…I don’t know what to write but if I don’t do it soon I’m going to fall asleep and break my streak
I would rather never own a pet.
While pets can be good for your mental health and your heart, I think I would rather miss out on that experience than go without a mode of transportation.
I currently have two dogs and a cat. Pepper is out outside dog, who actually has full reign of the garage, Lucy is our annoying little indoor-outdoor dog, and Mo is the overweight fatso that likes to scale my mountain of furniture in order to knock odd and break things.
I’ve had more pets than just these three. I’ve had fish, I’ve had multiple cats, other dogs. I love them all. Okay, I tolerate Lucy. Mo is still grounded.
Pepper is a perfect old angel and I will not hear otherwise.
My point is, while my life has been enriched and improved by having pets, I also know how good it feels being able to go when I choose.
That’s not me saying I like to go. I prefer to stay firmly and anti-socially right at home, especially in a reclining position. But should I need to go, well, I am able to do so.
A little more than eight years ago I finally, after much effort, passed my driver’s licensing test. I was almost 30. The only reason it got pushed forward was because my In Laws wanted to move away. Why did this affect my driving? Because they, typically my father-in-law, drove me to work in the evenings. My husband worked so it was up to them to take me to work.
I didn’t go anywhere on my days off unless it was on a weekend. But once I got my license, I was able to do one very important thing: go see my parents and other family whenever I wanted.
Now if we’re getting technical here, I didn’t “own” a car until recently, and I’m generalizing here to include car to mean any automotive transportation. The first vehicle I ever drove regularly was a hand me down Chevy Cobalt from my husband. Now I currently own the literal largest regret of my life. A Dodge Ram.
So, yes. Transportation of unconditional love of a pet lol.
This Timed Writing Challenge was something made up on the fly last night. The goal was to use Random Generator, gather some helpful details, and spend what time I had left (until 11pm, my bedtime), attempting to write a complete short story.
Well I failed last night because I’m wordy and give too much info. So this is me finishing the story from last night, because I knew where I was going with it, I just started falling asleep.
Screen recording for proof that I didn’t just pretend, I guess?Random Word, Random Male and Female Names, and Random Sentence.
As the rental car rolled to a stop on the dark road, her fear increased by the moment. Valeria Ingram had been in the passenger seat of the rental for eight hours. She and her fiancé Eduardo Phillips had been driving home from a weekend with her family. They had decided that driving would be more interesting and way cheaper than buying a plane ticket.
And they were right.
They’d had an unusually uneventful weekend with her family. Uneventful meaning she didn’t walk away from the experience with regrets. Her family was loud and rowdy and opinionated. Her parents constantly asked why they weren’t married yet, her older brothers harassed Ed, attempting to involve him in shenanigans. And all the nieces and nephews could drain a persons energy pretty quickly.
But nothing happened that wasn’t typical of her family, no one was rushed to the emergency room this time, there were no Turkey-to-fireball situations like thanksgiving last year.
It was the ride home that was currently causing her distress.
It began fine, with them packing the trunk with their luggage and all the nonsense that her mother sent them home with. Hugs and shoulder squeezes goodbye. Then they piled themselves into the car and drove off, waving out their windows as they did so.
When they got off her parents street and headed toward the highway entrance ramp they discussed plans for the next eight or so hours ahead. They had snacks in the car so they wouldn’t need to stop for food until lunchtime, when they’d also have a bathroom break. They’d agreed on a scenic route to see small town landmarks they missed on the way in. Typical road trip plans.
It was a few hours in when things began to grow, strange. Ed, who’d made the executive decision that he should drive the whole way, began to stare blankly out the windshield. It took Val a minute to realize it wasn’t your typical, “I’ve been driving a while” stare. His demeanor would change, his shoulders would tense, his grip on the steering wheel would tighten, and she could see the muscles in his jaw flex from clenching.
After a while, noticing these episodes come and go, she asked, “You okay, Ed?”
He seemed to immediately snap out if it when she spoke up. “What? Yeah, fine. Why?” He’d asked.
“You just looked a little tense there, you wanna switch out? I can drive a while.” She offered.
“No I’m fine!” He said cheerfully. “We’re not far from a rest stop. I’ll hop out, stretch my legs a bit, just getting a cramp.”
“Oh, okay,” she sighed, relieved. “I could use a stretch myself.
He seemed fine the rest of the trip to the rest stop, where they both got out, stretched their legs. Valeria decided she’d step into the small building that held the restrooms. There was always brochures and fliers for local attractions and parks. She liked collecting them on trips.
