Week 11 Storytelling: Alix in Wonderland

(The Cheshire Cat by: thethreesisters)

Alix in Wonderland 

I live in an asscrack of a town, where the most exciting thing was the installment of a traffic light at a four way intersection.

"Alix!" My best friend Robby screamed as he drove the car. His voice was muffled by the sound of the wind whirring by me.

I had crawled out of the passenger side window, and lay on the hood of his hail-dented Honda Civic.

In a town like this, you have to stupid shit to have any fun.

The car went to a halt as we were next to a nature preserve. I hopped off of the hood of the car and stretched out my arms. The wind was chilly despite my light blue hoodie and white beanie. "That was awesome!"

He shook his head. "No, that was horrifying!"

We both held up our cell phones. Our flashlight apps were the only lights in the darkness. The woods seemed neverending as we walked along a dirt path. In some parts the path were too worn down.

"We should go home," he said. "This place gives me the creeps."

"Good," I said and laughed. "Maybe there's finally something fun to do here."

He stopped suddenly and checked his phone, " Oh no! I'm late, I'm late. I got to get home!"

"I don't want to go home!" I shouted. "C'mon, lets look around some more!

But Robby was already running back through the path shouting, "I can't be late!"

I followed after him, but at some point I lost track of him and the trail.

Maybe I should have been scared, but I wasn’t. I was excited. I guess I was just so damned bored in this town.

“I wish something interesting would happen,” I whispered.

I doubled back and continued down the path Robby and I had followed. The path was too worn, and I was just following the bends of the trees. Eventually my phone died, and I was stuck with nothing but the moon, half full and the stars twinkling ahead.

That’s when a little panic rose up within me. The trees seemed to move, shadows looked like monsters, and when I looked down I realized I had gotten off of the path. I didn’t know where to go.

I cursed as I turned around, trying to find the way back home.

Suddenly I saw the outline of a wide and wicked grin from the darkness. It had blue lips and sharp white teeth.

I stepped back. “Who’s there?”

“Who indeed,” the mouth said. It had a girl’s voice. “Who are any of us, really?”

The mouth was in front of me and then materialized into a girl.

(Cheshire Cat by: Ana Gremard) 

She had messy, light blue hair and a pair of blue cat ears. Her mouth looked normal, so I guessed I had seen things. She wore a blue and black striped shirt, blue skirt, and knee-high black boots.

“Some call me the Cheshire Cat,” she said. “What do some call you?”

“Alix,” I told her. “So, what are you doing out here?”

“What is anyone doing out here or there or everywhere?” She asked and she disapeared. She appeared again on a tree branch, squating. Hanging down from the tree branch, I could see a fluffy blue tail. “I mean anyone really doing anything, or are we all just doing nonsensical nothingness?”

I shook my head. “You’re giving me a headache.”

I continued on through the forest, walking away from her—but then she suddenly appeared in front of me. This time she was on all fours. Her face looked more cat-like. She had sharp teeth and claws. She looked like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, except much more dangerous.

I stepped backwards, but tripped on a tree branch. I fell onto my back.

She was nothing but a disembodied grin floating above me. “Do I frighten you?”

“No,” I lied and I sat up. I clenched by fists. I wasn’t even convinced what I was seeing was real. “You don’t scare me.”

“Well, you should be,” the mouth said, following me as I stood up.“I’m not the only thing frightening here.”

When I stood up she was back as a girl with cat ears, standing in front of me. “In fact, I may be the nicest thing in these woods.”

“Whatever,” I said and I walked through the woods.

The further I walked in the woods, I heard something snarling with snapping teeth.

There was a horrible creature in front of me. It looked like a dragon with large wings and a tail, but it had a small round head.

“Are you frightened now?” the Cheshire Cat whispered in my ear. I felt a chill down my spine.

The creature crept closer, snapping it’s jaws at me and growling. My heart beat so hard I thought it would break through my ribs. I wanted something interesting to happen, but this wasn’t what I meant.

“Be careful what you wish for,” the Cat said. “The Jabberwocky is certaintly interesting isn’t it?”

“I did not wish for this!” I shouted as the creature crept closer.

“Do you wish to live?”

“Yes!”

“Then look to the Tumtum tree.”

I looked around, but she had disapeared again. “The what?”

I started to run from the creature, but then I saw the Cheshire Cat grinning from another tree’s branch. Leaning against the tree was a shining metal sword.

I ran to it and grasped it. It felt awkward in my hands. I’d only held a sword in video games, but there was no “A” button in real life.

The creature roared and spread its wings.

“Make the vorpal sword go snicker-snack!” Cheshire Cat shouted.

“Stop…” I swung the blade. “speaking…” I swung it again, and it hit the creature. “in riddles!”

I thrust the sword forward and into the creature’s chest. It was dead.

“You have slain the Jabberwock!” Cheshire Cat shouted, suddenly standing in front of me. “Oh frabjous day! Callooh, callay!”

I felt weak, tired, and my head was spinning. I leaned against a tree and fell asleep.

When I woke up the sword was gone and so was the Cheshire Cat.

I wandered back through the woods.

Dawn came, and I found my way. I didn’t know if I had dreamed it all, but I never did go back to those woods, and I never wished for something interesting to happen ever again.

Author's Note:
If you didn't guess it, I read Alice in Wonderland this week!

There are so many renditions of Alice in Wonderland, and they are all mostly just different variations of a teenage Alice. So, I thought why not gender bend it and have a male Alice (or Alix?) So this is a Young Adult version of Alice in Wondrerland with a teen boy as Alice--or here as known as Alix! Hence, Alix in Wonderland.

I was most amused by the Cheshire Cat in my reading, so I wanted him in here--also gender bent as a girl! I don't know if it the cat is male in the book or the movie, but it seems that way to me. I designed the Cheshire Cat off of the Cheshire Cat from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Also, if you didn't pick up on it Robby was supposed to to be like the White Rabbit (Robby...Rabbit, get it?) That's why he's all, "I'm late! I'm late!"

I had not reached the part with the Jaberwocky yet, but I am familiar with the poem. So, I made a lot of references to that. If you want to read the actual poem click here. It's an interesting read, to say the least.

Anyways, this was different than my usual stories. It was my first story on here that had a male point of view, and was without romance (my usual thing is YA Romance with supernatural elements, in the point of view of a girl.)

I hope you guys like my story! I had a lot of fun writing it.

Quoth The Raven, Evermore (Week 10 Storytelling)

(Image from: Pixabay)

Quoth The Raven, Evermore

I was depressed. It wasn’t like there was any reason. But did I really need to have a reason? I was so sick of people asking me, “What’s wrong?” As if it could be pinpointed to a single thing.

Sometimes you’re just depressed. Life is “what’s wrong” and there’s nothing more to it.

My mom was one of these nameless people asking me “what’s wrong?” So I screamed nothing and I ran away. As if I had the balls to actually run away.

I only made it to a pond across the street. It was more puddle than pond, and the trees were already deadened by winter—these black barren things.  What was wrong was how damned depressing everything was.

I was sitting on a park bench hating the tears that slid down my cheeks, when I heard a deep squawk. A big black raven landed on the barren tree in front of me. The tree branch bowed under the weight of the massive bird.

