Sparkle Land Shrieks By N and Z

My story starts with me walking my little sister Sarah home from school. I’m Lea, and nothing has ever happened to me in my whole life. No vacations, no birthday parties, and absolutely no shopping malls.

As I arrived at home, Sarah immediately screamed, “I WANT ICE CREAM!” 

That got me off the thought of eating, so I said over my little sister’s screams, “Mom, can I go to Elline’s house?” and of course she said yes. Elline is my BFF and we almost spent the whole summer together. As I knocked on her door, I heard the adorable barks of her toy poodle. “Lea, what are you doing here?”

“Uh, isn’t it obvious?” We both burst out laughing. 

“Do you wanna go on a walk?” I asked. “Sure.”

As we walked and walked, I felt like we were on the wrong path. It started to get really foggy. I glanced over at Elline. “Are you sure about this?” Elline asked.

No, I don't think I was really sure, but we kept on going. Soon, we found ourselves in a pathway of curved trees and I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “Is it just me, or does the fog look a little yellow?” As we walked farther, there was a dead end. But there was a stream with a trail of lily pads. "How are we gonna get across?” I asked. 

Elline tapped on one of the lily pads with her foot. “I think they can handle us.” Elline replied. Then, she said, “Are those Amazon water lilies?” 

“No,” I said. “Too small. But they should be strong enough to support us.”

So we walked on the lilies and fell on a HUGE flower. Suddenly, the flower flung us up! “AAAAHHHHHH!” we shouted. I thought I was gonna get crushed when the big flower FINALLY stopped! 

“Whew,” gasped Elline. “I almost got kil- GASP! Woah! Where IS this place!?” Then a flying thing suddenly appeared in front of our faces. 

“Who are you?” the thing asked. 

“Hey-you're a fairy!” I said in shock. 

“I SAID, who are you!?” the fairy asked again. 

“Uhhh… I’m Lea and this is my friend Elline. “Who are YOU?” 

”Where are your wings?” the fairy asked. '

Wings? I chuckled. “We don't have wings! We’re humans!”

The fairy looked really excited and surprised. “OMG, OMG! I've ALWAYS wanted to see humans! I’m Kiwie, by the way. How can I help you?” 

I knew the fairy was hiding something by the look in her eye. “Well, Kiwie… how did we get here? And why was the fog yellow?” 

“Oh, you must’ve found the secret passageway. The fog was yellow because it was fairy dust. And…” 

“And?” I asked.

“There's been cages appearing around Sparkle land.”

“Sparkle land?” Elline asked.

“Yes. Sparkle land. A land blossoming with fairies and pixies of all shapes and sizes. Each one has a special ability. Mine is shapeshifting, and my whole family are shapeshifters too.”

“Unfortunately, they have all been captured by these strange cages that have almost caught everyone in my neighborhood!”

Me and Elline gasped. "Whoa! That's horrible!”

Suddenly, a cage fell between us and Kiwie. “RUN!” shouted Kiwie. We took off as fast as we could, a stream of cages following us. We crashed into another fairy. “Alisha!” said Kiwie. 

“I thought you were… well… yeah. But I’m so happy to see you!” 

‘“Hey girl,” Alisha said. "And whoever these two are. Where’s the wings?” 

This time, it was Kiwie’s turn to laugh. “Oh, Alisha… these are humans!” 

“Oh, well.” said Alisha. “I like them better as fairies.” In a poof of fairy dust, we suddenly started to shrink as wings sprouted from our backs.

“We're turning into fairies!” Elline shouted. “Yeah, and you look fabulous!!” squealed Kiwie.

We were so surprised that we didn’t even notice the sound of clanging cages around us. “Oh yeah…” said Kiwie. “I forgot to tell you. When a cage falls onto a fairy or pixie, it waits for a precise time of 10 minutes before closing and lifting up.”

 “The cages are being controlled by Rust, one of the most feared and unknown robots,” Alisha said. 

“Wow, how do you know?” asked Kiwie. 

Alisha quickly changed the subject. Something very suspicious was going on. “Rust uses the gem code to control the frequency and targets of the cages. One code self-destructs everything, including the cages and rust.” 

Alisha said. “How do you know all of this?” I asked. Alisha again changed the subject. It was pretty obvious that Alisha was hiding something.

“Where is Rust right now?” Elline asked. 

“Nobody knows…” Alisha mumbled. 

“Well, it’s pretty obvious that it’ll be high up. So let’s go!” Said Kiwie.

"Wait!” I said. “You haven’t even introduced us to your land yet!” 