She picked one up for a local fall festival, a giant rock that had a gift shop and a diner named after it, and something called The Lion’s Den. It appeared to be an old youth camp. It was on their way home, and on what appeared to be a lovely lake.
They climbed back into the car and got buckled in. She showed Ed the brochures before they pulled out, The Lion’s Den was on top. “What’s this?” He asked, a muscle in his jaw clenching.
“Oh, just some brochures.” Val tapped a finger on the Lions Den. “That looks like it was an old camp! I think they rent out the cabins for vacationers now.” She shrugged. “Seemed neat.” She said. “It’s on a lake!”
“I didn’t realize we were so close.” He mumbled.
“What?” Val wasn’t sure she heard him right.
“I just said I didn’t realize there was anything like that near here.” He shifted the car into gear and pulled out a little faster than he should have.
“Oh.” She sensed something was off.
A few more hours in and she’d been trying to shrug off the bad vibe she was getting from her fiancé, when they stopped for lunch at an old fashioned drive-in diner. She became distracted by the old fashioned menu boards, speaker you could hang on your window for music, and the car hops on roller skates.
They both ordered a burger, but they each got different sides to share. She got a raspberry shake, and he got the car hop’s recommendation, a fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade. As they ate, Ed seemed to relax, he tension seemed to release and his was becoming closer to his old self.
Continued…
They began to laugh and joke, Ed telling her something one of her brothers had said, and she’d laugh and roll he eyes. When they finished eating they cleaned up their trash and put it in its place. As they were getting back in the car, Val caught Ed staring at a tree covered mountain in the distance. She noticed his fists were clenched and she watched him.
Ed had never been violent with her, never said a mean thing to anyone as long as she’d known him. They’d been to for nearly a decade, known each other for longer. They were both nearing forty, but they were happy with how things were. And they had similar ideas for the future.
But Valeria did not know a lot about Eduardo’s past, his childhood and youth. For years all he’d ever tell her was he didn’t have a happy or an easy childhood and he didn’t like to talk about it. He’d told her his family was gone, and that’s why he enjoyed hers so much. “Even the rowdiness, and the nonsense?” She’d asked.
“Especially all of that.” He had smiled when he said it, that sweet friendly smile, the one that drew her to him when they’d met.
When they were finally back in the car and on the road, she tried to keep conversation going, talking about what work would be like Monday, wondering if their neighbor had been sure to water their plants. She point out when she saw animals off in the distance in fields.
But as they drove on Ed became less and less vocal. Soon his responses turned to grunts and soon after that nothing at all. The tense jaw and white knuckles on the steering wheel were back and she very quickly stopped talking.
You could soon cut the air with a knife, and she grew uncomfortable with the silence. She turned on the radio and tuned it to the first station she could get a clear signal on.
A low monotone voice came over the airwaves. “And you’re listening to 101.7 the Lion’s Roar. This is the ‘Righteous Hour’ with me, Brother Saul.”
Val’s brows furrowed as she listened to the host. He sounded like your typical talk radio host, flat toned and quiet. But there was something odd, no, off about it. First, it sounded old, not his voice, but the recording. Like it had been playing for a long time.
“Give your self to the Righteous One. Use your power for The One’s Will and do as the One commands.”
“Oh no thank you.” Val spoke aloud, reaching to turn off the radio. Ed slapped her hand away without saying a word or looking in her direction. She drew it back and held it to herself.
“Ed?!” She said in shock, staring at him. He never said a word or took his eyes off the road. “Why did you do that?!” She asked, shocked more than anything else.
Ed managed a grunt but never moved an inch.
That was the beginning for her, the beginning of the worst ride of her life. She moved herself as far away from him as she could in the confines of the car, and only stared out the window.
It was hours later, and the sun had begun to set when she realized that he’d taken a detour. He’d veered off the main highway m, which would’ve take them almost the whole way home. It was what her father would have called the scenic route. But it didn’t look anything like what would have been on their way home.
But then she saw it. She’d almost missed it in the growing darkness. A billboard with a vaguely familiar logo. She reached into the cubby hole in the her door and pulled out the stack of brochures. There it was, right on top.
“The Lion’s Den”
Not long after the billboard, the headlights of the rental car began to reveal only gravel road lined with old growth fir trees. The road had a steady incline and gradually turned right. On Valeria’s side was nothing but the rock of the mountain they seemed to be climbing. On Ed’s side seemed to be nothing but a drop off of unknown height.
“Ed,” she managed to whisper. “Where are you taking us?” She asked. “Why?”
She did not expect an answer, he hadn’t spoken in hours. But he did, finally. It was low, flat, monotone. But there was almost a growl to the single word. it sent shivers down her spine.
