The Chocolate Factory

I was scared, alone, and in a chocolate factory. This sounds odd I know, but let’s look back at the events that lead up to now. One, a Rellik Incorporated chocolate factory is built. Two, children started disappearing. Three, Rellik’s motto is changed to ‘Chocolate so good you’ll die for it!’ Those events lead up to today when I got out of school. I started what I thought would be short trip home, when as I walked in front of the comic book store and saw a flyer in the window among the countless others that read, ‘Free new and improved zombie tendon gummy taste testing on 10/25 at Rellik Chocolate Factory at 4:00 O’ Clock.’ I realized that I wanted to go and that the Rellik Factory was only a slight detour from my regular walking route. So instead of turning right at the next block I walked strait and continued that way for about two blocks more before arriving at the factory. I was suppressed that there were only four people, not including myself that had shown up by 3:55. Then I walked up to the paper work table, and surprisingly all I had to fill out was a liability form. No one else had shown up by 4:00. I was about to start talking to people when a woman came out of the factory and in an official way said,
“Come with me I will lead you to the testing room.”  All of the people who were sitting stand up and we all follow the woman into the back of the factory. As soon as we were in the room the woman left us. The five of us sat down at the table in the center of the room to await our taste testing experience, I sat down in the middle. Suddenly, a man from the left end of the table said,
“Well, while while we are waiting, why don’t we get to know each other? I am Gabriel.” Everyone looked around at each other considering taking up the offer, when someone from the right side of the table said,
“I’m Jude.” So it was decided that we would go around and say our names.
“I’m Jesse,” the man next to Jude said.
“Hi, I am Jamie,” the next person around the table said. I was next,
“I’m Carl.” Then last person said,
“I’m Emily.” Just then the wall that was in front of me started to open up. Then over the intercom we heard,
“Be prepared to die for our candy, zombies.” As I looked out over the maze I realized this wasn’t a taste test, it was how they got their candy. They used the taste test to lure people in and then liked to play with their victims. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked around, everyone else was stunned as well. Because I wanted no one to die I yelled,
“We have to run through the maze.” With that statement everyone snapped out of their stunned state. I started to run toward the right, remembering a random fact from somewhere on the internet that if you follow the right wall of any maze you will eventually find your way out. I decided that I was going to take a break now. I came to the realization that I was alone now, because we all split up. I was scared, alone, and in a chocolate factory. Then, the intercom buzzed to life, they voice saying,
“How about some music?” A local radio station then came on saying,
“This is Legna 101.3 radio station this one goes out to Jude.” The radio station then proceeds to play Hey Jude by the Beetles. I started to run again, I had yet to come to a dead end using my strategy. The song was coming to an ends to I wondered, what will come on next? The song came to an end, the lights went out, and I heard a scream. The light came back on and I stopped thinking, did Jude just die? Who’s next? I picked up the pace not wanting to be next. The radio station came on again saying,
“This one goes out to Jamie.” Jamie’s Crying by Van Halen started playing and I thought, poor Jamie. As I came to a four way intersection, something came from around the corner, I jumped back. I then realized it was Gabriel, so I yelled,
“Hey! Let’s stick together!” He heard me, turned toward me, and said,
“Sure, which way do you think we should go?” After thinking for a bit, and taking into consideration that he ran from the left, I replied,
“Let’s go straight.”
“Alright.” We started to run in that direction, when I asked,
“Why were you running so fast?” To which he replied,
“I saw Jude taken.” I wondered what he meant by ‘taken’, but I knew better than to ask. Jamie’s Crying was coming to a close, so I steeled myself. The radio stopped, the lights went off, and a scream curdled my blood. Gabriel and I looked at each other knowing our time was coming as the radio came on saying,
“Up next on Legna 101.3 we have Simon and Garfunkel’s For Emily Whenever I May Find Her. This one’s for Emily.”
“Hey, Carl, stop,” I heard Gabriel say. I looked up as I almost ran into a wall. I know stood staring at the wall that was inches from my face wondering to myself, what now? Looking at Gabriel I could tell he was thinking the same thing. I scanned the wall for another way. That when I noticed something odd. So, turning to Gabriel, I said,
“Why don’t we climb those metal rungs?”
“Agreed,” He replied. We climbed on top of the structure of the maze. As we started to look around on top of it the intercom buzzed to life saying,
“Our zombies are getting smart now, are they? What if we leave the lights on for you?” I realized that the song was ending. I saw how close the back exit was, less than 100 feet, but it seemed so far with all of the turns in our way. The song came to an end, the radio cut off, the lights stayed on. I witnessed a large claw, not unlike a claw machines, reach into the maze. It came out slowly, but its shape had changed into a trap then as it was being pulled out it looked like a spear pierced the heart, just like the scream rose through the air. All of this happened in an instant. I turned around and saw Gabriel had turned away. I realized we had to start running again if we were to make it. So, I said,
“We have to start running.” Getting what I was saying he started to run. The radio came back saying,
“This tune is for Jamie.” Jamie’s Girl by Rick Springfield blasted over the radio. 50 feet. The wall ended in 25 feet. The intercom interrupted the song,
“Not so fast zombies.” Blades started swinging through the air. The intercom voice laughed. Gabriel stopped suddenly. The wall had ended.
“Jump,” I said.
“No, he replied. Noticing the blade coming toward us I said,
“Just do it.” I ducked, but I still heard him say,
“N-” as the blade chopped his head off. I jumped. Landing on my feet I ran for the door. As I did so the song stopped playing, the lights didn’t go off, I didn’t look back knowing what I would see, and a scream cut the air. As the radio started to call out the next song, I exited. Scarred for life, I ran back home.

