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A New series from author Anne Marie LaPorte, `The Pom Pom Diaries` is about a teenaged girl, Alyssa McCann, looking forward to starting high school and a guaranteed position on the Junior Varsity Team waiting for her. Her world crashes around her when she learns that her father has lost his job and they are weeks away from moving across the country to live with family. She is forced to say good bye to all of her friends, the only home she has ever known and her spot on the squad. She tries to be strong for her father, but how is a cheerleader supposed to fun! ction if she doesn't have a squad to cheer her on?
“What?!?” Alyssa McCann demanded angrily. She stood in the middle of the living room staring at her father in disbelief. Moments later, Alyssa found herself running from the room, not sure whether she was about to cry or start screaming. She knew she felt something bubbling to the surface and wanted to head for the safety and sanctuary of her bedroom before the flood gates let loose unleashing a raging torrent on her father.
She had just heard what could quite possibly be the second worst news she had ever heard in her life. The worst news she had ever heard was still hearing that her mother had passed away after being diagnosed with cancer but this was a close second.
Roger McCann stood in the centre of the living room, watching his daughter as she dashed up the stairs.
“That went better than expected,” He muttered under his breath. Feeling his shoulders begin to droop, he found himself slumping onto the couch. It seemed as if his legs had just given out on him along with his resolve.
He had known when he sat Alyssa down that her reaction to this particular piece of news would not be good. He knew she would not respond with a perky “Wow! That is awesome news Daddy! When do we move?”
The moment Roger, who had prepared himself for a literal war of words with his daughter, had seen the hurt look in her eyes; he knew how badly the news had affected her.
He sat on the couch, mentally reviewing all the options available to them. Sadly, it did not take long at all as their options were limited.
Roger wished he could find another way out of the mess he now found himself in. But as his father often told him “Wishing is useless without a plan.” And so far the plan had not gone over well with Alyssa.
There were so many things Roger had wanted to say to Alyssa, to explain to her that life is not always what you want it to be. IN fact. Life rarely ever turns out quite the way you expect; the complete opposite in most cases.
He knew he had sheltered her as much as he could from the unfairness of life. IN retrospect, maybe he had tried too hard to make life easier on her but; after her mother had passed away he wanted to protect her as much as he was able.
He hoped that she knew that if he had more say in the matter, they would never have to move away from their home. But, lately when it came to his own life he was just a spectator. He did not like the idea of moving anymore than she did but with his job gone and no money coming in there was no way they could afford to keep the house
...
The door flew open and Alyssa flew into her room, slamming the door behind her. She threw herself onto her bed just as the tears started flowing. Feeling the hot wet tears streaming down her cheek, she brushed them away with the sleeve of her shirt.
Deep down inside, Alyssa realized she was just making the situation harder on her father and herself by reacting the way she had to her father's news. It had been all too much for her.
She had always considered herself to be a very adaptable person but then again her life had not been turned upside down all that much in her fourteen years. True, her mother had passed away just after she had turned seven but she had not really realized what was happening. She knew that her mother was sick and she knew that her mother had gone away and was not coming back but it really did not sink in for her until after the funeral that her mother really was not coming back – ever.
Alyssa lay curled up on her bed, her knees pulled tightly to her chest. The tears now flowed freely.
“Why is this happening to me?” She asked herself.
As soon as she thought it, another though popped into her mind. It was not happening to her and her alone. It was happening to both of them.
Her father had just lost his job. The powers that be in their infinite wisdom in all things business related had decided they did not need four people in her father’s department. Why had four people on salary when you could have three doing the work of four?
And now in a few weeks - fifteen days to be exact - Alyssa and her father would be moving away from the only home she had ever known. This house held so many memories for her.
Alyssa rolled over in her bed. She looked at her dresser, dominated by a large collection of framed pictures. She smiled sadly when she saw the picture of her and her mother. It had been taken the last time they had gone down to California to visit her Aunt Michelle.
That trip was the last one they had taken as a family before her mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away.
The real reason Alyssa felt so freaked out by moving away began to bubble to the surface. She rose from her bed and walked over to the dresser. She picked up the photograph of her mother, cradling it to her chest as a young child might hold a teddy bear.
Deep down, Alyssa was fully aware that there was nothing she could do to stop this from happening. It did not matter how much of a fuss she kicked up. It did not matter how much she begged and pleaded with her father. At the end of the month, they would be moving away.
Maybe if her life were some sort of fairy tale, everything would come together in the end. As of yet, she had no indication that her life was a fairy tale. Happily ever after was just a plot device designed to give the readers the warm fuzzies at the end of a book. Happily ever after was not something real.