I loved Edgar Allen Poe’s Poem "The Raven", but that was all I knew about the bird. I’d never seen one in person, and was surprised by how big it was. It was almost as big as a cat.

It cocked its head at me, tilting to the side, its beautiful blue black feathers catching moonlight and shining like the dark waters of the pond. The raven seemed to look right into my eyes with its black-pearl eyes.

“Nevermore,” I whispered to myself and grinned. I realized the tears on my cheeks were dried.

The raven stayed with me through the night, sitting on the tree branch, watching over me like a gargoyle.

I told the raven about my mom,  and how the boys at school were stupid, and how my best friend was a jerk, and blahblahblah--which I supposed all the raven heard was the blahblahblah.

***

The next night, I ran to the pond, and to my surprise the raven was sitting on the same tree branch.

I lay on the park bench, told the raven about my day, and fell asleep talking to the raven.

“Hey, you okay?” Someone asked, stirring me from my sleep.

I opened by eyes and saw a guy kneeling in front of me, he had blue black hair that hung in front of his black eyes. He had two shiny black lip rings across his thick lips, and another in his septum.

“Yeah,” I whispered and sat up. "I guess I fell asleep."

He wore a tight black shirt, tight black pants, with black combat boots. He looked like he was probably sixteen, like me.

“A strange place to sleep,” he said.

“I suppose.” I noticed that the raven was gone and grimaced. I didn’t really want to be around anyone, no matter how attractive they might be.

I stood up and started to walk away.

“Going already?” He asked.

I turned to him and snapped, “Yeah, so what?”

“Sorry I—” He scratched the back of his head.

“No, I’m sorry.”

I felt an odd tug, like I didn’t want to leave. I looked at the waters of the pond, and he turned to the pond, watching the moonlight reflect onto it with me.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Kyra. You?”

“Raven,” he said.

“Cool name,” I said, and when I looked into his eyes, I couldn’t help but see the similarity to the black pearl eyes of the raven. But surely not. I mean, it was impossible for boys to turn into birds, right?

We talked about nothing really, but it was nice. I did like talking to the raven, but having someone respond was nice for a change.

I smiled as I walked back to my house.

***

I walked to the pond, hoping to see the raven and Raven. When I reached the pond, I saw Raven sitting on the park bench. I smiled as I approached him.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” He was twisting a black raven feather in his hand. He held it out to me and said, “Here.”

I took it from him and whispered, “Nevermore.”

“Evermore,” he said.

“It’s ‘nevermore’, you know—Poe’s poem?”

“I know, but why not ‘evermore’ instead?” He cocked his head to the side, and it reminded me of how the raven had looked at me. “Kyra, I’d rather see you evermore.”

I opened my mouth to ask him something, something insane, but I shook my head. I mean was I really going to ask this (very attractive) boy “Hey, can you turn into a bird?” That’s how you get boys to run away from you. Well, or or fly if I was right…

It was clear that Raven wasn’t like the boys at my school.

“Do you think there are things like…shape-shifters?” I asked him. “People that can turn into animals?”

He laughed.

“Don’t laugh! I’m serious.”

His smile fell into a straight line. “Do you think they exist?”

“I don’t know. I mean, kind of.”

“I kind of do too,” he said.

“I’d like to hope magic like that exists.”

“Me too.”

We didn’t say anything after that.

I had placed my hand on my lap, palm facing up, and he held my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. I fell asleep like that, and when I woke up, Raven was gone, but the raven was sitting on the tree branch.

I smiled and said, “Hello again.”

The raven squawked.

***

Weeks passed by, and I either saw Raven or the raven when I visited the pond. I was no longer running away. After all, there wasn’t anything wrong anymore.

“I want to show you something,” Raven told me. “Do you promise that you won’t run away?”

I laughed. “What are you a serial killer or something?”

“Or something.”

I felt a chill dance across my body. I didn’t really know Raven, and that realization sunk in. I wondered if I had been too trusting. But something, maybe stupidity, made me stay.

Maybe I should have ran, but I said, “Yeah, okay. What is it?”

He flashed a wicked grin and then he titled his head back. I stepped away from him as his body convulsed. His skin rippled over cracking bones. Suddenly it was no longer Raven, but the raven sitting in front of me.

I should have been more shocked, but I wasn’t. I smiled and I bent down to pet his soft feathers. He cocked his head at me, and then as soon as he was a bird, he was back as a boy.

“Wow,” I whispered.

“I understand if you want to run away, forget about me,” he said. “I know I’m a freak.”

“No!” I quickly said. “I…I like you as Raven and the raven.”

“Really?”

“Really,” I told him. “I like you for evermore.”

(Raven by: Nebraska Oddfish) 

Author’s Note:
This week I read the Alaskan Legends, which had the myths of the trickster-hero, Raven. The actual Raven in those myths is a bird that can turn into a man. I thought this was such a cool concept!

So, I brought the idea of a boy that can turn into a bird into a Young Adult story. As usual, it has some romance. I am now aware that nearly every story that I write is a YA Paranormal Romance or Urban Fantasy with romance. But I write what I like to read, and I always hope that other people like to read it too!

Also, if you’ve never read Edgar Allen Poe’s poem "The Raven", I suggest you do that now, like right now! It is a spectacular poem, and reading it will make their little inside joke make more sense!

Anyways, this story was fun to write! I was happy that I was able to fit both a romance and a character transformation into 1,000 words! That is hard to do. If you didn’t notice, Kyra is quite a dynamic character! She overcame her depression and was able to trust and depend on something. That sort of character transformation is usually hard to fit into a short story, so I’m pretty happy about that element.

Revenge: Best Served Under The Full Moon (Week 9 Storytelling)

(White Werewolf by: katmary)

(Warning: This story contains violence and difficult themes such as death and murder. If that is not your cup of tea, Laura said it's okay for you to choose another of my other stories. You can find my other stories in my Storytelling label.)

Revenge: Best Served Under The Full Moon

It’s a funny thing. Dying, I mean.

First there’s the shock, the whole: “Oh no! I’m dead”. (Insert explicative after explicative.)

The next part is when you realize that you’re not in Heaven, or Hell. No, you’re just a spirit, looking down at your dead body that's lying in the middle of the woods.

That’s when you find out how you died.

How did I die? Oh. I was murdered. You know, a big tragedy. My ex-boyfriend, that asshole Trent, his weird brother, and his best friend, stabbed me to death. So many times, in fact, that I looked like Swiss cheese in that ugly white sweater that I wanted to throw away, but mom insisted I kept it.

And then I died in that ugly sweater.

I remember it clearly. My death, I mean.

Trent did the stabbing. His weird brother had smashed my skull in, and Trent’s best friend? He watched the entire thing. Sure he said “stop” a few times--wide-eyed and mouth agape--but he never stopped them. He never called the cops.

What did I do to deserve this death? Not a thing. Nothing.

The only thing I was guilty of was a terrible taste in men, clearly.

But that’s not the end of my story. No, just the beginning for me.

I looked down at my body, and that’s when I saw something glow. I looked up and saw that the Full Moon--big and yellow--was shining down onto my body.

The next part is kind of a blur, but I was back in my body again. My wounds healed, and I was back to life.

But as soon as I started to get up, I doubled over. I felt like I was dying all over again.

