Ari .

“Blackening” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #103

“Dad! You’re not looking!” “What? Oh.” Mikha raised his head, blinking wildly. He sighed shakily, rubbing the nightmares from his eyes. The red and green feathers tied around his wrist tickled his chin. “Watch,” Diego ordered.  He raised his arms, planting one foot before the other. With a sharp whoop, he launched into a cartwheel, rolling over the shrine-house’s front yard. “Me! Me!” Baby Moses waddled out of the shade, reaching for his big brother. His thick fingers flexed like crab claws. “Nope, not you.” Mik...

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“The Whistling Man” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #97

Diego shook his head. “How long are we going to be gone?”“Just a couple months,” Diego’s father wheezed, red-faced.His curly black hair shone with sweat. He was wrestling a fur coat onto Diego’s little brother Moses, who was equally red-faced from kicking and punching his father. His small, damp curls were plastered to his face.“But it’s full of snow in Danyev.”“I’m aware.”“We live in the desert.”“It’s not all that different from Maz’an,” his father said. “It’s a small village just like this one, except there’s no healer. That’s where I come...

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“Me To Myself” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #76

“What was that dream?” “…” “…” “Daylight behind my eyelids. I have to get up.” “I don’t want to open my eyes.” “I have to.” “I can’t move.” “I have to get up.” “I can’t. It’s cold out there, and it hurts, and I can’t move.” “…” “…” “… The dream is leaving. Yesterday is catching up.” “No. No thinking. I can catch the tail of the dream if I sink back in.” “Too late.” “…” “…” “No!” “I remember the dream.” “No, no, no, I’ve lost it, it’s gone, I can’t pick up where it left off—” “I have to get up. I have to move.” “— and I can’t see her. Th...

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“The Patron Saint of Pirates” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #67

The cannon head swiveled, groaning as its gaping mouth lowered itself to Émilien’s face. The gnarled ropes dug into the underside of his ribs as he shifted on the mast, his husk sandals sliding over the damp deck.The Captain slapped the top of the cannon affectionately. Her tricorn hat sat at a jaunty angle, and the Screaming Sword hung at her waist, silent. She turned to her prisoner, tracing the collar of her coal-colored vest.“Answer me this, stowaway,” she said, and Émilien tried in vain to sit up straighter. Her voice was liqu...

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“Appledeath” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #63

“You’re wearing the sheet.” “For the last time, I am not wearing the sheet!” Cassian crossed his arms over his Guns N’ Roses shirt, floating beside the apple tree. His heavy sigh blew a strand of white hair out of his translucent face. Santi scrabbled up the bark like a squirrel. “C’mon, the ghost in the sheet’s a classic.” He popped his head through the tree, inches away from her face. “Doesn’t anyone have any respect for the dead these days?” “Pssssh. You are such a boomer.” “Don’t call me that! I was born&nbs...

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“The Lost Wish” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #62

Rolling hills crept past as Seo buzzed over the dirt road vein. Light glared through his motorcycle helmet as his tires bounced over gouging gravel. The sun switched off as he passed over the acre-wide shadow of the Gray Temple. All that the shadow fell upon, besides him, was stone. With hardly a second lost, he evaded an elderly pair of hikers. They had their faces turned toward each other, their smiles frozen and lost in time. He turned the corner to meet the scarlet scrawl on the side of the pyramid — thin, bleeding letters: LOST ...

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“Spooky Boys” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #61

The doctors identified him as Moses Ferraz, but the name didn’t feel familiar no matter how many times he mouthed it to himself. He kept his head turned and his eyes shut, so the nurse wouldn’t see him mutter to himself— and so he wouldn’t see the boy in the window. The boys reflected in the glass never matched the face in the little hand mirror at his bedside. They didn’t move when Moses did, or blink, even. It was the one with greasy hair and a jaw like a stone slab, the Watching Boy, that stared at him from across the room that afternoo...

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“The Unwalking” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #60

I’m not stupid. When Teddy never came back from his supply run, I knew — I knew it! And four years later there he stood, staring directly at me from across the lot, his face half-eaten and gray and dead. The pharmacy stood quiet and tempting. Tall shadows wandered in the tinted windows. Unlike the thing that used to be my brother, they hadn’t caught my scent yet. That was the only thing keeping me from bolting for the pharmacy — that it hadn’t moved at all since I fell in range. You’d think the shell of my idiot brother would have the br...