Her father was not going to somehow miraculously win the lottery and Alyssa was more than one hundred percent sure they were not going to hit the mother lode or find an oil deposit in their backyard.
They were going to move away. To Alyssa, moving away meant more than moving away from the house. They would also be leaving behind lifetime of memories. She would be leaving behind all the memories of her mother.
Alyssa’s hand passed over a stuffed bear in a cheerleading suit as she reached behind it and picked up another picture.
IN the picture, there were three girls, Alyssa and her two best friends Bergie and Carla. They were all dressed in matching uniforms in the same colours as that of the bear sitting on her dresser.
Alyssa had been friends with both Bergie and Carla for most of her life. She had no idea what she would do if they were not in her life or if she never saw them again.
Alyssa and Bergie had been friends for as long as she could remember. Their mothers had been friends since high school. They had been born within days of each other. When they started kindergarten, they met Carla and from then on the three were inseparable.
One of the things they shared a passion for was cheer-leading. They had all managed to get onto the Junior High Squad together. When they found out that Alyssa had been offered a spot on the Junior Varsity squad in the fall, Bergie and Carla started preparing for try-outs so that they could all cheer together in high school, continuing the tradition.
If they did not make it onto the squad they still had the All-Star squad they were all members of. An All Star squad is a cheer leading squad that is not associated with a school. The main aim is not to cheer for a team but to get out there are perform, cheer to the best of your ability. A school team may or may not compete in cheer leading competitions but an All Star team lives for the competition.
Thinking about the Junior Varsity squad, Alyssa came to a sudden realization, making her life feel as if it were truly about to fall part. This fall, she would be starting high school at a new school. A school where she would not know one single person. A school where she would have no friends what so ever. And to make matters even worse, starting at a new school also meant she would be losing her spot on the junior Varsity Squad.
“I think I'm gonna be sick,” Alyssa muttered to herself.
She thought about all those long hours she spent perfecting her gymnastic skills in order to get onto both the junior high squad and the All-Star squad and felt as if she could burst into tears. Alyssa had been looking forward to when school started up in the fall and getting back to cheer leading
Alyssa felt the need to vent. So she picked up the phone and dialled.
...
"What do you mean you’re moving?!? Since when? I've seen you like everyday over the summer and you didn't say anything about moving then." Birgitta said in utter disbelief after Alyssa had finished telling her the bad news.
"I know Bergie!" Alyssa let out a deep breath. She wondered what else could happen to go wrong in her life. These things always come in threes didn't they?
"I just found out myself. I really don't know what to do. Daddy lost his job and now we have to move all the way across the country to live with my Aunt Michelle in Poway, California.”
"Poway? What the hell is out in Poway?"
"Other than my Aunt Michelle? Pretty much nothing. Poway is totally the boondocks of San Diego and you know how Cool San Diego is?" Alyssa grumbled sarcastically.
Neither Alyssa nor Bergie knew what to say other than to express how sad they both felt about losing a friend. Having a friend move away can be hard to deal with and it is especially hard when a friend you have known since you were both in diapers is suddenly not there anymore.
They promised that no matter what, they would try to stay in touch but the sad fact of the matter is that over time people lose contact with each other, especially when one of them is living all the way across on the other end of the continent.
“I know what will cheer you up, Alyssa – a sleep over!”
Over the years, Alyssa and Bergie had lost count on how many sleep-over’s they had. Bergie decided that a sleep over was the best way to send Alyssa off in style.
A Sleep over is always fun but at the same time she knew if they had a sleep over, it would be the last sleep over. They would be saying good bye and she was not sure if she was ready to say good bye yet.
“I won't take no for an answer, McCann. You know me, I always get my way. We're having a sleep over and you are gonna like it missy.”
Alyssa laughed. “Okay, Okay.”
...
For as long as Alyssa could remember, Bergie's house was the place for sleep-over’s. Usually they would watch cheesy horror movies, eat ungodly amounts of junk food while giving each other spa treatments and talk about pretty much everything that was going on in their lives.
Bergie knew the name of the boy Alyssa had a huge crush on since the second grade but was way too shy to speak to him. Bergie had been a front row witness to the disaster that was Alyssa's one and only attempt at talking to him. She made herself so nervous that she had tried to tell him she liked him and ended up throwing up on him instead.
Alyssa was the only one of their friends who knew about how Bergie's father was in and out of rehab. All of Bergie's other friends thought that he went on a lot of business trips. He used to back in the day but due to his downward spiral, he had lost his job.
When you have friends that you are very close to, you don't feel ashamed when they find things out about you. With friends like that, you can tell them things you would not want anyone else in the whole world to know because you know that no matter what, they will always love you and never judge you.
