Slice of Life

Ghost Stories and Urban Legends of Benton: More Ghost Stories. (13)

As a paranormal researcher, I sometimes stumble upon a story that just moves me in ways that I did not expect to be moved. This story is one that hit very close to home for personal reasons I'm really not going to go into detail about here. The following story has all the hallmarks of a classic ghost story, the main character dies a horrible death, in fact he is murdered outright by a gang of thugs, on Halloween night of all nights, and his vengeful spirit returns to the claim the life of his attackers.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie Play's Dotty

A deep blush colored my face as I peered into the floor length mirror. The reflection showed a girl with blonde hair, baby blue eyes, and a petite frame. The girl was also dressed in one of the most embarrassing costumes I've ever laid eyes on. The costume was a short white dress with black spots. The accessories included a purple dog collar with a golden nameplate that read 'Jamie' engraved on it. And last but not least a pair of black dog ears. A small sigh escaped my lips as I spun around. This has to be the dumbest thing I've ever volunteered to do.

I Don't Like You Chapter 6


Insane Sometimes

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Spin the record darling
Inside of my mind
And let's just go-go-go
And lose track of time
Here we go, on this crazy ride
Here we go, in this crazy life
And oh-oh
'Cause, cause don't you know?
We're all a little insane sometimes

Ghost Stories and Urban Legends of Benton (11)

In the foyer of Albert Sidney Johnston's Memorial Library there hangs an old oil portrait of a woman who is dressed in a black dress with a high lacy white collar. Her raven hair is gathered at the back of her head and is tied back in a nice, neat bun. Her face is set in what seems permanent scowl and her high cheekbones seemed sunk in. At the bottom of the painting one would find the name of the woman. “Mercy Anna Howard '' Followed by “Head Librarian” and beside that “1870 till 1920”.

Ghost Stories and Urban Legends of Benton: More Ghost Stories (9)

The Pemberton Mall was the premier shopping destination of Vicksburg, Mississippi. The mall had been named in honor of the confederate general who had commanded all southern forces stationed within the city during the heroic forty seven or so day siege the city had endured. His name was John C.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie and Phantom Nurse (4)

Breakfast was brought to me the next morning, it was a simple breakfast, grits, boiled turkey bacon, toast, and milk. Still worn out from the nights before I ate and fell asleep, I awoke in time for lunch, a piece of broiled fish seasoned with just lemon juice and dill, steamed broccoli, and tea. Still tired I ate and again I fell asleep, dinner was a little better, roasted chicken seasoned with lemon and pepper, more steamed broccoli, a small slice of yellow cake with chocolate icing and more tea. Again tired I ate and fell asleep.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie and the Phantom Nurse (3)

I woke up around midnight with the urge to pee. Once I'd finished my business, I'd decided it was time to put my plan into action. Taking a deep breath I inched my way toward the door to my room. Gathering up my courage, I reached out and took hold of the door handle and pushed upon it. The wooden door crept open and before I knew it I was standing out in the hallway.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie and The Phantom Nurse (2)

I woke up the next morning feeling a little better, I was starting to breathe a little easier, my throat was so sore and I felt my fever starting to retreat. Breakfast was soon served to me, it was a homey breakfast of boiled turkey bacon, scrambled eggs, without salt and pepper of course. Toast without butter, and a small bottle of chocolate milk. Out of hunger I ate every morsel and left not a scrap of egg or a speck of crust on my plate.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie and the Phantom Nurse (1)

Hospitals are one of the most depressing places on earth. Everything reeks of antiseptic and disinfectant, the food is bland and the portions are small. Plus, you can't have a moment's peace to yourself and you have no privacy whatsoever. And guess what? I'm going to be spending my Easter Weekend here on the fifth floor of Mississippi Medical Center because mother nature hates me.

Epilogue

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Joss sighed as he worked on the commission painting. Knowing it needed to be delivered within two weeks, he wanted it done that day so the oils had time to dry. Smiling as he shook his head, he continued to add details to the dog's ears. Four years and a double degree and I'm using it to paint a rich woman's dead Airedale! he chuckled to himself.

A Year And A Day - Chapter 3: The Importance Of Names

 

A Year And A Day
Book 1 - Consequences
A Harry Potter Fanfiction Story
by:
ShadowedSin
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Be Careful What You Wish For...

