A. L. Kaplan

Tag: dream girl

  • Elak Dŏd

    Startled awake by the clanking club on the cell door, Johnson’s body trembled. He blinked, disorientated. Then the guard’s ugly face came into focus, staring through the bars. Today was execution day, FRY-day as the guards called it. Seething hate churned in Johnson at the audacity. Death wasn’t the end, not for him.

    Only moments ago he had been walking down a beach with his dream girl. He could still smell her perfume, feel her silky hair, hear the waves crash, and taste the sweetness of her lips. That damn guard yanked him away too soon. Well, he knew how to find Sarge. He knew how to slip into his dreams and twist them into a nightmare. No one would ever know what killed him.

    The man they called Johnson would die today, as had the other shells he’d inhabited, but he wouldn’t. Life and death had no meaning for Elak-Dŏd. He’d jump to his new vessel, the young man at the beach. Already Elak-Dŏd had manipulated others at the resort to pay for his needs.

    And the woman, she was a young spirit, just learning to dream-walk. Already she strode his dark path. The look in her eyes had shown him a future he had never thought possible. She was the one. For her, he would do anything.

    This time there would be no mistakes, not with centuries of experience. The Dream Guardians would never find them. If all went as planned, Elak-Dŏd would finally have children to battle that pompous clan.

  • No Stopping

    “Damn!”

    Mitch slammed his foot on the break, continuing to curse as the red light loomed rapidly closer. Eileen’s face twisted into an ugly snarl and her tone left no doubt of the contempt she felt for him.

    “Don’t you dare stop this car until we get to the hospital.” She shook her hand for emphasis, displaying the palm sized creature clamped on her upper arm.

    “Don’t worry,” he’d said when she delivered a package the postal carrier had given her by error. “It’s not dangerous.”

    Wrong. When Eileen came near it had sunk its teeth and tail into her arm. He’d found the monkey-like creature in the woods the day after the meteor fell and didn’t give a second thought about bringing it home. Now his spontaneity had destroyed any chance he had with his dream girl. That same quirk had put him on the wrong side of trouble for years. If it wasn’t for Deputy Dunbar glaring at him from the lot across the way he would have run the light without thinking, but one more infraction and he’d lose his license for good.

    Eileen opened her mouth and Mitch cringed, expecting another snarky complaint.

    “Hey, Tiger.”

    The words purred from her mouth, rich and husky. Her thick lashes fluttered, settling low across her eyes. Mitch saw the creature wink as Eileen kissed him long and hard. When the light turned, so did Mitch – right back home. That creature was staying right where it was.