The Challenge

The pen-

                             His only weapon

One verse-

                His song

Sitting lonely

Thinking hard

Stuck in mental paralysis

Drifting mind, distracted

His verse hung in the air

The chorus not written

But the song was living

He might get up, leave

But he could never escape it

It hung, like a cloud

Reminding him, telling him

His greatest work, unwritten

On verse, never coming to fruition

The coffee cups, like notes from heaven

Reminded him of the piece,

But as he left he tried to forget

Tried, and failed

So the cloud still hung

Suppressed slightly by the dull, gray desk job

But the heart is blind

And that is where the verse came to rest

His creativity-

                  Sparked

His intellect-

                     Prospered

Yet,              

The verse still burdened

Every time he let the water drip

He was reminded,

The song lay unwritten

Untouched for years

But still alive and well

One verse floated

One pen, never touched paper

One masterpiece, never written

One more soul, suppressed

Songwriters, poets, and writers

The children that survived

The rest just, dream

In black and grey

They, the dead children,

Walk through life

Chained-                        

       To desks

Handcuffed-                  

                                   So as to not touch the pen

The pen that could free them

The pen that could unleash them

The pen that could resurrect them

The pen that could unite them

The media controls them

Feeding them lies

Convincing them they're free

Controlling them with strings

Strings made of fear

Fear of Terrorism

Fear of Murderers

Fear of Anarchy

Fear of Communism

Fear of Disease

Slowly turning this place to

Land of the controlled

Home of the scared

Once they faced fear with a closed fist

Now just cowering,

Letting it rule a once brave place

Nothing good comes from fear,

Just weapons to destroy the Earth,

Racism to help control,

And genocide to eradicate creativity

Fear at first seems to unite

Then it shows its divides

Slowly tearing the seams of society apart

Limiting creativity to its confines

If you are to stray,

Beware, be ready, be prepared

Be prepared to be rejected

Be prepared to be criticized

Be ready to stand and fight

Be ready to be trampled on

Beware the friends you choose

Beware Fear.

Hark-

                  His song

Heed-

                    His words

Make it your creed,
For the burden would lift
But is creativity unleashed,
Him, light as helium
His heart, heavy as stone
For, by design, when one creative drop drips
A flood comes
Burdening hearts with a rock
But, it is the rock that lifts you up
So he decides to be free
To be able to breath
To write
To sing
To live
To never stop
Even when stuck
To always be free
To never be chained by society
To never be hand cuffed by the media
To grow wings             
                        To fly,
All while staying grounded
Grounded to his pen-
                                 His only Weapon
One verse-
                    His song
Flying through the chorus
Touching the clouds
Without leaving the floor
So he writes his verse
And closes the books
Leaving a lasting note
Hanging in the air
Forever.