Bones cracking and crunching. I wanted to claw my skin away, it felt like it was rippling over thin and moving muscles. That’s when I looked down and saw paws, claws, and white fur.

I had turned into a wolf.

I felt alive in whole new way. I ran through the woods, wild and free. Eventually I tired out, and fell asleep on the forest floor.

When I woke up I was human again.

At first I wanted to tell someone. I wanted to tell the cops, after all, I was murdered. I did die. But by some miracle under that moon, I came back, stronger and more alive.

How do you explain that anyway? Go to the cops and say, “Yeah, so, um, Trent, his weird brother, and his best friend killed me, but I came back, and now I’m a werewolf.”

“Yeah, okay, crazy person!” They would say--and then shove me into a mental ward for life.

So that was out of the question. But then I thought of a deliciously devious idea. But was it really devious to plot to kill your murderers?

I found the clothes I was murdered in, dressed in them and found my way home, and I acted like nothing happened. Not a thing at all.

“Mara, what happened to your sweater?” My mom asked me as I walked through the front door. Not even a, “Mara, where have you been all night?” or “Mara, are you okay?”
 
She wasn’t worried about me--she was worried about the sweater.

I pulled the sweater up and over my head. I looked her straight in the eyes as I tossed it into the trash.

A side effect of dying and becoming a werewolf? You grow a pair.

***

I went to school, walked by The Murderous Trio, and flashed the biggest grin at them.

Trent screamed various explicative after explicative, his brother probably peed himself, and his best friend? Cried.

“What’s wrong?” I said. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I went home after that. Another side effect of dying and becoming a werewolf? Apathy for school.

I waited until nightfall, waiting to turn into a wolf, but I never did. I guessed that it was true then what they say, that werewolves turn under the Full Moon.

I guess that’s also how I turned into one in the first place. There may not have been a God or a Heaven, but there sure as Hell was that moon shining over me.

I went to school everyday, just to walk by The Murderous Trio, and everyday I scared them. But they only knew half of my plan.

***

(Image from: Pixabay) 

 Finally after a month, it was the next Full Moon.

“I know what you did to Mara,” I wrote on a note, and left it in each of their lockers. I also said, “Tonight, go to where IT happened, or I’ll tell the Police.”
 
So, I went to the the woods. The Moon, full and shining, rose up to the sky. My bones cracked, and skin rippled, and I turned into a wolf again.
 
I howled in the distance and ran to the spot that I had died at. Sure enough Trent, his weird brother, and his best friend stood, shaking in their shoes.

I will spare you the gruesome details, but I chased them, and then I attacked them as brutally as they attacked me, and I didn’t stop until they were dead. I pulled them out of the light of the Full Moon, so that they wouldn’t come back from the dead.

They never woke up.

The next day it was all over the news: “Three teenagers attacked by a wild animal.” Along with their innocent faces from their school pictures, and…cue the crying parents! (Really tugs on your heartstrings doesn’t it?)

I laughed while they cried.

After all, would they have cried over them if they were actually convicted of my murder? If they were sentenced for life? If they were sentenced to death?

No one knew what really happened, and no one would ever know that that they had murdered me. No one even knew that I had died.

But that didn’t matter. I didn’t care.

“Such a tragedy,” they said on the news.

Hah. What a joke. It was my triumph. 

Author's Note:
This is what watching too many Law and Orders, reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (the author who also wrote Gone Girl,) and reading Young Adult Urban Fantasy (with vampires, shape-shifters and such) will do to you. (And Halloween is coming up soon, as well!)
   
The wolf idea specifically came from "The Wolf Man" in the Blackfoot Stories. In that story a man turned into part-wolf--with a wolf head and wolf hands. But my mind thought: werewolves! And thus, I set out to write a story about werewolves this week!

I knew I wanted to write a story about a teenage girl turning into a werewolf, so I looked up myths on how people turn into werewolves. I found two interesting myths on Werewolf.com that you can turn into a werewolf by having the Full Moon shine on you, and then another where you can turn into a werewolf from being brutally murdered under the Full Moon. I combined the two and ta-da!

Week 1 Storytelling: She Had A Little Faerie Husband

I HAD a little husband,

No bigger than my thumb;

I put him in a pint pot,

And there I bid him drum.

I bought a little horse,

That galloped up and down;

I bridled him, and saddled him,

And sent him out of town.

I gave him some garters

To garter up his hose,

And a little handkerchief

To wipe his pretty nose.

"I had a little husband"