After making a quick pit stop at the super market to pick up some of the usual party necessities – chips and super sugary pop drinks. Alyssa followed Bergie up the stairs to her room for their last sleep over.
When Alyssa stepped into the darkened room, she reached in through the darkness and found the light switch. As she flipped the light switch, Alyssa thought it was weird that there we’re no lights on in Bergie's room. Bergie almost always had the lights in her room on.
"SURPRISE!!!!" A chorus of voices shouted, sending Alyssa reeling from the shock. When her eyes had adjusted to the sudden flood of light, she looked around and saw all the girls from their Junior High Squad waiting for her in Bergie's room.
“I hope you don't mind. After I got off the phone with you I called all the girls and told them to hike it over to my place. Since when does it take me half an hour to get to your place?” Bergie said.
Alyssa felt shocked, happy and sad all rolled into one. She felt shocked the team had actually managed to plan a sleep over of this magnitude without letting her in on it. Maybe Bergie could keep a secret after all.
Alyssa also felt happy they had gone through the trouble of throwing her a party. At the same time, that happiness had a twinge of sadness attached to it. This was a going away party after all.
Alyssa looked around at the smiling faces in the room. She thought to herself that this might be the last time she saw many of them ever again. Rather than being sad about it, she made a resolution right there and then. She would try her hardest to keep in contact.
“Thank god for the internet,” She said to Bergie who helped her to make a list of everyone's e-mail addresses and Instant Messenger handles.
Carla, of course, had made one of her famous lists and had it framed it as a going away present for Alyssa. One of Carla's quirks was she was forever making lists such as 'Ten ways to Tell if You are Insane' or 'One Hundred ways to tell if you are a Cheer leader.'
Alyssa smiled when she saw the title of the list that Carla had made for her – 'One Hundred Reasons Why We Will All Miss Alyssa.'
As she read through the hundred reasons, Alyssa could not help but laugh.
“Who else is going to whip us into shape? Nobody cracks a whip like Alyssa” was one of her favourites. It referred to last summer at cheer camp when they had performed a skit where Alyssa played a combination drill sergeant and Cheer Coach. Everyone had laughed when she began barking out their choreography as if the girls on her squad were a platoon going through basic training in a weird cheer leading Boot camp.
“The way she eats noodles like you do not really care what anyone thinks of her” made Alyssa laugh. Everyone knew that though she tried to eat daintily, she somehow managed to turn the eating of spaghetti into a full contact sport.
The very last reason almost brought Alyssa to tears.
“The fact that there is nobody else in the world like you and nobody will ever come close.”
Alyssa hugged Carla. “Thank you. This is the nicest present anyone had ever given to me.”
.........
“Darn time warps.” Alyssa thought to herself as she thought back to the sleep over. Alyssa had no idea what happened to the last two and a half weeks since that night. It felt as if time had somehow sped up
Now as she lay in her bed, she gazed around at the bare walls of her room. Now that all of her furniture and clothes had been packed up, her room seemed so huge now with just the bed occupying it.
Alyssa realized this was the last night she would sleep in her own bed, in her own house. She wished that she had some more time but the fact that all of her belongings were now packed away in boxes and loaded onto a truck that would be arriving at her aunt’s house well before they did acted as a reminder of how little time remained.
The one thing that she refused to pack away was her diary. She placed it in her backpack along with her toothbrush, floss and hairbrush.
Alyssa had become accustomed to writing in her diary every night. With the stress from the upcoming move, she had so many things going on in her head. Tonight especially, her mind seemed to be reeling. She knew that if she did not process her feelings, she would not sleep at all that night and if Alyssa did not get a full ten hours of sleep a night, she was completely useless the next day.
For her seventh birthday, Alyssa's mother had given her a diary. She told Alyssa the diary was for her to write down all of her thoughts and feelings.
After her mother had passed away, a few months later, that diary had really come in handy. Alyssa had so many conflicting emotions all jumbled together. Writing down how she felt about her mother's death helped her to keep focus on her life and sort out her emotions.
She remembered her father being a total wreck after her mother had passed away and she had no one to talk to about how she was feeling. Bergie and Carla had tried to be there for her but neither of them had lost a parent. Bergie had felt sad when her dog Scout had passed away the summer before but it (had been) not the same.
Grieving over the death of a loved one is something that no seven year old girl should be an expert on.
"Dear Mommy," Alyssa wrote across the top of the page.
She knew that starting her diary entries like this might look a little dorky to anyone who read her diary but, just after her mother had passed away, she had started addressing her diary entries as if she were writing a letter to her mother.
Her mother had told Alyssa just before she passed away, that she would be watching over her in Heaven. If she really needed to talk to her, all
she had to do was write a letter and her mother would be able to read it up in Heaven. Alyssa felt comforted thinking of her mother watching over her from heaven.
