Ben Cerasi

“Eranko” by Ben Cerasi

The damp stains on the bones matched the red dusk that gave way the black night. Two hundred bodies had turned the rivers bed in the past season. The medical officers compared the sharp talons found on the first bodies to the corpse. The polished edges and yellow powder were too complex for a hungry carnivore. People were afraid to clock in the factories, the murders affected the bottom line. That meant the Colonial Police actually had to do their job. The Trading company that paid everyones salaries put on the illusion of action as more o...

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“Permafrost” by Ben Cerasi

Fire and Ice fused with the javelin as we fell from the stars. Red lights and green dots blinked without any further orders. This was like childbirth, an explosion, followed by a black void and a white light. The cramped pod collided with the blue glass caked on top of the lake. My hands yanked against the escape hatch. The small circle of fire and ash popped against the ash. The escape hatch was no different than the safety of my mother's womb. I felt like a newborn baby, as I took my first breath. Snow.  I had taken it for gr...

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“The Veils of the Valley (Part One)” by Ben Cerasi

Freedom of Information Act: Request. Memo:  United States Justice Department. Bureau of Prohibition The declassified Reports of Agent Harold Tempt. {Recovered with Permission from the San Joaquin State Hospital, Tempt family and the DOJ} The Thirst of July was upon the land it would, Soon the first fruits of August would bloom and be offered for the Regent who would soon meet her brides at the altar.   The valley was kind to its tenants. But it asked for a tithe in kind.  It had provided bounties during the dust b...

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“The Siren amongst the Stars.” by Ben Cerasi

The Last Transmission of the Divine Intercept: Security Officer Angel Ramirez. The cosmic citadel was without blemish as we floated against radiation, and space debris. The hairless apes were close to cracking the great barrier that shackled most species to their worlds. I popped a few heavy-duty pain relivers to get my head in the game. They gave me a nasty case of cotton mouth and I’d dry heave later. But the throbbing in my brain is what kept me human. Human, that’s was becoming antiquated term these days. We become the Lewis and Clar...

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“The Whispers” by Ben Cerasi

The black hands reached across the walls as the white noise from the television echoed across the muffled walls. My eyes locked on to the uncanny shapes on the wall. The first officers on scene believed it to be another cooking room gone wrong. Synthetic drugs could be made with a little powder and a shopping list from a local big box store. The construction crew prepared ready to put down their tools before the payroll went into the red. Rodney Jenkins liked to swing that hammer like it was an extension of his dick, the crew got a good laug...

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“The Long Nights of Autumn” by Ben Cerasi

The sapphire summer overstayed its welcome as it slowly withdrew from the valley, in its place the towns received the long nights of Autumn. Those little white spores that popped up up and down the south-99 state highway. The crops and cattle were met with righteous fire. It wasn’t long until people were placed in the pyres. At first it was migrant workers and poor black farmers that escaped Jim Crow south. Those didn't make headlines, once the thirst came to Large tracts on land, that's when the governor stepped in. All the kings horses an...

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“The Dying Grass.” by Ben Cerasi

Submitted to Contest #117

“Everything was ready for the ritual.” The Dying Grass Moon burned red as it set itself upon the land. As the seeds and the green broke through the dire earth, The valley was kind to its tenants. But it asked for a tithe in kind.   The canal passageways once nourished the roots, the hoofed beasts and the tiller . The ripples shifted from black to red alongside the night fires. Smoke and ash danced across the twilight. old almond groves had to be purged and returned to the soil. The charred haze from brush fires in Sonora and Nap...

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