(Traditional nursery rhyme)

~~~

Samantha always had one foot on the ground and another in the clouds. She daydreamed of all things mystical, magical, and extraordinary.

She believed in gnomes, and unicorns, and even leprechauns, but most of all? She believed in faeries!

Every night she poured a bowl full of sweet honey, and smaller one with the amber liquor from one of the bottles from her dad’s special cabinet.

Under each night sky, she placed the bowls in the garden of wild flowers and weeds behind her house, and whispered, “I hope you enjoy! I'd like to meet you some day.”

(Here be Fairies)

She felt foolish and giddy as she tiptoed back into her house.

One dewy morning, she returned to the wild garden, and she bent down to pick up the bowls. The honey and the liquor was gone, as always, but this time replacing the liquor was a small silver ring! It was so small that when she picked it up, it fell into the cracks of her palm.

She smiled to herself, whispered thanks, and taking the ring and the bowls, and skipped back into her house. The ring was far to small to place on her finger, so she strung it into a bit of thread and she tied it around her ring finger.

That night when she brought the bowls, she filled them with just a bit more honey and liquor than usual. She carefully bent down to place the bowls amongst the brush and bramble, but when she did she saw a small faerie boy atop a flower. He wasn’t much larger than her thumb.

“You've accepted my ring!” He cheered.

She cried out, and startled, she spilled the amber liquids all down her hands. Sticky and sweet.

“Oh no! Don't spill it all!” The boy cried out in a voice as small as a bird’s chirp.

He flew on wings translucent and fluttering like a dragon fly, and sat on the liquor bowl’s rim.

She murmured to herself and wondered, I must be dreaming! She pinched her skin, but upon feeling pain, but she couldn't be awake, could she?

She always said she believed in faeries, but she didn't really think they were real, she just liked to think so. But now?

He dipped his tiny hand unto the amber liquor and raised his hand up, like a glass was in it, and proclaimed, “To us!”

“To us?”

“You're wearing my ring,” he explained with a as matter of fact expression. He drank the liquor from his hand, and stepped off of the bowl. He stepped onto her hand, stroking the thread around her finger, with the tiny ring. “You do intend to be my wife, do you not?”

Wife? She wasn't even sure he really was in front of her! His form seemed to be blurring on he edges, as if he could disappear with the blink of her eyes.

“But, I mean, you can't be real, can you?”

“You just have to believe,” he said with a wide grin.

Believe? She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and when she opened her eyes again his form become whole again.

“Okay,” she said. She decided wanted to please the faerie. After all, she'd been giving the, offerings for years. So, if they were real—well, then why wouldn't she want a faerie husband?

She thought that he really was quite attractive: dark hair, dark eyes, smooth skin, and pointed eyes, but…he was so small!

“How am I to be your wife? You’re so—er, I'm so...tall…”

“It is no matter,” he told her, and he flew up to her lips and kissed her softly.

Suddenly she felt like her bones were rearranging. She cried out, closing her eyes in pain. 

When she opened her eyes, the boy was in front her her, and he was not much taller than she. Amazed, she looked around to see the wild flowers and weeds were as tall as trees.

“Come with me, my betrothed,” he said, and he held out his hand.

She took his hand and asked, “Where are we going?”

“We are off to my town, in the  land of the Fae, of course.” He smiled and with a great flutter of his wings, he lifted off the ground. His hand still held her, and tugged at her.

“But I can't—” She started to say.

“You can!”
She felt a strange sensation on her back, and hand in his, she flew away with him.

She had a little husband, and they lived happily ever in the land of the Fae!

The End (for now!)

Author’s Note: This story is based on the nursery rhyme "I had a little husband.” You can find the rhyme in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897.)

I'm a Professional Writing major at the University of Oklahoma. I've been making stories since I couldn't even write the alphabet (seriously, my mom would transcribe them for me!) 

Currently, I'm writing a young adult novel, that I will publish! If you didn't already guess, my favorite genre is fantasy! I particularly like fantasy involving supernatural creatures: vampires, demons, shapeshifters, and faeries of course!

When I looked through the aforementioned book of nursery rhymes, my crazy writer's brain immediately tried to turn one of them into a young adult supernatural fantasy! So, when I saw "I had a little husband," I thought: FAERIE! And, well the rest just popped up on the page thanks to my muse (or whatever it is in my crazy writer's brain that comes up with this stuff."

I hope you enjoyed my story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Week 7 Storytelling: True and Blue as the Sea

(Merman by Tenuki Handcrafts)

The sea was my escape.

The waves of the ocean took my salty tears, and washed them all away.

It was also where I found my treasures.

I found my first treasure, a green sea glass, when I was five. Each time I went to the sea, there was something beautiful there for me.

I first stored them in a shoebox, but as I grew over twelve years, the box became a chest in my room, holding my countless sea treasures.

When I was younger I imagined that mermaids put my treasures there. I talked to them sometimes, and I told them my name: Terra.

I still spoke to them sometimes.

One day I approached the sea, but there was no treasure waiting for me. I frowned, but I suddenly saw a glimmer of shining silver of a tail that looked like the tail of a dolphin.

I sat in shock, as I saw a flash of a boy’s face and then a human arm tossing a bottle cap to me.

“Wait!” I cried out, but as soon as I saw him, he was gone.

 The inside of the bottle cap said, “Happiness is on the horizon.”

I wondered if I was going crazy. Had a boy in the sea really given it to me?

***

The next day, when I reached the shore, I found a pearl lying on the sand.

“Are you there?” I called out softer, but then repeated louder.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I hoped that he was real, I needed him to be real. “Please! I just want to know I’m not crazy...”

“Don’t cry,” a voice called out.

I looked up, and saw the same boy, swimming in the water. If he had a tail I couldn’t see it.

He had a sun-kissed tan with many red tattoos and his right arm was covered with a sleeve of black tattoos. He had wild black hair that fell in tangles around his face, and chocolate brown eyes.

“Why did you throw me the bottle cap?”

He waded in the waters. He smiled with lips that looked like they would be soft to the touch. “To cheer you up.”

“Thank you…”

“You’re welcome,” He turned as if to swim into the depths of the ocean. “But, I must go.”

“But, you just got here!”

He turned around. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I promise.”

“Wait! Your name?”

“Kai!” He shouted, and dove into the ocean. Behind him his silver tail rose into the air and back down.

***

The next day I went to I went to the sea at the same time, and waited for Kai.

Not long after, he popped up from the water, smiling brighter than the sun that shone behind him.

He held something in his hand as he swam closer to me. “Hey, I got this for you!”

He swam closer and closer to the shoreline, exposing that his top half was muscular and well-defined. But where his hips were the long fish tail started. The scales on the tail shined like loose change.

“Wow,” I said and I didn’t really mean to.

“I know I’m freakish. I can go--”

“No! Please don’t go, I…” I like you a lot, but the words died somewhere in my throat.

He smiled, and held his hand out. There was a locket in his hand. It was beautiful, made of a small clam, and the chain was made of small sea shells.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“Like you…” He said softly, and sheepishly grinned.

I felt my cheeks warm.

“Here, I’ll put it on,” he said, and  as he put it on, each time his fingers accidentally touched my neck, I felt a warmth radiate through my body.

I turned back around, and we were too close together, but neither of us moved.

“I love it,” I whispered.

“Do you love my other treasures? All of them?”

“You mean, all this time it was you?”

“Yeah. I saw you the first time I went to the shore. You were much smaller then and so was I,” he explained. “You looked so sad, so I gave you one of my treasures. You looked so happy, so I did it every time since.”

“I have loved every one of them. I have them all,” I told them. “They’re up in my room, we can go--” I clasped my hand over my mouth.