Bergie was the only friend Alyssa had who knew about how she started her diary entries. Everyone knew that Alyssa had kept a diary -
but not about that part.
"I know I should not make this situation any harder on Daddy than it already is but honestly, why couldn't he just find another job out here???”
Looking back, Alyssa often thought that her writing came across very whiny. At least if she wrote it down and processed her emotions that way,
she did not have to whine about her problems in real life.
Writing down how she felt about things was her way of dealing with things in her life – both good and bad.
Sometimes just the act of getting your problems out into the open is really all that you need. After she wrote down how she felt, she always felt better.
Sometimes after writing it all down, Alyssa would read over what she had just written and wonder why she had felt so stressed out at the time.
“Why do we have to move all the way across the country?” She continued her rant.
“Don't get me wrong, I love Aunty Michelle to death and all,
but I just don't want to leave. This is the only home I've ever known and all my friends are here. I am going to miss them so much.”
“But the thing that makes me sad about leaving is we would be leaving you behind, too. You are here, Mommy. Daddy promised me the people at the cemetery would take good care of your grave but they don't really care! I bet that they won't give you roses for your birthday or Carnations for Mother’s Day. I am really going to miss visiting and talking with you. You must feel lonely all by yourself and now I won't be able to come and visit. “
“This is the beginning of the end.” Alyssa wrote, finally allowing herself to admit that the move was now inevitable.
“I promised all my friends here that I would keep in touch with them but, they will all be busy with school and cheer leading tryouts when school starts.”
“That’s another thing!!! I had a guaranteed spot on the Junior Varsity squad. You used to help me out so much when I was little and just starting out. I still have your old yearbook with the pictures of you on your squad.
You looked so beautiful in your uniform. You know, I always wanted to be a cheerleader just like you were and now my chance is gone.”
“I was so happy when all the girls on the team decided to throw a surprise party for me. Bergie even managed NOT to let me find out about it. But it wasn't just a surprise party it was also a going away party.”
This is the end of my life here. A new chapter is starting for me. Tomorrow I will be writing to you in a different room.”
”I am really nervous about moving. But I remember what you told me to do when I (had been) nervous about something. Just close my eyes take a deep breath and take the first step. The initial freefall is the scary part right? Not really knowing what’s behind door number two.”
“And, when the initial freefall is over, just exhale, open my eyes and take a look around. I am going to try to do that. I really hope it works. Goodnight Mommy."
by Charmaine Elizabeth Merchant
Even though we both know it’s wrong
Don’t let our separate lives push us away
I will remember your affectionate embrace
And the blanket of gentle kisses you covered me with
I miss you that much more and long to see your beautiful face
I can accept my secondary place in your life
Yet, not having you completely still leaves an ache in my heart
I know you feel the same when we’re apart
I will take myself back to that night
when you held me close under the watchful sky
The way you caressed my hair as you whispered in my ear
You come to me in my dreams as I lay in peaceful sleep
These visions comfort me for a while
I wake up still seeing your image
Death On Wheels
This story was a gold winner in a writing contest on Storywrite. See why it was so great.
by Megan Auffart
Kellan sat in the car, waiting for Flanagan to get his ass to the meeting point. He was five minutes late, but these days, after dark, those five minutes could mean the difference between life and death. Why the hell he'd insisted on meeting after dark was beyond her comprehension. All Kellan knew was to be at the rendezvous point at midnight to make the exchange. So where the hell was he?
Kellan had long ago been taught the importance of speed. She'd taken the fastest car from her father's abundant collection; the Jaguar XKR Coupe with its 420 bhp supercharged V8 engine and 0-62 acceleration rate in 4.2 seconds.
If the vampires showed up before the meeting was over -- which inevitably they would, considering the merchandise she carried -- she would be out of there before they could even scrape up the paint job. Flanagan could fend for himself, the tardy bastard.
There weren't any other cars in the parking lot. No surprise, there. Since the great Vampire Invasion of 2014, a majority of the surviving humans had retreated to underground cities specifically designed for such an attack. As it turned out, the government knew more about the vampire threat than had been previous indicated. According to Doherty, Kellan's contact at the Agency, the Secret Service had been gathering intel for at least a decade prior to the Invasion. The president had been sheparded off into some underground bunker somewhere along with 50,000 of his closest pals. The rest of D.C. proper, Kellan and her father included, had been left to fend for themselves.
Our
When Flanagan finally showed up, she'd chew him out for being such an idiot. Of all the meeting spots to pick, anywhere at higher altitude suggested a tendency towards suicide.
