zeej qooj

Tony Rodriguez

Lynsie Lucas

Diana Tobey

Sam Becker

Rietje Becker

English

The garden. It is a special place. Roses, Chrysanthemums, Laurel bushes, Marigolds. Not squids though. Especially huge squids. There was one there now, twitching as it’s life dwindled away in the sunshine. A black helicopter hovered overhead, thudding, like an armed spider

ready to pounce. The helicopter loomed over the giant squid withering away in the garden and turned on its loudspeaker. “Attention Giant Squid. You are in Violation of This Area’s Squid Regulations. Please Return to your Pond.” But the squid had no intention of leaving. It would

rather die than take orders from a human. Particularly since, at the moment, it seemed that its death was imminent.

With one last glare, it sauntered to the edge of the window, licked its paw a few times, and then jumped into the dark night. One one life left to live.

The puppy leapt toward its target cool air rushing past its ears. It was young but had so much to prove. By the time it arrived at the scene it seemed too late. A teenager in a denim jacket lay face down, barely breathing, a strong scent of peanut butter in the air.

The puppy salivated as he approached the teenager. Seconds later coughing was heard- the teen, his face covered in drool, was alive! As a reward, he gave his denim jacket to the pup, who had it tailored to perfectly fit his tiny biceps, making him the coolest pup in the litter.

Squid’s Journey

tCO6wHJBWuTTEMry5LEPxiWD5B63

C. S. Lytal

Paz Waz

anich ter

Mel S

Sean King

The echoing, creaking halls of the orphanage were empty. All the inhabitants were lined up like ragged rows of cornstalks. The Matron glared at them. She pointed with an ominous finger at the thermostat. “There will be,” she intoned, “TWO TEMPERATURES, and two temperatures ONLY!”

Her eyes gleamed as she added with slightly too much enthusiasm “Cold and very cold”. She allowed her rictus to relax and laughed a little before turning to grab a

marshmallow. Then, she ran to the beach to take a swim. At that moment, she couldn’t describe her happiness though the marshmallow was cold. She shouted “Canada”.

“Canada...” the shouted word was lost among the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore, and the marshmallows in her mouth.

She dipped below the surface of the water. I kicked off my snakeskin boots and dived in the water after her, following the marshmallows that were floating up from where she sank.

The marshmallows dotted the surface of the chocolate pond as far as the eye could see. Then, a disruption! The calm surface was broken by her sudden emergence—she clung desperately to the tiny white buoys. Our eyes connected and we knew. We were destined to swirl together.

Canadian marshmallow

WGJjRGGOuRhhsnEQM401Jq6aiPK2

Physics of Gaming

Milo Pittman

Leyre Garcia

Sunny Anomaly

My limbs wen numb as so did her heart, and for once, I cracked a smile she was dead, my killer was dead, The police look at me and hold pistols and shotguns that glimmer in the light,then, my world started to fade black, I laughed that same laugh over and over, The Time loop was

repeating yet again. I quite enjoyed this time loop. It was a fun little groundhog day, getting vengeance on my murderer. As much as I enjoyed it though, one question always remained at the back of my mind:

How would I escape this time loop? If killing my murderer back doesn’t work, what will? I can’t stay here forever....or could I...?

Escape of there, I escaped, my murderer doesn´t see me, I ran very fast but, my murderer ran behind me.

I prayed for something to appear and trip them up—a hole in the ground, a large rock, a small cat...anything that would give me even a few steps ahead. As if my magic, I heard a heavy thump behind me. I was tempted to turn around but didn't dare. I just kept running.

I didn’t look back until the vaguest hints of morning light began to play upon the horizon and I finally stopped, panting and shaking. No one was behind me, thankfully. I was grateful for this, as I couldn’t run another step. I laid down at the base of a large tree and slept.

? Im so confused

E2kN3DtvjqOkGxPDW16oGFDkRXC2

Emma Mazzucco

Rick Grant

Dawn Rasmussen

Kala Zenella

We decided to go to McDonald's and when we got there...

we were surprised to find the place packed. A crowd was visible through the windows that overflowed out the doors into the parking lot. "What do you think is going on?" I asked Carol.

"Beats me," I shrugged. But my curiosity got the best of me and I pushed and shoved my way to the nearest window, cupped my hands against the glass, and peered in.
My first thought at seeing the bronze-skinned alien holding his Quarter Pounder above the crowd was, "April Fool's!"

But as it would turn out, this was no joke, for the alien with the burger had not resolved into a human wearing a costume. As it would turn out, aliens have no concept of April Fools, nor fast food. As I watched through the restaurant window the alien held up the burger and

shoved the entire plate it was on in its mouth. He spit up just the burger. “It’s missing pickles!”

The entire staff groaned as their boss began shouting orders left and right. “AND DON’T FORGET THE PICKLES THIS TIME!” he bellowed. Would the customer ever be satisfied? Would the staff ever get to take their hard earned break? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z!!!

space food

U39qMmwNdwSvN29HdHXWpjJ6zVK2

“This is a stupid argument and it has gone on for far too long,” he said. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance. But now I get to watch you suffer by asking you this one simple question: what is two plus two?”

“Counterpoint,” snarled the zombie, writhing against the clot of muddy and bedraggled riverbank roots that I had tricked it into stumbling through and which its now degraded motor skill prevented it from extricating itself from, “let. Me. Eat. Your. Brains!” I frowned, frustrated

Zombie argument

qyUCBNcRiaQYs1740BlBERtfmw42

Roxanne Garofalo

Banana Bob

They sat at the table, lit starkly by the bare bulb overhead. Between them the deck of tarot cards. Two cards face up; three of swords, romantic betrayal, five of swords, victory through deceit. The last card, face down. Licking her dry lips she reached out, flipped the last card

Suddenly, the lights flickered and the windows crashed open. The final card she’d drawn was Death.

Someone cackled cruelly behind her. She whipped around to see a shadow, black as night, with a vaguely humanoid form. "As they say, the end is pie," the shadow hissed in a horrible, raspy voice. She was somewhat afraid, but couldn't take it seriously after the mention of pie.

“Sorry, did you say pie?” The dark figure nodded. “The end is... pie? Not nigh?” Non-plussed by the enquiry the demon doubled down on the scary voice. “Yeeessss - it’s a metaphoooor”, he spat. It was no use; the moment had gone and

the pie had clearly gone bad. The dark figure’s posture became sullen and disappointed at the lost opportunity for grandiose pastries.

“Common mistake,” came a voice. The dark figure looked around concerned. Slowly the pie rose up on its tin and glared menacingly at the dark figure. “I may be spoiled,” said the pie, “but I’m not evil!” With that the pie fired a torrent of rotten berries toward the dark figure.

Pie-Died Death

His face swelled up within a second and he stumbled down the stairs spilling milk everywhere.

“Kala!” he screamed. “Kala! We don’t have cats! We do not have any cats Kala! What is this!!!!”

Milky

DXyYQ34gk9TuaCT9BqfbEqxRHsI2

Zoe Becker

Jerry glanced down at the photograph in his hand, then back up again at the woman sitting alone at the back of the cafe.

He was certain this was the woman in the photograph. He approached her table.

All at once a blinding light coursed through the space. Jerry and the woman froze. And then a creature appeared, seemingly from the air itself.

It looked at her and it looked at him and it said I’m sorry what did you want again

@tonyrodriguez

Name

Lifetime lines written

Awards

Tony's Stories