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FICTION WRITING

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Fiction: Welcome

THE HUNGER GNAWS

By Christina LeVey-Rowland

She dangles her hand off the side of the bed unknowingly tempting you with her delicate flesh. You remember the taste, the satisfying feeling of fullness. Unable to resist any longer you slink from the recesses, your yellow, aged claws flexing, old bones creaking like wooden floor boards in an empty hallway. You're not as strong as you once were.

"Soon the fear that feeds you will again be yours."

Your approach is slower than you remember. Your steps halting and uncertain. Traveling on shadows used to be much swifter. You pause as the space around you shifts; something isn't right. The walls are no longer pink. Gone are the winged horses and fairy tale princesses. The dollhouse is missing. In its place sits a glowing square of light. You raise an arm and hiss softly.

"Hurry. Before it's too late."

Each step takes enormous effort and your breathing is labored, the air whispers through you like wind moaning through branches long dead. Your slivered eyes search for the raggedy bear she clings to, desperate for something familiar; something to let you know all is not lost.

Your scarred skin, once stretched taut over rippling muscle, now shrivels and erodes into the air like Sandman's sleeping powder.

It's gone. It's all gone. Sometime between then and now she aged and grew. She moved on and forgot all about you hiding in the closet, in the darkest corner, under the bed. As the last shred of you vanishes into distant memory you realize...

"She wasn't afraid of you anymore."
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I wrote this piece as a response to a writing prompt in my Facebook writing group (Growing Up Writerly). The prompt said to write something that ends with "She wasn't afraid of you anymore." I really liked my piece, so I wanted it to be share it here, too. 

Fiction: Widget

"COME AS YOU ARE, LEAVE ANEW."

By Christina LeVey-Rowland

The invitation in my hand was simple in design; blocky lettering in shimmering, mother of pearl against charcoal black. I had read very little about this place. Any mention of it was always removed immediately from message boards and websites. Bloggers who had tried to expose the establishment were silenced, their pages suddenly showing nothing but "404."

I didn't think it really existed, just an urban legend, until Seth showed up to work a completely new man. He left on Friday a beaten down, worn out, slovenly grump and returned Monday with a spring in his step, a wink in his eye, and wearing a tie without coffee stains for once. Even so, it was more than just some outward enhancements. He was a different man. Not literally of course.

Though...

I smacked the invitation against the open palm of my left hand as I glanced around my quiet surroundings, straining to hear anything from beyond the door. Even just a couple sounds to give me a clue as to what I was in for if I went in would help me decide. But it was silent. Too silent. How could this place be so quiet? This was too weird, I shouldn't be here. This wasn't for me.

I had just made up my mind to leave when the door in front of me silently opened.
My breath caught in my throat, I was parched. The foyer beyond the threshold was dimly lit, like a movie theater. I should leave. I should not go in there. I had a report due on Monday and a bathroom faucet at home that needed fixing. I should turn around and walk away.

And yet...

My feet carried me forward as if of their own accord and I stepped into the darkened room. The door shut behind me without even a whisper and a cool lightness washed over me.

"Welcome," voices greeted me from somewhere beyond my sight. They were masculine and feminine all at once, each one echoing the other. I wasn't sure if, or how, I should respond and my throat was paper dry now. I couldn't have spoken even if I wanted to.
The space around me was empty, just a marble floor surrounded by dark walls. Suddenly a light winked on before me shining down on a small table that I hadn't noticed before. Had it even been there? On the table rested a small silver tray on which a crystal vial sat. Inside the vial was a shimmering substance; a soft blue smoke rolling and undulating, wanting to be free.

"Are you predator," the voices surrounded me again, the sound like fingertips caressing my neck. "or prey?"

I stared at the vial, the roiling substance growing brighter under my gaze. I barely registered the invitation slipping from my grasp as I reached for it. It needed me. I needed it.

"Predator or prey?" The voices were repeating the question over and over; the echo inside my head almost maddening as the room grew warmer.

I lifted the stopper from the vial and watched as the smoke drifted up in ribbons toward my face. I inhaled, my head snapped backward, eyes rolling back as my vision filled with images of parting grasses, the ground racing under my feet, satin sheets, and tensing limbs. My ears filled with the sound of thundering footfalls and labored breathing. The scent of Leather. The feel of Lace. The crack of a whip. My head snapped forward again as my body trembled and quaked.

"Predator or prey?"

The vial fell from my hands to the floor. I never registered a noise. All I heard was the question over and over in my ears. My upper lip curled into a snarl, I flexed my fingers and ran my hands through my hair as a curtain parted to my left. My head rolled slowly in its direction and I stalked toward the red lit hallway.

"Predator," I growled.

Fiction: Widget

GENDER REVEAL

By Christina LeVey-Rowland

"Alright, Lily, one more push should do it," the doctor encouraged.
"You can do it, babe," Gabriel smoothed his girlfriend's hair back, the sweat from her brow slicking the strands.
Lily groaned and threw her head back in exhaustion.
"Come on, Lily," the doctor demanded. "One more big push."
Gabriel grabbed Lily's hand.
With a determined nod, Lily sat up, leaned forward and as Gabriel placed his other hand on her back, she bore down with one final push to bring her child into the world.
"Oh my God..." the doctor breathed.
Lily fell back against her pillow completely spent.
"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked, the excitement in his voice fading to concern and fear.
The nurse screamed in horror and ran, stumbling from the room knocking over equipment in her haste to escape.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" An exhausted Lily asked weakly from the bed, completely oblivious to the eruption.
"It's a monster!" The doctor exclaimed.

Before Gabriel could respond the doctor unceremoniously heaved the child onto Lily's chest and bolted from the room following the nurse.
The lights dimmed and began to flicker and the temperature began to rise.
Gabriel stared after the doctor in shock before looking down at the mewling infant his girlfriend now held in her quivering arms. The child's skin was pale and still covered in the blood and mucus of birth, but more startling was the long tail that twitched and curved around Lily's arm as she held the child close to her breast.
"Oh my..." she whispered in awe.
Gabriel stood in shock staring at the pair, his eyes widening as the child opened its mouth to cry, revealing a tiny forked tongue with each hissing wail.
"There, there," Lily cooed, nuzzling the child's face gently. The infant's cries calming at its mother's touch. "Oh Gabe, look what we made...together," Lily said, reaching out for his hand, grasping it tightly.
Slowly he moved in closer, staring down at this child, his child. He watched as it slowly opened its eyes to stare back at him, the irises a flickering shade of yellow and orange surrounding a serpentine black void.
"What do you think?" Lily asked, looking from their child to him.
Gabe tentatively reached out, his fingers lightly trailing over the child's cheek.
"She's beautiful..."

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I wrote this for a website where the prompt was to write about Lucifer as female.

Fiction: Widget
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