12 Days of Xmas

Sitting in an empty apartment on New Year’s Eve eating tacos dripping with hot sauce squeezed from branded sauce packets. Only a little inebriated, just enough that the fast food tacos seemed absolutely delicious.

He took a bite and thought of the meme he’d seen before: "Every time I go to Taco Bell I get diarrhea." — "Me personally, I get tacos."

It had made him laugh because he’d never had any trouble with Taco Bell food. The only thing better was when a Taco Bell was inside a KFC. A taco, a piece of chicken, and a cola were the trifecta of satisfaction. Mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit only made things that much better.

He was alone but didn’t feel lonely. Not with a box full of tacos to eat and his favorite live-streamer to keep him company.

The year had been a shitty one for nearly everyone he knew, but he had hope for the year ahead. Especially with his new favorite streamer promising to post more.

It was a little thing, but it was a spark of hope. That even if the rest of the world went to hell in a handbasket, there would at least be a bit of fun to look forward to. That human nature would let someone find even the tiniest bit of enthusiasm to hold onto.

The coming year might be horrible or it might be marvelous. Might be like a fast food taco or a gourmet taco. But the sauce would always be delicious.

And if he was lucky, there might be metaphorical fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and maybe a biscuit with honey butter. Because life was always better dripping in hot sauce and with tasty sides to enjoy.

"Happy New Year," he said, and took a big bite of another taco.

=END=

~Harper Kingsley

https://paypal.me/harperkingsley.

https://patreon.com/harperkingsley.

https://ko-fi.com/harperwck.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarperKingsley.

https://amazon.com/shop/harperkingsley0.
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog.
https://kimichee.com.

https://harperkingsley.bsky.social.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HarperKingsley.

The freedom of the ocean. Drifting and soaring beneath the waves. Hair flowing behind as the mermaid hit top speed, tail flapping in smooth, powerful strokes. Gills drawing in deep even breaths, the oxygenated blood adding power to the humanlike arms that were dragging the mermaid forward through the water.

Escaping. Away.

The sound of the boat’s motor receding into the distance. The humans hopefully to be left far behind.

There was stinging pain where the corded strings of the fisherman’s net had dug into flesh and scales. Fingertips ached from the desperate struggle that had freed the mermaid to drop back into the water below, traumatized and panicked, fleeing with the desperation of someone that refused to be captured again.

The mermaid had been warned about the danger of humans, but it was this experience that hammered the point home.

Humans are dangerous.

The mermaid swam forward with amazing speed, then surfaced briefly to expel the last bit of oxygen from the largely vestigial humanlike lungs before plunging down into the deeps. Welcoming the pressure of the deeper depths that humans and their machines rarely visited. The safety of home. Where humans could not go.

=END=

~Harper Kingsley

https://paypal.me/harperkingsley.

https://patreon.com/harperkingsley.

https://ko-fi.com/harperwck.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarperKingsley.

https://amazon.com/shop/harperkingsley0.
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog.
https://kimichee.com.

https://harperkingsley.bsky.social.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HarperKingsley.

The lock had no key. Not one that could be found anywhere in the house.

He knelt in front of the chest and tapped the lock with his finger, watching it swing back and forth. Taunting him.

He would have broken the chest open if it wasn’t built so sturdily. But it was solid metal with an enclosed hinge he couldn’t get at. There was no way to get it open without the key, not with the tools he had access to.

The letter that had accompanied the chest had said his heart’s desire was inside. Everything he wanted and needed was inside that chest. His life would be made complete and whole if he opened the chest.

The possibilities of what could be inside the chest taunted him. He had been living a fairly contented life until the chest had appeared, and after that he was tormented by his wonderings about what was inside.

Gold? Jewels? Straps of hundred dollar bills? The mystery was killing him.

The arrival of the chest had destroyed his contentment with his own life. He’d gone from waking up with a sense of enthusiasm for the day to come to a feeling of desperation as he remembered the chest and what might or might not be inside.

Ever since the chest had arrived two weeks before, he hadn’t had a complete night’s sleep. He would wake up and look at the chest, his mind unable to let it go. Wanting to know what was inside more than he wanted whatever was inside. The wondering was what tormented him.

What was his heart’s desire? He didn’t know. But somehow it was inside that chest. Waiting for him to open the chest and claim it as his own.

But there was no key, and even if he had the key, it would be of no use. The hole of the lock had been filled with a clear glue, something he had discovered when he had tried to pick the lock.

He hated whoever had sent him the chest. This mystery he could not solve because he lacked the necessary tools and didn’t trust to take it to anyone else that might decide to claim the contents for their own.

Before the chest arrived, he was happy.

He thought he had been happy.

But now he didn’t even know what happiness was. All he knew was that he wanted.

=END=

~Harper Kingsley

https://paypal.me/harperkingsley.

https://patreon.com/harperkingsley.

https://ko-fi.com/harperwck.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarperKingsley.

https://amazon.com/shop/harperkingsley0.
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog.
https://kimichee.com.

https://harperkingsley.bsky.social.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HarperKingsley.

There was a hole in the wall. It was near to the corner and it had started as a crack running down. Now there was a gaping blackness bulging out of the crack, as though something had been working its way out from behind the wall. Gnawing through the wood and drywall. Forcing its head out with the expectation that its body would soon be able to follow, squeezing out to fall to the floor and scuttle around the room in the darkness while the human occupant slept.

From the tight confines between the wall, it would take over the room first, then later spawn an army to take over the rest of the house and force the humans out. It had no deeper thought than bettering its own life.

No concept that once its existence was noticed, it would no longer be allowed to exist.

Traps and poisons would take its life and the lives of its young. Any survivors would have to learn the fear that humanity brought everywhere they went.

The way that humans would creep into every corner of the world and beyond. Writhing and twisting to fit their way into even the smallest of spaces, then expanding outward as they spawned their way from overabundance into bleak scarcity. Pissing and shitting everywhere, fouling the water and spoiling the food they chose not to eat so that the excess could not go to other people. Jealously guarding what they had while those around them died with nothing at all.

From the darkness behind the wall, the creature worked through the night, tirelessly gnawing away at the crack to widen the hole. A nose poked through, nostrils expanding and contracting as it drew in the scent of freedom.

From darkness to light, it would creep. A better life was a breath away.

=END=

~Harper Kingsley

https://paypal.me/harperkingsley.

https://patreon.com/harperkingsley.

https://ko-fi.com/harperwck.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarperKingsley.

https://amazon.com/shop/harperkingsley0.
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog.
https://kimichee.com.

https://harperkingsley.bsky.social.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HarperKingsley.