Hector Luna

“Seeking Normality” by Hector Luna

Submitted to Contest #218

The smell of rotten cabbage is horrendous and not easy to forget.The lush verdant landscape of the Pacific Northwest is lovely to look at. It often beguiles many to dream of themselves gazing down from the crest of one of these glorious mountains. Even if that view comes from a neighborhood for the rich, the stench of gangrenous decay is not one you’d think you’d be forced to endure. If only I didn’t have to smell that putrid funk again.When that smell hits you, it feels like your senses are getting whacked with a mallet. I ...

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“Tempted, by the fruit of another...” by Hector Luna

Submitted to Contest #216

A stunningly gorgeous blonde opens my office door and leans in to whisper, “I have to cancel tonight and this weekend.” I smile as I lean across my desk and quietly ask, “why are we whispering?” Jill, my wife, starts to giggle. “Oops, thought you were on the phone. You typically close the door when you’re on speakerphone.” Ugh. I forgot about the door again. “Yeah, that ca...

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“The Burden of Guilt” by Hector Luna

Submitted to Contest #215

A horrendous stench overwhelmed Lance as he grudgingly wedged himself in through the broken side door into the dilapidated, abandoned factory. Here will be where it happens. He’d relentlessly worked for almost a year to pull this off. He wondered if hell smelled as atrocious. The repulsive stink assaulting his senses was even stronger in their offices. As he walked through that area, he re...

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“Magic is Hard, pt 2” by Hector Luna

Berk was alone at the polar axis.Dannis’ port had completed and was no longer stuck there with him. Berk got down and huddled against the carrier’s carcas. It provided cover from the relentless, fervent winds. Now what?As much as he desperately wanted to abandon the thought, he couldn’t escape the knowledge that he needed to be the one to invoke the spell of inversion. It had to be cast in order to keep this colony from needing to be abando...

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“Magic is Hard, pt 1” by Hector Luna

Berk was freezing. He felt like he was floundering in a subzero frostland. Their dropship couldn’t get any closer to the polar axis and had to set them down. Their transport carrier wasn't insulated. Since they started on it, he felt like his bones became solid sticks of ice. He knew there was enough thermal gaberdine lining in his suit to prevent death, but that didn’t keep him from feeling like all the warmth that existed had vanished. He was cold, bitterly cold.The colony got started ov...

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“Valhalla Summer Trip” by Hector Luna

Submitted to Contest #99

Maxine Inoza wanted to be furiously incensed because she wasn’t being allowed to sleep. She had trouble being angry. She was just too tired. Sleep was against the rules. She wished her dad could afford a better ship. “Why did you let grandpa sleep and not me?”“I didn’t. And you couldn’t wake him up either. Don’t go pointing fingers.” Enoch, her father, was flying The Ebaneezer, a prehistoric freight hauler that constantly went off course. Every few minutes, the ship’s helm control would beep and he would have to...

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“I'm not a twin” by Hector Luna

Submitted to Contest #98

What sin did the city of Phoenix commit to get punished like this? I didn’t think hell could be this hot. And what about this massive, tremendous yard? I’m pretty sure it's bigger than it needs to be. Is there a rule for that? Will my dad get fined if this colossal yard is too immense? If it wasn’t so ginormous it wouldn’t take me all day to water it. It takes forever to mow on those weeks when I gotta do that.Sprinklers are better. If only I could get me some sprinkler action right n...

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“Maxine Inoza's Vacation” by Hector Luna

Submitted to Contest #97

Maxine Inoza hated drops. This lieutenant, and what was left of her platoon, was dropping onto Enoch’s 9th. She hated these four-man capsules, most of all. The Corps had already phased these out in favor of the much more reliable single-man units. Sadly, the Widow’s Peak, this derelict ship transporting them, only had these shitty four-man pieces of crap.The ship wouldn’t even be in standard orbit when dropping them. It would be doing a ‘run and gun’ drop. The Widow’s Peak would only be slowing dow...

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“What a boy should do” by Hector Luna

Submitted to Contest #96

I should thank the mysterious ‘Cargo Cult’ for giving this room an actual, bona fide purpose. For too long it’s been the den of my inequities—the place where it’s easier for me to just throw things in, rather than putting them away. Or getting rid of them altogether.When all those boxes were in this room, you couldn’t see how the walls aren’t even the same color. Maybe they did this on purpose, the opposite walls are the same beige. They’re different shades of beige, one more orange, the other more pink. Both beige, but ...

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“Phoenix is not in Colorado” by Hector Luna

Submitted to Contest #95

I can’t believe I made that decision. I could've, maybe should’ve, stayed in Phoenix, but I didn’t. I’m here, in Colorado, thousands of miles from home, hiking in the middle of the night on some dark highway with a ton of shitty owls that won’t shut up. I know I control my own destiny. Her breaking up with me, six months ago, was the reason I chose to leave. Her wanting me back <...

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