Out of the Shadows, And Into the Light

“Stacy, we’re going to be late for the party!!” I yelled. We were getting ready to go to Jaden’s party. Everyone was talking about it for weeks upon end!! We were so excited to go. We just went shopping for new dresses and outfits just for this!!

We were just about to Jordan’s house when a strange light in the distance appeared in the sky. Like a huge fireball, with a strange object falling from the sky.

 “What was that??” Stacy yelled, “I Don’t know?? But That gave me the willys!!”

We drove over there to see what it was. As we got closer, we saw a bunch of people running like they were running for their lives. Stacy told me that we should turn around, but I was curious!!

The tension overwhelmed the vehicle. 

“Hey!! I hear something. Do you hear that?” I said

 “Ya, I hear that too, like people yelling for us to turn around, and hide!!” Stacy said 

“But wait,” I said, I turned down this gravel road and saw these strange creatures falling from the sky. That’s when the thought came to my mind that they were aliens. But I didn’t really think they existed. We turned around and drove down to the police station. The streets were filled with crowds of people and those strange creatures. They looked like ginormous spiders, but with 6 legs and their faces seemed to crack open into 3 worm-like faces with rows and rows of blade-like razor sharp teeth. 

“These creatures must have come from the enormous explosion.” Stacy cried. 

“Y, y..ya, I, I guess you’re right.” I said. 

“Cristal,” she said, “are you ok?”

 “Ya, Ya, I, I, I’m fine.” I said 

“We have to get out of here, we’re not going to make to the police station.” said Stacy 

“I know, but there is no other place to go!!” I said

All of a shudden, there was a loud thump from above our vehicle. “There’s one on our car!! One of the creatures scraped and scratched our vehicle and broke our windshield. I put the car in reverse and ran into a light pole. The creature slid down the car and sliced Stacy across the left side of her face with its large knife-like claws. Stacy screamed. I put the car in drive and luckily we were moving!! I quickly pressed the brakes and flung the creature off the car. As soon as it flung off, I ran it over with the car, and kept on driving down the gravel road to my home. RRRRRRRRRRRR Pat, Pat!!

“No!! Come on, Come on. We’re almost home!! Why break down now??!!” I yelled

“Wait here!!” I yelled “Stay right there!!”

 “What?” Stacy asked 

“I’m not staying here all by myself!!” 

“I know, but you’re hurt. I don’t want you to get hurt even more!!”

“What if another one of those creatures comes?? They would hurt me even more!!” 

Stacy gave me a frightened face that I’ve only seen her make once before after she got the news that our parents got in a car wreck and didn’t make it. I knew I couldn’t leave her there, and I most certainly wouldn’t want her to go through that all over again if something were to happen to me too.

 Come on, run as fast as you can to the house!! I yelled!!

 Stacy swung her hands up, and I pulled her out of the car .

 We ran as fast as we could, but then randomly Stacy fell to her knees and stopped moving. The cut on her face oozed this yellow hue and she all of a sudden she screamed and cried. She wouldn’t talk to me, but I knew something was wrong and we needed to move. The soft movement of the wing blowing the weeds through the field dramatically ceased as a roaring crash breaks the silence. There was one of those creatures again. They followed us.

 “I hear it!!” Stacy exclaimed “The closer they are, the more clear it gets.”

 We ran as far as we could thinking we could out run it, but we couldn’t.

 “Stop!!” I yelled, “don’t move” 

We kept hearing the noises, but nothing was chasing us any more. Stacy cried, and the creature heard her and started chasing us. I held her mouth as it stood right in front of us. It stood there as if it couldn’t hear us. A truck on the other side of the field went flying by, and caught the alien’s attention.That’s when we decided to make a run for it, but Stacy couldn’ t move. She acted as if she were paralyzed for a second. Then she got up like she’s never walked before. I didn’t have time to think, so I placed her on my back and ran. Every little noise I made caught the alien’s attention, but since the truck was much louder, it didn’t come after us.

 We ran as far as we could and made it home. 

The house was quiet, and eerie. Usually there would be loud music playing, or someone yelling at the other team on the tv. There might be someone making dinner, or taking a shower, or  wrestling each other to see whose better, or practicing for a big  ballet recital. There was always some sort of noise in our house. Even at night, Stacy always has the tv on for noise. But there was nothing. The house was empty. Not a peep. No one playing loud music or someone yelling at the other team on the tv, there was no one making dinner, or taking a shower, no one was wrestling, or practicing ballet. Nothing. Noone was there not even my parents. Was I expecting them? I don’t know. Was this all a dream. Would I just wake up and climb into my parent’s arms. Would they hug me like they used to, and would I hear their soft whispers telling me they love me?? 

 I cried but Stacy held her cold deadlike hand over my mouth. 

“Shrrrrrrrr.” She whispered as she pointed out the window. That creature was back. It climbed the side of our house, and onto the roof. I took Stacy to the bathroom, and we went into the closet. That is where we hid from the creature. We heard it crash through the window upstairs. The creature seemed to be crashing, and knocking things over to make us jump. Stacy fell into my arms as if there was nothing left in her. She was sick, and I really needed to get her to the hospital to get her some help.

“I felt her pulse just to make sure she was alive. What?” I thought to myself, I looked down at her and there was this strange look on her face. She looked at me as if she were saying I’m ok, don’t worry about me, but I was worried about her.

I grabbed Stacy and wrists and looked at her and I told her that “I  was going to get her some help, and that I loved her. She smiled at me silently and cried in pain. That’s when the alien-like creature crashed through the door of the bathroom. I really started to freak out. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t leave here without getting caught. The shadows of the creature seemed to creep under the slight crack below the door frame. Something must have happened that caught its attention and it turned around and went outside. 

I cracked open the door just enough to see if anything was there. Luckily there wasn’t, so I slipped out the door leaving Stacy behind, and I grabbed a first aid kit out of the bathroom cabinet. As soon as I grabbed it, the toothpaste fell out of the cabinet. I swung my arm and somehow I caught it in between my pinky and ring finger. I gently sat the toothpaste back and I tiptoed back to grab Stacy. I pulled her out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, where there was a walk-in closet with locks on the doors(as if that was going to do anything). I laid Stacy down and we stayed as quiet as we could.

  Later on that night, we both tried to stay awake. I looked down at Stacy to see if she was asleep, but she was so sick that she couldn’t even really talk much. We both eventually fell asleep, but I got spooked or something and woke up. I looked at Stacy, who was squeezing my arm as tight as she could. She was so weak and her eyes looked around desperately. I tried to scream but my throat felt like it was in my stomach. I knew it was only a matter of time before… It was too harsh to think of. I held Stacy tight and hugged her. That gash on the side of her face started to ooze again. Just like last time, that yellow gue oozed out of it. I grabbed the first aid kit, and poured peroxide on her gash. As I poured it on her face, I covered her mouth with a sweater that was hanging up. She screamed in pain as I poured it. I rinsed it off with a bottle of water from my nightstand in my room. I covered it up with some gauze and tape, along with some pain reliever cream.

Just then, a loud bang came from the left!

“we’ve got to go!!” Stacy whispered. 

I told her that we can’t leave or they will get us both.

“It’s locked!!” I told her “Don’t worry!! 

  “What if they find us!! She whispered

  “They can’t find us if we don’t talk, or make any noises.”  

“Do you think they’re looking for us?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know what they are even here for.”

 All of a sudden one of the creatures busted into my room. It must have heard us talking. We couldn’t move, we were like frozen in our place. 2 figures came out from the shadows, and creeped over to the door. Stacy was shaking uncontrollably, so I held her tighter and tighter to comfort her. I knew that the moment they left I had to get her out of here.

