Cara H

“The Thing About West Holpry” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #85

The Thing About West Holpry A Walk in the Wild West End “That’s the thing about this city.” The crone’s voice was barely audible, but her companion would have known her thoughts even if she had not spoken. From a superficial viewpoint, she was an unremarkable woman of medium height and build with a countenance that none would consider comely. The crone had cultivated her appearance to call as little attention as possible to herself, her wild gray hair and the deep lines on her face shielding her from the nuisance of having to parry the unde...

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“The Ballad of Gerry Clifford: Another Day in Purgatory” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #84

Another Day in Purgatory Ida’s Vampire “Help me! Oh, for God’s sake, somebody help me! There’s a vampire in my room!” It was 4:15 in the morning, and up until that moment, things had been quiet at Candlelight Ridge Care Center. Night nurse Ace Murray, who had dozed while working on his never-ending charting, snapped to attention, banging his knee on the desk as he jerked awake. Security guard Thomas Octavian, who had ducked into the day room for “a wee kip” before starting his last set of rounds, came to with a snort from his uncomfortable p...

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“Cloned Heat: The Solicitous Servitors” by Cara H

The Solicitous Servitors The General’s Lab When fugitive Hangiri roughnecks Iker Macauley and Peregrine Varga came to, they were restrained on gurneys in a laboratory. A pair of identical muscular, tow-headed young men with pale skin and pale blue eyes typed notes into tablet computers as they observed their subjects. A bemused Iker noted that the only garment the lab assistants wore under their white coats was a pair of shiny silver briefs that left little to the imagination. Noting that their subjects had awakened, the lab assistants proce...

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“Galaxy Girl: The Kiss” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #81

The Kiss Dream Lover Pepper was filled with conflicting emotions. The dowdy, forty-seven-year-old nurse’s aide had been dismayed to learn that one of her longtime heroes, blues-rock guitarist Gerry Clifford, had been placed in a care home in London’s storied Crouch End borough. At just sixty-two years old, Gerry had been diagnosed with dementia. Pepper always thought that Gerry was sweet and smart, and she felt that what was happening to him was terribly unfair. She wondered if he was frightened. She knew that she would be. So, she sent a wi...

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“Galaxy Girl: Finding Something Forgotten” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #80

Finding Something Forgotten Sorrow Pepper Baiij did not mind her job at Trinity Gardens Retirement Community. Most of the time, the nights were uneventful. She walked the hallways of the vast building and put notices on the bulletin boards. She performed a variety of clerical tasks. Sometimes a resident called her, often for a minor problem such as replacing a dying smoke alarm battery or opening a medication bottle. There were occasions when a resident didn’t make it to the toilet in time, and sometimes there were genuine emergencies. Pepp...

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“The Key of Eidolon: Brilliant Disguise” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #77

Brilliant Disguise Grim and Frostbitten Hearts 3 December 2014 “Ugh, it’s getting worse,” forty-seven-year-old nursing assistant Pepper Baiij groaned as she looked out the panoramic front window of Trinity Retirement Community in Lawrence, Kansas at the blowing snow. “It’s becoming a full-on blizzard. Maybe I should come with you on your outdoor rounds, Mary.” “Wouldn’t do to have both of us getting lost in the storm, Hon,” sixty-four-year-old security guard Mary Fonseca countered. “You know I wouldn’t feel right if one of the folks wandered...

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“The Key of Eidolon: Midnight Friends” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #70

Midnight Friends Photo Allergic Claire Hart was a plain, shy girl of medium height with a medium build who dressed in loose-fitting clothes and wore minimal makeup. The raging acne and greasy hair of her early teenage years were now under control, but the reflection in the mirror still left Claire photoallergic. Claire wished she had a friend who got her. Ruth Andrews was nice, but she wasn’t someone that Claire could discuss the supernatural with. Ruth was a good Catholic girl and thought that such matters were best left unspoken. Helvey G...

