Ergo, the Ogre

Author: Ergo, the Ogre

  • 3TC #MM51 | The House

    3TC #MM51 | The House

    Welcome to the daily Three Things Challenge.
    Use your imagination and creativity using one, two or all three words that may or may not be related. There are no restrictions regarding length, style, or genre, though please keep it family friendly.

    Tag your responses with 3TC, #threethingschallenge or TTC, and you can add Di’s logo if you wish.

    pink rose

    Looking forward to reading your responses.

    Your three words today are:
    SMUDGE
    UNCLEAR
    BLEMISH

    Twila had just moved into her house. She loved the sound of it: “My House.” At first, she wondered if something might be wrong with it since it was priced so low and in a gated community. Plus, it had been on the market for well over a year and the previous owners put the house up for sale and immediately moved away. But, when the inspector came, he said everything was in order and that it was safe to move in. Twila believed him.

    After schlepping boxes and unpacking all day, Twila was exhausted and turned in early. Since her furniture would not be delivered until the following day, she unrolled her sleeping bag and crawled in. She was asleep in no time.

    Around 3:00am she was awakened by what sounded like a slamming door. Her heart was pounding with fear. She was frozen; afraid to move, almost afraid to breathe. Then she heard it again. Another loud slam. She stifled a scream and burrowed deep into her sleeping bag. Eventually she fell asleep.

    The next day she perused every room in the house except the attic. She’d ask her dad to do that. Everything seemed fine, nothing out of place. The front door was locked, just as she left it. Twila chalked it up to her imagination, being exhausted and sleeping in a strange, new place. Just to be on the safe side, however, she decided to smudge her house. Can’t hurt, might help. The sage aroma will make the house smell nice too.

    After the furniture was delivered and everything was in place, she found her blue sage smudge stick, lit it and went through every corner of every room and doorway. She smudged the basement twice.

    All was quiet for a couple of weeks.

    Then late one Saturday night, Twila was almost asleep when heard her name being called. It was from a deep, loud voice she didn’t recognize. The Voice was quiet for maybe 30 seconds then it started again, louder.

    “Who are you?” She tried to sound tough and unafraid, although neither were true. “What do you want?”

    The Voice responded but was unclear. It was a different language that Twila had not heard before.

    “In English, please!”

    “You are not welcome here. Get out, bitch!”

    Twila almost peed her pants. The lamp on her nightstand began rocking back & forth and crashed to the floor. The mirror above her dresser suddenly shattered into a zillion shards.

    Screw this!

    “Okay, okay!” she yelled in the toughest voice she could muster. “You win! I’m leaving now.”

    Silence.

    Still in her pajamas, Twila grabbed her purse and keys. She drove like a madman to her parents’ house.

    The next day, the house was back on the market.

  • Bikinis & Burgers

    Bikinis & Burgers

    It’s time for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC).

    Today’s word is “spare.”

    Lorraine studied her reflection in the mirror and burst into tears. She threw herself on the bed and cried into her pillow.

    My bikini days are over before they even began! All that dieting and working out for nothing! I’ll never get rid of this spare tire gut and my thunder thighs.

    Eventually Lorraine pulled herself together and got up from the bed. Avoiding the mirror, she shed the offending bikini and slipped into her baggy jeans and faded REO Speedwagon t-shirt.

    Much better!

    She collected the bikini and headed to Neiman-Marcus to return it. She dreaded it too. The salespeople were always so rude at that store. They act like they’re better than their customers with all that whispering and giggling.

    Lorraine walked into Neiman-Marcus and promptly got sprayed with perfume by some skinny blonde woman trying to sell the stuff.

    “WTF?” Lorraine looked the woman in the eye. “How do you know I’m not allergic?”

    The woman blinked and smiled and then busied herself spraying other customers coming in the door.

    She made her way to the swimsuit department and went up to the cashier who was texting someone on her cellphone. Lorraine read her name tag and then waited about seven minutes before saying, “Corina! Excuse me? I’d like to return this?”

    “K, just a sec.” She continued texting.

    “I don’t have a sec. I’ve been here for almost ten minutes!”

    Corina slammed her phone down and heaved a sigh. The poor girl seemed really put out. She looked at Lorraine as if she were an intruder. “What did you need, now?”

    “I’m returning this.” she put the bag on the counter.

    “Why? What’s wrong with it?”

    “Doesn’t fit.”

    The cashier took the bikini out of the bag and inspected it. “I guess not!“

    Lorraine fought the urge to throat punch her. She felt her face turning red and her bottom lip started to quiver. Corina smiled. She knew she had drawn blood.

    “Would you like to try a larger size?”

    “Would you like me to rip your face off?”

    Corina’s jaw dropped. “Um, uh. No. No, ma’am.” She quickly made the return and handed Lorraine the receipt. “Thank you and come back again!”

    “When hell freezes.” She smiled sweetly.

    On the way home, Lorraine decided to treat herself to a Big Mac and fries. She told herself she deserved it after such a harrowing morning.

    Spare tire, be damned!

  • 3TC #MM50 | The Green Man

    3TC #MM50 | The Green Man

    Welcome to the daily Three Things Challenge.
    Use your imagination and creativity using one, two or all three words that may or may not be related. There are no restrictions regarding length, style, or genre, though please keep it family friendly.

    Tag your responses with 3TC, #threethingschallenge or TTC, and you can add Di’s logo if you wish.

    pink rose

    Looking forward to reading your responses.

    Your three words today are:
    THICK
    DENSE
    WIDE

    Marie lived for her morning walks in the forest. The fog was so thick and dense it was almost magical; like you’d expect to see sprites fluttering about and elves making their homes in hollow tree trunks. It wouldn’t have surprise her to see a unicorn, even.