The Freezing Cold Night

10:21 pm
"Night-night, little one," I heard my wife say to our only child, our baby son, as I turned on my radio. All though I consider myself pretty tech savvy with my galaxy smart phone, I think that having and using old technology is important to appreciating the technology we have today. The radio slowly woke up, then, due to the fact that the radio was only producing static I turned the wooden knob slightly to the left. This action cause the radio to start spewing slightly static infused words from its speakers "*static* It has been *static* reported that *static* aliens have landed *static*," suddenly the reporter is turned completely into static as I hear three knocks on the door. Turning the radio off I walked over to the entrance to the house. I started thinking to myself during this small walk, 'Why are they doing another dramatic reading of War of the Worlds? Don't they remember what happened last time someone did that?'
Opening the door I saw a family of four, two parents, a son, and a daughter, all freezing in the coldest night on record for Rhode Island. Just then my wife calls down,
"Who is it honey?"
Responding to her question honestly I answer, "I don't know honey."
"S-s-sir?" The cold mother tried and failed to get my full attention.
"Ok, do what you want, but I am going to bed," She said.
"Ok," I called back.
"S-s-sir-r-r, c-c-could-d-d w-we c-c-come in-n?" The freezing mother said finally getting my full attention.
"Yes, yes, please do come in," I said in a hurried voice to get them inside as quick as possible, before they froze to death. As they started to file into my warm house I offered, "Would you like a warm beverage, like hot chocolate?" Closing the door I looked at the mother's face, the expression registered as confusion with me. Even though the expression hung there on her face like a deer in headlights, I looked at her expectantly. The expression must have been enough to convince her because she responded,
"S-sure" I walked toward the kitchen as the family laid down on the couches. I pulled out a pot, placed it under the facet, and continued to fill it about half way. Then turning the electric stove on, I placed the pot on the stove. I then started to walk towards the stairs thinking, a watched pot never boils, so why not kill time in the meantime. I then climbed up the stairs quietly, trying to disturb neither the baby, nor my wife. Then as I reach my wife and mines bedroom door, slowly opening the door and creeping toward the dresser, watching my wife at the same time to see that see doesn't wake. Opening the top dresser drawer, I pulled out four blankets. I carried them toward the stairs, careful not to trip while going down them. I reached the bottom and distributed them to each of the freezing people crashed on the couch.
"Th-th-thank you," turning to see where the weak response came from, I saw the daughter look at me. Walk back to the kitchen to gather the rest of the supplies need for the hot co-co, I thought, thank God that the daughter spoke, I was beginning to think that the mother was the only one who spoke English. I walked over to the cupboards and proceed to pull out four cups, clasping two of them in each hand. Turning around, I almost tripped over our cat Almond. I cursed under my breath at my brown, furry friend as I walk across the kitchen to grab the packets for the hot chocolate. I placed the mugs on the counter, so that I could stand on tip-toe to grab the co-co mix. Then ripped the packets open releasing a fine powder into the air. Then turning around I saw that the pot was about to boil over, I left the packets of powder on the counter and grabbed the mugs. I plunged the first mug into the steaming water, barely holding on to the handle. I repeated this three more time almost burning my hand off each time. Then after wrapping the cups in paper towel I brought the cups over to the packets. Then with the steam rolling off the tops of the mugs I dumped the packets of hot chocolate mix in. Then I grabbed four black coffee stirrers from a cup that sat near the coffee maker. As I was stirring the cups I realized how stupid I was not using the coffee maker to heat the water. I grab a tray from the drying rack, wipe it with a dry rag to clean up any access water and then place the cups of hot chocolate on it. Then as I turned around with the tray I realized I forgot to turn off the stove. So instead of walking to the guest and back to the kitchen again, I, instead, twisted the knob to off while balancing the tray in the other hand. As I turned around I again almost tripped over the cat, which almost made me drop the tray, which was still in one hand. "Thank god I was waiter before, and dang that cat seems to appear from nothing," I muttered under my breath. Then grabbing the tray with two hands started to walk over to the couches, all the while keeping my eyes on Almond. As I walked over to my guests I thought, 'I am going to bed after giving these drinks to them and making sure they are comfortable.' Arriving at the couches I said, "Here you go."
"Thank you, y'all are really nice people, we w're told to go away by e'eryone else," the father said through a thick southern drawl.
"You are welcome," I replied. Then looking at my tray I noticed that I still had one hot co-co and realized that it was for the daughter. So I asked, "Where is your daughter?"
"She is in the bath room," the mother replied.
"Ok, well as long as you guys are comfortable I am going to head to bed," I told them.
"We are good," The mother said. So with that I head upstairs to bed. Putting on an old pair of blue shorts and an old grey shirt I climbed into bed. My brain was unusually silent. As I was about to fall into sweet, sweet sleep my brain thought three things, one, I didn't ask their names, two, I did not tell them were the bathroom was, three, Almond died two years ago. I reconciled these with two thoughts, I will ask them tomorrow and it wouldn't have been to hard too find. Thought I did not have a response to the last one it did not prevent me from falling in to the abyss of sleep.