No one knew why the vampires liked higher ground. One would think that they'd aim towards more gothic locations, but according to rumor,
The higher the altitude, the more likely one would encounter a vampire. That was a fact.
Here was another fact: In exchange for the location and access codes to DC's underground city, Kellan was charged with trading her father's most valuable possession; the legendary Dress Dirk of William Wallace.
It wasn't much to look at. The hilt was made of hardened leather, braided into strips and bound tightly together. It looked like regular, cow leather to Kellan, but considering that it was William Wallace's dirk, it might even have been human skin.
Wallace was known for that sort of thing. Back during the first War of Scottish Independence in 1296, it was rumored that he'd actually cut the leather for his belt from the backside of his political enemy. In a word, William Wallace wasn't someone you wanted to fuck around with. His dress dirk had its own reputation.
Kellan's father believed it was something in the blade, some foreign metal that had been mixed with the iron to form a special sort of amalgam. Legend had it that Wallace had gotten the dirk forged with special metal obtained from a fallen meteorite. After being blessed by holy men, the blade was rendered undefeatable, a sort of Excalibur for the Scottish people.
In other words, whoever possessed the Dress Dirk of William Wallace would always prove triumphant in war.
This accounted for Wallace's unexpected victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. It also accounted for his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk - the legend told that the night before the battle, a traitor to the Scottish cause stole the dirk and delivered it to the British. Because his blessed dirk was lost, Wallace was eventually captured, tortured, and beheaded.
The people under the protection of the Agency -- the D.C. fighting resistance against the vampire invasion -- had accredited their survival to possession of the dirk. The fact that the trained fighters of the group -- also known as Agents -- had been working their asses off wasn't appreciated by the survivors. Oh no, it was the dirk that protected them. Certainly not the elite fighting forces. Credit given where credit is due, after all.
Kellan, against her better judgment, really did roll her eyes this time. She couldn't help it. The people of D.C. were just as ignorant now as they were before the Invasion, putting all their faith in supernatural nonsense instead of actual fact.
Idly, she placed the dirk on her finger. It balanced beautifully, not even tilting. She had to admit it was a good weapon, as far as an ancient Scottish pocketknife went. The blade wasn't very long -- only about eight inches at the most -- but that was still deep enough to penetrate a vampire's heart, which was all a girl needed to do in order to make a little bit of a difference in the world.
Kellan grinned to herself. Before the Invasion, she'd been an environmental lawyer, fighting for the preservation of the earth against cost-cutting, corporate scumbags. Hell, wasn't she doing the same thing now? The only real difference was the location; courtrooms rarely came into play when it came to kicking vampire ass.
A pair of headlights cut through the night air like laser scalpels. Flanagan was here. Finally.
Kellan got out of the car, leaving the comfortable bucket seats for the chilly October air. It was gonna be a cold winter - too cold for all the survivors to get through. The elderly and the sick dropped like flies every time a patch of extreme weather came through. The Agency did the best it could do for them, but given the limited supplies and patchy electric generators, there was no guarantee there would be enough food or heat for everyone in D.C. to get through the winter. The year before, they'd lost about 500 people to hypothermia and disease, despite their best efforts.
Meanwhile, those fuckers in the underground cities were living it up, enjoying their hydroponic vegetables and sulfur-powered geodomes. The processed warmth from the earth's core kept their environment pleasant and livable. The sealed, thirteen-foot wide, hidden access doors kept their underground quarters safe from any vampiric invasion.
If Flanagan kept his side of the bargain, however, the president and his 50,000 cronies could expect another 100,000 people to come in and share the wealth. Kellan didn't care if it was cramped under there; if she could keep her people safe from vampires first, she would concentrate on things like food and living space later.
Fuck those rich, government assholes and their voluntary seclusion. Come tomorrow morning, they were gonna get some new neighbors.
A black Kia Rondo appeared, engine humming loudly in the quiet of the secluded mountain parking lot, and pulled into the space beside Kellan. The door opened and Flanagan stepped out. He looked like a jackass with his big, blond moustache and mirrored sunglasses obscuring his eyes. It was midnight, for christ's sake! What did he need sunglasses for?
"Glad you could make it," he said, the words oozing out of him like putrescent honey.
"Excuse me?" Kellan asked, grimacing in disgust. "I thought you said midnight, Flanagan. It's ten fucking after!"
"So? I'm here now, aren't I?"
"So are any vampires within a five mile radius. Your drive wasn't exactly stealthy, you know. And where the fuck did you get that cheap-ass car?"
Flanagan grinned, and even in the poor light from the full moon, Kellan could see his teeth, yellow and crooked, looking like tilted gravestones in a forgotten cemetery. "I borrowed it from your momma after kissing her goodnight."