I found my box of nail polish and threw it at the window to distract them. They went outside and as soon as they did, I picked up Stacy, grabbed my stuff and ran. Ran without thinking about making a noise, I had only one thing on my mind. And that was getting Stacy help. I knew we were being chased, but I still ran. My legs felt like jello but I pushed onward, and hid behind this car in the empty parking lot. I closed my eyes and wished this was all a dream. When I opened my eyes Stacy was laying in my arms. She looked around, She looked as if she couldn’t remember what happened. I looked at and at Stacy, then behind the car. I could see now 3 creatures flipping cars, and another crawling in from behind the others. I could see tears in Stacy’s eyes. I couldn’t believe how hard it must be for her. I mean, we both lost our parents, but she is only 14 years old. I mean, Ya, I am 18, but still. She is heartbroken. I scooted over closer to her and gave her a big hug. “Did you hear that? It’s getting louder!!” she cried 

A low humming noise came from behind the car. All of a sudden the car flipped on top of us. I leaped over top of Stacy. The sun roof window crashed on top of us, and somehow we made it in the car. The creatures piled up stacks high on top of the car, compressing all of the air out of the vehicle. The windows were breaking , glass flying everywhere. Every little move is a new pain. Stacy was unconscious and not moving. I held her tighter and tighter?

 I knew that only one of us could escape. Stacy sort of nudged and shook, then went cold. I knew she was gone. My eyes filled with tears as I hugged her one last time, wishing this were all a bad dream. An arm grabs Stacy by the leg. I grabbed a large shard of glass and cut the arm off of the creature. A loud screech from the creature, and all of the creatures piled on top of it.

I squeezed through the small hole of the car window, grabbed Stacy’s arm and dragged her out. I picked her up and ran towards the police station. I pulled at the doors, but they were locked and evacuated. Then all of a sudden out of the shadows, and into the light came one of those creatures. It crashed through the windows and came after me. I ran and hid behind a bush. I heard me and jumped into the bush. I ran but it grabbed me by the arm and its razor sharp claws sliced into my arm. I cried in agony and ran away. I saw a light in the distance. Hoping this wasn’t the end, I followed it. I started to see red lights along with other bright lights. I could faintly read the words “HOESTPITALE”  

AKA– “HOSPITAL” My vision was very blurry. As I dragged stacy, I crawled quietly through a meadow and got onto the cement were someone grabbed me and pulled me into a room and worked on me. I wouldn’t let go of stacy. 

I woke up in the recovering room. I was alive!! But how?? I guess the hospital realized what had happened, so they bordered the doors and windows, staying quiet. They saw what had happened and dragged us in. Stacy sadly died. They said that her face got infected. They also told me that the main reason was from the cut from one of the aliens claws. They inject poison into you when touched. My cut on my arm was very deep. They injected cleanser into my arm, along with anti-fungal, muscle relaxer, and anti-poison. Hoping they didn’t have to amputate the arm, they kept injecting me with new things. 

Today I live with a nasty black and purple scar, with bumps all over it on my arm. I am now 20 years old, and am getting married in April. But even though my life seems to be going better, I will never forget the day I lost my sister because of the aliens.

Blood in the Sand

It all began on a dark and stormy night, where a dark person waits with a dark purpose.                         

“Nooo! Stay back! Help!”

 “Susan! We’re coming!” said Hanes. 

“Oh my god,” said Tara. 

“What’s all the noise? Can`t you see people are trying to… oh,” said Joyce.

5 hours earlier. “Hello all you wicked wacks listening to all my songs and raps, I got 

another song for you so don’t touch that dial.” said the DJ on the radio in Dave’s car. “The weather is going to be bad tonight with a sandstorm through the night.”

 “Wrong station,” said Dave as he swapped stations to find the right one. “LOUWWWWWW” 

“Take me home” 

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” 

“That’s it. That’s what I’m looking for,” said Dave. 

  “Ahhh, I finally arrived, Brd Manor. It took three airplanes, two buses, and a car with a tree, but I made it,”said Dave as he masked the beauty of the mansion. 

“Dave!” said a familiar voice. All of the sudden a girl comes blasting through the door and ran at Dave. 

“Joyce!” said Dave to Joyce as they did their secret handshake. 

“I’m so glad you could come!” Said Joyce “I have your room all set. So set your stuff in the guest room, and I will introduce you to the family.”

 As he walked down the hall to his room. He heard someone’s muffled voice down at the other end of the hall. When he got to the door he peeked inside and saw a woman yelling at the phone. 

“If you think you can get my fortune you are dead wrong! No! You listen! I am not going to my entire estate to the likes of you, ” said the woman who looked vaguely familiar 

“I see you’ve met my mom, Ms. Susan Brd,” said Joyce. 

“ You scared me, wait, that’s Susan Brd one of the wealthiest people in the continent,” said Dave. “Yes, my crude, rich, never-spending-time-to-see-her-family, mother,” said Joyce.  “You do not want to get on her bad side, trust me. Oh and there are my brothers from other fathers. Jack Brown and Hanes Motov.” 

“Hey Joyce, who’s your friend?” said Jack. 

“I was just showing my old college buddy, Dave here, around the house,” said Joyce. “Can I show him? Only I can give him the best tour around the old place,” said Hanes. “Sure, just make sure you are back by dinner. Today it’s spaghetti and meatballs,” said Joyce. 

“Thanks, you won’t regret it. Come on Dave,” said Hanes.

1 hour and 46 minutes later. Hanes and Dave enter the corridor.  

“I think that’s everything.” Said Hanes. “Oh look at the time, we’re going to be late for dinner, let’s go this way…No…maybe…no.” 5 minutes of tedious searching later. “ Oh, hi Tara. Dave This is Tara Oster, our maid/butler/cook/housekeeper, and most of all, Joyce’s all out friend since her dad was the one who spent time with us. But, he died when she was four and mom sent us off to boarding school but didn’t send Joyce. It was just her and Tara.” 

“And underpaid. Hello master Dave,” said Tara. 

“Hello Tara,” said Dave. 

“I think we better go,” said Hanes. 

They finally arrived at the dining room and sat down to eat. 

“So you finally decided to come and sit down to eat,” said Susan. “You probably got lost in the house again like Thanksgiving, didn’t you?” “No…Yes.” Hanes said as he looked away. “He almost always lies,” said Joyce. 

Many minutes of silence passed by until Dave said. “Great cooking.” And everyone looked at him. After dinner Dave said, “ Let’s play a game.” 

“That’s a good idea,” said Jack. 

“Okay what will we play?” asked Dave. 

“Why don’t we play Guess Who,” said Jack. 

“That is a great idea,” said Hanes. 12 rounds of Guess Who later. “Let’s be done and get some sleep,” said Jack. 

“Okay,” said Hanes. 

“Time to turn in,” said Dave with a yawn. 

“Goodnight,” said Jack. 

There was a knock at the door. As Dave opened the door he saw an ebony silhouette of a man against the dark Saudi Arabian sky. 

“Hello I am John Hathers, my car broke down and I was wondering if I could stay here for the night. Till the car shop opens tomorrow morning.” 

“Well sure John. You can stay for as long as you like. Please, come in,” said Dave. “Thanks,” said John. 

“I’m Dave.” 

“Hi Dave,” said John. 

“Shhh. Don’t want to wake the whole house,” said Dave. “There is your room, please call me if you need anything.” John was very grateful of Dave.

    “Nooo! Stay back! Help!” 

“Susan! We’re coming!” said Hanes. 

“Oh my god,” said Tara. 

“What’s all the noise? Can`t you see people are trying to… oh,” said Joyce. Susan was 

lying on the floor motionless. Everyone stood in amazement. Jack’s eyes filled with tears, and he began to cry. Tara just stood there motionless, looking at her late boss. 