    And the smell! The forest and its fog smelled earthy-green and fresh, like petrichor. It made her light-headed and just a little high.

    She liked to imagine what it would be like to live in such an otherworldly place. Her friends would be the elves and dryads; she’d leave milk and honey out for the sprites and faeries.

    And the best part? There would be no people.

    Marie was shy introvert who lacked social skills. She did manage to hold down a job as a file clerk, but she had no friends and felt awkward in social situations. Marie just flat-out didn’t like that world. It was noisy, crowded, had social protocols she didn’t understand and couldn’t grasp. The whole thing was a pointless hassle. She wanted this world.

    Marie looked at her watch to make sure she wouldn’t be late for work. It had stopped at 6:00am — about the time she began her walk. Oh, well. No one will notice if I’m late, or don’t show up at all. She continued her walk.

    She’d never been this deep in the forest before. The trees were closer together and much larger. There was no longer a path to follow. Looking behind, the path she had been on had disappeared. Yet, she was not frightened. She felt as if she were right where she ought to be — as if she finally belonged.

    From behind an ancient oak appeared The Green Man, the caretaker of the forest. To Marie he looked familiar, as if she’d known him in another life.

    “Spenser.”

    “You remembered!” The Green Man smiled a wide smile. “Welcome home, Marie. we’ve been waiting for you.”

    Courtesy of KettleQuill on Deviant Art
  • XVI The Tower | A Doll House

    XVI The Tower | A Doll House

    Darlene was a Titan — a very large Titan. Out of five children she was the only one born with the Titanism gene mutation. By the time she was ten years old, Darlene could no longer live in the family home. Her father found an abandoned shipping container which he somehow brought home and left in the backyard. She had to duck in order to get inside it since it was only nine ft. tall. But it was 40 ft. long so at least she could lie down comfortably. In any case, that’s where Darlene lived out her life.

    She was raised in poverty as her father was a gambler who blew most of his money at the Chariot track. For a while, her mother worked as a seamstress but that didn’t last because she didn’t like to sew. As such, the family of seven ended up on welfare and food stamps.

    Darlene was the oldest, therefore she pretty much raised the younger kids. Her mother didn’t enjoy motherhood, cooking, or cleaning, whatsoever and Darlene was born to be a caregiver, so it worked out, luckily for all concerned.

    Of all the things she could have wished for — aside from different parents — Darlene wanted a doll house. The other girls on their block each had a doll house. Darlene watched them play and longed to join them, but they never invited her. This was due, in part, to Darlene’s size. The other kids were afraid of her, even the boys, and yes, even the parents. They couldn’t have known that Darlene was the most gentle and caring person they’d likely ever meet because no one bothered speaking to her. Once it became common knowledge that the family was on government assistance, nobody spoke to any member the Makris family.

    As the years went by, the younger children left home and had families of their own. Darlene stayed in her shipping container in her parents’ backyard. Where else could she go? At 15 feet tall, she couldn’t fit anywhere, besides, no one would rent to her even if she could.

    On nice days, she would go for walks early in the morning before the rest of the town was awake. That way she wouldn’t frighten anyone or cause a scene. One day, she happened upon a construction site. There was one building that was about halfway built and reminded her of the doll house she’d coveted so long ago.

    Darlene couldn’t believe her luck! It even came with its own people! She just had to have it. So, speaking softly she introduced herself to the workers and told them she wasn’t going to hurt them. She explained that she was moving them all to her house where she would take good care of them. If they wished, they could go home to their families at night as long as they promised to come back the following day. Except on weekends, of course. If they wanted to stay overnight, she’d cook for them and make sure they had everything they needed.

    And so, Darlene finally had her very own doll house and people inside that she could take care of. That’s all she ever truly wanted in life anyway.

  • 3TC #MM49 | Twilight

    3TC #MM49 | Twilight

    Welcome to the daily Three Things Challenge.
    Use your imagination and creativity using one, two or all three words that may or may not be related. There are no restrictions regarding length, style, or genre, though please keep it family friendly.

    Tag your responses with 3TC, #threethingschallenge or TTC, and you can add Di’s logo if you wish.

    pink rose

    Looking forward to reading your responses.

    Your three words today are:
    BLOOD
    SEEP
    FLOW

    It was not a stormy night, but it was getting dark. The blood moon was beginning to rise, peeking over the horizon like a shy child. A breeze, warm and gentle, smelled vaguely of musk and clay.

    Veronica loved twilight in the Painted Desert. It was her favorite place to spend time.

    Veronica was feeling sleepy and made the mistake only once of waiting too long. Setting up camp in the dark is unnecessarily stressful. She set up her tent and unrolled her sleeping bag and crawled in.

    She was just about to fall asleep when she heard her name being called in the distance.

    I must be dreaming. Nobody is here.

    “Veronica? Ms. Ellis?” a quiet voice repeated. “Can you hear me? Veronica?”

    Suddenly, Veronica became aware of an antiseptic odor as someone was poking at her shoulder. She struggled to open her eyes. Through the blur of sleep and whatever drug was in her system, she looked at her arm. There was a needle attached, and bright red (blood?) was seeping through a gauze bandage.

    “Veronica?” the voice repeated. “Do you know where you are?”

    Veronica tried but couldn’t speak. Too much of an effort. She looked up and saw a fuzzy woman in white, cradling a flow chart of some sort.

    “You were in an accident,” the nurse said. “What do you remember?”

    I want to go back to the desert… Please, just let me go.

    The Painted Desert in Arizona