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“Old Friends” by Cara H

Old Friends I The late morning was clear and crisp as Sawyer Roth stepped out of the travel hostel. Suddenly, an overpowering smell of roses assailed his nostrils, followed by a taste like sour milk. He clasped his hands over his mouth. After all, it wouldn’t do for a civilized man to vomit on the street in the sight of the good folk out for a cool lunchtime stroll. Sawyer hurried to the lavatory. After many miserable moments of seemingly endless sickness spewing from deep within him, he collapsed against the toilet, trying to bring the dry ...

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“Trapped” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #58

Trapped I Gerry Clifford watched anxiously as his wife and daughter argued. Even though Alice—his daughter’s name was Alice, wasn’t it? Even though Alice had just entered the study moments ago, he couldn’t remember why she was angry. It had something to do with something Rose said, or was it Rita? Neither of those names seemed quite right. Regardless, Gerry knew that they were arguing over him, and that chap standing off to the side didn’t want to get in the middle, you could see it by the look in his eyes. “Oi, Frank, come over here!” Gerry...

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“Fetch: The Will” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #57

The Will I Sixty-three-year-old Gerry Clifford’s family took him home from Candlelight Ridge Care Center for an afternoon visit. Gerry’s children, thirty-three-year-old Daniel and thirty-two-year-old Amber fawned over their father. Amber attempted to trigger her father’s memories by showing him a photo album, and Daniel presented a book of articles he’d compiled about Gerry’s years performing with his band, Mainline, and the many friends he’d made along the way. “This article’s about Henry Kalmar, Da,” Daniel said. “You remember Henry, righ...

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“Long Shadow” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #55

Long Shadow From the long shadow of a dimension outside Euclidian space, a group of human spirits watched as a white-haired sorceress with skin the color of lightly tanned leather railed at the spectre of an imposing-looking man with silver hair, a slate-colored complexion, and impressive pointed ears. A dark-haired, angular man with Middle Eastern features sat on a throne, watching the proceedings in amusement. “Idiot!” the sorceress snapped. “You destroyed your entire solar system with your clumsiness! You are the most incompetent excuse f...

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“Toys in the Attic: From the Dark Past” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #54

From the Dark Past Project Elysium Suffering from writers’ block, as she had been for close to a year now, sixty-year-old hopeful author Sabella Laaksonen was listening to an album called Project Elysium that her friend Tio Monday had given her, hoping to find inspiration in the lyrics. Tio described the music as “a gang of Cajun and Creole tunesmiths jammin’ by whatever dey has on hand. Every cat and chick on de Paradise label is on dis album. You gonna hear Rey play de organ and yours truly got his hands on a Qilaut. Dis be a drum from Ice...

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“Toys in the Attic: The Summer At Childhood's End” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #53

The Summer at Childhood’s End I On the first day of August 1978, eighteen-year-old Sabella Laaksonen sat on the front porch of her family’s El Paso home with a popsicle in her hand. Sabella had a lot on her mind. Two weeks from now she would be at Texas A&M in Corpus Christi to follow in her mother’s footsteps and earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Brice Laaksonen often sang the praises of being an Aggie and enjoyed retelling the story of how he met Thyra when he was a junior working on his Bachelor’s in engineering. Thyra was jus...

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“Still Got The Blues For You” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #52

Still Got the Blues for You In the Midnight Hour “To sleep—perchance to dream. But I’m doing no sleeping, so there will be no dreaming,” Sabella Laaksonen sighed. Sabella’s insomnia was the reason that she had usually worked night shifts. Now that she was no longer a slave to a time clock, she was trying to go to bed at a more sensible hour. Midnight would do, but as the clock struck one, she realized that it would be another sleepless night. Sabella sat before the computer that she had set up in front of her couch. She had been living in th...

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“Toys in the Attic: The Girl With the Stars In Her Eyes” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #51

The Girl with the Stars in Her Eyes I Twelve-year-old Sabella Laaksonen looked up into the star-filled sky as she stood by the rental cabin beside Dark Lake in Eagle, Vermont on the last night of summer vacation, and made a wish. “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight. I wish I had a friend who I could tell my secrets to—a friend who would understand and like me for who I am, not who they think I could be if I just tried harder.” Sabella had been raised to believe that if...

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