Eric D.

“The Turning of the Bones” by Eric D.

Submitted to Contest #205

My mood had changed drastically after hearing the big news. Nothing could ever prepare you for hearing about a loved one dying, even when you know it's coming. That was the first time I saw my father cry and his lips quivered when he broke the news to me that Grandma Myra was dead. I had watched him turn from a man who'd never shared an ounce of vulnerability to a sobbing child. It scared me. I couldn't bear to watch him this way, so I ran and ran as fast as I could. In a way, I was running from the inevitable realization of death. "I c...

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“Lost in Yesterday ” by Eric D.

There's no school tomorrow, and Frankie's drawers are replenished with his favorite snacks, zesty Ranch 3D chips he purchased with his parent's allowance money. He's so excited for the new Pro Skater game that he destroys the plastic from its case with his bare teeth and shoved the disc inside the console. He flipped open the instruction booklet while the game loaded and took a whiff of that heavenly new-game fragrance. "Mmm... I miss that smell." His eyes unapologetically rolled back while a big grin painted his face.After a few s...

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“Welcome to the Machine” by Eric D.

Everyday I watch those behemoth machines hover over me and a part of me gets this nagging feeling of envy. Like an itch I can't scratch. Maybe it's the first time in my life I felt jealousy for something. For as long as I've been alive spinning in this rock, I've been limited to this jagged asphalt, moving in a predetermined route. Today marks the special three year anniversary of when they adopted me and when I was born into "purpose". I was once an A.I. built into a patented auto-pilot technology created by a company who hired brillia...

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“The Nature of Sunflowers” by Eric D.

Submitted to Contest #188

It was an early Summer morning when Maialen decided to visit her favorite spot by the beach to spy on the local boys playing soccer. She hoisted herself to a well positioned rock and brushed the algae accumulating around her gills. She noticed the laughter and chatters of the boys playing turned to cursing and shouting. Their game was interrupted by a single long board that had slid across their field, with a shaggy-haired boy chasing close behind. One boy playing soccer tossed the ball at the skateboarder's head before they all laughed wild...

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“Stray Cat Blues” by Eric D.

The sky had began exploding in colorful bursts when I freaked out and lost control. I ran far away from home, and made it to an opened dark shed a mile away in the next town over. When I arrived, there was a creature lurking there on the edge of a fence with its mouth hung wide open, it hissed when it noticed my scent. "Beware, whiskered-one...they don't leave the spaghetti out on Mondays" she said with a crackle in her voice. It was an Opossum smiling with her big yellow teeth. She walked closer from the fence to get a better look at m...

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“The Meeting After Dusk ” by Eric D.

It was Friday evening when we agreed to get together to confront the terrible situation with the growing transient population from up North. There were five of us, all depraved, a little exhausted and caffeine-deprived yearning to know what was going on in the world changing too quickly in the worse kind of way. "Happy Friday, people! I'm glad you've all made it. I have a little surprise for you all, but first we need to see all the goodies you've brought." I could see all of their eager eyes hovering around the coffee table gawking at ...

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“Night of the Living” by Eric D.

Paolo gripped Marcia's hand tight enough to leave it white from the pressure."Marcia, how can you sleep with this thing buzzing like that? Wake up!""I know. I know." Marcia yawned and closed her eyes again."Quick. The alarm just set off, someone just ripped through the front gate." Paolo cursed under his breath. He had just spotted on the camera a trail of blood left through the yard and whatever it was, it was banging on the front door now. He took a moment and tried to be calm with her, Marcia finally woke up and looked terrified.&nbs...

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“The Day Humanity Left” by Eric D.

When the power went out, we used the bumpy texture on the walls to guide us like constellations back into the living room. My sister, Liz called out to me from the other room, while I could hear her friend panicking nearby. I think we all felt the same thing when the light's finally shut off. We all thought it was the end of everything. They say the last bits that you lose when you die is your hearing.So I understood Liz's friend, Beatriz shouts of fear."Eddy are you there?" Liz said. She only waited a moment before flat-out s...

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“The Day the Coyotes Came” by Eric D.

My Parents had their eyes glued to the TV screen as they watched sections of the U.S. map slowly change in colors, like leaves from a Hickory Tree in autumn. Each section represented one more community in shambles that was left to fend for themselves. I watched the look of horror and confusion in their faces while their hearts palpitated in their chest.  "I hope she's okay." My mom said fidgeting on the couch. She couldn't hold it together any longer. "After all that's going on, I really hope she didn't get distracted by one of tho...

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“The Day the Birds Left ” by Eric D.

      I was only thirty minutes into Philosophy of Human Rights when my Wifi cut off. I'm stammering and running to the modem for a hard reset, when I could hear the waking moments of my Dad groaning in the other room.           "Goddamn piece of shit! Piece of crap! Never wants to work!"           He barged into my room. "Eddy?! Where are you?! Eddy!"        &nbsp...

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“Three Little Fangs” by Eric D.

        It was true darkness inside the bedroom, the type of pitch black you only get before the naked moonlight pierces through the windows. There was something about the combination of dark and silence that troubled my gullible mind. It was danger, lighting a flame to my crazy imagination and allowing it to run wild. Those scary bedtime stories my mom would read to me before bed all sprung out from within my memories. I envisioned extending limbs, furry jointed legs, antennaes and elongated scaly ten...

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“Drugs, Sex & Wiesn” by Eric D.

           Klaus and Otto would have enjoyed chowing down roasted pork knuckles and pretzels at the fairgrounds of Oktoberfest by now, but instead were waiting for their friend Daniel to buy the remains of his lederhosen outfit.           After a few hours, the two childhood friends headed out to meet him at the train station. During the later months of September, the Munich transit system was an unpredictable hub for a herd of pedes...

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“A Guide to the Hidden Places” by Eric D.

      "Makayla, you might be the only person in the world who'd rather spend time flying in a sweaty compact plane" laughed Brandon.           Brandon and Makayla walked down the rear of the Airbus to sit in their unremarkably compressed middle and aisle assigned seats.           "Yeah. Yeah. That's not the first time you said that." Makayla stuffed her backpack in the small compartment space above her h...

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“Super v. Jung” by Eric D.

      Don't laugh when Jung comes rushing from his bus to greet his fans nearly pissing himself from excitement. He means well. His fans waited for him to arrive to witness one of the most publicized fights in the last few years. They embraced him with loud gleeful cheers and picket signs bearing his image and moniker, "Super-Jung".           It was an affirmation to his worth.           May I remind you...

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“Krav Maga Remedy” by Eric D.

I'm knocked out in my bed, probably snoring like a banshee when a grim dream conjures up in my head. I'm reminded of those loud air-raid sirens when I was living in Jerusalem. I was a kid the first time I heard them, I ran as fast as I could to the nearest miklat to take shelter. My Dad pulled me by my small frail arms and yelled at me to pick up my feet. My tiny legs were moving as fast as they could until my dad hoisted me up in a panic. Maybe it's why I enlisted in the IDF when I grew up, I didn't want to feel helpless again.  &...

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