Ball Admiring

You have to admire the balls.

We still argue about when we went from being an army to a resistance, but no matter where you draw the line, we were very much in the hole now. So when Dansia said he had a plan to sneak into the invaders’ HQ and blow it up, we had no choice but to let him try.

The next day we raided a craft coming out of HQ. We found a whole lot of various crumbed food shapes. After feasting we worked out what, who they were.

Still, you have to admire the balls.

Expectations In Victory

Everyone suddenly realised what would happen as they took the court. After all, the defending champion was the number one seed, they’d earned more in sponsorship in the past year than the GDP of several small companies, and the entire tournament was seen more as a mere formality before they won it and broke a few more records. Their opponent was a kid, some amateur who had gotten in via some lucky breaks and a wildcard entry. Everyone could see the story, and everyone began to think ahead.

But the champ won handily, confounding everyone who understood basic story structure.

The Gritty Knight

He was the night, the deepest shadow, the darkest angel of death that-

There was a flash of fire, and Glory, Los Francisco’s protector, landed in the alleyway.

“Hey Atoner. What brings you to LF?”

The dark soul glared at the red and blue clad woman.

“My sins.”

Glory rolled her eyes.

“I meant specifically dude. You chasing someone?”

The tortured existence that was his penance to-

“Hello? Anyone in there?”

He glared at her.

“Life is pain, and my path is-“

Glory suddenly swung her staff around and shot a powerblast, incapacitating the approaching assassin.

“Sorry, you were saying?”  

Giving Up The Ghost

It took me about three hours to finally get into the panic room hidden in the back of the second guest bedroom. Partly because it was well hidden, but also because of the weird ass security system the place had, lights kept going out and shit.

But eventually I hacked the lock and got inside. Inside wasn’t the old upper class bitch I was expecting but some young girl. I couldn’t help but smile, maybe I’d get some more fun.

“He’s behind you.” she said, smiling.

I didn’t get to turn around before I felt it reach into my chest.

Mystical Journey Pit Stop

Maybe thirty miles after my phone died and fifty miles past the last signpost, I finally saw someone, an old man sitting on the front porch of his house, fields of wheat surrounding his property, and rose bushes covering most of that.

I pulled into his drive and got out of the car.

“Excuse me, where’s this road go?”

He slowly crushed out a cigarette on the arm of his rocking chair.

“Every road goes somewhere, but it’s more important to know why you’re travelling it.”

I stared at him.

“To get to Greenville.”

He seemed disappointed for some reason.

Appendectomy

For a third time, she checked over her tools, running through her mental checklist of what she’d need. True, in her career she’d never forgotten anything in her bag, but the moment she didn’t focus, she’d slip up.

After a couple breaths she looked down at the front of her patient. This wasn’t an ideal location, but it was an emergency appendix removal, and she didn’t have time to get to a sterile area. Instead, she’d just make do with what light she had.

She picked up her scalpel, and then began to cut the mouldy appendix from the book.

Buried Treasure

She wasn’t a tortured soul or broken, she was just quiet, shy and introverted. When faced with a boisterous family and upbringing, you either pitched in and tried to out-live the others, or you retreat and let it wash over you.

She was very much the second type.

But deep down, she could be, would be, a beautiful soul. Buried beneath the weak smiles and the unassuming personality was kindness, grace, and a huge wellspring of love and affection for the lucky guy or girl willing to dig it out.

Too bad no-one was willing to put in the hours.