RedBubble T's and Prints

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The Kiss

The lining of her ankle length chinchilla fur coat tickled her cheek and made her sneeze for the fifth time since leaving the restaurant. Her fast pace excited the cobblestones of the walkway into a staccato of echoing taps that bounced back and forth through the narrow alley between the four story buildings that seemed to lean ominously together, eating the faint moonlight that tried to make its way through.

The angry clacking of her heels was punctuated by intermittent sneezes and curses about being stood up for the tenth time and never agreeing to another blind date as long as she lived.

At 42 she thought she would have been over the sting of it by now, never knowing love, the feeling of someone that isn’t related to you, wrapping their arms around you in post-coital bliss. A French kiss never experienced is just two people on the T.V. locking lips and rubbing your face in it. The curse of love lies in the never giving up the search for it. Hence the tenth blind date, and tenth time being stood up. Yep, the sting is still there.

So wrapped up in her hushed ranting about the woes of love never found, her excited heels slipped on a loose cobblestone. Her silk clad legs flew wildly up over her head, heels flying, arms pin wheeling as she landed on her back with her fur coat to soften the blow. Injury added to humiliating insult, she lay for a moment trying to catch her breath.

A silhouette darker than the surrounding night hovered over her a few seconds before speaking.

“Are you all right miss’s?” The low voice with a soft lisp reached to her core and plucked nerves she didn’t even know existed until this man spoke. “That was quite the slip you took. “

“Um… I think so. I just need to catch my breath and I should be fine”, she replied hesitantly.

With a firm hand on her arm the gentleman lifted her to her feet.

“There you are now love. Safe and sound, sure you didn’t break anything in that tumble now, right?”

“No, I am fine, I assure you. All is well, and by the way I passed up miss’s about twenty years ago, but I thank you for the compliment.” She replied more confidently.

“Ah, well you’re still a babe compared to the centuries I have seen lover. So, be thankful for that.”
He mused in a rueful tone.

“What!” Shock and confusion rang from her voice.

“Michael!” a shout from the other end of the alley whipped her head around. “I swear you are such a child. Stop playing with your food already.”

“So sorry Oli!” the chivalrous man still holding her laughed. “Be right there.”

“What’s going on? Who are you?” Her soft voice sounded panicked now and Michael could hear her rapid heart beating, ripping his pretense aside.

“I am your lover ducky. Come give me a kiss.” Steel clamps binding the fur coat to her body like a second skin, Michael pulled the irritating fur away from her collar. He whispered, a ghost of breath against her mouth, “first the kiss,” and gently parted her lips with his and kissed her more thoroughly than she had ever dreamed possible. Sharp pinpricks of pain coursed across her tongue and lips as his teeth sliced her mouth to ribbons.

“Now my supper” he whispered as he pulled away from her savaged mouth and plunged his fangs into the faintly wrinkled side of her neck and ripped out her throat. “I do love you ducky, the way a man loves a perfect cut of prime rib.” Michael pulled a black handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped the blood from his lower jaw as she stared blankly up at the night sky.

Casualty

Here is another story that I wrote for my RedBubble group Pulp Noir.



He’d been hiding now for two days.
The whole fiasco had started when a dust storm had blown through the city last Thursday. Then, the madness started. The onset was gradual, like a case of the flu coming on, but the epidemic spread like wildfire through rain starved grassland. As if all the soft tissue in their bodies could no longer be contained by their skin. The bleeding started at the obvious openings. After about three hours the very skin started to break down and the gore escaped that way. Death was inevitable.
The only problem with that was that it didn’t last. When the dead woke up, they were hungry, and not like burger and fries will fix this, hungry. He’d seen that first hand when the undead had pulled a cop out of his car, and had a piggy buffet in the middle of the street.
For some reason, he hadn’t been affected by the spore. A small time con, with a little murder thrown in here and there for the right amount of money, and you would have thought he’d be one of the first to bite it. A coward at heart he huddled in the dirty hotel room with Friday’s newspaper his only connection to the outside world. He picked up the phone again, it was still dead.