“Is she, dd…dead?” Stuttered Joyce. 

“Everyone get in their rooms and lock their doors. Tara, call 911.”  

“But” 

“No but’s!” Dave said before Jack could say anything. 

“I will call you one at a time to interrogate you.” 

15 minutes later. “Nothing, not a bit of motive and plenty of opportunity for all of them. I might as well get some rest,” Dave thought. “No use staying up all night not finding out anything.” 

As he walked into his room, he found it a mess. His luggage was on the ground, the bookcase was knocked over, and everything else was wrecked. He heard someone running down the stairs so he ran after them. He caught the person and found out it was Jack. 

“Jack what are you doing trying to sneak your luggage out of the house in a sandstorm?” said Dave. 

“I don’t want to be a part of this,” said Jack. “I just wished we had one good holiday before she passed away. The family being away and all we didn’t have many holidays together. Was that too much to ask of God?” Dave locked eyes with Jack and locked the door. 

“You need to leave,” said Dave in a woman’s voice. He walked back to his room and Dave could hear Jack scream into his pillow from Timbuktu.

“AHHHH!” 

“Here we go again,” said Dave. 

“That was Joyce!” said Jack. 

“What’s wrong?” said Dave. 

“Someone went past my window with a gun,” said Joyce. 

“Come on Jack, we can catch them if we hurry,” said Dave. “It’s time for a chase scene montage.” 

5 grueling minutes of chase scene montage with music later. “We lost them whoever they were,” said Dave as he ran out of breath. 

“We can’t stay out here, it’s too…” Jack’s voice could barely be made out in the storm. Once they got inside they couldn’t see. 

“Jack, Hanes, anyone.” Dave called but no one answered. 

“Dave!” called Jack. “Where are we?” 

“I think we are in the kitchen,” answered Dave. “See if you can find something to wipe our eyes off with.” 

“Find something, see, we can’t even find each other and our eyes are filled with sand,” said Jack sarcastically. 

“Ahh, found a towel,” said Dave. 

“Here you go Jack. Now, you head to bed and I will see you later.” 

As he went to the living room he saw someone walking crouched toward the parlor room. 

He followed and  found out it was Hanes. 

“Hanes,” said Dave “ What are you doing up this late?” 

“Nothing.” said Hanes as he looked away suspiciously. 

“Tell me the truth Hanes,” said Dave. 

“Okay we all hated her, we all hated Susan. We held a secret meeting before this event to talk about how we all hated her. We all wanted her to kick the bucket, I never thought someone would actually do this but here we are. In a house full of people and with a dead body.” He said as his voice got more serious and became louder. 

“Cool your jets Hanes. Everyone in this house is safe with Detective Dave Maceade on the job,” said Dave. 

“Someone is dead.” Hanes said sarcastically. 

“I was off the job then.” Said Dave. “Now, you go to bed and get some rest and I will see you and everyone else in the morning.” 

Dong. Dong. Dong. 

“Three’o’clock, hmm. So far so good, might as well get some coffee,” said Dave as he talked to himself. He whipped off the sand on the window and looked through it. “Looks like the storm is over.” 

He grinded the coffee beans and poured them into the coffee machine. 

“Man, last night was crazy,” said Joyce as she walked into the kitchen. 

“Well good morning to you too,” said Dave. 

“Ohh, are you making coffee, in that case. I want an espresso with two pumps of hazelnut, four pumps of vanilla, three marshmallows, extra whip, small bits of chocolate, and a partridge in a pear tree,” said Joyce. 

“Very funny, coming right up,” said Dave. 6 minutes later. “Finished with your espresso with two pumps of hazelnut et cetera et cetera,” said Dave. “Exactlly how you like it, extra toasty.” 

“Wow,” said Joyce. “You have a real gift. You could go places with a talent like that.” “Thanks, but I like it when I am a detective,” said Dave. “I just get so much thrill out of it, solving mysteries, crimes, and murders. It’s just so exciting.” Jack and Hanes came walking down the stairs. 

“Morning you two,” said Dave. “We were wondering when you would come down.” 

“Have a seat,” said Joyce 

“Thanks,” said Hanes. 

“Can we get some coffee?” asked Jack. 

“Write your orders down,” said Dave. 

“I slept like a log,” said John. 

“Oh yes, Everyone this is John Hathers. His car broke down and I let him stay for the night before the whole multi billionaire dying and all that other stuff,” said Dave. 

“So, John, what do you do for work?” asked Joyce. “I am a DJ; I was on the way back from the radio station when my car drove into a sand dune. I tried to back out but I was too stuck, I tried to push it out but I was in too deep,” said John. “So I walked for what felt like forever until I got to this house. When I walked up to the front door and Dave answered, he let me in and let me stay in the guest room for the night. And I’m so happy he did if he hadn’t. Then I would not have met all of you.” 

“Do you think you have met everyone?” said Jack. 

“Because there is one person you haven’t met.” 

“Good morning everyone,” said Tara. 

“That’s Tara,” said Dave. “The butler of her late employer Susan Brd, aka the woman who died last night.” 

“Sorry, for everyone’s loss,” said John. “I know I didn’t know her very well being a celebrity and all but, she must have meant so much to you all.” 

“Actually,” said Dave. “They all hated her.” 

“What?” said John. 

“They hated her, each and everyone of them. They all had a reason for wanting her dead. From her not spending time with her kids to staff not being paid enough,” said Dave when a thought appeared in his mind. “And I think I know who is behind this.”

“Who?” asked Joyce. 

“The only person who isn’t here. You can come out now.” Dave called around the corner and out came Susan Brd. 

“Susan!” Joyce gasped as she began to faint. 

“She’s going to faint.,” said John. 

“Catch her,” said Hanes. 

“I got her,” said Dave. “Fall into my arms.” Joyce fell through his arms and onto the floor. “Opps,” said Dave. “Yes, it was Susan pulling the strings this entire time. Ever since she knew about the secret meeting Hanes told me about last night she was furious with all of you so much that she figured out a plan to pay you all back. She was going to pretend to be dead like one of you knocked her off. But, John and I showed up and really confused things. But she had taken some pills to make her fall asleep for hours, making us think she was dead. And we would have known she wasn’t dead if we had checked her pulse, which is a rookie mistake that no one should miss with a straight train of thought. Which, let’s face it, none of us had that last night. You all were so worried about her and you all cared about her for one of the first times ever.” 

“You all cared,” said Susan as her eyes began to fill with tears and a second later she started to cry. As everyone tried to comfort her Dave remembered something. 

“So I just remembered I called the police so Susan is going to jail, sorry Susan,” said Dave. 

4 minutes later. As the police arrived, put Susan in the cruiser, and left, Dave felt a sense of fulfillment. 
4 short months later. Susan will spend 50 years in prison for faking her death and her evil scheming. Jack and Hanes became the biggest acts in show business to hit New York since Hamlet. Tara started her own fashion line for staff like butlers, maids, cooks, and housekeepers. Joyce went on to start her own tech company called The Most Expensive Electronics and Tech for the Wealthist People. I know a very long name right, like her coffee order. And Dave, well I went on to be the next Benoit Blanc. I went on to start a family and I started this book series which started with the mystery I call “Blood on the Sand.”

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #1

#1

LOST

So we have come to the end of our journey that started on the first day of September. We have reached the number one show of all time according to EYG, and, if you knew me at all, this would have been the least dramatic reveal of a number one ever.

LOST is, far and away, my favorite show ever. I remember the feeling I had when it came to an end: an emptiness in my gut that took several years to fill.