2:21 am
I hear the baby monitor go off. I lay in bed for a few minutes as it goes off not wanting to disturb the cat that was lying at my feet. Then, just as I was about to get up, the crying stopped. I turned my head, trying, again, not to disturb the cat, to see if my wife was still there. She was. Writing it off as our baby maturing, I drifted back to sleep.

11:13 am
I wake up to the sun filtering into the room; I turn over to see the clock. Seeing that it says my normal wake up time; I look around for my wife. I find that she is sitting in a chair petting Almond. She seems to think nothing of it. So I ask her,
"Didn't Almond die two years ago?"
She replies with a resounding, "No."
"Ok, then," I reply. After my response I feel outside memories trying to flood my brain. I then realize that I must be the only one who realizes what the aliens are doing here other then them. I decided that I had to try to stop the aliens before they possessed my wife. I figured that they had to possess things by touch. They blanket had cat hair on it, and they probably touch the baby. To confirm this I cracked the door to my room open a bit and looked down the hall. The door to the baby's room was open.
"Honey what are you doing?" She asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, just stay away from the guests," I said realizing that she would not understand.
"What do you mean?" She continued.
Not having the time to deal with this I said, "No time to explain." I then raced out of the room no plan in mind. The cat sprung out of my wife's hands racing me to the stairs, which spurred my wife to follow it. Luckily I beat both of them to the stairs. I raced down the stairs. Then when I was downstairs I approached the father and stopped. This caused my wife to almost tackle me and the cat to race by.
"Get out," I yelled at the father as I pointed to the door.
"Honey, what are you doing," my wife cried out from behind me.
"Saving us," I replied. Then the father laughed and said,
"Looks like you are too late." Then I saw a blinding white flash from behind me. Knowing that they got my wife, I decided that there was only one thing for me to do, run. I started to sprint, but the father soon caught up to me and tackled me.
"Nice try," he said as there was a blinding white light and the world faded to black.

2 Old Men

"Do you have any interesting stories?" I asked.
"No, not really. I mean I was just tollbooth operator," Mack responded.
"That sounds like it is the most boring job it the world," I asked.
"It was," Mack stated.
"Then why did you take it?" I said
"I don't remember, I think I just need the money, I always wanted to be a truck driver though. So, Jim what was interesting about your life that I haven't heard of yet?" I hear Mack say.
"Well, as you know, Mack, I was a police officer in my younger years. So, I am going to tell you an interesting story from those years," As I told him this I thought that this is such a sad story for such a bright beautiful day in the park, but I continued, "It was an ordinary day until I got an anonymous call in."
"Haven't I heard this before?" Mack said.
"No, it is different trust me," I replied and then continuing said, "It was just past lunch and the person said that they saw a middle aged woman digging what looked like a grave on top of the hill that overlooks the river."
"Yeah, I am pretty sure that I have heard this story before," Mack interrupted me.
"No, no, you haven't. I am telling you that. Now be silent," I replied.
"Fine," Mack stated while rolling his eyes.
"Continuing with my story, I thought that that sounded interesting and so I got into my car and I drove toward the hill. Then approaching the woman, who was mumbling something about her son be unhelpful, I saw that it looked like she was indeed digging a grave. She moved to put her shovel away in the trunk and I saw that it looked like she had an ax and a box in there as well," I interrupted the story to give Mack a warning, "It gets pretty gruesome here, so do you want to hear the rest of it?"
"Sure, bring it."
"Ok. Then I asked her what was in the box that was sitting next to the ax and she yelled no and defensively grabbed it. At which point I tried to take it from her and the box fell to the ground and a head rolled out. The head turned out to be the son she was mumbling about not being helpful. His body was found lying beheaded in the back seat."
"Well then."
"Yep, so how was the story?"
"I had heard it before."
"Really? Stupid old age."
"Yep, but did you really think that here was the best place to tell that story?"
"Probably not, but I am pretty sure that the people around us will think that we are just crazy old men."