"You're an asshole, Flanagan."
"Oh sweet cheeks, I'm gonna miss dealing with you." His eyes trailed down Kellan's athletic figure, lingering particularly on her large chest and shapely thighs, before returning again to her face.
Kellan shuddered in disgust. She hated having to meet with him, absolutely hated it, but Flanagan was their contact with the
Her father, the founder and head of the D.C. Agency, had raised her right.
"So tell me about the access point," Kellan said, keeping her eyes focused on the forest on the other side of the road. Their parking lot was located on the side of a cliff, way too steep of a drop off to allow for vampires to scale the sides, so if any attack came, it would be from the forest.
Flanagan, the arrogant asshole, wasn't even looking around. It was a miracle that he was even still alive, considering how incautious he usually was.
"A deal's a deal," Flanagan said. "You give me the knife, and I'll tell you how to join your little
"No good. Tell me the information first."
Flanagan chuckled, wagging his fat finger at her like she was a gradeschooler. "I don't think so, sweet cheeks. But consider this logically; if I double-cross you, you'd be able to take me out in a couple seconds. We both know it. But if you decide to take my information and run, what could I do to stop you? I'm hardly capable of running you down."
He held out his hands in front of him, palms facing towards the sky, in a gesture like, "what in the world could I do? I'm so harmless. So pudgy and soft."
Kellan didn't believe it for a second, but what else could she do?
The D.C. survivor's faith in the Dress Dirk was misplaced. Despite the legend, merely possessing it was not the reason why they had triumphed over the numerous vampire attacks during the past five years. Its presence at the Agency headquarters brought some positive morale, it was true, but what they needed more than that, more than anything, was entrance into the underground city where safety was guaranteed.
Kellan and her father both agreed; it was a steep price to pay for the information, but if losing the dirk could get them into the underground, it was worth it.
"Here," Kellan said, pulling the dirk out from behind her jacket. It was unsheathed. The blade glittered in the moonlight.
Despite being over a half of a millennium old, it was still as sharp as the day it was forged.
A part of her -- some secret, superstitious part that she had trained to suppress along with her fear, hesitation, and natural abhorrence towards violence -- cringed as the dirk left her hand.
Flanagan examined it critically. "It's a little small," he said, his high-pitched voice grating on her last nerve. "I thought it would be bigger."
"Oh, is that what your last girlfriend said to you, Flanagan?" Kellan purred.
Flanagan flashed a smile at her, quick as silver. "I'm gonna miss your sense of humor, sweet cheeks. Maybe even more than your body, although those are some nice tits."
Kellan frowned at him. "Whatever, asshole. Where is the access door to the underground?"
"How should I know?"
Her jaw gaped open. "What? What the fuck are you pulling?"
And then, in the corner of her eye, she saw it. Over twenty vampires, their eyes reflecting silver, their fangs extended down over their scaly lips. They breathed loudly, way too loudly in the quiet of the night, in and out like a hunting dog, sniffing for a scent of its prey.
Where had they all come from?
One of the more convenient aspects of vampirism was the creature's tendency to hunt solo. While multiple attacks were occasionally reported from time to time, the majority of human kills were the result of a single vampire breaking through D.C.'s border guard and attacking before the Agency could send reinforcements. This happened more frequently than preferred, but vampires were, by their very nature, hungry for human blood, and sometimes the patrols weren't enough to keep a ravenous vampire from its prey.
Those few instances of multiple attack only included about four or five vampires working in collusion. Kellan had never even heard of twenty vampires at once. Given their extraordinary strength and sharp, almost dagger-like claws, she knew she couldn't take all of them. Hell no. Not this many.
"Flanagan, get in your car and drive away," she whispered, not turning away from the scene on the other side of the road. She was counting. 21, 22, 23... Fuck! Twenty-fucking-four vampires altogether. This was impossible. There was no way this could be happening.
"I don't think so," Flanagan giggled.
Kellan whipped her head around. Flanagan was laughing. He wasn't worried at all. He was....
"You set this up," Kellan whispered.
"Of course," Flanagan said. "How else do you think that
"What the hell did you do ?"
"Your lot ain't the only ones who look at this shitty-ass knife like it's some sort of answer," Flanagan said. "The vampires seem to think that it's something important. And who knows? Maybe the legends are true and now the vampires will win every battle."
He shrugged. "But who cares? Once I deliver this knife thing to them -"
"Dirk," Kellan corrected automatically, her chest growing horribly hollow as the extent of Flanagan's betrayal washed over her. He sold them out. He sold of all of D.C. out, just because his group was too lazy to fight.
"You want to be kept," Kellan hissed, reaching behind her back to her holster where she kept her .357 Magnum hidden beneath her denim jacket. "Like pets."