“Home.”
After a few seemingly endless minutes, the road flattened out and widened. They pulled up to a old wooden fence, that had to be thirty years old. It looked neglected, as if it had been decades since anyone had been there.
The unimpeded moonlight shown upon several buildings sitting the grounds, and structures Val could not identify in the darkness. The moon and the headlights of the car were the only sources of light. Until Ed shut off the engine.
Still quiet as death, Ed climbed out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. She was not fast enough to think to lock her door. Hours ago she would have never thought she’d have to lock a door against this man. He pulled her door open and reached inside and grabbed her wrist. She was choked by the belt that was still buckled around her.
He grunted in dissatisfaction and leaned in and unbuckled her seatbelt. It was then that she noticed that somehow even his scent had changed. His smell gave her the feeling that she should run, like prey smelling it’s predator.
She was dragged roughly out of the car and pulled her behind him as he walked to the nearest building. There were no lights inside or out, no sounds either. Not even a breeze to stir the leaves on the tree.
Instead of entering the building he pulled her around it, where, as they drew nearer she could she a massive statue in the center of a field. He pushed her to the ground at the base of this statue. She could feel the tiny cuts on her palms when she caught herself with her hands. She turned to add, tears in her eyes, about to speak, when she looked up at the massive statue looming over them.
The statue was the body of a man, a bare as the statue of David, arms reaching into the dark sky, toward what could only be the full moon. But this man was not just a man. The statue’s head was a lion, baring it’s teeth, his mane trailing down his chest, a crown of thorns atop his head, glaring down at those below that witness it.
Ed stared up at the statue, spoke no words, and raises his hands above his head like the statue in front of him. Then suddenly he fell to his knees, the sound of the rocks cracking against them made Val cringe.
She watched as he bowed and rose, over and over, seemingly never taking his eyes off the statue. Then, a low hum seemed to grow deep in his chest, building and building until it was a guttural roar. The quiet man she once knew, her shy fiancé was roaring at the base of a grotesque effigy of some god unknown to her.
It took a moment but she soon began to recognize that there was more than just Ed’s roar. There were several, coming from all around them. And then she saw, emerging from the shadows of buildings, the tree line, everywhere and no where. People. They were surrounding them and the statue, roaring their own praise, falling to their knees before it.
Except for one man, sunken eyes, long gray hair and beard, and, from what she could see in the light, a burn scar across his face. He stepped forward, and stood next to Ed, who rose before him. Everyone, who looked as rough and worn as he, stopped suddenly. The silence was shocking.
“Eduardo, my son.” The old man said in a raspy voice. “You’ve heard the Righteous One’s call, we prayed he would bring you back. And you are home.” He proclaimed, resting his hands on Ed’s shoulders, their foreheads meeting. The man released Ed from the embrace, and looked him in the eye. “And you’ve brought us a friend.”
The man turned his gaze upon Valeria and the look in his eyes told her to scream.
Valeria Ingram and Eduardo Philips we’re both reported missing three days later by her parents, when phone calls to their cellphones and home went unanswered. Their rental car was never returned, leading authorities to believe they went missing at some point on their trip home. Locations in their planned route, which Ingram had shared with her parents, for safety reasons, were checked for surveillance.
They were seen at the rest stop where they stretched their legs and Ingram was shown collecting brochures. Phillips was seen via security cameras behaving strangely, pulling his hair and stretching as if to reach the sky.
There last known location was Gilly’s Drive In Diner. They cannot be seen in security footage anywhere along their planned route and credit card activity stopped at the diner.
Two weeks after their disappearance and missing persons reports were filed, cellphones and other personal belongings identified as their were found strewn along the highway they would have taken home.
To date there are currently no leads and no reported sightings of the couple. authorities ask if you know anything or have seen anything, to contact them via their non-emergency or the anonymous tip line.
So? How’d I do? I legit have some background? This whole thing was compelling. I specifically skipped my melatonin so I wouldn’t fall asleep finishing this!
If I don’t just lay around in my bed all day tomorrow I’ll EAT MY HAT.
Did I do that right?
Anyway, this is me doing the third post in a row. If we’re being technical, I cheated. I could have sworn I hit publish in yesterday’s post. But when I opened up the app, it was still in drafts. I was falling asleep when I finished it. But I cheated and gave it yesterday’s post date.
Anyway, it’s not like I work for some major news outlet that I could get in big trouble with for fudging the numbers. I’m just little old me.
But I have confidence that I can succeed at posting every single day. It just might not be quality.
Here’s what might come to you this month.
