Short Stories – Page 2 – The Commonplace Notebook

Zeffilax

On April 1, 2035, in Denver, Colorado, Arthur Iris discovered a new color.

Well—not discovered, exactly. Rather, during the course of his research on mantis shrimp, he devised a mechanism to mimic the optic functions of these creatures, which use twelve color receptors to form their visible light spectrum, whereas humans use only three. This prototype receptor lens was far from perfect, but it gave Iris a window into a vivid new color which had literally never been seen by human eyes.

Types of Conflict

“Picture this:”

A ragtag group of friends stumbles upon an old, decrepit house rumored to be the haunted home of a secret treasure. One night, in spite of countless warnings, they venture inside and witness a ghastly sequence of supernatural events as they discover the house’s mysteries.

“Hm. There’s some potential there, but we need something specific, something dramatic to catch people’s interest. What if…”

Riddle to Ride

The good news was that they’d found a way off.

The bad news was that only one of them could leave.

Innocent Until Proven Guiltless

If I was lucky, I’d get to go to Hell.

The walk to the courtroom was nerve-wracking, I’ll admit, but it sure beat sitting in that endless void of a waiting room called Limbo for who-knows-how-many-centuries. I was ready to get this over with, and my defense attorney and I were confident that I had an infallible case.

How Myths Should Have Ended—Part III

This was a fun little project I did for my “Myth, Legend, and Folktales” class. It’s inspired by the “How It Should Have Ended” Youtube series. Yes, some of them are just dumb; but that’s the spirit of the series. There are also some crazy crossovers, ridiculed plot holes, and a couple running jokes that you’ll have to read all the screenplay sketches to understand.

How Myths Should Have Ended—Part II

How Myths Should Have Ended—Part I

The Ransom

Hey, look what I found!”

A man brought his heavily burdened donkey to a halt and reached down to grab a small leather sack off of the cobblestone road before him. He and his traveling companion gazed at first curiously and then in delight as he upended the bag, from which cascaded a pile of heavy silver coins. He grabbed a handful and let them slide out of his grip as he greedily rubbed a few pieces together. Continue reading “The Ransom”

When the World’s At Peace

The Manhattan School District representative leaned back in his office chair, tapping his fingers on the desk apprehensively. He glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes past. He supposed he shouldn’t have expected this to be anything but another of the man’s jokes; after all, with everything such an important public figure had been through, why would anyone in their right mind come here looking for work, of all places?

The Dream

I was gamboling through Moscow when my purple hippopotamus toaster erupted on the waffle bananas.