"At least pets are kept alive ," Flanagan said.
Kellan didn't hesitate. She wrapped her fingers around the handle and jerked the gun out, swinging it in front of her to aim at Flanagan's chest.
Too late. Way too late.
She hadn't seen him draw on her; hell, she hadn't even seen his hand move. He'd probably grabbed his weapon when she'd been distracted by the vampires and kept it concealed beneath the long sleeves of his jacket.
He aimed the gun -- a .45, probably M1911 if she was recognizing it right -- and squeezed the trigger, twice, before she could get her gun into position.
Strangely enough, she barely even heard the blasts. She felt the two slugs slam into her right shoulder, throwing her backwards against her Jaguar. Her head slammed into the side door. Hard enough to knock her out, but if she went under, she was dead.
Forcing herself to keep away, feeling the hideous, pulsing pain scream from her shoulder, she looked around for her .357. She'd lost the gun -- fucking dropped it! Idiot! What the hell was the point of the past five years of training if she fucking drops the gun? She didn't see it. It had slid somewhere into the dark of the night.
It had to be here. It had to be around. It couldn't have gotten far.
Flanagan fired his gun again, twice in two seconds. BLAM! BLAM! Kellan closed her eyes automatically, a stupid reaction, but she couldn't help herself. There was no new pain. Instead, she heard a bursting sound and a noise like air rapidly escaping.
Fuck.
She glanced over and confirmed her suspicions. He'd shot out the two tires on the right side of the Jaguar, rendering her incapable of escape.
"I'd stay and bid you a fond adieu, sweet cheeks, but I gotta get out of here before they forget our agreement. Besides, I have a knife - sorry, dirk - to deliver."
He opened the door to his Kia and paused before getting into the driver's seat. "Sorry it had to end this way, sweet cheeks. We could have had some fun together."
Without another backward glance, he slammed the door shut, pulled out of the parking lot, and sped down the road away from the approaching vampires, his tires squealing from his rapid acceleration.
Shit! What was she gonna do? A quick glance told her that the vampires were only ten yards away. With her two tires out, she wouldn't be able to drive away before they got to her. They were too close. Too hungry. And she was bleeding all over the place.
She looked around, praying for inspiration. The parking lot was on the edge of the mountain. Before the Invasion, tourists would come here and take pictures of the scenic view. Because of the cliff overhang, they would get some pretty damn nice pictures...
An idea, a desperate, crazy idea, burst into her mind and she pulled herself into the Jaguar, not bothering to suppress her scream as her wounds stretched from the effort. Fuck , it hurt to get shot. She'd never been shot before.
Still, it had to be better than getting bitten by a fucking vampire. They were five feet away now, their hideous, misshapen heads twisted in permanent grimaces from the shape of their jaws.
She pulled herself into the driver's seat and turned on the car. The engine purred into life, a beautiful sound, and with shaking hands she managed to fasten her seat belt.
Besides having a top speed of 155 mph and 4.2-liter AJ-V8 engine, the Jaguar XKR Coupe was equipped with state-of-the-art safety measures, including over eight different air bags and a shock-absorbing design. Kellan prayed that it would be enough.
Putting the car into drive, she slammed her foot into the gas, grabbed the steering wheel tightly in her hands, and burst the car forward. It slammed into the guardrail at full speed, tearing through the metal like it was aluminum foil, and plunged over the edge of the cliff.
Suddenly Kellan was grateful for the night. As least with it being so dark, she couldn't see the ground rushing towards her. She couldn't feel the anticipation of impending death.
Screaming from the sheer exhilaration of it all, Kellan plunged into the unending darkness and prayed that, somehow, she would survive.
Deception by Charmaine Elizabeth Merchant
“Who were you talking to?” Laura demanded as soon as Kevin put the phone down. “Geez Laura, it’s been over a year and you still don’t trust me. That was my brother Val.”
Laura couldn’t help it. How could she trust him ever again? He’d been seeing Rose Radcliffe, his office cleaning lady. How long would he have kept it going if she hadn’t discovered the email? Leaving him was out of the question. No way was she about to give up her cushy lifestyle. So, she did the only thing she could do. She forgave him – at least she tried convincing herself that she did.
“He’d finally like to come for a visit next Friday,” Kevin said.
“Next Friday?” Laura echoed shocked. Then with added sarcasm, “It’s only been about ten years since we’ve seen him.”
Val. Laura heard his name over the years, but he had yet to materialize. He made promises to visit, but it was never the right time. He and Kevin had opted instead for correspondence by phone or email. Laura figured he probably ran out of excuses.
When Friday arrived, nothing prepared her for the sight she was about to see.