“Oh, yes!” Kiwie said. 

“Lemme give you a brief tour of Sparkle Land!” We flew to a joyful looking amusement park filled with little fairies and pixies. We explored the floating gardens of Sparkle Land. We swam in the pools of melted crystal. Under all the commotion, we hadn't noticed that Alisha was missing. We were about to launch a search party when a distant voice came. 

“Gals, wait for me!” It was Alisha! 

“Alisha! We thought the… well… thing happened to you,” Kiwie gasped.

 “It’s ok, girls.” she said. “I just stopped to pick flowers.” 

Pick FLOWERS? Me and Elline exchanged looks. That isn’t something Alisha would do. She’s more of a sassy type.

“Alright, back to the plan!” Kiwie said. I could see the tiny disappointed look in Alisha’s eye, though she still followed us as we flew into the clouds. 

“How can you be sure that going UP is the right path?” Elline questions. “After all, fairies can fly, and if Rust wants to keep a secret, then why UP where fairies fly?”

 “Most fairies are afraid of the high altitude,” Kiwie said. That's when a cage fell right on top of Kiwie. “HELLLLPPPP!” she yelped. 

“We’ll get you out! Don't worry!” Me and Elline chased after the falling cage until we finally got under the cage. 

“Pushhhhh!” Alisha watched us from afar. And very surprisingly, just moved on. “Alisha! Wait!” We chased her into a big thundercloud with cages falling from it nonstop. There, standing among us, was a big fortress made of pitch-black clouds. We saw Alisha fly inside and shockingly, was struck by an enormous bolt of lightning and transformed into a black fairy. “I knew she was up to something!” I said.


“Alisha!” Kiwie shouted. We followed Alisha into a dark chamber filled with cages, fairies, and pixies. 

Alisha turned to see us and said, “What are YOU doing here?” 

In a very cruel voice. “What are YOU doing!?” Kiwie shouts.

 “You were my best friend!” Alisha looked at the rumbling door and back at Kiwie. 

“Well, not anymore! You showed me all the secrets, did all the work, and now you lose it!” 

“C’mon guys! I’ll shapeshift-oh, wait I can’t!” Kiwie said. 

“Ha! Well that’s just your problem! When you took your little buddies on a tour, I stuck around and took away your power!”

“What did you do to my family!?” Kiwie demanded. 

“Only my master knows that.” Alisha said as a wispy black cloud shot out from the door and swallowed up Kiwie into the darkness.

A cold, thundering voice rumbled from the shadow. “LEAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” “ELLINEEE!” 

“What do you want from us!?” Elline shouted. 

“I WANT NOTHING FROM YOU EXCEPT YOUR POWERSSSSSS!” The shadow said. 

Suddenly, a giant robot stepped out of the shadow. “Rust…” I whisper.

 “I AM HERE FOR EVERY SINGLE TALLLLENT OFF THE FAIRIES AND PIIXIESSS” howled Rust. 

“What do you need it for!?” I shout over Rust and the storm. Elline tapped my shoulder and pointed at a control panel and a pattern of gems. “The gem code!” she whispers. We hurry over to the gems. “C’mon C’mon… What's the code!?” I mumble to myself. But then Alisha threw herself in front of the control panel with a tear in her eye. 

“Sorry, Lea. It’s my job to serve Rust.” I push her off and see a slip of paper fall from her pocket. I quickly picked it up and read it. “Red, yellow, blue, purple!” I punched in the colors of the gems and a blinding light blasted in my direction. 

“NOOOOOOOOO!” screamed Rust. Then, a portal the color of gold opened up and sucked up the storm, Rust, the castle…and Alisha!

Kiwie came tumbling out of the portal. And at the exact same time, Alisha was being sucked in. Kiwie grabbed her hand, saving her. “Why are you helping me? I betrayed you!” 

There were tears streaming down Alisha’s face. “Because you're my friend, Alisha. You're my friend.”

 “But I don't deserve this! Let go!” Alisha was totally crying now.

“No! I can’t let go! Think of all the things we did together! The ice cream milkshakes! The little balls of fur! The flowers!” 

“Please, I just wanna get back to the old days! JUST BE MY FRIEND.” Alisha’s eyes filled with shock as the darkness sucked away from her into her normal self. Her mouth slowly spread into a small smile as the portal closed. 

“I'm so sorry, Kiwie…” Alisha whispers. 

“All is forgiven, Alisha.” Kiwie said. The thunder fortress faded away as the scenery changed to pink, fluffy clouds. Kiwie and Alisha turned to us.