Some claim that LOST had one of the worst endings of any show, and I respectfully disagree. I found the LOST finale to be perfect. It focused on the characters that I had come to love for the previous six seasons.

LOST ran for six seasons on ABC, giving us 121 episodes of awesomeness.

A group of people, who were from all walks of life, boarded Oceanic flight 815 in Sydney, Australia for Los Angeles. That flight did not make it to LAX. Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, the plane came across some major problems and crashed on an island. Almost immeditaely, you learned that this island was unlike anywhere else. As Charlie said…

Guys, where are we?”

The Island was a character all its own, with a mythology and mysteries for the audeicne to chew upon. That was one of the criticisms of the show: they did not reveal the secrets of the Island. Again, I think there were plenty of mysteries revealed. It may not have spoon-fed you the answers you wanted, but if you paid attention, you could make educated answers to everything on the show.

The Island had a polar bear, a smoke monster, a group of Others, healing properties allowing a crippled man to walk again among other things.

The ensemble cast was brillaint. Led by Matthew Fox, the cast included Terry O’Quinn, Naveen Andrews, Jorge Garcia, Josh Halloway, Maggie Grace, Emilie de Raven, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Lilly, Malcolm David Kelley, Dominic Monaghan, Harold Perrineau, Michael Emerson, Ian Somerhalder, Henry Ian Cusick, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cynthia Watros, Elizabeth Mitchell, Nestor Carbonell, Jeff Fahey, Sonya Walger, Sam Anderson, L. Scott Caldwell, Jeremy Davies, Ken Leung, and Rebecca Mader.

Some of these actors will forever be their characters to me. Many have gone on to do other major roles (Evangeline Lilly was Wasp in the MCU, Terry O’ Quinn and Michael Emerson have had plenty of other roles), but my first thought will always be that they are their characters from LOST.

4 8 15 16 23 42

See ya in anothe rlife, brother

You guys got any milk?”

We got to go back!”

The greatest show of all time in the opinion of EYG… LOST.

That wraps up the first Daily Countdown. It was quite the undertaking, but we are far from done. Tomorrow we start the next Daily Countdown. It was actually a harder list to compile than the TV one. Tomorrow we start TV THEME SONGS.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #3

#3

Moonlighting

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

“Good!”

“Good!”

*Door slams*

*Door slams*

That was a scene that happened many times during the run of Moonlighting, a show that went for four seasons on ABC starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.

Set at teh Blue Moon Detective Agency, Maddie Hayes had lost almost all of her fortune to a crooked accountant and she was forced to work in one of the few businesses remaining, a detective agency. There, she met David Addison, a wise cracking, song singing, limbo dancing private eye who challenged her to expand her life.

Moonlighting is one of the best shows on TV. It also felt down to earth quicker than any show on TV. The whole “will they won’t they” aspect of the show kept the viewers glued to their screen, but, when they did, much of the magic was gone.

Still, David and Maddie were amazing together. Charming, fighting, arguing, detecting. They could do anything.

One of the things that they could do was break the fourth wall. This was one of the first shows that I specifically saw do this technique and I found it hilarious. Another specialty of this show was the special episodes… the dream sequences. They had a show called “The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice” where David and Maddie had dreams that they were musicians in an old time club. Another episode saw them dancing to “Big Man on Mulberry Street.”

But one of the greatest episodes of all time was “Atomic Shakespeare” which Maddie and David played the roles of Katharina and Petruchio in a satire of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.” This episode was written in iambic pentameter and was an absolute joy.

The last season and a half was much weaker, but the first two and a half was some of the best TV of all time. I remember planting myself in front of the TV every Tuesday night to watch Moonlighting… although their behind the scenes challenges and fights caused many of those nights to be a rerun.

When compiling this list, I debated between #3 and #2 for Moonlighting, and it could easily be flipped. Moonlighting made Bruce Willis a superstar and helped him get Die Hard.

“Blue Moon Investigations ceased operations on May 14, 1989. The Anselmo Case was never solved… and remains a mystery to this day.”

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #46

Spoilers

“Screaming Meemies”

I am not sure I was ready for that.

This episode, entitled “Screaming Meemies,” which was a slang term meaning a “heightened sense of panic or anxiety,” showed us the events of the night when Hugh took the kids and left the Hill House in the middle of the night. It was all from the perspective of Olivia, whose entire life had seemingly become a dream that she could not awake from.

I had not expected for the house to have driven her as mad as it did that she would try to awaken the twins (and Luke’s not-so-imaginary friend, Abigail) by having a middle of the night, surprise tea party, with tea laced with rat poison.

Poor little Abigail saved the day, in a sense, by sipping on her poisoned tea before the twins could, and she promptly died.

Much of this had been influenced by the ghost known as Poppy Hill, who showed up at the end of episode 7 to grab adult Luke when he tried to burn the house down. This Poppy was a nasty ghost who was planting the seeds of evil in the mind of the mentally ill Olivia, leading to this act of horror.

With this bit, in the penultimate episode no less, the last thing we need to discover from the past flashbacks, would be what happened when Hugh went back to the Hill House after he dropped his kids off at the motel. I am sure that will be included in the 70+ minute finale in episode 10.

We got to see the truth behind several of the odd things we had seen previously from Olivia, like the screwdriver she held at Hugh’s neck or breaking the mirror on the vanity that Steven had fixed up for her. Everything fit in nicely as we see the descent of Olivia into this house induced madness. We also see her “suicide”, aided by the push of Poppy Hill.

I expect that next week’s big finale will deliver big time, as this show has been truly firing on all cylinders the last four-five episodes.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #43

SPOILERS

“Two Storms”

I am going to be perfectly honest. I had heard so many amazing things about The Haunting of Hill House before I started it during the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, and it has been disappointing. Yes, I have enjoyed the show so far, but it was not the epic that I was expecting.

Then, there was episode six, “Two Storms.”

Now I see what everyone else was talking about.

What an episode. This one blew all of the previous episodes away. It had tension, it had character reveals, it had story beats and it had some of the best direction/shots of the show.

There were multiple, long one-shots of scenes as the camera follows the grieving Crain family around the funeral parlor. Technically, this is a master class of direction from series runner Mike Flanagan. Whenever the one-shot would end, the transitions were spectacular, and we would be back into another oner. The design of the plan for each shot is unbelievable and executed perfectly.

The surviving Crain kids and their father finally are all together in the present day as a thunderstorm raged outside the funeral parlor. The show gave us a flashback to another storm that occurred with the Crain family while they lived at Hill House and they paralleled the two storms with a narratively striking purpose. We got to see some major effects that the house had on both Nell and Olivia. Nell’s disappearance and Olivia’s encounter with the spirits were chilling.

Chilling is a good way to describe many of the moments from this episode, including the appearance of the bent-neck woman at the family visitation. There was no jump scares here. The scenes transcended jump scares. They were done so spectacularly that you couldn’t help but be disquieted.

The character development was wonderful too, as secrets came out. The alcohol flowed freely (which I thought was incredibly selfish by every kid, considering Luke was there, clean and sober, watching his siblings all slapping back vodka) and the tongues were sharp. Fueled by their loss and grief, the kids and Hugh said some dramatically hurtful things to each other as truth came to the surface. Hugh seemed to be talking to himself, convincing Steven about the mental illness he believed ran in his family, but I believe it was clear that he was talking to Olivia’s spirit.

The concept of Nell and Olivia NOT having killed themselves, and, instead, being killed by the house came up and it triggered the resentment of the others for Steven’s book. They shared moments that we had seen over the first five episodes in the kids individual focused episodes that showed how much these siblings were not as close as they may have thought.