“No, there is a way,” he said. “Under tonight’s Full Moon, there’s a chance that I can turn human. But there is another chance that I won’t make it through the night…”

“No!” I shouted. “You can’t!”

“Terra, I have watched you all of these years. I listened to every word. I dreamed of this day that I could reply to you.”

“But we just met--“

“No, we’ve known each other for years, you just didn’t know it.” He smiled. “Before we officially met, I was going to do the ritual anyway.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“Come back tonight,” he said, and before I could say anything, he dove into the ocean, and disappeared.

***

When I returned, the moon was full and reflected on the waters around him.

“Just in case,” he said, and he pressed his lips to mine into a kiss.

He pulled away from me, put his arms in the air, and shouted in a foreign language.
 The water started to bubble around him.

His eyes watered. “I love you, Terra, don’t forget.”

There were so many bubbles around him, and I was reminded of the real ending of The Little Mermaid, when she turned to sea foam. I cried out as he disappeared into the waves.

I ran into the waves and an undertow took me under.

When I opened my eyes I saw it was no undertow. It was Kai. He had pulled me with his arms, and was swimming with legs.

We swam up to the surface, hugging me against him.

“It worked!” I cheered.

“Yes, Terra. As true and blue as the sea, don’t you see? We are meant to be.”

Just one thing: how was I going to hide my newly-human boyfriend in my room?

THE END
(for now.)

Authors Note:
Sorry it it felt like it ended abruptly, or the plot moved too fast! I was running out of words (our max is 1,000!) It was quite challenging to keep such a big story contained in 1,000 words.

I was inspired by all of the merpeople that were in the Japanese Mythology that I read this week. (I was surprised by how many!) There wasn’t exactly a story with a romance like this in the myths. I took my own artistic liberties with that.

This was my first time writing about a merman, or merpeople for that matter, and it was really fun! There are so many mermaid stories, so I thought, how perfect for a Young Adult Romance with a merman! (If this is your first time reading one of my stories: I love writing Young Adult! I usually write about vampires or faeries, but I love all mystical creatures--inlcuding merpeople!)

Also, this time I tried to make a story that had an actual happy ending for once. I tend to write dark, bittersweet stories, but it’s good to have a sweet and happy ending sometimes!

Not only is it a happy ending, but an ending that is making me think of all the cute things that will happen. The antics of hiding her boyfriend in her room, having to buy him clothes, and adjusting him to human society. I wonder if her family would be supportive?

So many possibilities, and I just love Kai and Terra, so you may see a sequel to this one soon! (I hoped you guys liked them too!)

Week 6 Storytelling: The Fey Dance The Night Away

(Image by: Enchanted Ways)

The Fey Dance The Night Away

It wasn’t the first time that my mom threw a plate at me, it was the first time I threw one back at her. I didn’t want to find out what she was going to throw at me next, and that’s why I ran away from home.

Running out the back door, I could still hearing her screaming, so I kept running. I ran through the backyard, and into the woods behind our house. Tears blurred my vision, and I didn’t stop until I couldn’t hear her screams.

I finally looked around me, and away from the streetlights and porch lights, it was the darkest night I had ever seen. I could only see the faint grey shapes of trees.

I was lost, and as much as it frightened me, I also felt at ease. The forest seemed safer than my mother did.

I took a few steps, deeper into the forest, and that’s when I heard faint music! Flutes and drums and accordions playing somewhere in the distance.

I thought maybe I was going insane, but, what did I have to loose?

I wandered forward, and the music got louder. I saw light through the branches, and that lanterns hung on tree branches and illuminated the area.

There was a large circular clearing where the grass and brush was worn down. In the clearing was a party.

There were creatures dancing all around. They were beautiful. Some had a pale skin tone, that seemed to glitter under the lantern light, and others had skin in hues of green and purple and blue. All of them had wings like dragonflies on their backs.

On the edge of the circle, five of the creatures were playing music.

I realized that they were of the fey. But these faeries were unlike any faeries that I had heard of. These were as tall as humans.

Only one of them seemed to notice me, and he was the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen, though, he was no boy. He was definitely a faerie.

He had a cascade of wild black hair that fell in waves along his shoulders. His skin was pale, but glittered with gold glints, and he had large golden-tinted wings on his back. He wore an open brown vest, and a pair of loose brown pants that ended in a ragged edges at his knees.

I walked out of the trees, and some of the others noticed me.

“Join us! Join us!” Some of them cried out.

My first thought was that I didn’t know how to dance, and then my second thought was that I wasn’t sure if any of this was real at all.

But, then the gorgeous faerie boy stepped out of the circle, and he held out his hand with a wide smile on his face. “Dance with me, lovely.”

It wasn’t a question, but I’m sure he knew the answer.

I took his hand, and it felt so warm in my hand, and the heat radiated throughout my body. It was such a welcome feeling from the cold, dark forest that I was in moments ago.

“What is your name, lovely?” He asked me.

“Mara,” I told him. “And, you?”

“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” he said with a wink, and I felt a chill run across my skin.

He pulled me into the circle, and I was in the middle of the raucous crowd of dancing faeries. His hand still held one of mine, and the other was around my waist.

Before I could wrap my arm around his waist, someone passed a cup to me.

The liquid in the cup glowed yellow like the sun, and smelled sweetly. I took a sip, and then another, and soon the cup was empty. It tasted like honey, and sugar cookies, and warm summer days.

I was given another cup, but the boy took it from me. “You can’t drink too much, else you won’t make it through this night.”

“But it was so good," I whined. “I want more. I need more.”

“If it is misfortune that you wish,” he said, and handed the drink back to me.

I gulped it down, and soon the cup had emptied, and I tossed it to the ground.

My head felt light, but my feet felt lighter. I felt like I could dance the night away.

This night was amazing, I wanted to remember this night, each and every moment, and I never wanted to leave, and I realized I had said all of those things out loud.

“Well, then we shall not waste a moment,” he said, and he spun me around, and soon we were lifting off of the ground, dancing in the air thanks to his wings.
We danced for a while before we landed to the ground.

I broke away from his grasp, spinning around, and around on my own accord.

I stole a cup of the glowing drink from a faerie, and I drank it so fast that it dribbled down the sides of my mouth.

Everything blurred around me.

My feet were not my own, they were a slave to the flutes and drums and accordion music.

I don’t know how long I danced until my legs ached, and I needed to catch my breath, but I couldn’t stop dancing. But, at the same time all I wanted to do was dance.

I kept dancing, around, and around, and around again until I felt my body giving out from under me. Dawn peaked out from behind the trees, and I fell to the ground.

My eyes closed on their own. My breath was sallow, and I realized that I was dying.

“She shouldn’t have drank so much of our nectar,” I heard someone say.

“Greedy, greedy.”

“Not the first.”

“Won’t be the last.”

I felt a hand on mine, and I weakly opened my eyes to see the faerie boy.

“I am sorry, lovely. But, you didn’t listen.”

He kissed my lips before everything went black.

THE END

Author’s Note:
This week I read the Chinese Fairy Tales. I was inspired by the story, "The Night on the Battlefield.” In this story this man comes across a village, which turns out hadn’t existed at all! That village was full of ghosts. It made me think of how faeries are known for partying, and what if a girl came across a faerie party?

I was also inspired by my Extra Reading from last week, which was of Welsh Fairy Tales, and I learned about Fairy Rings. It’s supposedly a ring made in the grass from the faeries dancing around! So, that is why the faeries are partying in a big circle In the clearing.