A scream sounded from somewhere in the hotel. He pulled his knees up to his chest and molded himself to the desk. Someone was running up the hallway outside. The undead didn’t run. Brute strength they had in spades but not coordination.
He untangled his legs and crawled to the door. He pulled the chain off its hook and pulled the door open a few inches. A woman was in the hallway.
He eyed the other end of the corridor and saw what she was running from. Three of them came shambling on, leaving pieces of themselves in their wake. He silently pulled his head back through the crack in the door and put the chain back on. He returned to his spot under the desk.
A few seconds later the screaming started again, only this time accompanied by wet tearing sounds. Sweat poured out of him as he shook uncontrollably.
It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. I couldn’t have done anything for that broad. We’re all on our own no. A moan of horror escaped his quivering lips. Sanity fled and animal instinct took over. He ran to the door pulling so hard the chain broke off its latch. He started to run away from what was left of the woman and the undead still feeding on her, and collided with one of the beasts. Steel bands wrapped around his torso and he had breath left for one shriek as the zombie crushed all of his internal organs in one massive bear hug. He was just another casualty of the bio war that the powers that be had unleashed on the planet.

New Stories, Artwork and T-Shirt Designs

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Late for Dinner

The blood made a maddening trail down the side of my face just in front of my left ear. I could tell it was blood and not the equally irritating, if less worrisome sweat, because of the sharp pain originating just above the trickle. The wall behind me was a hellish mass of splintered wood which sheared into the side of my head as I tried to get my bearings. I had been able to pick off a pinkie sized splinter of wood out of the paneling I assumed was behind me. It was the best I could do in the dark with my hands bound behind me.

I came to in this wretched darkness to the smell of piss and rancid meat, not realizing that I had only just bought a ticket on the terror train to hell. What made it worse was the foul tasting rag shoved so far into my mouth that I could only choke and gag, trying not to breathe too heavily. Too, terrified for tears, all I could do was listen to the rapid fluttering of my heart, and pray that I wouldn’t have a heart attack.

An hour passed, or a minute, I couldn’t tell how long it was really, it didn’t even matter at that point. I realized that the wall in front of me was glowing with a faint blue white light. Sweat slicked hair matted to my face, I carefully tried to swivel my head around to see where the glow was coming from. Putrid carpet smell jammed up my nose and an inelegant fish flop later, I was finally facing the other way. The faint light was coming from the crack under a door about 2 feet in front of me. I felt almost worse facing that light, as it made the darkness surrounding me more pronounced. The nasty carpet under me and the torn up wall seemed to take on a life of their own, and picked at my terror like fevered ants creeping under my skin. My isolation more complete somehow.

The light flickered from under the door, and I think I lost my sanity a little more with each flicker of brightness. I thought of my husband and how upset he would be that dinner would be a late. I thought of the doctor’s appointment that I was on my way to until the flat tire left me on the side of the highway. The doctor’s appointment that would have either confirmed or dashed my hopes of finally being pregnant, because even though the strip says yes, that doesn’t mean it’s true. Peeing on a stick is seriously undignified and I really needed to write to the product designers about that. I was still hoping for a boy, so much easier to take care of. I read somewhere they cost less to raise, that was an added bonus.

A resounding thud ripped me out of my own head as my heart slammed into my ribcage, I felt a pop. My breath froze in my lungs like concrete, as slow even steps sounded my doom across a hard floor. I struggled to push myself as far away from the door as I could, which wasn’t far and curled around myself with my hands pressed tightly into the jagged wall behind me. I couldn’t help but let out a whimper as the footsteps stopped outside the door and partially blocked the flickering light coming in. The heavy metallic sound of keys jangling and the slide of a key finding its home in the lock echoed in the small pit of hell I had found myself in. The handle turned and creaking hinges accompanied the bright light that flooded the closet. Eyes watering from the harsh light, I blinked rapidly, seeing for the first time my hell in all its Technicolor horror.