(By “this month” I mean the next 30 days or so, not by the end of November. I’m not that confident)
Holiday History: Thanksgiving: Yes I know I flubbed up in the Halloween one. I had it scheduled to publish, thinking I would be forced inspired to complete before publish. But I forgot about it and it auto-pub’d incomplete. I realized it when someone LIKED THE POST and I unpublished it. Like, it was poorly written, and I was mid-depressive episode, my dude! Anyway, Thanksgiving is a juicy one and I’m not referring to the Turkey!
Possible PFN short story: I haven’t worked on it in a week, but it’s there, in the back of my mind.
More drawing challenges???
More “flying by the seat of my pants???
To be honest I’m going keep going with my trademark ABSOLUTELY BONKERS “content” until someone forces me to stop. And even then they’ll have to drag the internet away from my clammy clutches.
Day 21: In which I discuss what programs, apps, and websites I use to do the things.
ProCreate for iPad
I use ProCreate for iPad to create a lot of different images. The BMB banner I’ve used at the top of all the posts was created with Procreate.
Gif before my truck stalled and Gif after my truck stalled. Spot the difference.
Canva Pro
I’ve used Canva Pro for a lot of the things you see on my blog. From video intros, to banners, to logos. Several book covers used here were made with Canva.
VideoLeap
After my first “I’m Crafty…” video I started using video leap for all of my video editing. I pay for a subscription to access all the features. It didn’t take a whole lot to figure it out, if you’ve worked with video editing before. My first “I’m Crafty…” was made entirely with iMovie, again, on iPad. Voice over was recorded with Voice Memo. Listen, I can’t afford to make this a career, and that means I can’t afford the fancy stuff. All my videos and images are taken with my iPhone.
Screen Recordings put together in Video Leap of choosing a randomly generated topic for a post. From Random Word Generator. lol
Cricut
I’ve used my Cricut and Cricut’s Design software to create a lot of things, from decals for cups I used to make, to decals for my truck. I also used Cricut to create my earring cards for my handmade jewelry. Listen those bad boys took me FOREVER. Because my printer is crap, I had a lot of things I had to do to make it work, and I may or may not have wasted a sheet or two of clear sticker paper.
One of the wheels for Randomized Fiction
Spin Wheel Decisions
Completely free wheel spinning app for (you guessed it) iPhone. Yes, it is ad supported but I wasn’t about to spend money on that.
Microsoft 365
Of course I use Microsoft 365. I use Word to edit any writing I do in bulk, like if I plan on self-publishing. I’m currently using One Note on my iPad to organize all my Pretend Fantasy Novel notes so I have them all in once place.
Frequently Used Websites
Random Word Generator: I used this with Randomized Fiction, and on “The Bug Catcher”. And to be honest I’ll probably use it again.
WordPress: Of course I have to mention WordPress. They’ve been my website host since before I had my own domain name. Pretty sure its been YEARS. To he honest I’ve considered other hosting services, because money. But it turns out I know wordpress pretty well and, honestly, I’ve put a lot of work in.
I’m Sure There’s More
But these are my most frequently used apps websites. I won’t even list social media, as well I spend to much time there anyway! For now, its time to sign off. Hopefully I’ll have something more interesting for tomrrow!
So there I was. Minding my own business. It was warm, the sun was out, a beautiful day. The best days are sunny days, to be honest. I was sitting on this blade of grass when I heard something. Well, felt it really. The ground beneath me shook. I thought maybe I should run away.
But I didn’t, the sun was just right in this spot, and I knew there was something just tasty nearby. But then the noise got bigger. And closer. Then the sun suddenly disappeared from above me. I could see it, way over, still shining on the grass. but above me, it was gone.
So, reluctantly I turn around and look.
There was this enormous thing standing over me. It had four legs but only stood on two. It held things and it stared down at me.
I froze in my spot, like the had gone to bed for the season, and I should have gone to bed, but it wasn’t time for the sun to go to bed. And this thing stood over me.
Then I heard some nonsense. I think it was something communicating with the thing that stood over me, it wasn’t a sound I recognized. It was different.
(Come back here, Todd! It had said. How do his legs move faster than mine he’s smaller!)
That’s when I moved. I leaped a great leap and then another. But the thing with its giant legs came after me, big things are faster I learned that. So I leaped again and again. And I heard another noise.
(Giggling. Todd was giggling.)
I turned to look, because I was back in the sun again, surely I was safe now. But no, the humongous thing was there, and the thing at the end of one of its legs, it came down fast. I was caught in the thing it held.
(Todd, have you caught something? Please don’t be another spider. I hate spiders.)
