[Nexus 100] 022. - 025.

[shimmerandsing]

022. Enemies
Word count: 200

Alison was alone in the control room. It was dark and the flickering images on the screen cast a ghastly, green glow across her features. She watched the 'show' on the screen and didn't try to restrain the vicious snarl that bared her teeth to the scene before her.

Children. Only not. No Mojoworlder was ever truly a child, she knew that. They were created in test tubes and grown in labs. Accelerated growth brought them into adulthood in weeks, rather than years.

Still, to her eyes, they were children. The knowledge that they were only truly days old did nothing to make the slaughter easier to bear; it only made it worse. Children places in gladiatorial arenas to face insurmountable odds for the viewing 'pleasure' of Mojo's audiences.

But, she sat through it. Waited. Because, she knew what would come at the end. Over the images of gore and atrocity, a bloated green-gray face cackled onto the screen. Mojo loved to crow about his shows and ratings. Bloodshed and loss of life was all ratings to him.

She leaned close to the screen, nearly nose-to-nose with the grinning face that couldn't see her, and growled softly. "I hate you."


023. Lovers
Word count: 363

"Almost there," Alison murmured softly in her husband's ear as she guided him up a grassy hill. It was the middle of the night, but the air was warm and sweet with the scent of new, Spring blossoms.

She smiled and nuzzled the back of Longshot's neck through his soft, blond hair. It had touched her how easily he'd agreed to having her blindfold him for this trip. He told her often enough that he trusted her implicitly, but it always warmed her to see it in evidence.

The hill they climbed was set back in the forest behind their castle home. She'd taken to exploring while he was away at camp training. It gave her something to do and made her feel more at home in the area. And when she'd discovered this hill one evening at dusk, she knew she had to share it with him.

"Here we go," she said finally as she stopped him in the perfect spot. She leaned up on tip toes and looked over his shoulder, judging his position, and gently tilted his head up a couple of inches. The first look was the most important.

She could feel the excitement thrumming in his body as she snuggled up to his back. He loved surprises. She kissed his neck again. Teasing gently. Drawing out the wait a little. "Ready?"

He nodded his head enthusiastically. "Uh huh!"

She reached up and untied the blindfold, pulling it down gently. When he opened his eyes, he'd see nothing but sky as far as he could see. Maybe off in his peripheral vision, he'd see white capped mountains. But, the sky was what was important. A never ending expanse of the deepest blue, shot through with dazzling white stars. Clearer and more beautiful than any city sky she'd ever witnessed.

"Every one of those stars," she whispered to him from behind as her arms held tightly to him, "Lights up another reason that I love you. Endless, shinning, and too numerous to count. I could spend my life trying and never complete the list. So, I’ll let them be my list and think of you every time I see them."


024. Family
Word count: 263

A screech of surprise and delight rang down the stairs and seconds later, Lisa tore through the living room and into the kitchen. Probably making a break for the back door, Alison mused as she watched her husband race by in pursuit. Stranger still was the tiny ball of gray fuzz that shot by after him. Even the monkey was in on this game of tag. Possibly hide and seek. It was difficult to tell sometimes.

The front door opens and slams shut amid the sound of two teenage voices deep in discussion of their latest lessons and the newest movies playing in town. Alison smiled from her place at the stove and shook her head. Those two were so adorably clueless. And she wasn't about to tell them either.

She dipped another strawberry into the chocolate bubbling gently on the stove. The clock on her oven timer told her that Star would be arriving soon. She'd invited him and Ric over for dinner. She wondered if her step-son's lover would make it this time. He worked too much, in her opinion, but she kept that to herself.

All at once she was aware of three sets of eyes watching her from the other side of the kitchen window. She smirked and wondered who had caught who before the smell of chocolate bought them back to the kitchen?

Sometimes their home seemed more like an anthill than a castle with all that went on inside it. That was just fine with her. The busier and more full it was, the happier she was.


025. Strangers
Word count: 192

Malibu. Alison was certain that she had known where, exactly, that was at some point in her life. Lila had explained it to her a couple times and she remembered the explanation, but it never seemed real. Just like nothing else seemed real.

The ocean waves crashed up onto the sand and over her feet, leeching the soft quartz grains away and soaking the hem of her skirt. She looked down at her bare feet and scrunched her toes in the sand. Every wave that slipped by swept another layer of sand away and she sank a little deeper.

She wondered if that was how it had happened. Did her memories slip away in waves? Slow, like the gradual erosion of the sand dunes? Or was it all at once? Why were all the faces she saw worn by strangers who knew her name?

Even the face in the mirror was unknown to her.

Another wave rolled by and she inched deeper into the sand. She was nearly to her ankles now. She wondered if she sank deep enough, could she find what she was looking for beneath the sand and waves.