This episode elevated the entire series to a new level, one that makes me understand the fervor over this show that had seemed good, but not exceptional before this. I can’t wait to see where the show goes from here.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #28

#28

SOAP

This is the story of two sisters, Jessica Tate… and Mary Campbell. These are the Tates. And these are the Campbells. And this is… SOAP.

Confused? You won’t be … after reading about #28 on the Top 100, a satire/parody of soap operas that ran on ABC for four seasons.

I loved SOAP so much. The stories of the Tates and Campbells never came up lame. Whether it be about affairs, murders, gay love or demonic possession, SOAP was filled with great comedic performances and laughs.

In fact, I do not think I have ever seen an episode of TV that I laughed harder at than when the Tates and their butler Benson discovered that the baby was possessed by Satan. I know it doesn’t sound like high comedy, but it was so wonderful that you couldn’t help yourself.

The castlist was large and filled with some of the best actors in the business. Billy Crystal was on the show as TV’s first homosexual. Others in the cast included Katherine Helmond, Robert Mandan, Richard Mulligan, Cathryn Damon, Jimmy Baio, Diana Canova, Jay Johnson, Robert Guillaume, Donnelly Rhodes, Roscoe Lee Brown, Ted Wass, Jennifer Salt and Arthur Peterson Jr.

Moments leap out of my memory. When Burt thought he could turn invisible and would snap his fingers in front of him. When Benson, The Major and Chester went to attempt to save Billy from a cult and ended up in blackface pretending to be a band. Jessica going to heaven.

I think SOAP is one of the most overlooked TV shows in television history.

ADDENDUM

While I have been doing this list, there have been several times where I thought that I had forgotten a show, only to see it on th elist. I thought I had forgotten Frasier, but it was there. I thought I had forgotten Night Court, but it was there. This is the first show where I thought, “Did I forget this one” and I had forgotten this one. So I decided to give an addendum to SOAP’s entry because this spin off of SOAP would have definitely been in the Top 100 and I missed it.

Benson

Benson saw Robert Guillaume’s character benson, who was the Tates’ butler for three years on SOAP, moved to the governor’s mansion of the state (whichever one they were in) to become the head of household affairs. Benson DuBois (finally got a last name) enteracted with the bumbling Governor with a heart of gold, the overbearing German cook Gretchen Kraus, and the Governor’s sweetheart of a daughter, Katie.

Robert Guillaume won an Emmy Award for his role in this show.

Sorry I forgot you, Benson. You deserved better….

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #42

Spoilers

“The Bent-Neck Lady”

This week’s focus is on Nell and the visions she would have seeing the Bent-Neck Lady.

In what I thought was a fun bit of casting, Nell was seeing a therapist named Dr. Montague and he was played by Russ Tamblyn. What makes that fun was that Russ Tamblyn played Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on Twin Peaks. Jacoby was a quirky and oddball psychiatrist involved with Laura Palmer, a tragic death of a young woman. Very much like the death of Nell in The Haunting of Hill House.

The episode saw the events that lead up to Nell returning to Hill House the night that she died. It made sense with the way the last episode ended with Luke blurting out that Nell did not kill herself.

The last part of Nell’s life was filled with torment. I can’t imagine what sleep paralysis would be like. It sounded horrific and made things all the worse as we see how she suffered during it. Of course, the show implied that it was not just a simple case of sleep paralysis and that it had to do with the visions that she would see.

We see how Nell and her husband Arthur met and his tragic death. Those years for Nell seemed to be so wonderful that seeing him drop dead from the aneurism was tough.

That was not the toughest scene of the episode though.

The ending, where we see the identity of the Bent-Neck Lady revealed as Nell’s future self after she hanged herself from the spiral staircase on the night she returned to Hill House, was unbelievably anguish-filled. Watching Nell see all of these moments of her life, but as the bent-neck lady was something that I did not expect.

Now that we have seen Nell’s tragic final day at Hill House, one wonders where the show goes from here. There are still plenty of feelings of guilt and grief to deal with as this entire family does not seem to deal with what happened to them at hill House.

We flash back to the kids era and we see their father bringing them to a hotel and then going back “for mom” he tells them. That night is clearly something that we need to see more of moving forward.

How will everyone continue to deal with the loss of Nell? Luke, in particular, is a character that I am intrigued to see moving ahead. I want to see more of their father too, as he played some major role that we have yet to see.

This show has picked up big time. Last week’s episode was my favorite of the series so far… that is until this week. I think this was a near perfect horror episode with an amazing payoff to a mystery that we have been wondering, while still leaving plenty of questions to be answered.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #41

Spoilers

“The Twin Thing”

This week is Luke’s episode.

That is what I figured since each episode so far has focused on one of the Crain children. I did not know that Luke and Nellie were actually twins.

Luke has been in the background a lot so far. We knew about him being in recovery for an addiction and stealing from his siblings, but that is about it.

I have to say, this was the first time I thought of Steve as a dick. But watching him at the dinner when Luke brought Joey to his brother’s.

I wasn’t sure of the time frame until we get the scene between Luke and Steve when Luke was stealing his brother’s camera.

I have found Luke to be my favorite character of the show so far. The final line of the episode gave me chills as Luke, because of a twin thing, says that it wasn’t suicide. He could feel it.

It was also very spooky with the bowler hat man following Luke into adulthood, and outside of Hill House. Is it a wonder that Luke became an addict? The scene where the bowler hat man came right up to Luke and it turned into Nellie’s face, leading into the car’s headlights was just amazing. The fact that Luke was so cold and that his legs and arms were stiffening up told us how connected he was to his sister.

I really liked this episode and I felt the most connection to Luke of all of the children so far. His scenes in the Hill House were some of the creepiest of the series so far, with that one where Luke was under the bed being right up there.

I am anxious to see what the show will give us now that Luke knows his twin committed suicide (or did she?).

Clown Park

Clown Park  

By LBJlll

One day a group of 4 high school boys were sitting at lunch alone like always.

When they heard the cool kids talk about some clown park and how cool it was.

So after school they immediately met up with each other and decided to go there. The park was out of town. When they arrived at the park they were surprised to see the park was abandoned. 3 of the 4 boys wanted to head back home but Josh, who drove, said he didn’t drive all the way to the park just to turn around. The boys went in and they saw what looked to be blood on the front entrance wall but Josh said it was paint.

 They were hesitant but they kept going in until they made it to this room that turned the water slides on. They thought they found something cool but really they would see it wasn’t. They  ran up the stairs but Josh decided to wait and rest. All three of the boys agreed and went down the slide. When they got down the slide they were met with Josh laying in a pool of blood with a stab wound in his neck. Jake immediately ran to help but he slipped in the blood, fell forward and fell head first into a sharp wooden stick. The other two yelled lets leave right now. They started running. When the 2 kids got to the car they started calling 911 and driving home thinking they were safe. The dispatcher started talking but the two boys didn’t reply. 

The two boys didn’t respond because after the clown ended the first two boys he got in the back seat of the car with two knives and ended the boys there. The boy’s bodies were never found.

I’m Nothing Without You

Oct. 24                                                                                                             By: Katie Cat!!

I’m Nothing Without You!!

We were on our way to a firework show near the 4th of July. I was so excited because my cousin was going to be there. When I got there my cousin was super excited to see me. We hung out for a while until she saw someone she wanted me to meet. So I said okay, and went with the flow. Little did I know it was this really cute guy. My cousin introduced me to him. “Hi, my name is JJ. What is yours?” I told him that my name was Katie. We hung out together and really got to know each other. 