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“Godslayer” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #57

There was a warrior house in Coyo’an whose only daughter was chosen to pay the debt of blood we owed to the gods. Her name was Quetzalin, meaning Plume, and all were willing to give her up but for her elder brother.  He was a bitter man, selfish and spiteful and not so fair to look upon. A blow from a nightsaw had cleaved off half his face, reducing it to rough meat and half-grinning teeth. His name was Huitzilin, meaning Hummingbird, and behind his back he was called Ghoul. When they had reached the Red Temple, Quetzalin accept...

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“The Hitmom” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #56

“If the umbilical cord stump is experiencing active bleeding,” droned the screen reader to the clean, unadorned bedroom office, “or is showing signs of infection such as swelling or pus, be sure to contact your medical provider immediately…”The assassin’s head dipped once, twice, then shot up, her hollow, off-focus grey eyes wide and bloodshot.“Hey, Siri,” she croaked. The computer replied with a jolly little ding. “Pause screen reader.”“Pausing screen reader.”“What time is it?”“It’s 2:00 AM.”She put her face in her hands. “Ki...

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“Necromafia” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #55

Moral’s captains appraised her in cold silence as she leaned into her velvet armchair. Her bodyguard, a curly-haired ghoul with skin the color of spoiled milk, let out a low growl when a captain a presumed to sit next to her. Raising her bony hands in mock surrender, the caporegime of the Lasera family walked to the end of the meeting table. She collapsed into a revolving chair, spinning herself lazily. Moral’s mascara-ringed eye － a shiny lock of black hair hid the other－ flicked to the caporegime.  “We’ll begin whenever...

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“The No-Pointed Pentacle” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #53

“Please,” the demon choked out, catching her hysterical face in the bathroom mirror. She grimaced and touched up her lip gloss. “Please, you have to help me. I think he’s going to kill me.” Forty years of neglect had transformed the women's room in Ala Ruiz Park into pagan temple ruins. Ivy had swallowed the squat, concrete building, and runes crawled on the walls. And Jackie was pretty sure a child had drowned in the large, doorless stall closest to the wall “It’ll be okay,” the operator said gently. “I’m here to help.” What a lovely ...

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“Monster Cannonade” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #50

High up in his treehouse, Wolfie scoped the ground for the enemy. His binoculars settled on a group of boys, and he allowed himself a grim smile. “There you are.” His drone was a beautiful instrument, with heavy black blades and a claw that opened and closed. It hummed to life, the blades of its wings whipping the air. With all the slow care of a just-hatched dragonfly, it rose into the air. Wolfie flung open a treasure chest of fat, trembling water balloons. From the chest he drew a baby-blue water balloon and fastened it to the hook. I...

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“My Name Is Freedom” by Ari .

Submitted to Contest #45

The scissors follow the black marker path through the cardboard. My fingers are twisted into the tiny handles and every cut crushes my fingers, grinding scissor-handle-shaped grooves into my joints. A shuffle of steps overhead. My father is on the hunt for a midnight snack. I freeze like a prey animal before I have the good sense to shut the light off. The flickering bar of light above me dies. I crouch down there in the dark and wait for the noise to stop. When it seems quiet, I lean forward to press my ear to the crack in the closet do...

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“Sanz v. The World” by Ari .

THIS CALL OR VISITATION HAS BEEN MONITORED AND RECORDED. ANYTHING SAID CAN BE USED AGAINST EITHER CALLER IN THEIR CURRENT OR POSSIBLY FUTURE CASE. CALLERS MUST MAINTAIN RESPONSIBLE CONTROL OVER THE CONTENT AND DURATION OF THIS CALL.“Oh! You don’t say!” The officer standing guard at the prisoners’ backs flinched when Riley’s hand shot up, refusing to relax even when she only put it to her mouth to cover her smile. “That’s right, sweetie,” the voice on the other end crackled. The reception in Belem was atrocious. Those doltish aides never...

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