To say he was stunning was putting it mildly. The pictures that he sent Kevin by email were at odds with the 6”2’ midnight-haired beauty standing in front of her. Val now sported a goatee and styled his once long hair in a more suitable blunt-cut. His clothes were impeccable too. Time halted for a moment when he held her gaze with his intense green eyes, and she almost risked sounding like a love-sick schoolgirl when she said hello. Did something click for him too? Judging from his longer-than-necessary handshake, Laura was sure it did. If Kevin noticed he gave no indication, instead he offered Val a beer.
“Just some water, thanks,” Val said, “I’ve been paying more attention to my health.”
“It shows,” Kevin commented, as he handed him a glass. “You’re looking well.”
What an understatement, Laura thought. She held no guilty feelings either about her attraction to Val. She figured that as long as she didn’t act on those feelings, then she wasn’t doing anything wrong. His visit, which was to last a week, got them out and about to show Val what their city had to offer. It was during one of these outings that Val’s intentions were revealed. While the three of them were lunching at a restaurant, Laura felt something caress her foot and up her leg. She and Kevin long ago stopped playing foolish lovers games, so that foot obviously belonged to someone else. Even when she met Val’s eyes, he didn’t stop and she didn’t pull away.
“So, what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?” Val asked, still discreetly teasing Laura.
“I thought we could eat out for breakfast,” Kevin suggested. “I know a great little café.”
The next morning as the three of them got ready, Kevin’s cell went off.
“Sorry, I’m going to have to bail out,” Kevin said five minutes later. “I have to take care of something back at the office that can’t wait.”
“How long will you be gone for?” Laura asked flatly. She’d long ago gotten used to his sudden disappearances. They used to fight about it all the time, until she figured he was just a work-a-holic. Never did she guess it was because of that trashy whore Rose. “It’ll just be for a few hours,” he promised. “Don’t wait.”
I wasn’t going to, Laura thought to herself.
“I can at least drop you guys off.”
As it turned out, for the next couple of days, Kevin got called away to the office which Laura and Val used to their advantage. They even took in a movie where they graduated from hand holding to deeply kissing.
“There’s somewhere I want to take you,” Val said mysteriously as they left the movie theatre. Intrigued, Laura followed his lead until they stopped in front of a Hotel.
“We just shared a tub of popcorn. I’m stuffed.” She said, thinking they were going to eat.
He only answered her with a smile. When they got to the room door, Laura paused. “Val, what is this?”
“I thought we could spend a little more time together before I leave tomorrow.”
Looking from his expectant face to the door he now held open for her, she ignored the inner voice telling her no.
__________________________________________
That night Laura lay awake thinking about the past few days. The realization had dawned on her that she was no longer innocent. The next morning claiming illness, she opted not to go to the airport to see Val off.
“I’m glad you enjoyed spending so much time with my brother,” Kevin said when he returned.
“Kevin, there’s something I have to tell you,” Laura said quietly. “It’s about Val – and me.”
“What about you and Val?”
“We did everything I said we did, but…”
“Go on,” Kevin urged, already knowing what was coming.
“There’s more. After lunch we went to a hotel, but I- “
Kevin stopped her. “It was the Princess Hotel.”
Laura gasped. “How did you know?”
“Who do you think paid for it?”
“I don’t get it.”
“It was a test and you failed. What did you think? You’d get back at me by hitting on my brother?”
“He came on to me first,” Laura protested.
“But you didn’t try to stop him. I know all about it. Val and I planned everything to see what you would do, and you did exactly what I thought you would. Even after you got to the hotel room and Val changed his mind, you urged him to follow through.”
He’s lying!” Laura insisted.
. “I’m more inclined to believe my own brother,” Kevin stated.
“You’re lower than I thought,” Laura retorted, her tone hard.
“You never really forgave me,” Kevin shot back. “Those were just words. I made one mistake and you kept throwing it back at me with those little hints.”
“Sleeping with another woman is not a mistake,” Laura lashed out.
“What did you expect? Even before her, you already changed.” Kevin shouted now. “Your paranoia was driving me crazy. She was just another excuse for you drifting further away.”
Laura’s pain came rushing back. “You drove me away. Always working late, and then I find out work wasn’t the only thing keeping you.” She knew it bothered him to keep harking back to the past, but she didn’t care. “You didn’t even have the decency to break it off with me first before giving yourself to that whore!”
“You like to throw that word around,” Kevin said as he put on his jacket, “but you were willing to go to bed with my own brother. Now, you tell me who the real whore is.” He slammed the door on his way out leaving a shattered Laura behind. This time she didn’t ask him where he was going.
Charmaine E. Merchant is an office worker from