A year passed, and we became really great friends. My 9th grade year, I was at home getting ready for bead, brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, the usual. I heard a knock on the door. I answered the door to see JJ standing in the doorway. In the yard was a bunch of candles shaped as a heart with the word HOCO? I was speechless. I gave him a big hug, and that was our first so-called date.
The years came and when, and seemed to really fly by. This was it, this was our big day, OUR WEDDING DAY!! And yes, I was still with JJ. We got married and had 2 kids. A boy and a girl. Their names were Ashley and Samuel. Sammy for short. We lived a great life and never had any problems whatsoever!!         The end.

Unicorn Park

Unicorn Park 

Today I was on my way to find Unicorn Park. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep the night before. When I was on my way to find Unicorn Park, I had to stop at the store to buy marshmallows, donuts, and sprinkles. 

After I left the store I accidentally ate the marshmallows and donuts. So I went to another store and they were out of marshmallows and donuts, so I went to another one and they had a whole bunch and I got some for the unicorns and myself so I wouldn’t eat them all before I found Unicorn Park. 

Then I finally found Unicorn Park! I was so happy when I saw the unicorns! After I was done jumping up and down I went to give them my marshmallows and the donuts and they loved them. After I fed them the marshmallows and donuts, I set up camp, since I was planning on staying there for a week enjoying life without any worries. That night I was eating with the unicorns and the other creatures that were in the park such as bunnies, unicorns, goats,  and friendly little bears. We heard a weird noise coming from the entrance of the park. So we went to see what the noise was and more people came to find the park just like how I was looking for Unicorn Park.   When I saw the other people coming I was so excited because I had more people to make friends with! After a week it was time to head back home. I was so sad to leave that I am planning to come back next month. A month later I am heading back and staying for two weeks along with the people I met the first time.              

The End!                         

`

The Kyoto Hunters

The Kyoto Yokai Hunters

By Naoyuki Sato

It was a normal day when I saw a yokai. I was walking home from a long day at school. It was a new school in Kyoto. My family moved to Japan for my Dads job. I moved a lot because of my dads job. This time he said that this would be the last move, I hoped it would. I had always wanted to live in Japan. I was thinking about my first day at school when something moved in the trees next to me. When I turned to see what it was I saw a humanoid shape but it was moving too fast to see it fully, “Maybe it was a deer.” I said to myself.

When I got home my mom was in the living room. “How was school today, Honey.” she asked me, looking up from her japanese language app. “It was fine.” I told her. My mom knows the moves are hard so she doesn’t pry and goes back to her app.  I go to my room and on the bed is a box. There’s a note on the box from my dad that says “I know the moves are hard and you handle them so well, since this is it, here’s a present for putting up with it.” Filled with curiosity, I opened the box. It’s a katana and there’s another note, not from Dad, from the manufacturer, “大正時代以前に魔を祓うために使われていた希少な日輪刀を手に入れました。この刀を誇りを持って振るい、成功をお祈りします。 – 田中慎介。” I grab my phone and go to my translator app which tells me what it says, “You have acquired a rare Sun Sword, originally used to exorcise demons and yokai in the taisho era and earlier. Wield this sword with pride and I pray for success. – Shinsuke Tanaka.” The note was cool but mostly looked at the user manual to figure out how to not break this thing or ruin it. 

After reading the user manual, I unsheathed the sword. The blade looked liquid, with a mix of blue, white, and green. The hilt was metal squares that made a spiral pattern with circle gems inlaid between them. The sheath itself was black, the handle green and black. It was light in my hand when I swung the sword, almost like it was made for me. “Will, come down here.” I hear my mom yell. “Coming.” I yell back. I put the sword back in the sheath,laid it on my bed, and went to my mom. She was at the door, with a girl from my school, Emi Watanabe. Why was she here? “Hi, what brings you here?” I asked her, and she replied, in perfect English, “Hi, I was walking home from school, and I wondered if you were invited to the festival or knew when it was.” “No, I didn’t know there was a festival. When is it?” I replied. “It’s in three weeks on Thursday.” she said “thanks.” I say, then she left.

After Emi left, I went for a walk around town. I needed to think, and a walk in Kyoto was just what I needed. After 30 minutes of walking I was at the spot where I saw that humanoid shape in the forest when I was walking home from school. I don’t know why but I brought my katana along. When I recalled what happened after school with the humanoid thing, I saw a path to a small temple or shrine. I decided to check it out. When I got there something seemed off about this place, then I saw a hand, a severed hand. There was blood trailing away from the hand to the back of the temple. Grabbing my sword’s hilt, I followed the trail of blood. 

When I got to the back I saw who’s hand it was. I saw Emi Watanabe’s cold body, her blood everywhere. She was the only person in class who helped me with problems in Japanese, she was even nice enough to wonder if I knew when the festival was or if anyone told me about it. Now she was dead, brutally murdered. I almost threw up from the sight of it, but I stopped myself and looked around to find any clues of where the murderer went. Bloody footprints led to the back door to the temple, I followed them. I unsheathed my sword, and went into the temple. Nothing was in here, or at least I couldn’t see them, but they were here. “Show yourself!” I called out into the dark. “Have you come to join her?” Someone replied in the dark. “Well, I am still hungry. You will be very filling.” The voice said. I was disgusted by what they just said, they killed Emi and then ate her. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill her, she did nothing to you.” I called back, my anger filling the room. “Show yourself.” Then something moved in the dark, the killer. He was a little shorter than me, he was lean, but something wasn’t right. There was a flashlight on a shelf next to me, I grabbed it and shined the light at the murderer. I wish I hadn’t. His face was deformed with veins popping out of his forehead that looked like they were covering his skin. His teeth looked like shark’s teeth. “Are you scared?” He said barring his teeth. “No.” I spat out the lie. Finding my last bit of courage I jumped at the murderer. Unsheathing my sword I went for his head, but he blocked it with his arm. The sword went right through it like hot butter. I kept up with the attacks, driving him toward the main door. When I got him to the wall, I went for his head again, this time my sword met its mark. When I did he went up in flames, screaming and cursing. 

After he was just a pile of ash, went back outside where someone seemed to be waiting for me. He was my age, maybe a little older, and he also had a sword. Eyeing  my sword he asked “Do I know you?” Confused, I replied “No, are you from Horikawa High School?” “No, I am not,” He replied “But how did you kill that thing?” He had seen me fight the murderer. Grabbing my sword’s hilt, I asked him, “What do you mean?” “I know you fought the yokai that killed that girl. How did you do it? Killing a yokai is impossible without a Sun sword, so how did you do it?” He replied. I was confused so I told him what had happened.

…….Later…….

I learned the kids name was Kengo Takemoto, and he was a Yokai Hunter, which are people who protect others from yokai. They are a special agency that is unidentified by the government. Kengo invited me to join, I accepted his offer, I wanted to protect others from the same fate as Emi. “There is a selection test to join in a week.” Kengo told me and he gave me a training regiment to get ready for it. 

The training was hard, I had to go up to the top of a mountain, then I had to do 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 200 jumping squats, and 100 pull-ups. The thin air made it harder to do, but pushed through. After the work-out I had to run down the mountain, through the woods ducking trees and rocks. It was tiring, but I was doing this to help people and to avenge Emi’s death. 

The day of the selection test arrived. There were at least 30 people there, most were around high school age, but a few looked to be in middle school and a few were adults. Everyone was wearing traditional kimonos, which was how the officials knew that you were participating in the test, not running it. The test was held on a mountain with walls surrounding it, so yokai couldn’t escape. “Welcome to the Yokai Hunter Selection Test.” boomed a voice from a microphone. “My name is Shinsuke Tanaka, and I am the president of the Yokai Hunter Corp. Today you will be taking part in the test to join this corp, and protect humanity from the yokai.” 