This was originally going to be a happy, sappy, Young Adult Paranormal Romance where the girl gets the pretty faerie boyfriend. As you see that did not end up happening. I decided to take a more fairy tale approach. So, Mara has been too greedy, and so, as in the case of many fairy tale, she is punished, unfortunately by death. A little harsh, I know, but so were so many of the Chinese Fairy Tales that I read this week!

Also, remember the whole bit where Mara asks the faerie boy for his name and he says, “I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”? This is because it’s said that names are very sacred to faeries, and if you know their name you can hold power over them. I just wanted to give a nod to that interesting piece of faerie mythology.

On a final note, you have noticed that I spell it as “faerie” unless referring to “fairy tales”. This is because the term “fairy” is usually in reference to cutesy, childish, Tinkerbell sort of creatures.  On the other hand, “faerie” refers to the more human-like faeries that are seen in Young Adult Novels like Holly Black’s The Darkest Part of the Forest or Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely Series. These are also seen in the Adult series by  Laurel K. Hamilton’s Merry Gentry Series, or the TV show Lost Girl.

Week 5 Storytelling: The Little Witch's Mabon

(Halloween Witch Painting Blythe Insprited by Noelle)

Once upon a Mabon, the Little Witch and her Mother started to make the feast for the Sabbat. But when she started to make the Mabon Apple Bread, she was dismayed to find that she had no Apples.

"Little Witch, Little Witch, I need Apples for my Mabon Apple Bread," her Mother told her.

"Yes, Mother, I'll go to the Market to get them for you," said the Little Witch.

So, the Little Witch, went to the Market to get a couple of Apples, and found the Apple Stand.

"Apple Vendor, Apple Vendor, I need a couple of Apples," said the Little Witch.

"I am out of apples, Little Witch," he told her. "Go to the Orchard and get Apples from my Apple Picker, and bring some for me too."

So, the Little Witch ran to the Orchard and found the Apple Picker.

"Apple Picker, Apple Picker, I need a couple of Apples," said the Little Witch.

"I will give you my Apples, but first I need a Basket from the Basket Weaver," the Apple Picker told her.

So, the Little Witch went back to the Market, and found the Basket Weaver.

"Basket Weaver, Basket Weaver, I need a Basket," said the Little Witch.

"I will give you a Basket, but I first need Straw from the Farmer to weave it," the Weaver told her.

So, the Little Witch went to Farm nearby, and found the Farmer.

"Farmer, Farmer, I need Straw," said the Little Witch.

"I will give you Straw, but first I need a Sickle from the Blacksmith to cut the Straw," the Farmer told her.

So, the Little Witch went to the Blacksmith Shop and found the Blacksmith.

"Blacksmith, Blacksmith, I need a Sickle," said the Little Witch.

"I will give you a sickle, but first I need Iron from the Miner to forge the Sickle," the Blacksmith told her.

So, the Little Witch went down into the Mintes and found a Miner.

"Miner, Miner, I need Iron," said the Little Witch.

"You are in luck. I have just mined a cart full of Iron," he told her. "Here you go, Little Witch."

So, the Little Witch went: to the Blacksmith who forged her a Sickle with the Iron, to the Farmer who cut the Straw with the Sickle, to the Weaver who weaved a Basket with the Straw, to the Apple Picker who placed a couple of Apples in the Basket, to the Apple Vender to bring him some Apples.

And then finally, the Little Witch went home and gave her Mother the Basket full of Apples.

Her Mother thanked her, and started to make the Mabon Apple Bread.

"Oh no!" Her Mother exclaimed. "We're out of Flour!"

The End

Author's Note:
I based my story off of the cumulative tale, The Sad Tale of the Mouse's Tale. If you aren't familiar with a cumulative story, well, you should have a pretty good idea of how that works after reading my story. I have never written something like this, so it was definitely a Growth Mindset challenge for me! My usual things are first-person fantasy involving Vampires or Faeries. But, as you see, I didn't stray too far as far as characters go. Today is the Pagan (and therefore Wiccan) holiday of Mabon! It celebreates the second harvest, and is basically a Pagan/Wiccan Thanksgiving. With this holiday or Sabbat as it is called by Pagans/Wiccans, I thought of a Mabon-themed cumulative tale! This was a lot of fun to write. I do feel bad for the bittersweet ending, but I had to kind of keep in the spirit of the story that I based it on!

Week 4 Storytelling: Matty Was Missing

(Spellbook by: Eclipse_ETC)

WARNING: This story is mystery/horror. There is some graphic violence, a bit of gore, and it deals with some difficult themes. --If that's not your cup of tea, please don't read. I don't want to upset or trigger anyone.

**If it's required that you read my story, but don't want to read it, THEN read last weeks story, or the story from the week before.

Matty Was Missing

Matty was missing.

For someone who was missing, I couldn't run away from him, even if I wanted to.

We lived in a small town, where everyone knows everyone and everything. So, when Matty went missing, the missing person posts went everywhere the next day, was all the local news talked about.

Everyone had their idea of where he was. That he ran away. That he killed himself. That the serial killer, the Night Wriath, got him. Afterall, he'd killed teenage boys in the counties near us.

I shook my head at each speculation, because Matty was still alive for all we knew. 

He had to be alive...

Afterall, there was no evidence to say otherwise. All anyone knew was that Matty's blue Volkswagen Beatle was found, abandoned, in a mall parking lot. That he hadn't made any purchases since he's been missing. That I was the last person to see him.

He was happy then. It had been a full moon, and as we were both Wiccan, we did Full Moon Rituals for happiness and prosperity, and he left my house with his big smile on his face. Yeah, it was late, midnight or so, but he always left late like that.

I held onto the pentacle Matty had given me, it was on a black string, with letter beads that spelled out, "Willow", my name. 

I relied on the white magic behind Wicca. I tried every spell I could think of. I begged my Patron Goddess, Isis, to find him.

But Matty was still missing and it had been a week.

One night I fell to the ground, and I cried out, "If there is anyone out there, good, evil, help me find Matty!"

I cried a long time, and I guess I eventually fell asleep.

When I dreamt, I was in a forest that I'd never been in. I felt ike there was a string attached to me, and someone was pulling me along through the forest, until the pull stopped in a clearing.

When I looked in front of me, I screamed. 

Matty was looking at me with lifeless, white eyes, his head on the ground. The rest of his body was in pieces, scattered around me.

I jolted awake, and started to get out of bed to turn a light on, as if that would chase away the nightmare. But, when I did, I saw dirt in my bed, and covering my legs. I jumped onto the floor, and stepped away from the bed, but I wished I stayed in bed.

When I looked down, Matty's lifeless head was looking up at me, and his body was spread around him. There was a brown book next to him.

I look at Matty again, so I pushed him under my bed. I picked up the book, and saw that the title was, "Spells."

There was a piece of paper wedged in it like a bookmark, and I turned to that page. The page said, "A Spell of Resurrection." 

There was no way that this was white magic, it couldn't be.

I saw that the piece of paper read, "You're Welcome. ~Asmodeous." A demon. This was black magic.

But Matty wasn't missing. Matty was dead, and he was under my bed.

Matty was my first love, and we had two amazing years together. I needed Matty.

I had to do the spell. I had to use black magic.

The spell read, "Requirements: needle and thread, chalk, knife, five candles, and one soul."

But, if it took my soul to bring Matty back, then I would do it.

I looked down at Matty, and I closed his white eyes. I gritted my teeth as I picked up each body part and sewed Matty's body back together. 

I drew a pentagram, along with the required symbols around it. I then placed the candles on each point of the star. I lit the candles, and cut my palm, dripping blood on Matty.

In a shaky voice I read the spell outloud.

After I spoke the words, nothing happened. I sighed. I was feeling numb all over. I was like an empty shell.

Suddenly Matty's fingers twitched, and then his hands closed and opened, and then his eyes opened, no longer white, but blue and full of life!

He groaned and started to sit up.

"Matty..." I whispered. But, I saw that I was no longer in my body. I was next to my body, but when tried to touch Matty, my hand went through him.

He sat up, and the thread I had sewn him together with faded, and he was completely back to life.

