This is a repost of a short story I wrote based on an urban legend (the licked hand). I thought it’d be fun to bring it back for Halloween.
Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.
The sound was all Samantha Wates could focus on tucked tightly into her bed. It was nearly midnight, and she’d only been asleep for an hour before she heard the faucet dripping.
Sam’s parents had left around 9 p.m. for a night out in the city, and they wouldn’t be home for hours. She dangled her arm off the bed until she felt her dog, Rupert, lick her hand. His favorite sleeping place was underneath her bed.
Sam liked to think that even though she was fifteen and didn’t believe in monsters, her dog was still protecting her from anything that went bump in the night.
“That’s a good boy, Rupert. Now, go turn off the leaking faucet.” She giggled to herself, knowing without opposable thumbs that it was impossible for a dog. “Alright, I’ll do it myself.”
She sprang from the bed. The winter chill made the hardwood floors like ice. She ran on her tiptoes out her door and across the hall to the bathroom. She turned both knobs tightly before jetting back to bed.
She snuggled in, trying to dismiss the cold in her feet and the prickling feeling at the back of her neck. She covered herself from head to toe with the bulky comforter but had let her hand hang down for Rupert to lick again. It was calming to know he was there, and sleep quickly took over.
Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.
“Uh. Not again.” She mumbled to herself while glancing at the glowing red numbers on the bedside clock. She didn’t want to get up again. The late hour had made the room colder.
Sam got up anyway. She crossed the hall and started to reach for the faucet, but realized the sound wasn’t coming from the sink. It was coming from the bathtub.
She hesitated before moving the shower curtain back. Sam flicked the switch, and blinding light filled the bathroom. Squinting, she yanked back the curtain.
Her eyes widen as she slammed back into the counter, practically falling into the sink. The air was escaping her lungs faster than it was coming in. Black spots appeared in her vision before she remembered how to work her lungs.
Gulping in air, she stared at the blood matted hair and mangled body of her beloved dog. Rupert hung from the shower nozzle. His blood was dripping into the tub, pinging on the metal drain.
Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.
Choking back tears, she edged toward the door but froze when she saw something written on the wall. Scrawled in blood across the tile were the words, “Humans can lick, too.”
Goosebumps had covered her flesh as her eyes touched on the words, and a dark form appeared behind her. An arm snaked around her waist, and another covered her mouth to silence her screams.
As Sam was dragged into the dark hall, she felt a familiar thick, wet tongue slide up her neck before she heard him whisper hotly into her ear, “Mmmmm, tasty.”
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Nerdy Girl gets Physical
StandardWhen someone says the words, “Water Aerobics,” you probably picture someone wearing a floral, one-piece bathing suit with silver hair peaking out from under a swim cap bobbing along in the shallow end of the pool.
With promises of cardiovascular benefits and low impact on joints, what senior citizen wouldn’t want to be part of that type of exercise? But honestly even for a 20-something like myself, it is a lot harder than you think. With the water taking on half your body weight, you can exercise longer and you have resistance that you don’t have above water. There also are all kinds of special workout tools that you get to use to exercise (like wade boards, foam weights, exercise bands, etc.) as well as routines that create more resistance.
I’ve been attending a water aerobics class twice a week for the past month at the local YMCA and can attest to its benefits and difficulty. Not only have I lost weight, but I physically feel better and more fit (aka I feel less like a beached whale and more like an active whale). The instructor, Kathy, is a bubble of happy energy, but don’t let that fool you. She tries to kill me on a regular basis. She doesn’t care if you’re young, old, in shape, or a popsicle, she just wants you to keep moving. In fact, in one class she said it at least thirteen times.
When Kathy brings her small, blue radio along with her favorite dance tunes, the only thing you can do is hope that you don’t die. Last week, I actually asked the lifeguards if they could save me if I started drowning. I thought I was going to croak after Kathy’s routine. My face was as red as a tomato, my lungs were on fire and let’s not forget the jello-like feeling of my overused muscles. She tends to work the class the hardest when she has music. I’ve started hoping for music because it makes for an amusing class.
My fellow water bobblers (Kathy is always telling us she wants us to be bobble heads, which means we are really working out hence the nickname bobblers) are very interesting group. There are a few regulars and some occasional bobblers who make me laugh as much as I sweat in that class. Kathy alone is a hoot. Each class, someone always asks me what exercise we’re supposed to be doing because they couldn’t hear Kathy or everyone’s giggling profusely because we’ve created such hectic waves we can’t stand to even do the routine. Overall, the class is fun and a great way for me to exercise.
I’m going to sign off with the motto of the class, “What happens under the water, stays under the water.”
-AM
Read more about water aerobics here.
Greetings from a nerdy girl
StandardHello!
This is not my first attempt at a blog, but I’m hoping this one will stick. It is the third one, so it has got to be the charm. Right?
Mostly, I am starting this blog to get into the habit of writing more than once in a blue moon. I seriously need to write more. The key to writing is simply writing (and a crap ton of other things, but let’s keep it simple).
I’m sure at some point I will post stories that make fun of myself and my goofy thoughts or interpretations of things (like how I went most of my life thinking the saying was “nip it in the butt”). I’m also about to start a class about Flash Fiction writing and I’ll have plenty to share from that experience. I may occasionally post book reviews or comments about things that drive me insane (like COMIC SANS…yuck). You probably won’t see post about sex (well maybe), religion or politics because it isn’t polite to talk about those things in mixed company. Too many opinions.
Speaking of opinions. I welcome feedback. I’m open to constructive criticism, friendly debates and banter, but please keep your nasty, negative thoughts to yourself or post them elsewhere.
I’ll end this post with a phrase from one of my favorite online communities, Nerdfighteria:
Don’t Forget To Be Awesome (DFTBA)
– AM
P.S. Forgive my typos and feel free to point them out so I can correct them.
Nerdy Thoughts From A Nerdy Girl 