The thing I was caught under lifted, just a little, and I tried to leap away again, but it was useless. It had me for good.
(Oh, it’s a grasshopper. He’s a small one too. Ok, I guess you can keep him for a bit. Need help with the bucket?)
Then I saw the other thing, it was much bigger.
(Here, scoop him up. Now dump him in. That’s right. The lid, put it on so he can’t get away. Good job! Now you can look at him!)
I was in something, but I couldn’t see it. It had a top and a bottom, and I could see everything around me, but when I tried to leap, I hit something I couldn’t see. Then in front of me was the thing that got me. It stared at me.
(Todd giggles. Yep, see his legs? He can jump very high with those! And see the black dots! His eyes, yeah!)
I tried to jump more, but new it was pointless. I was stuck. Going nowhere fast. And it was hot and still in here. I missed the sun, I missed the grass. I missed the air. The pleasant grass. The safe grass where giant things did not chase me.
(Yeah, he’s cool, right? Yep. Okay, we should let him go now. No, we can’t keep him! You wouldn’t like living in a bucket, would you? Right. Let’s open it up.)
Then, suddenly, there was more air and the sun came through the top! Freedom, I needed to make my escape! I leapt toward the sun and the air!
(Oop. He’s ready to go! Did you see that?)
The things’ noises got smaller and further. and finally I was back on my grass! The air was blowing and I was safe! The sun was shining. I will remember the ordeal always. Oh, but now I’m hungry.
An experiment in which I randomly generate three words and attempt to write a short fiction using them. It’s 11:34pm and I’ve been up since 6am. Wish me luck!
The sky was angry. Well, it wasn’t just angry. It was furious, like someone pissed in its Cheerios. It looked like it wanted to go John Wick on the culprit. But it withheld its revenge, for the moment.
Why is it every funeral Jay ever attended involved inclement weather? Snowing, raining, the gods taking their wrath upon mortal man for his misdeeds. There was always something.
“Blue skies are boring,” Katie mumbled. She had her forehead leaning against the cool glass of the passenger door, staring at the clouds, and until that moment was silent. “Nothing to see in them,” she added.
Jay glanced over at her, then glanced back out the driver’s side of the windshield. He wanted to focus on the string of cars in front of him.
“You’re gonna have a mark,” Jay told Katie. She said nothing. “On your forehead, from leaning against the window. A big ole red mark. People will wonder if I bonked you on the noggin.”
Katie shrugged but he could see out the corner of his eye she tried not to smile. He liked it when she smiled. He hadn’t seen her smile in a few days.
The procession of cars slowly came to a stop, but then continued slower as they made the final turn to the gravesite. Cars lined themselves along the fence, and people in various shades of black climbed out, and made their way silently to the graveside.
Katie flipped down the visor and looked in the mirror. “Told ya.” Jay said. She punched him in the arm and he laughed as he feigned pain. They walked side-by-side in silence.
Mourners had gathered, sitting and standing at the side of the closed casket, settling in as the officiant waited patiently. When everyone had placed themselves he began to speak of the deceased like one would hope to be spoken of in this moment. Good deeds, a big heart, loved by many, good person. Missed but no longer suffering. Blah blah blah.
These were all the same, Jay thought. And the older you get the more people you lose. He’d been to more than his fair share. He’ll skip the next one. This one, however, he could not.
After the words were spoken and tears shed it was time to pay final respects, say their final goodbyes. “Would I be a fool to believe we’ll see each other again?” He thought as he watched people step up to the casket, touch it gently, and walk away. “I think I’d prefer foolishness.”
He took his step up, placed a hand on the cream colored casket. The subtle gleam of pink pearliness seemed to glow despite the low light. He spread his fingers there and pressed as if to leave a mark in its perfect surface. When he removed his hand, for a split second, a fog remained—the heat of his hand on the cool surface—but that was all.
He turned and walked away, and glanced back. The sight he saw shook him. The lowering of the casket into the fresh hole, surrounded by strangers ready complete the task. And Katie. Standing there, watching him go.
For the first time in days he let himself feel it. He choked back a sob, a tear rolled down his cheek.
Katie smiled, waved a small wave. She mouthed the words, “I will see you again, big brother.” Then she smiled up at the sky.
Jay felt the first big drops of rain pelt his head and he too looked up. When he looked back she was gone. “Then a fool I’ll be.”
The Conclusion:
If you read I would love comments and/criticisms. This was a whim of an idea. I literally thought of it five minutes before I started. This is also the first fiction I’ve written in a very long time. It took a darker turn than I imagined, but when your words include “funeral” why not? Also it took me an hour.
Crash Landing 