Emerald Lace

“Coldest Day ” by Emerald Lace

Fear and anxiety eked through the particles of the frostbitten air, as the village went about trying to secure their livelihoods and their families' welfare in the face of the Coldest Day of the year. Since the dawn of the last ice age had killed off eighty-six percent of all human and animal life, the remaining humans had learned to live in the Arctic temperatures while they struggled through life. Although used to the frigid temperatures,mostly growing to enjoy them, the survivors still fretted over the Coldest Day.  Benny, a local fi...

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“Desperate Remedies ” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #248

Kicking and screaming, he shoved her into the back of his Chevy Bel Air as the storm raged in the distance and his sinister chuckle was drowned out by the rumble of thunder. He strapped her into the back seat like a wild animal before he sped out of the driveway that sat in front of what was supposed to be their dream home. He only had a twinge of guilty conscience when he caught sight of the two tiny tear-streaked faces in his living room window.His wife hadn't stopped her caterwauling the entire drive, so by time they'd made it to the asyl...

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“Dr. Sandy Shells ” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #247

10/23        The ship travel is rough with the seas angry fits and the siren's calls that keep me up at night. I've been sick much. But we shall make landfall within the next few days and then they'll leave me to do my work. Most excited. Miss my wife and children a little but honestly it is nice to be away and on an adventure. 10/27        First night on the beach. Built tent, fire, and cooked a fine meal as I watched the ship take to the sea again. Dark now an...

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“The Mermaid ” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #247

The water splashed and sloshed over the side of the research ship as they huddled around the screen and watched the eerily empty ocean bottom slowly move in front of them. They'd been tediously searching the deepest part of the ocean for months and although they'd seen some amazing creatures and a couple of shipwrecks, they'd yet to find the prize. A Mermaid. Dr. Silas Fitz had been looking for a mermaid ever since he'd been saved by one. He’d been the only survivor in a tragic shipwreck that had taken the life of his entire family among o...

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“A Sky So Clear ” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #134

The sky was so clear you could see a million winking stars in an ocean of inky black. The heat from the desert subsided as the night had fallen, which forced her to pull her winter coat and hat on as she set up her telescope in its usual spot. She’d been fascinated with worlds beyond her own since she was old enough to admire the sky. In her pursuit of finding the answers to the unanswerable questions, like are we alone or where did life start, she’s traveled all over the world, but this spot of land in the middle of nowhere was the place th...

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“Curse in the Heart-Shaped Box ” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #133

When I used to lie in bed, and my mind would drift through millions of random thoughts, I’d often wonder if I were to die—what would be the best way? Suffocation? In my sleep? A sudden fatal accident? But I never thought it would be this and I certainly never thought I’d be stuck inside a box tucked away in an attic waiting to be discovered like some type of morbid genie.  I had no idea how long she had cursed me into this box, but I know how I got here. Ellie. Ellie was once the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen with long, blonde ha...

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“Goodbye to the Monster Under the Bed. ” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #132

There is a monster under my bed. And I know… I know what you are thinking. That I am crazy, but it’s the truth. I met the monster, who calls himself Greg, although I have doubts that’s his real name, when I was only three years old. I’d accidentally left my foot over the side of the bed and Bam… Hello Greg.  Initially he’d tried to scare me, because either it’s his job or his enjoyment, but when he realized he wouldn’t frighten me, we became fast friends. I’d stay up at night to play Jacks or a monster game called Quartei, which I hat...

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“The Locked Door” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #130

Megan had no reason to believe she’d ever end up bloody and beaten in an ambulance speeding down the freeway. But here she was. Her head pounded and every slight bump of the vehicle only caused more pain to shoot through her battered body. She would cry but found the tears couldn’t escape through her swollen eyes.  It’s not the first time he’d beaten her, but it was the first time he’d called the ambulance in a panic. He’d been afraid that he’d killed her. She wished he had. The embarrassment of allowing a man to hurt her like this a...

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“Powdered Donut” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #129

           Insane. Mad. Idiotic. Those were a few of the words that were tossed around when Sheila told her family that she’d cashed in her retirement and bought an aging inn on Mount Olympus in Greece. But as she stepped out of the stone and thatched building with her steaming cup of coffee and breathed in the clear, clean scent of mountains, snow, and freedom---she couldn’t find an ounce of care for their opinions. She’d left her high-stress job and her low-class fiancé in the city. So...

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“The perfect cup ” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #128

Rebecca stood in the kitchen, tears streaming her cheeks and a solid resolve were the only things keeping her out of bed. She opened the first cabinet and pulled out a fancy wooden box with a glass top. On the top, he’d etched the word tea in eloquent script, and she gently traced her finger over the word. Noah had bought her this storage box one Christmas when they’d first married. It was a silly thing, but the most thoughtful of the gifts he’d ever given her.    She’d had a love for tea from an early age and often tried new flavo...

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“Dreaming of saving Lillivale” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #127

           She stood barefoot on the scorched ground trying to take a clean breath through the rancid, billowing smoke and watched as the last of the monsters fell into a pile of ash at the end of a fiery blade. The warriors should be thrilled, as they had won the night, but she felt deep in her soul that something was coming for them all.  Rampage, her most trusted follower, came to stand next to her. He wiped a soiled hand across his forehead, smearing the savage evidence of war ...

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“Memories of Time” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #125

The freezing salt-water splashed his face as he pushed his tired arms through the surf. He’d been swimming for what seemed like forever---his heart was racing and breath struggled out of his lungs. The soaking wet tuxedo he wore only managed to make it harder for him to propel himself through the water.  Thomas had been traveling from his home in England to a new adventure with his bride-to-be, an American woman by the name of Lorna. He’d gotten her on a lifeboat when the ship had somehow sunk. In the chaos of the night, they loaded th...

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“Endling” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #124

           Frayed around the edges, crinkled through the middle, and faded with time, dirt, and blood, the map sat next to her on the edge of the rooftop as she looked through her binoculars and kicked her feet in the hot summer wind. There had been a time when the city below bustled with life, but now there were only rotting cars, rolling fields of trash, and tornados of smog as far as the eye could see. When the land was alive, there had been smells of cooking meat, car exhaust, body o...

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“Under the shade of a tree ” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #90

May 1925 She stood in the small clapboard house and watched as he planted the baby tree in the backyard. John had bought her that tree so that it could grow with the new baby they were going to bring into the world. Sarah rested her hand on the mound of her growing stomach and swore there had to be more than one inside. John wiped the soil onto his pants before he walked back into the house. He’d been a beautiful man with flame-red hair of the Scottish and eyes dark like his Italian mother. They’d met in grammar school and had only...

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“Stellan the Mighty” by Emerald Lace

Submitted to Contest #86

    Deep inside the bright, sunlit woods stood a cabin made of black and twisted branches. The stone chimney pumped out blackened smoke most of the day. No one dared bother the inhabitant of the cabin as he toiled away under the heat of his fire. And that’s the way he liked it, for he did not need interactions or paltry problems of the creatures that stirred outside these walls.      Stellan The Mighty, the last of the trolls, now hid away with his forge and metal as his only companions. He had long since s...

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