 “Thanks for helping us!” chimed Kiwie. “We couldn't have done it without you guys!” 

When we got back down, we were greeted by loud cheers and shouts. “Thank you so much! We’ll do anything for you!” “You’re welcome,” I said. “We would like to go back home.” “As you wish.” Kiwie said as Sparkle Land faded away from our sight.

We were back. The exact same place where we went to Sparkle Land except with no yellow pixie dust fog. When I got home, Sarah greeted me with booming laughs which reminded me of Kiwie. “Sparkle Land.” I thought. I sure will miss that place.

The Beheaded by AW

The King of England never thought his daughter would get beheaded on the day of his birthday, and yet here he was.

Standing in front of her prone body were the King, Queen and the prince. They were incredibly sad, and to make matters worse it was raining, and not just a drizzle but a downpour. It was like the entire world was mourning her death. The King was supposed to have a huge celebration and he had planned to give his daughter the gift she had always wanted. He had been approaching her room when he heard a horrific scream coming from her room. He rushed inside to see her lifeless body laying on the ground. He turned pale when he saw why. Her head had been sliced clean off. The King looked up just in time to see a shadowy figure exit through the window, in his haste to escape he had left a brown bag now stained red, from what, the King didn’t know. He looked back down at his daughter and realization finally came to him. She was gone. Her skin was already turning gray and she was cold to the touch. The King knelt over his lost daughter and wept. Servants rushed in and not far behind was the kingdom's doctor. The King couldn’t look up, and he was too saddened to listen to the doctor's words “she will forever be remembered.” Two maids came in carrying a stretcher and two more with mops and water came after. They laid her body on the stretcher and lay a sheet over the corpse. The blood from her neck quickly seeped through. They rushed her out of the room and a week later her funeral began.


One year later on the day the princess died, the Kingdom no longer rejoiced in the King's birthday but mourned the beautiful princess. The Queen was up in her room adding the finishing touches to the prince's jacket for the ball the next day. If they couldn’t celebrate one day they would celebrate the next. The Queen hurried over to the Prince’s room and knocked. “Come in!” A handsome voice called. The Queen strolled in and told him to try on the jacket. He went into the bathroom to try it on. A few moments later there was a piercing wail coming from the bathroom and when the Queen rushed in to see what had happened, but when she stepped in she saw a shadowy figure rush out the window just like the Princesses murderer. The Queen went weak at the knees when she looked down and saw her beloved Prince lying dead on the floor. She let out a terrible scream, so loud the entire kingdom could hear the horrific noise. Once again servants rushed in and a few fainted at the sight of yet another royal brought to his knees by beheadness. His jacket was already stained with blood from the gaping hole where his head once was. Once more the doctor ran in and again said the words, “he will forever be remembered.” Two maids brought the stretcher and a sheet and laid it down over his lifeless body. As soon as the King found out he sobbed for his lost children and proclaimed that anyone who found the man that had murdered his children, would receive a great amount of money.

After the death of the royal children the town was no longer happy on the days of the King's birthday instead they grieved for the death of the Children and everything stayed dark for a week before and a week after.

A Willow Bow, a Magical Thing by AL

He stood in the corner, whittling a willow branch.

“What are you here for? Most people don’t come here just to visit.” His voice was gruff, grating.

“I’m here to… I’m here to find my sister.” Glyph said. It should be a believable lie, shouldn’t it? “She came here to, uh, to do something, and then she got kidnapped!”

He grunts. She can feel the eyeroll from here. “That’s not a very good lie, now is it. Tell me lass, why are you really here?”

“I…”

The smells of slop -calling it food is a crime- wafted through the tavern air. The clang of the dinner bell rang out.

“Welp, that’s supper lassie. You best find what you’re looking for, sooner rather than later.”

She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Saved by the bell. In truth, one doesn’t simply “pass through” Morigan. It’s a dangerous, scummy city, where criminals go to run from the law. A sane man would simply go around it, but Glyph is neither entirely sane, nor a man.

You see, the mafia, the underground, practically owns this town. And so, all sorts of criminals lurk in the shadows, waiting to get something from you. To jump you, rob you, possibly kill you. If she didn’t need to get something, she would have never come here, too. But she has something to pick up.

Glyph is, in fact, here to pick up a bow. A really nice one, actually, made of willow branches- really hard to come by for less than 1000 gold. And so, she’s getting it off the black market. A decision even Hana bullied her for, even though they’re the one who pushes destruction.