He looked in horror as he saw my lifeless body. He cradled my body in his arms, screaming, "Willow!" Over and over again.

I was screaming, but he couldn't hear me.

My parents ran in, shocked, and rushed to my now, lifelfess body, being held by the now, full of life Matty.

I screamed, but no one could hear me.

The floor suddenly cracked open, with fire crackling. Matty didn't seem to see it.

A grey-skinned man with long black hair flew out of the crack on black wings. He tipped a wide brimmed hat. "Nice to meet you."

"Asmodeous," I said. "What have you done?"

"Me?" He said and laughed. "That was all you. You asked, and you received."

"But what's happened to me?"

"Well, let's see..." He snapped his fingers and the Spell Book was in his hands. He opened it to the Resurrection Spell page. "Requirements: Needle and thread, blah, blah, blah, and…OH,, and what's this? A soul."

"But, doesn't that happen when I die?"

"It happens when I want your soul, and I want your soul..." He said softly and slowly, but in a furious flap of his wings he was in front of me. His eyes were ablaze with a orange fire and he roared, "NOW!"

                                                                     END

Author's Note: First of all, sorry if this was too creepy and dark! I guess Halloween coming soon is on my mind! Secondly, Matty was murdered by the serial killer, the Night Wraith. I didn't really have room or a chance to fully explain that.

Anyways, you're probably wondering how on earth I got all of this from mythology, right? 

I chose the reading unit: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories. 

I borrowed the idea of cutting one's head off from The Tale of King Rhampsinitus. That got me thinking about how the head was going to be re-attached, and I thought of a Frankenstein sort of concept. 

The Spell Book was borrowed from The Book of Thoth. I don't know if The Book of Thoth is supposed to be good or evil. However, thinking about spells and magic made me think of good and evil magic, and the consequences of using black or evil magic. 

And, if you noticed, I snuck in that Willow's Patron Goddess is Isis, who I learned about from this week's reading unit!

This story is mostly a moral story about being careful about what you ask for. As a second moral, it warns against using black magic. I was happy that my story actually had morals, as my stories don't usually. I didn't even mean for it to have a moral--it just ended up that way!

ALSO, I was in the mood for something different today, but there will be more vampire or faerie stories soon!

Week 3 Storytelling: Bloodstained Phantom Kisses

(Phantom by: Marc Mathiew)

Bloodstained Phantom Kisses

Each day I wondered if today would be the day that They'd finally kill me.

The cramped jail cell was so cold--cold metal bars, cool stone floor--and it was so quiet that I could hear my blood pumping through my veins.

Only silence, until I heard His voice.

“Hello,” he had whispered. His voice seemed so smooth like the finest fabrics of satin—no, silk.

I jumped, thinking it was my captors. I must have gasped, because he replied, “Don’t worry—I’m not one of Them.. I’m here just like you.”

“Where are you?” I asked, softly.

“Over here,” he said.

I followed his silky voice grasping at it like it was a rope tied with scarves to the wall, until I reached the wall on my right side.

There was a thin crack in the stone wall.

I looked through the crack, and faintly saw warm, chocolate, brown eyes and a smooth smile. His eyes gazed upon me, and we studied each other like a painting. Though, he seemed like the finer painting.

He was a masterpiece to me.

We didn’t say anything else. We just sat, listening to each other’s breaths, and there was something comforting in each exhale, and inhale. Alas, we were alive, for now at least.

His breaths were like a lullaby to me, and I had fallen asleep to it.

The next day I woke to a clatter of a bowl of porridge against the stone floor. They wanted us to eat, because they needed our life, they needed our blood.

Those damn Bloodsuckers owned the world, and we were cattle to them.

I had tried for so long to escape this fate, living in forests with packs of people, we were like wolves.

But just like that, one day, someone forgot to put out the campfire, who was it? Oh well, it doesn’t matter now… After all, they bit into my pack like they were cherries, red blood dripping down the sides of their mouths. And, when the Bloodsuckers were full, they locked the rest of us into cages, so they could eat us later.

I saw the huge, black metal castle, with it’s pointed towers and turrets, before they shoved us into the dungeon of the Vampire King’s Castle.

And I had been alone, until I heard His voice.

“Good morning,” he said softly. Gods, his voice was like honey.

“Well, ‘good’ being a relative term.”

“Another day alive, it is a good day.” I could hear him slurping the porridge from the bowl, and his slow chewing. He smacked his lips with each bite.

I remember someone from my pack eating like that, lips smacking and all, and I’d tell them to stop that. It was an annoying sound before. Now it was comforting. Every sound from him sang to me like music. As he had said, it meant we were alive.

I looked at him through the crack in the wall, and with each day, he seemed as if he were part of the wall. Perhaps the selfish and vain part of me, felt as if he were made there just for me.

Every morning started with his “good morning”, and we talked for days, about nothing really. We didn’t talk about Them, or about who we were before we were prisoners. No, we talked about nonsense like why the sky’s blue, or how clouds are there, or if human’s will ever reclaim the world, and what that would be like.

One day I asked him for his name.

“Thisbe,” he told me. “And you?”

“Pyra.”

He pressed his face against the crack in the wall, and he pursed his lips. I pressed to the crack, but only felt stone.

“I love you, Pyra” He whispered, his warm breathes hitting my lips like phantom kisses.

“And I you.”

We sat there like that for a while. Unable to touch, because of the stone wall between us.

Each day was a good day with him next to me.

But, one day, I awoke, to the clatter of the bowl of porridge dropping on the cool cement.

There was no “good morning” from the cell next to mine. I  didn’t hear his slow chewing, his lips smacking, or his breathing.

My heart lurched as I heard silence from the cell behind me. Like before He was there, all I could hear was my blood pumping and racing through my veins.

“Are you there?” I called out. I didn’t even bother whispering.

There was no reply.

I looked through the crack in the wall, and there were no brown eyes gazing back, or smiling lips. There was only darkness.

“Dammit, you can’t do this to me!” I shouted. “They can’t take you away!”

I punched the wall, the stone hurting my fists, but I didn’t care.

I sat by the wall for a long time, waiting for his breaths, for his silky voice, for anything. Eventually I had hit the wall so hard that a chunk of stone fell down next to me.

I raised the stone up to my eyes. It was sharp like a knife.

Any day now they were going to kill me. And without Him it would be unbearable.

Stone cut my skin until the red blood ran along the cold stone floor, like a river. I lay in my blood, waiting to die like I was waiting to fall asleep. It took longer than I’d thought.

“I’m back,” he said softly, through the crack in the wall.

By now I was so cold, and so tired, and I couldn’t move. I could hardly speak. My life was flooding away from me and onto the cold stone floor.

“I thought they’d killed you…”

“No, they drank from me, but brought me back.”

He must have looked through the crack because he cried out. His voice was shaky as he shouted, “Don’t die on me, please!”

“I'm aorry...but, it’s too late..” I whispered.

I felt my body tearing, like a page was being torn from a book, and my soul separated from my body. I floated away from my body, and saw so much blood around it.

My hands were transparent, as was the rest of my body.

I floated into the cell next to mine, and stood next to Thisbe, but he couldn’t seem me. He had broken off a piece of of stone, himself. I saw so much blood flood from his body, and around him.

His blood seeped under the wall, and into mine. The only part of us in life that had touched, would be in our death.

Thisbe’s soul appeared in next to me. He grabbed my translucent hand, and then pressed his ethereal lips to mine, into a cold phantom kiss. It wasn’t just his voice, his breathes, his sounds. I finally had him, and he had me.

We would be stuck in this jail cell for eternity, but at least he was there with me.

In death we were finally together.

(Image by: Sherry at Astrology Junction)

Author’s Note:
I read Ovid’s Metamorphosis Book I this week, and I absolutely fell in love with the story of Pyramus and Thisbe! I thought, what if the wall between them was because they were in jail cells next to each other? And, ta-da! Also, I gender-bent the two! So, in the original story Pyramus is the guy, and Thisbe is the girl. In this I switched them. I love challenging gender roles and such, so that’s why I did that.

