The Killer in the Woods

"My classmates told me there's a killer-for-hire in town," Hanna whispered to Jeremy, her best friend, as they traversed through the woods.  "I'm a little jittery walking through the woods because it got me scared."

Jeremy scowled.  "They're just trying to scare you.  We lived here all our lives, surely no assassin will think of staying long here in this rundown town."

"I swear Jer, in school you'll learn all those stuff," Hanna said as they stumbled due to the uneven dirt road.  "They said he's tall and scarred and all those scary things."

"I learn more about the world through home schooling and through working with my dad in the family business," Jeremy said.  "Besides, look at all your classmates.  You're always so nice to them and yet they take advantage and bully you.  What could you possibly learn from these people?"

"Oh Jer, sometimes they just act as kids but I know there's goodness in them," Hannah said, always the voice of reason.  "Anyway, let's just enjoy our afternoon.  We are near the clearing, yes?  It's always a great place to have our picnic.  And I hear the bushes moving... maybe there's a deer who's going to be sharing our food again."  Hannah looked excited.

"We're here Hannah,  " Jeremy said, helping his friend to the clearing.  "I'll just pick up some fruits after we have the blanket set up.  You should be safe here and holler if you need me.  Will be back in a while."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Hannah is alone," Gary, a tall, brawny boy whispered to his friend Charlie.  In his hand was a baseball bat.  "I thought that boy is going to stay with her all afternoon long.  Now the fun starts."  He looked gleeful.

"Tell me why we're doing this again?" Charlie asked, picking up leaves from his sweater.

"Because she's Miss Goody two shoes, that's why," Gary said vehemently.  "And  because she's pretty and smart and despite her disability, all the teachers love her.  Don't worry about what we're doing.  We'll just scare her and she wouldn't even know it's us.  She'll just think it's that killer-for-hire myth I fed her with this afternoon."  Gary chuckled.  "As if that's even true!"

"This is stupid," Charlie said rolling his eyes.  "And whenever you say scare somebody, I know it will be something bad.  Ok, let's just do this and get outta here before her friend comes back."

The two boys stood from their hiding place when a hand suddenly clamped down on Gary's shoulder.

"Whaat...??" Gary was turning around as a punch threw him right back to the ground.

"What do you think you're doing?" a menacing voice whispered as Gary felt himself being grabbed by his collar.

Charlie tried to get a punch in but the person kicked him right in the stomach.

Gary looked at the tall, scarred person right in front of him.  His heart froze.  There was something scary about the emotionless dark cloud in the stranger's eyes that Charlie felt his life flash before his eyes.  He suddenly remembered that assassin myth everyone was talking about.  Could it be...?

Charlie tried to fight again while Gary stood immobile.  But the stranger was too agile for them and had the movements of a season fighter.  Soon both boys were blooded and lost consciousness.

The scarred person clutched the boys' windpipes and squeezed.  They will not harass any young lady or anyone ever again.

"Jer?" a soft voice called through the person's consciousness.

The person calmed his beating heart, let go of the two boys and looked at the angel-like girl who stood uncertainly behind him.

"I'm here Hannah," he said, standing up.  He wiped his bloodied hands and looked at Hannah's big, sightless eyes. 

"I heard some noise," Hannah said, going to the direction of Jeremy's voice.  "What's going on?"

"Just some wild animals fighting each other," Jeremy explained, taking Hannah's arm.  He knew Hannah's sense of smell was strong and he didn't want her smelling blood.  Jeremy sneered, looking at the boys' beat-up bodies.  They deserved to be punished more and killing was such an easy thing to do.  Jeremy knew because he has killed more people than he could count, along with his father in the "family business".

Normally he'll finish off the two thugs but he knew Hannah wouldn't approve.  For Hannah's sake, he tried to quench the killer instinct inside of him.  He has never been hasty -- their business has always revolved in careful planning and they made sure the killings couldn't be traced back to his family.  He knew he acted out of emotion this afternoon but he wouldn't change a single thing.  Any moron who plans to harm a single hair on Hannah's head deserves his wrath.  Besides, if this was ever traced back to him, he could always say it was self defense.  And he would win because it was the truth.

"Let's go home," Jeremy said as he lead Hannah out of the woods and away from the bodies.  "You're right, maybe it's dangerous out here."

-The End-

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Note: And this is an example of when I want to write something light and fun and it gets turned into a slightly violent flash fic like this.  Happens all the time.  :-S

The Optometrist Dilemma

Starring: a harpy, a centaur and a hydra

And I couldn't help but do an illustration of what happened inside the clinic of the optometrist:

The New Charge

Kap is taking sitting seriously nowadays!  This makes the third(?) comic strip the past few months with him sitting...

I am Ninja

My parents taught me how to be the best ninja.

Even when I'm feeling slow they say I am the fastest girl in the world.  That's why I always try to do my early exercise.

 

Sometimes I feel weak but my dad told me it's all in the mind.  And he said I could even cut ten bricks with my bare hands if I really I wanted to!




They also told me that a ninja must always be brave for themselves but never forget that everybody needs love and help from their family, too.  




And that despite hardships and challenges, ninjas are always positive and never forget to pray at night.




But like other brave warriors, my mom told me that I'll be going on a journey of my own one of these days.