She’s supposed to meet the… dealer? Marksman? At sunset on the hill. The letters never said what hill, just “The hill”. She packs up her backpack and bow staff, and steps out into the smoky air.

Best find that hill, then.

It turns out that “The hill” is an accurate descriptor for said hill. As in, it’s the only hill around. The entirety of this forsaken city is flattened, having no geographical features besides, of course, the hill. It’s on the outskirts of the city, and tall enough to be a good lookout for trouble. Probably the center for deals and such because of that.

And it’s covered in wild grass, quite steep, and filled with insects.

Needless to say, by the end of it Glyph’s legs were ready to give out. Sprawling across the trampled grass, she looked into the open air. It's hard to see through the smog, but by the sun’s position she has about 20 minutes before the bowman gets here. Maybe she could take a nap?

“Wake up, dimwit.” a familiar voice states.

She coughs, then shoots up to meet the other’s eyes. “Hana! What do you need?”

The inky ghost floats there, unimpressed. “I swear, how can you be so chipper?” They mumble.

“What was that?”

A sigh. “Nothing. Just wanted to see how you’re doing, I guess. Maybe have a talk about this?”

“Trying to talk me out of this? Hana, you know I need this bow! For hunting purposes!”

“And I need you alive! We’re in a soul bind. If you die, I die. Plus, we don’t have any arrows. We can’t even shoot things.”

She taps her chin, staring off into the distance for a moment. “Magic.”

“What?”

“We can use magic. Think about it. You can lend me some of your magic, and Pew Pew! We have infinite magic arrows.” Glyph explains animatedly.

A pause.

Hana rolled their eyes. “Ugh. You are the dumbest elf I’ve ever met.”

“That’s your fault. If you hadn’t-”

“Attacked the village, blah blah blah, you could read and have parents, blah blah blah, I’d not be cursed to not have a body. We don’t need the whole tragic backstory every time to guilt trip me. Jeez.” Hana’s eyes narrow on her.

Glyph picked at the grass, finding it more interesting than whatever this conversation had turned into. The blades tickled at her sandal-clad feet, and the purple of the setting sun lulled her into a sense of calm. The smoky air was the only thing ruining this scene.

A sigh sounded out from beside her. “Fine. If this goes south, I’m possessing you and dealing with it. Peace.” She felt the ghostly presence disappear.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps filled the air. “Ey!” a gruff voice shouted. “I got your bow made for you!”

At the sound, Glyph climbs to her feet and looks towards it. She sees the man she met at the tavern, and another person (presumably a bodyguard) climbing up the hill. The man is carrying the bow she ordered.

They finally meet her at the crest of the hill.

“Oh, lassie! So you’re the one who ordered the bow. I’m guessing that’s what you're in the city for. Nice to see ya.” He held out his hand.

She took it. “Nice to see you too.”

The man looked around, seemingly wary of his surroundings. “Now we’re gonna have to make this quick. Don’t want to get jumped, now do we?”

“Why would we get jumped?”

“Y’know how these usually sell for 1000 gold a piece? People steal ‘em and resell them. Artificially high market prices. Why I only sell them for 500 and a favor is because I make them myself.”

“Oh. Makes sense, actually. So, 500 gold now, and what’s the favor? You never specified.” Glyph asks.

“500 gold. And the favor? I need you to grab me some willow branches. I can’t leave this town.”

“Can’t others do it?”

“Can’t leave this town either. If we leave, we die. The underground has ways of keeping people here. As in? Murder.” The man shivers.

A pause.

“Getting willow sticks? That’s pretty simple. I’ll do that.” She states.

“Thank you, lass.”

The leather bag’s contents clink with coins as she places it into his hand. In turn, he hands her the bow. It’s smooth, clearly well made, with a cloth grip fit to her hand. It’s wonderful.

There’s a flash of white in the corner of her eye. The world starts to blur. “Mind if I test it out?” Slips out of her mouth without her permission.

“Of course, lass.”

Her body takes the bowstring and pulls it back. A violet, glowing arrow appears, and is aimed at a smoky brown… thing. A flash of white. Fwip! The bow’s aim was true, and now there’s a mix of glowing purple, white, and smoky brown in the distance. Her body flicks her wrist, and the arrow is gone.

The world goes black for a moment.

And then the world returns to her. Seriously, Hana needs to warn her the next time they decide to possess her.

“Nice shot, lass. Pinning a rabbit by the ear? That’s some real skill.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem, lassie. Now, you best get out of here. Morigan isn’t a place you want to be with that bow. And you need to get those sticks!” He states as he leaves.