The Machine

"Finally, it's finished!" I exclaimed as I put the finishing touch on my machine, "There is only one thing to decide now, whether or not to share to this discovery. If I share it I call sell it, but everyone would be changing the past. I could keep it a secret, making no money, but I would become very powerful. I would be able to know what would happen; all I would have to do is not die. I would be the world's greatest hero, or the world's greatest villain. All of this from a small stopwatch is my pocket! Amazing!" Walking over to my calculations I thought about what to do next. "Yep, these are right. I can go back any time! Now to go back to stop World War I." I set the time back three months eight days, and 100 years. I pressed the the button I installed on the back and instantly I was covered in a veil of white light. I then passed out as an effect of the strain of time travel. When I awoke I realized that I could see myself tinkering at my workbench. I must not have gone back as far as thought I would take me. I wonder where my calculations went wrong. I have to sneak out of here before I am noticed, but first to take a picture of the calculations. CLICK. Crap, forgot to take the flash off.
"What was that?" I heard my other self mumble to himself without looking up from his work. I look around for a way out, I see that the garage door to my left. I start crawling toward the door, careful not to touch anything. I see my self get up, I stop dead in my tracks as he leaves. When he closes the door behind him I make a run for it. I make it out just as he re-enters the room. Taking out my phone to look at the picture to see where I went wrong to notice that I forgot to carry the one on the second equation. That means that I can only go back two days at a time. Now not knowing what to do I started to walk down the street.
"Hey, Jim," I hear my neighbor say to me, "I see that you gave up stupid idea that you could build a time machine." About to yell at him to say that he is wrong I remember that he is about to die of a heart attack.
"Hold on a sec, I have to call 911" I respond.
"Why?" He replies unaware.
"911, what is your emergency?" I hear through the phone.
"Could I have the medics? Someone is having a heart attack." I say calmly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Alright, the medics have been dispatched."
I look over to my neighbor I see him clutching his chest. 'Looks like I have done my part here,' I thought as I walked away briskly.

Under water

I surface, breathing fast and deeply.

"How long?" I ask my friend, who is a few feet away from me now, between gasps for breaths.

"47 seconds," he said.

"So close!" I said.

"I'm going to swim back to the shore."

"Ok, I will be out here." I said as he swam away. If I was wearing my glasses I am sure that I would look around and see the light sparkling off the water, the emerald green trees that ring this lake dance it the gentle autumn breeze, and the brilliant white mashed potato clouds hover in the air, all in a non- blurred way. Strapping my goggles on so that I can try to ignore the fact that I was half blind without my glasses, I dove under the water so that I could look around. I was floating over a large rock to which I anchored myself with a rope that I had in a bag as to not to drift away. There was a large submerged branch that was stuck on the rock; by this branch were some rock bass and some sheep head. The fish themselves were not that important, but the fact that they were swimming towards me was. By now my lungs were screaming at me to breathe so I came up breathing hard, as I was breathing I took my goggles off and scanned the way that the fish were coming from. I saw a large dark figure swimming at a modest speed coming toward me. Thinking that the figure might be my friend, I scan the shoreline; I see a blurry white speck getting out of the water. 'So what is it?' I as I think to myself as I dive under the water again to see the thing that is coming towards me to see it clearly. I try to swim towards it but I was still anchored to the rock. Taking the rope off of the rock and putting it into a bag I once again had to come up for air. I breathed deeply and dove back under because I wanted to see this thing. Swimming towards the thing I saw the silhouette of I start to question my logic about going toward this thing. All the fish were swimming away and it was pretty large. Right? I came up for air so that I could think, and then I thought I heard someone calling out from the shore.
"Swim, swim!" I hear them calling. Swimming as fast as I can for the shore I look back and see three claws on a green hand. Using the adrenaline from seeing the monster to my advantage I swam even faster.
"Faster, faster, it's gaining on you!" I heard from the shore over the splashing of my hands hitting the water. I felt something touch my leg, and then swiftly grab it. Suddenly I was under the water, holding my breath. I turned around to see what it looked like, but I realized that the water was all murky from the struggle. All I could catch were glimpses of the monster, only catching that it was green and had green claws. The grip was impossible to shake. I could feel the claws tearing into my leg and then it just let go. Quickly getting to the shore I took a deep breath and asked,
"What was that?"
"I don't know man! But I am never going into that lake again! I mean look at your leg! There is a ton of blood on your leg! We have to get you to the hospital!" He yelled.
"I think that I am going to pass out." I said as the world went black.