Link Arneson

“Prom Night” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #101

“Do you like it?” Gracie asked anxiously. I didn’t look in the mirror, but I pretended to.“It’s perfect!” I squealed in my well-rehearsed girl voice, hugging her. It was so easy to make Gracie happy. “You are a makeup goddess!”“You are so lucky you have a date,” she said. I nodded silently. I couldn’t really say I disagreed. As much as I wanted to take a girl to prom, that wasn’t happening, and my parents love Keith, so I might as well make them proud one last time.“I mean, all the good o...

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“The Extraterrestrial Canine Infiltration Program” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #100

A string of drool splatted on the kitchen tiles. Despite my disgust for the food, the hungry dog inside me (or rather, outside me) recognized the growl of the can opener, the scraping metal and gears as the alien cranked the device in a circle, popped off the lid, and plopped the wet mush into the dish. It was literally Pavlovian. I knew of the Earth scientist: as preparation for my mission I had taken care to study human scientists who studied animals, especially dogs. I learned from it too; I’d been using the same principles to train th...

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“Beneath the Two Suns” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #99

The larger of the two setting suns was barely visible from up here, a sliver of light on the horizon painting the clouds pink and gray. It was Dex’s favorite time of day, the twilight between the two sunsets when the heat dissipated and long shadows crept over the desert.  It had been a month since they crash landed on this planet, a month of searching wreckages and junk heaps for the parts necessary to fix their ...

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“Starbucks for Zombies” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #96

The bell rang once, then twice as the woman opened and then slammed the door shut. She looked around behind her wildly, all while maintaining a death grip on the handle. Her hair, pulled back into a ponytail, was frazzled; she wore athletic clothes, and a trickle of blood leaked down from the hem of her shorts. The people in the coffee shop stared at her. They were a motley crew: a high school student studying ...

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“T'Skala and Vivian Steal a Rocket (Part 2)” by Link Arneson

The three-armed bouncer looked from the ID card to me, then back again.He grunted and nodded, moving aside to let T’Skala and me through. I breathed out a sigh of relief - it had worked.Pulling the rocket into the parking structure had offered a decent view of the canyon, but up close it was another thing entirely. The light of the sun glinted off crags of agate stone that looked like living crystals, as if it were a bluish moss of some type clinging to the sheer gray walls of the canyon. It was like nothing on earth....

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“T'Skala and Vivian Steal a Rocket (Part 1)” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #94

“You want me to skip school?” I scratched my head with my cyborg arm, touching the back of my neck. “I don’t know.” “C’mon, it’ll be fun!” T’Skala looked at me with three wide, pleading eyes. “I used to do it all the time on Taurus Prime! You just have to pretend you’re sick.” “People do that on Earth too, T’Skala,” I said, rolling my eyes. “That’s like the oldest trick in the book.” “Well do pe...

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“As U 👍 It ” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #93

Everything seemed like a blur as Celia dragged her away from the party. Rosalind whined drunkenly, but the fierce autumn wind blew the sound away, or else Celia’s alien mask was a soundproof barrier of rubber. Or, Aliena. She should think of her as Aliena - she had almost fucked up several times tonight. Or maybe fully fucked up. Who knows. Celia was a common name, right? No one would recognize them as the Duke children. Especially not Orlando.Rosalind tried to slow down, jerking her hand away from her cousin’s. At this speed, the ...

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“MY ROOMMATE IS A WEREWOLF!?!?!?!?” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #92

The door was propped open with a rubber triangle, Ethan’s mom was hanging up his shirts on metal hangers in the closet, his dad was gaffing ethernet cable to the floor, and Ethan was subtly trying to push them both out the door.  “Ethan, I think we should go to Target and buy some more hangers.” “Mom, I have enough space in my drawers - ” “And some clothesline, with laundry costing two dollars it...

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“Hippopotamus” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #91

“I’m sorry, we’ll try to keep it down,” Mom said to the librarian. “She gets excited at the end. Honey, let’s use our inside voices, okay?” “Okay,” I said. Then whispered, still with the same fervor, “But YES the hippopotamus!” “That’s a great book,” the librarian said. They had short hair and square glasses, and looked really tall and imposing standing over the little table we were sitting at in the kids’ ...

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“2021 ” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #90

A year ago, I might have been shoulder to shoulder with people, a backpack in my face or hot breath on my neck, stretching my arm up to grab the strap on the rail for stability.  Now, I wear my mask and sit in my own seat, four or five feet away from other passengers. This is rush hour; the train is only half full, and it still feels like too many people. Someone gets on the train and sits in the seat di...

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“Breathe Easy” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #90

Waterproof mascara, because my eyes would certainly tear up the moment I stepped outdoors. Orangeish foundation around my five o’clock shadow, until I saved up enough money to have it lasered off. Contour some cheekbones, soften my jawline. Pluck and pencil my eyebrows.I painted the lip color on my lips, exaggerating the pout, and counted to twenty, watching the seconds tick by on the secondhand smart mirror. Then I applied the gloss and the setting spray. Count to twenty again, then put on my N95 to test it. None of the makeup cam...

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