She told me to be brave and that even though we will be apart, the stars will always mean they are with me and I am with them.




So when the time came for me to go, I was very much prepared.  My parents were crying so hard but assured me they'll be alright.

 


Ninjas might sometimes be scared but they persevere.  And I felt at peace while my parents held me as I say goodbye.

 

-The End- 

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P.S. People battling terminal illnesses are warriors and ninjas in their own right.    

The Capiz Colts

The Hair Stylist

McDonald's in the Sky

I woke up clutching my seat with the seat belt tight across my chest.  For a minute I blanked out... where was I again?

Oh right.  My name is Evie and I'm a mission specialist aboard the Amphitrite, a space ship going to Neptune.  So far we just passed Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon.

I willed my muscles to relax.  What had me tensed so?  I unbuckled my seat belt and approached the window.  The stars and dark space have always soothed me.

And then I saw it... a McDonald's cup floating near the window.

What?  How did a McDonald's cup got its way near Jupiter?

I craned my neck and saw dozens of other McDonald's junk-- cups, french fries holders, napkins.  It looked as if a McDonald's trash compactor exploded in space!

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Nicky, another mission specialist, asked, running to me.  "How did McDonald's products wound up here?"

"Let's follow the trail," Gina, our commander, said decisively, appearing behind us.  "There's got to be a reason for this."

---

After 30 minutes of traversing through the sporadic garbage trail, we couldn't believe when we saw the culprit: a moon with a humongous McDonald's sign on it like a beacon.

"This is impossible," Gina said.  "I'll tell Rocco to land."  Rocco is our pilot.

"If there's truly a McDonald's here, I'm going down," Nicky said, going for his space suit.  "After a long time of eating space ship food, I need some real food."

"Nicky," I frowned.  "McDonald's in outer space?  It screams aliens all over it.  You don't want to eat alien food, do you?"

"Everything is odd today Evie," Nicky said, his face scrunched up as if he was working out a puzzle in his mind.  "One other odd occurrence wouldn't make much difference."

---

Before we knew it, our ship came near the moon's surface.  What we saw was staggering -- levitating car-like figures on the moon's crater-y surface.  And in the middle of these was what looked like a normal McDonald's building, just like how it looked like in earth.

Nicky, Gina and I prepared our descent, well aware of the dangers of being outside but prepared to face whatever will happen.  As we walked on the moon's surface, we passed other creatures who don similar-looking suits just like ours.

"Look," Nicky poked me, pointing at a creature who waved at us.  It looked just like a little girl holding her mommy's hand.  Amazing!

We entered the so-far-normal-looking McDonald's and went to the counter.  A perky girl greeted us, "Hello.  Welcome to McDonald's!  You've entered the safe zone and could take off your suits.  How may I help you?"

"How may I help you...?" Gina sputtered.  "You may help us by telling us why there's a McDonald's in this moon and why you could speak English."

The cashier looked at us stupefied.  "Huh?"

"I asked what is a McDonald's restaurant doing here near Jupiter?"

"We aren't anywhere near Jupiter," the cashier explained.  "We're indeed in the moon but it's the Earth's moon."  She looked at us as if we were crazy.  "And I speak English because I grew up in an English-speaking country."

Gina, Nicky and I made a three-way look.  My stomach fluttered... something's definitely wrong.  There's a memory... a flashback... something I have to remember...

'You guys look pale," the cashier said.

"My name is Gina dela Rosa, commander of The Amphitrite," Gina said, her voice shaking.  "Does that mean anything to you?" 

Good question.  If this woman is from Earth, she will know The Amphitrite and, possibly, its commander.  Our voyage to Saturn was well-known worldwide.

"The Amphitrite?" the cashier said.  "Isn't that the spaceship that went missing a couple of hundred years ago?"

Huh?

"It's like the Titanic of spaceships, right?  The hypothesis is it got sucked in a black hole or a wormhole or something like that.  It just went missing near Jupiter, never to be heard from again.  That's what the history books say anyway.  Were you referring to that Amphitrite?"

I could feel blood rushing from my face and I remember how I sat on my seat earlier with my heart racing and my hand clutching the seat tightly.  Memories came rushing through my brain, unwelcome.  I remember seeing the blackhole so near The Amphitrite, running to the nearest seat and holding on for dear life...

NOOOOOOOO!!!

I walked with shaking legs to a window and gazed out at a world I do not recognize.  Is this really happening?

"Times has changed, hasn't it?"  Nicky said softly as he moved beside me.  "I'm just remembering bits and pieces of what happened.  Our minds must have forced out the trauma and the memories.  And who would have thought we'll be alive to see a time so much into the future that there's even a McDonald's franchise in the moon?"

I heard Gina moving beside us.  "We traveled too near a blackhole for a long time.  Or at least a long time in Earth hours" she said.  "And somehow, we got out of it.  Maybe we encountered a wormhole along the way which deposited us near earth.  Or something.  The universe is a strange place and we're just beginning to crack it."

We just stared in awe at the wonder of it all.  And we held hands as we gazed at the bluish-white orb 238,000 miles away from us... the orb we used to call home.

-The End-

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Disclaimer:  I am not a science expert so I know nothing much about space stuff.  I just watched too many scifi movies, most recently Interstellar which was the main inspiration of this story.  And yes, McDonald's is everywhere!