Now, you’re probably wondering: why vampires?

Because, I took the Vampire King’s Castle from my other story, The Vampire Prince’s Masquerade. Check out that story--it’s an entirely different perspective from the “Bloodsuckers” (so-called by Pyra.) Both stories were from the same world, where Vampire’s rule the world, and humans are (as you learned) treated like cattle.

This story was in the perspective of the humans, and it was quite different from The Vampire Prince’s Masquerade,  wasn’t it? The Vampire’s definitely have it better, that’s for sure!

Anyways, the Shakespearean tragic ending was also a nod to the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. However, I’m a sucker for bittersweet endings, if my ending of this story is any indication of that! So, my ending did differ from the original myth, but I think it’s better that way anyway!

Also, I am very excited as I have now created this interesting world. Look forward to future stories in this same world, in perspectives of either vampires, humans, or maybe other creatures as well!

Week 2 Storytelling: The Vampire Prince's Masquerade

(Image from: Celia Chamizo)

When I got the invitation to the Prince of Vampire’s Masquerade Ball, I tossed it in the trash can. I wasn’t much for wearing big frilly dresses or constricting corsets--and don’t get me started on heels.

The invitation had said that it was time for the older of two Prince of Vampires to find his princess, and so the invitation was sent to all eligible women of age. I had the age, and apparently I was eligible, but I had no desire in becoming a princess.

But, my nosy mother spotted the invitation in the trash, and told me if I didn’t go to the ball, I couldn’t go to Night School.

I turned into a vampire when I was 13, like all blood-vampires, but I didn’t let that stop me. Now 16, I still didn’t let my being a vampire stop me from doing things I enjoyed as a human, like school.

So, I found myself at the Royal Vampire’s castle in a big frilly dress, with a constricting corset, and heels that were half a foot tall. My mom had bought all of it just for the occasion.

The ball was at a castle that was beautiful, to say the least. The outside was impressive—walls made of cold black metal, with sharp, pointed turrets. The inside of the castle was equally impressive, black marble flooring and columns, the walls red and black.

The ball was in the massive front hall. There were black candles all along the walls, that dripped red candle wax, and around the room were three fountains that flowed red—after all, blood would be the only thing the attendees of the ball could consume. There were also several black metal tables with two chairs.

It was a beautiful castle, suited for a vampire king or a prince, and that’s exactly who lived there. The Vampire Prince, Alastair, and his brother, Adrian, lived there with his father, the Vampire King.

Everyone who was anyone in vampire society was here, along with every 16 year old vampire in the area.

There was an entire orchestra in one side of room, that played soft classical music. 

I sat at one of the tables that was on the edge of the room. I took my high heels off and threw them under the table--I was sick of feeling like I was walking on stilts.

I dully looked around. Everyone, including myself, was wearing a masquerade mask. Mine was made of cold, black metal.

No one had ever seen Prince Alastair. 

It was a big ordeal when vampire’s turned 16 that they find their mate—its the only way to keep the bloodline going. So, we marry at 16, and have kids, and then life is all domestic and homey, and I didn’t want any of that. I won’t mind being considered a spinster if it means I can stay independent.

They kept Prince Alastair’s image secret in order to avoid any prejudices when he was to find a mate. It was their way of avoiding girl’s just after his money. That was the same reason why Prince Adrian would not be shown until he was sixteen.

I idly wondered if the prince was here, among the crowd. Not that I cared too much, I had no intention of being too eligible for the prince. As much as my mom wanted, I did not want to be a princess. One night of dresses and corsets was enough for a lifetime.

I shifted uncomfortably in my dress. I wanted to take the thing off and change into some leggings and a loose t-shirt.

I don’t know how long I sat, bored, staring at the dancing people until I watched as a boy, that was my age, appeared in front of me.

He had tight black formal pants, a velvet waistcoat, and a shirt underneath made of black silk. He wore a black, metal masquerade mask that looked identical to mine. Except whereas mine covered my eyes and the bridge of my nose, his covered his entire face. There were holes that showed his eyes and lips.

He had blue-black hair that fell in front of his face, and framed the sides of his face.

He extended a leather-gloved hand. “May I have this dance?”

“I don’t dance,” I told him.

He dropped his hand, and his lips spread into a soft grin. “I don’t either, but it is a ball, after all.”

I groaned. “I don’t even want to be here.”

“Me neither,” he admitted. “My father forced me to attend.”

“Same, except—well, my mom forced me,” I said. “She keeps bothering me, telling me to find the prince—but I don’t care. I don't want to be a princess.”

"Why's that?" He smiled again, and sat at the table with me. “I mean, all the other girls won’t shut up about it.”

“Because, I like going to Night School, and want to go to college when I graduate," I explained. "And, well, being a princess doesn’t exactly fit into the equation.”

He nodded knowingly. “I’d like to go to Night School, but I’m home schooled, overly protective parents, ya know?”

“Right? It took me so long to convince my mom to let me go!” I said, and I smiled for the first time that night. "Sometimes I wonder if life would be easier if I was human.

"As do I," he said and looked at me with a morose expression. "So, what do you want to major in at college?"

"Writing! I want to be an author," I told him. 

We talked for a while about school, and writing, apparently he enjoyed writing poetry and song lyrics—but he wouldn’t sing any of them.

“C’mon, I want to hear!”

“Oh no, I don’t sing.”

"And I don't dance..." I grinned a wicked little grin and I held my hand out to him. “How about if I dance with you, will you sing for me?"

He considered it for a moment before he said, “You have a deal.”

We stood up, and he didn’t let go of my hand, he held it as we walked into the crowd of dancing people.

He really was handsome, and I wondered if he was just has handsome under his mask.

We waltzed through the crowd. He knew how to dance quite well, and I kept stepping on his toes. I apologized each time, but each time the told me not to apologize.

As soon as the song ended, we stood, standing a little too close together. My hand was in his, and his arm was wrapped around me. I felt warm and like my heart might break free from my ribcage.

“So the song?” I asked,

“I just came up with one,” he told me. His eyes flickered across my face. He sang softly, in a silky voice:

“Just met  this girl,
Not like any other.
She’s here,
Just ‘cause of her mother.
But, I, wouldn’t have,
I wouldn’t have, any other…”

I realized what silly, stupid grin I had on my face, so I covered my face with my hand.

“No,” he said softly, and he put his hand other mine. “Don’t cover your face. You are beautiful…um..? I never asked for your name?”

“Celia,” I told him. My hand felt electric under his.

He took my hand in his and moved our hands, so my face showed.

“And you?” I asked, my voice just a breath louder than a whisper.

His lips spread into a smirk. “Alastair.”

“Like…”

“Prince Alastair.”

My mouth was gaped open in surprise.

He let go of my hand, and placed it on the side of my face. He slipped my mask off, and I reached up, and removed his. He was even more handsome than I thought, smooth creamy skin, dramatic cheek bones, and a strong jawline.

“Will you be my Princess, Celia?” He asked. But, before I could respond, he bent down and pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss.

Against his lips, I whispered, “Yes.”

##

Author’s Note:
I based this off of this week’s reading: Cupid and Psyche. The element that I took from Cupid and Psyche, was the part where Psyche didn’t know who her husband was, and how she didn’t know that he was a handsome prince. So,  that’s how I came up with the masquerade masks and that the guy she met was actually the prince! The vampires had nothing to do with Cupid and Psyche. Vampires are in here purely because I adore vampires, and as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I enjoy writing Young Adult Fantasy (especially paranormal romance!)

(Image from: Celia Chamizo)