President Tanaka told us the rules of the test, you had to make it to the other side of the mountain, which is infested with yokai, by sunrise. You could forfeit if you wanted to by shooting a flare up and some hunters would take you to the start. The test would start at sunset, which was in twenty minutes, and I was getting nervous. “You got this.” I said to myself, as some reassurance. I looked at my sword and remembered the first time I held it, I remembered when Emi came to ask me about the festival, I remembered her death, and I remembered Kengo, who took his time to make a training regiment for me. These memories eased my nerves and helped me focus. “Now,” boomed the President’s voice, “let the test begin.” 

I didn’t see a yokai until an hour into the test, which I killed when it pounced at me. After a little while, I heard someone cry out in pain, instinctively I ran to help where I saw a giant yokai lunge at a kid who looked like he was in middle school. I ran to help, and severed the yokai’s outstretched arm, “Run.” I told the kid, who followed my order. The yokai seemed to be calculating his newly severed arm and then, faster than I could see his arm was back. But I didn’t hesitate and decapitated the yokai. It seemed to take an eternity before I saw anyone else. When I did see someone they were running away from me, and then I saw why the finish line was right there so I sprinted toward it. Then out of nowhere a yokai pounced on me, I had no time to react and was thrown into a tree, unsheathing my sword I went on the attack. This yokai had four arms which made it harder to lay a hit on it, but I had a plan. I went for his legs, knocking it over, creating an opening for a decapitating move, which I took. After  the yokai was ashes I ran to the finish line, passing the test.

When the sunrise came and the search party combed the forest on the mountain for any participants who had died taking the test, it was time for the selection ceremony. Only seven of the participants passed out of the thirty.  “Congratulations on passing the test.” The president said, “You seven are the next generation, stand proud, and may your blades serve you well in your new life as a Yokai Hunter.”

The End

The Delivery Guy

By Care Rot 

The Delivery Guy

Hi my name is Millie. I am a tall blonde with blue eyes. I am 13 years old and 5’7. My favorite thing in the whole world is my sheep named Daisy. She is a hairsheep and is black and white. Daisy is like a dog. She follows me everywhere. Daisy also follows me while I do chores, but sometimes she finds the daisies that I have planted and sometimes eats them but it is ok because I can always get more. 

One Saturday morning I woke up and Daisy was sleeping in her usual spot, right next to me. I went downstairs and Daisy followed me. But it was kind of strange because Daisy was not acting normal. I didn’t really think anything of it so we just went on with our day. I made myself a bowl of  Cap’n Crunch. After I got done eating I got Daisy a bowl of sweet feed and some hay. While Daisy was eating I got a really strange phone call. I looked at my phone and it said an unknown caller so I answered.

“Hello” I said. 

The unknown caller silently said “Grrrrr”

I was really scared so I decided to hang up. When Daisy got done eating we went out to do some chores around the farm. We first fed the chickens. Daisy stood outside the cage while I went in and fed them. I also had to gather the eggs and water them. The next chore on the farm that I had was to feed and water all of my sheep. Besides Daisy because I already fed her and she always has access to water. I got a bucket of sweet feed and dragged the hose down to the water tank. I dumped the feed in and put hay in the hay feeder. After I fed them I went up to the spicket and turned on the water. I didn’t have to wait very long because the water was pretty full. 

I got done with all of my chores around 12 pm. After we got done with the chores we went inside. I was pretty hungry so I decided to order pizza from Dominos. I didn’t know the phone number to call so I had to look it up on google. It said the number was 563-556-2300 so I dialed it on my phone and called them.

“Hello this is Dominos pizza what can I get started for you” 

“Can I get a medium hawaiian pizza”

“Yes, will that be all?” 

“Yes I think so” 

“Okay your total is 9.99.”

“Okay sounds good”

“Ma’am what is your address”

“My address is 7461 167th street Maquoketa Iowa”

“Okay your pizza will be there in about 30 minutes. What is a good name for that order?”

“Millie is a good name and sounds good thank you!”

Thirty minutes passed by and my pizza just arrived. The delivery guy was standing at my door so I grabbed my money and opened the door. 

“Hi, is this Millie?”

“Yes it is!”

“Okay your total is $9.99”

I handed him a ten dollar bill and he handed me the pizza. Daisy smelled the pizza and ran over to the door. 

The pizza delivery guy said “Aww you sheep is so cute. May I take a picture of it?”

I was kind of confused so I replied with “Sure?”

The pizza guy took the picture and left. Later did I know that picture was gonna haunt me for the rest of my life.

The next morning I had to run a few errands in town. I had to get some more chicken feed from Maquoketa Feed and I also had to run to Theisens to get a pitchfork since I broke my other one. The sad thing is though that I had to leave Daisy at home. I knew she wouldn’t run away so I decided to let her graze on the grass in my front yard. I got in my  Ford F-150 and went off to town.  I live 10 minutes away from Theisens and 15 minutes away from Maquoketa feed so I went to Theisens first.

When I got to Theisens I tried to find the pitchfork but I couldn’t find it so I asked an employee. 

“Hi where are your pitchforks at?” 

“Oh yes they are in aisle 6.”  

“Okay thank you!” 

I went to aisle 6 and there they were. There were 4 different colors, red, blue, pink, and neon green. My favorite color is pink so that is the one I went with.  I went to the cash register and I got another strange call. I answered and it said unknown caller. I thought this was another trick but it wasn’t .  I picked up the phone and started talking.

“Hello?”

This person replied with “Baaa”

The “baaa” didn’t sound like any kind of  “baaa” it sounded like my sheep Daisy. I was kind of scared but I knew it couldn’t be her so I finished checking out and headed out to Maquoketa Feeds. When I got there I told him that I needed chicken feed and went inside to pay. I got four bags of chicken feed to last me 2 weeks. After I got the chicken feed I headed home. 

When I got home I walked inside and noticed something strange, nothing came running to the door and the house was silent. I’ve then remembered that I let her outside to graze on grass so I went and checked outside. I looked at my whole property and nothing was there. I even contacted my neighbors but they haven’t seen her. I knew someone who had to have taken her. But no one has been at my house since yesterday when I ordered my pizza so I knew it was either the Domino’s pizza delivery guy or the unknown caller. 

I called Domino’s Pizza and asked if the guy was there. They said he hasn’t been to work since yesterday afternoon. So then I went back to my phone and called the unknown caller. When I call them collar he answered. 

He said “WHAT DO YOU WANT” 

“What did you do with my sheep” 

“What do you mean?” 

  “I know you took her. You are probably the Domino’s delivery pizza guy”

 “How did you know?” 

“I find it kind of obvious when you ask to take a picture of my sheep and then you call and start making sheep sounds.”

“ I don’t have Daisy so I don’t know what you are talking about.” 

I knew that he had her so I just hung up. I needed to figure out a way to find where she put her and get him in trouble with the cops. I just didn’t know where to start. I thought of some ideas. I could maybe put up posters around the town where Dominos is or maybe even go to Dominos and ask where he lives. I couldn’t decide on which one to do, so I did both.

 I opened my computer and went on to Canva. I found a blank template and started describing her. I also put a picture of her on the poster. After I got done describing her I added my phone number and put missing in all caps and bolded. I was really hoping that someone would find her. My next step was to print off the posters. I didn’t know how many to print so I just printed 100 because I can always have extra. I got them all printed off and headed for town. I went to every single telephone pole and every bulletin board that I could find. After I hung up the posters I went to Domino’s pizza to ask about the delivery guy. 

I walked in and talked to the front desk lady and she said that he got fired. She was explaining to me that  got a lot of complaints about him so they fired him. I asked her if she could tell me where he lived but she said she couldn’t share that information. But I wasn’t going to stop looking for his house there. I went to the police station and explained my situation to them. They said they can check his house but they wouldn’t be able to just let me go there.  The policeman and I went to his house and I stayed in the back of the car. His house looked very sketchy. It had broken windows and the paint was peeling off of the house. He also had a garage in the door that had holes in it.

