This sound was different. It wasn't as loud or painful, or maybe we were just getting stronger.  In a few seconds, all of the triton in our glamour were there. One of them asked who did it and I opened my mouth, wide again. The four triton closest to me followed their leader in death. That started the war. They came after all of us. Some sirena found their God power. Some didn't. We killed several triton. They killed several sirena. Some lost their hair and some lost their hearing, but we won. I mean, we killed the most. I mean, the triton surrendered. I mean, we'll never be bothered again, but no one wins wars. Everyone loses something. I lost my mom and several brave sirena, but I still had her best friend and my daughter. 

     I went back to where I slept. I found my first son, who was no longer my son. He was crying. I had never seen a triton cry before. He said, "I'm sorry mom. I shouldn't have bred you. I should have picked someone else when you said you were my mom. I should have stood up for you. I shouldn't have let Leader hit you. I'm so sorry!"

     I should have told him to leave. I should have opened my mouth again and let my God power kill him. I should have eaten him, like the God-shark said, but I couldn't. He was my son no matter how many people tried to tell me he wasn't. I couldn't say anything. I was actually proud. Out of all the triton, my child was the only one who was strong enough to say he was wrong, to cry, to apologize. I took my baby boy into my arms and held him there as he cried and thanked God for him as I did when he was inside my womb.