The wood paneling of my prison was covered in russet claw marks and the carpet beneath my face was splotchy and stiff with large dark brown stains. I choked and gagged around the foul cloth in my mouth, and couldn’t help the muffled screams that tore from around the gag. Fighting to see past tears of uninhibited terror, I looked up into the light to see the nice looking young man that had stopped to help me with my tire.

“Hello again, darlin’.” The pleasant southern drawl, so much in contrast with my surroundings, spiked my fear to a whole new level. “Did ya miss me?”
He reached into my hell and grabbed my left ankle to pull me out. I couldn’t help but kick out as hard as I could. My hell had to be better than the one waiting for me if he got me out.

I was right. He grabbed my foot in a vice like grip with both hands and pulled it with incredible strength up toward his face as I struggled violently against him.

“I have been waiting to taste you all day, darlin’.” The sweetness of his voice jangled in disharmony with my muted whimpers and pleas. “I hope you enjoy this as much as I am going to.”

Dinner is going to be late tonight honey, I thought as he bit off my little toe.

Untitled as of yet...

I awoke to the reek of piss and a foul wetness on my face, which was unusual in and of itself, but I also hurt. It felt like every pore on my body was on fire. That I was accustomed to, unfortunately. I cracked my eyelids, peering through my lashes, as I took in my surroundings. It was dawn, absolutely fantastic, and I was lying next to a dumpster, even better. A partially consumed rat lay a few inches from my face which explained the foul taste in my mouth. Harsh, shallow breaths escaped my clenched jaws until the pain radiating across my skin started to subside. I was entering the pins and needles stage which meant it was almost over. I curled on my side with my back against the garbage and waited until the tingling left my limbs. With its absence clarity reappeared.

Above the smell of piss and trash, I caught another scent, one that I recognized, and instantly felt better. I eased to my feet and looked down taking stock of my naked body. No bruises or cuts, it was always that way, even though a meat grinder while messier, would have caused less pain. I could hear Angel's heart calming and knew she would be up in another minute so I waited with the sun slanting down on me from the east and hoped fervently that nobody felt like taking out the garbage. I could only imagine trying to explain two naked people that looked a little worse for the wear to any humans.

I listened as Angel's breathing evened out and she uncurled herself from behind the dumpster.

"Morning sunshine," I looked at her as she straightened and rubbed her arms.

She glared at me out of the corner of her eye, "Where the hell are we?" Unfortunately, her sense of navigation never fully matured and while her tracking skills were unparalleled, she never knew where she was.

I glanced around again, sniffing the air as I did, taking in the mingled scents of raw fish, gelato and from across the street the smell of garlic and pesto, and said "We're behind the sushi bar at 32nd and Camelback, which isn't a good thing because we're about twenty miles from home."

"Hey, you're the one that was all gung ho for this hunt, not me. I was completely content to stay home last night, but, no. 'This one is dangerous, Damon. We need to take him down now, Damon.'" she mimicked in a low pitched voice. "Remember that?" Her ice blue eyes scanned the alley uncertainly, "Um... speaking of which, how did we lose him? I thought we finally had him pinned down out behind Hazelwoods, and then the scent was just gone."

"I don't know. It's the damnedest thing I have seen in a long time. We'll ask Damon and see what he has to say. For now, we need a phone, and cover until they can get here to pick us up. I am pretty sure there is a payphone in front of this strip mall, so stay here until I get back."

I walked to the edge of the building closest to the street and peeked around the corner. All I needed was to be picked up for indecent exposure. It was empty and I couldn't hear any cars coming, so I loped around the building and there was the payphone I remembered. I dialed 0 and got the operator to place a collect call back to the house.

"'Ello," a gruff voice mumbled on the other end.

"Odin, 32nd street and Camelback, behind the sushi bar, and bring clothes for Angel and me. Hurry up, I think we have a problem." I said.

"Gimme fifteen," he said and hung up.