 It was now time to go in with the policeman. He came back out and said he couldn’t find anything, but Daisy was in there. I walked a couple steps and said she has to be in here somewhere. All of the sudden I heard Daisy saying “Baaa”. I KNEW SHE WAS HERE I screamed.  I heard it from the room right in front of me so I opened the door. There Daisy was tied up on the pole. I quickly ran over and untied her. After I got her untied I hugged her tightly. I thought I was never going to find her.  The delivery guy was sitting in the  corner of that room and the policeman handcuffed him. The delivery guy got arrested for life since he stole my sheep. I went home and Daisy and I lived happily ever after.

Pixels Horror Story

It was a normal day as I (Sam Brenner) was going to a house to install a Playstation 4 and a new TV. I knocked on the door and was unexpectedly met with a 12-year old kid instead of the parent I expected. I asked the kid where his parents were and he said his mom was upstairs and told me how his parents had a divorce.

His mom then walked downstairs and said, “You don’t need to tell the installation man our whole life story.”

“Alright I’ll hook up this TV and PS4 up,” said Sam Brenner. 

“Yeah you do that,” said his mom. 

“Yeah, she’s struggling with the divorce and all that stuff,” said Matty.

“Yeah, that must’ve been tough,” said Sam Brenner. 

As I finished setting up, I went to get the release form and money for the TV and Playstation. As I knocked on her door, I heard her crying in the closet, and I said I was coming in. As I walked in I asked what the matter was. She said it was the divorce stuff so I was helping her with it and thought we were having a moment. I tried to kiss her and she got mad.

“I thought we were having a moment,” I said.

“Yeah a moment,” she replied.

“I didnt take you for the snobby type,” I said.

She got mad at me. I then got a call from my friend, the president. He told me he needed me over there ASAP! I told him I was coming and rushed to the car. 

As I started driving I stopped at the red light and the snobby girl was following me and she told her to stop trying to apologize and she said she was just going somewhere important. And then the light turned green and she kept following me and as I pulled into the white house she pulled in and they let her in as a lieutenant. As she walked I went in and happened to go into the same entrance as her. She got to the president’s door and they told her to go into the situation room and then told me the president was waiting for me. I then said ohhh somebody’s more important. As the door shut I asked the president what was going on?

 The president then told me that an airbase in Guam was attacked. I asked who attacked it. The president said that’s why I called you. I was then like me? He just told me to come here. I sat down and I saw this:

Wait, is that galaga, like the arcade game? said Sam Brenner.

Yeah they need me in the situation room but I want you to keep looking at this and let me know anything you find. said The President.

Ok can i sit in your chair? Sam Brenner asked.

No! said The President.

Ah gimme a break im sitting in the chair. said Sam Brenner.

Just after looking at it for a while I realized it was not exactly like galaga. It was like if galaga was a horror game and not an arcade game, instead of looking cute and like a fun or chill game to play, they looked

,                                                       deformed!

Just as i realized this i heard what sounded like noises from galaga but louder than a tornado siren, they came flying through the president’s window. I ducked down and grabbed a Darpa light cannon and shot the alien. I then ran into the situation room and said, galaga is here! Right as the general started yelling at me, more galagas started coming into the room and I started shooting them. I then asked if they believed me and they all nodded. I then said everyone follow me. I then started sprinting through the hall while shooting the galagas. 

Where are we going brenner!? said The President.

You’ll see, it will be worth it! said Sam Brenner. 

It better be! Said The President.

Alright everyone grab a light cannon! said Sam Brenner. 

Uhm how do we even use these? said The Army Man.

Just figure it out for god’s sake! said Sam Brenner.

It couldn’t possibly be that difficult if i figured it out! said Sam Brenner.

All the tvs then turned back and a weird man said that round one was over and that they had won, and that there are only 3 rounds in total. Well this is the endgame i was thinking.

Ok we need to figure out a plan to stop whatever round two may be. said Sam Brenner.

Ok well do we know what’s coming next? said The President.

Well the second game we played was centipede so i think we can safely assume that it will be the next game to take over. said Sam Brenner.

Ok well lets get training then! said Mr.President.

Ok first rule of centipede, is to only shoot the centipede’s head otherwise it will split in half and make more centipedes. said Sam Brenner.

 it will make more? Asked the soldier.

Yeah unfortunately you have to be very accurate or else there will be hundreds of centipedes in just seconds. said Sam Brenner.

Ok get gaming! said Sam Brenner.

Ok remember the patterns, memorize them, that’s how you win! said Sam Brenner.

Ok everyone we need to be prepared at all times, you never know when it could happen. said Sam Brenner.

Just as i said this all the tvs turned off and then back on showing the second location being in London and saying sometime tomorrow night. I realized we needed to get on a flight ASAP if we planned on being there in time.

Ok we need to get on a plane or a private jet and get to London so we don’t miss this fight and lose our planet! said Sam Brenner.

Ok well we better there then. Said The Mom.

London (2015)

As the helicopters landed, we all got out and started preparing for the invasion of the centipedes while the president was in the London prime minister office. 

Okay violet how is it out there? Asked The President.

It’s eerily quiet. said Violet.

Wow violet is your real name. said Sam Brenner.

Mr president there coming down now. said Violet.

It is centipede. said Sam Brenner.

Okay everyone DON’T split them in half or they will duplicate! Screamed Sam Brenner.

As they started shooting it looked good at first. But as you thought that, one centipede in half another 2 in half. Then I watched as half our team died so I knew it was up to me. I stole a light cannon and shot through a centipede that was rushing at me. One down just 3 more to go! I started breaking the mushroom things to get a better view. One started rushing me downwards so I shot through that one too. I killed the second to last one by shooting in from the back to the face. Just as I did that I noticed one of them running away. So I chased it onto the road and into a hotel where it trapped itself so now there were zero centipedes left.

Way to go brenner! Screamed The President.

No problem, what’s next? Sam Brenner Asked.

Well what’d you play next in the competition? The President Asked.

Pacman. said Sam Brenner.

Well dont you need ghosts for pacman? Asked the President.

So we need some little ghosts. Said Sam Brenner.

Here follow me to nyc. said Violet.

ok where are we going in nyc? Sam Brenner Asked.

Showing you the ghost. Said violet.

It’s a car? Sam Brenner Asked.

A super charged pacman killing car. Said violet.

Let’s go! Said Sam Brenner.

As i got in the car i saw giant 30 foot tall pacman turn around the corner

Ok well its now or never i thought to myself.

Ok brenner you got this just stay calm. Said the president.

Right as he said I slammed on the pedal and started zooming towards pac-man but he’s always been faster so i made a right turn to hopefully counteract pac-man and get one life down. As I turned the next corner I smashed right into pac-man and now he only has two lives left. Ok I got this  thought. I kept going and pacman spawned on the other side of nyc. I started heading over there going 100 miles per hour and I didn’t notice he was leading me into a power pellet. As he flew into the power pellet I started reversing. As I spun around I started flooring it and turning around every corner possible in order to escape. As the ten seconds were up I slammed on the brakes and pac-man ran straight into me and now there was one more life left. As pacman respawned i floored it for pacman not knowing again he was going straight to a power pellet again. As he rammed into it he started rolling at me as fast as possible. I started reversing into a parking garage and going up floor after floor as he chased me up them. He was getting way too close to me. As I got to the top floor I jumped off the roof heading towards the building, but as pacman was about to eat me the power pellet weared off and we won! After winning I became a world hero, didn’t have to pay taxes and became a billionaire!