Glyph stares out into the smog. This feels like it’s going to be a lot more complicated than it seems.

Dragons World #1, The Never-Ending Sands, (Prologue) by MC

Sahara ran away from Quicksand. The worst dragon ever.

Why so bad? Because she could RUIN SAHARA’S LIFE!!

Because her mom AND DAD were part of the queens’ authority. Quicksand was bound to be a Sand Turner.

Sand Turners were dragons loyal to Queen Sand, they were not servants, (though Sahara wanted them to be.) They were dragons who went around and arrested the thieves, though thieves were not how Sahara would put it. She liked to call them, (or herself) Scavengers instead.

But today, Sahara was only two.

“Heyyy, Quicksand!” She said cheerfully, the diamonds in her scales glittering in the sunlight. “Wanna play?”

“Yes!” Quicksand said excitedly. “What should we play, even?”

Sahara thought for a moment. Maybe we should play . . . What should we play? OH YEAH!! Tag! Sahara did a joyful flip in the air. Then carefully landed on the soft sand.

“One more word to say.” Sahara said, accidentally saying “sway” instead of “say,” partly because she was only two. “TAG!! Your it!!” She jabbed her talon into Quicksand and took to the sky, only able to fly a few feet off the ground, though.

Quicksand yelped in delight and flew after her, frantically pumping her wings so hard her head lolled down and her neck folded almost in half, then she tumbled onto the sand, doing a painful flip when she fell, only to land on her head.

Sahara quickly stopped and looked at Quicksand, sprawled on the ground. But then, a split second later, she jumped up, shook herself, and called: “I OK, I double jointed in my neck! Only gonna give you a fifteen-thousand head start! ONE, TWO, FOUR, EIGHTEEN, FIFTY-FOUR, NINETY-SIX, TWO-THOUSAND-TWO!!”

As Quicksand counted, Sahara flailed away and ran as fast as she could through the sand, she tripped on a cactus and tumbled out onto the sand. Sahara felt a weird sharp pain vibrate up her wing. She turned her head and saw a bunch of cactus thorns wedged into her wing skeleton. She whimpered and looked away. She started calling for Quicksand as she heard her faint voice calling: “FOURTEEN-THOUSAND-TWO-HUNDRED-TWENTY-TWO, FIFTEEN THOUSAND!!!”

Quicksand hadn’t heard Sahara’s call, because she flew the opposite way Sahara had gone.

Then Sahara caught movement in the corner of her eye. She slowly turned toward it. It was the Sand-Burrower Snake, the deadliest snake in the dragon world, slithering toward her as she screamed and tried to get up and move, only not being able to. The snake was highly poisonous.

Quicksand was now running toward her. “Sahara, ACK, SAHARA!!” Quicksand suddenly shrieked in fear. “YOUR HURT, AND THERE’S A SAND-BURROWER SNAKE ON YOU!!” The last thing Sahara saw was the snake poising itself to lunge, and then it sunk its fangs into Sahara’s ear. Then all the pain faded, and all went black.

1924 by EZ

HORROR FICTION -- Please do not read if you don't like to be creeped out

August 2, 1924

        There was a scream. Then a moan. And then blood seeped through the door.

Jackie’s eyes enlarged. She clamped her hands against her mouth. She wanted to swing open the door and confront the killer, but she couldn’t.

She looked around, trying to find an answer. She was going to be next.

The door swung open. In the middle of the room there was a bloody corpse. A cleaver was stuck vertically in the chest of the victim. They were in a pool of blood.

Jackie screamed and slammed the door closed. She put her back against the door and caught her breath. This was not normal. She didn’t even know how she got there.

Cautiously, she creaked the door open and peeked into the room. The corpse was still there.

“I’ll just investigate, and then I’ll call the police,” she thought to herself.

She slowly creeped into the room. She noticed that the face of the corpse was a scared face. Their eyes were large, her hands seemed to be in a position of fright, and her mouth was wide open.

“What is this. . . ?” Jackie muttered to herself.

She looked down at her shoes and almost fainted. Her shoes were covered in the blood of the corpse.

She looked around. She seemed to be in some sort of dungeon—the walls were made of bricks, and there were cobwebs everywhere.

She slowly made her way deeper into the room. She noticed that there was a little lightbulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling.

There was really nothing else in the room. It was just a room made out of stone bricks, with nothing else. No windows, no table, no nothing. Just a brick box with a dead body in it.

Jackie turned around to leave, but in the doorframe she saw a silhouette of a man holding a cleaver.