I hurried back to the alley and found Angel pulling wet paper from her silver hair. The smallest of my litter mates, she also had the most unusual coloring of us all. Our parents affectionately call her the throwback. Pale, almost translucent skin wrapped around a 5 inch frame, made for a striking combination with her pale blue eyes and hair. Her petite packaging hid a ruthless interior though and many underestimated her, fooled by her size and ethereal beauty into thinking she was only good for a quick lay. How any could mistake her for vulnerable and flighty was completely beyond me, even though I had known her my whole life. She absolutely vibrated with assurance and confidence, but right now that vibrancy was a looking a bit faded from the events of last night.

"I still don't understand it. How can anyone just disappear like that? I have never lost a scent like that before, and this reeked so bad, I am surprised anyone near him didn't drop dead from proximity to his b. o. Yuck, I mean couldn't you at least have picked one that smelled better?" she whined.

"It was the drugs Angel," I said patiently, as I gently pulled a piece of something I didn't want to look to closely at from her hair. "If he had gotten into a car, his scent would have dissipated some from the car disturbing the air as it drove off, but it was almost solid right up until it vanished."

We sat side by side in between the dumpster and the wall as we waited, both of us seriously in need of a hot shower and toothpaste, maybe a couple of doses of mouthwash as well. I hate the taste of rat, and can only claim exhaustion and the presence of easy prey after the hunt as an excuse. That we'd actually turned back behind a trash pile meant we'd overexerted ourselves, which also wasn't surprising considering the hunt began about 6 miles north of the den.

There were just too many questions without any answers. This whole mess started with a full page article in a tabloid. The main headline read:

WEREWOLVES: FANTASY NO LONGER

EVIDENCE HAS BEEN FOUND THAT PROVES THE EXISTENCE OF THESE CREATURES OF LEGEND

We were lucky in that the writer of the article included the name of his source. A little electronic tracking led us to Carefree where one Wendell Jackson resided. No one in the pack had ever seen or heard of him before. The others would have been going through Jackson's house while we were out hunting him down, looking for information and possible links to the pack. It was entirely possible that the article wasn't about us, but with his proximity to the den added to the fact that Circe was missing, too much was going on that didn't add up.

Walk the Line

It’s a lonely road for all of us
Treading the straight and narrow,
On the eggshells of societies rules,
That grinds us meat and marrow.

Black and white on either side,
We carefully walk between,
Because the boundaries in the gray
Area, are rarely cut and clean.
Fear is what keeps most of us,
From traipsing down the line,
Our carefree selves kept in check,
Within the fences of our minds.

Until the very earth beneath us,
Tears itself apart,
And sends us dancing off the line,
Into creation’s heart.

and yes Grandma, I am writing again. :)

School

I can't seem to learn enough fast enough. Everyone is slowwwwww. So I do it on my own. The world is my classroom and each day a new lesson to be learned. Yep, nerdy but oh well. I would rather know than not. Well, most things anyway.

New work

I haven't had much time for running out and taking new random images. Most of my work has been in the studio for paying customers. I have started doing artistic portraits, and am having a lot of fun with them. Here are a few examples of my most recent work.

My Anti-Child Abuse Work

I have been working on a photographic series examing the terrors of child abuse. Under no circumstances should a child be violated in any manner by anyone let alone someone they love and trust. Inspired by the Run for the Innocent, I decided to see if I could recreate the emotional turmoil a child would feel at such betrayal.

Keep in mind, my model, having no experience with the depth of emotion and reality I was trying to portray kept laughing throughout the shoot since she didn't understand the gravity of the work I was undertaking. Hopefully she will never know the terror and uncertainty that thousands of children are faced with each and everyday from those that are supposed to protect them. These images are my photographic representation of a disease that endangers not only our children but also our future.

Been working on my black and white photography...

I have been slowly weeding the editing out of my photos, and so far it is going well. I am always trying new things so my style has not been set as of yet. But, here are some of the shots that I have taken minus the overediting. :)