It's one of the oldest lessons a witch or wizard can learn when it came to their wondrous magickal world. Few ever put much thought of, least of actually think it meant something. Bellatrix Black was raised by an abusive father and a mother who saw her only as a legacy. In a House long having lost its soul it was the young Heir's job to protect her sisters and do whatever she was told.

That all ended when she found the Dark Lord and became his right hand. For once she had power and everything she ever wanted. Fourteen years in Azkaban was the least of her worries when her Lord promised the world to her. That like every wish she had turned to ash when the Dark Lord was killed at the Battle Hogwarts.

What if Bella survived the Battle and with her young daughter in tow made one last wish? A wish to save her life, and her daughters most of all. But also a wish to finally have a life where she was truly happy.

Chapter 28 - Family is Who Loves You

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Joss was happier than he'd ever thought possible. In the days that followed Thanksgiving, he'd started staying over at Judy's house more and more often. While he cared for the Edwards family and knew they loved him for himself, he loved Judy far more than his own mother. Once she became a licensed foster home in mid-December, Judy took over care of Joss officially, moving him from one house to the other with Joyce and Hank's blessings.

Chapter 27 - You Can Never Go Home Again

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

To give him a room of his own, Hank and Joyce Edwards worked every spare minute to convert their den into another bedroom. Previous foster children had shared a room either with Tracy if they were a girl or David if a boy, but the family quickly realized that Joss didn't really fit either and did their best to adapt.

Chapter 26 - The Truth Hurts

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

CAUTION - Highly Emotional Content

--

Living with Joss turned out to be more difficult than the pastor and his wife had believed it could be. Even though he was a boy, they realized he might find it difficult to adjust to living as a boy given his physical development. Even as Daniel drove them home, Susan noticed one major problem.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie's Sweet Sixteen (5)

Carefully I put one foot in front of the other as I made my way from my room, down the stairs, the moment I touched down on the landing was the moment I felt my breath being taken away. The living room was crowded with people. The overflow even reached into the kitchen and down the hallway. The massive crowd then shouted, they shouted all together. And their voices seemed to become one.

Chapter 25 - "When in the Course of Human Events..."

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

CAUTION - Referenced Attempted Suicide

--

The following day Dr. Benson talked with Joss for another two hours after his IV and catheter were removed. Sure that he understood his patient, he needed to see how he handled other people. On the afternoon of the fourth day of his observation, the first guest he allowed to see Joss was his father.

TFOS: Freddy On The Loose: Part 27

TFOS: Freddy On The Loose

Part 27

by

Rodford Edmiston

Note: This story uses background and concepts from the Teenagers From Outer Space role-playing game, Copyrighted and Trademarked R. Talsorian Games, Inc. It also uses properties Copyrighted DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures. The original characters and story are Copyright 2022 Rodford Edmiston Smith.

Fall Happenings

Chapter 24 - Thoughts from the Graveyard

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

CAUTION - Referenced Attempted Suicide

--

Floating in a dream state, Joss wondered if this was what death was, an endless sea of nothingness for all eternity.

Chapter 23 - To Be or Not To Be

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

CAUTION - Attempted Suicide
CAUTION - Highly Emotional Content
CAUTION - Intense scenes involving a minor

--

A month to the day after the accident, Josh went back to school. He walked into the building dressed in a black skirt, top, tights, and flats. He also carried the black backpack that Grace had used for the last three years, the same one he'd had before her. Judy let him keep it as a memento of their love, along with a few other things. He'd asked about the carving he'd given her for her sixteenth birthday, but Judy told him she'd been buried holding it, unwilling to make her daughter ever part with the gift she'd loved nearly as much as Josh himself.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie's Sweet Sixteen (4)

I took a deep breath as I peered into the full length mirror, the reflection in the mirror showed a young woman with golden blonde hair and the prettiest blue eyes I'd ever seen. That young woman was dressed in a pretty pink gown that seemed tailored to fit every curve of her body. She had a modest chest and a very curvy figure. The kind of body that reminded me of a teenage model. Her hair had been straightened a few hours before and now had a pretty pink bow on top. As I released my breath, it really dawned on me. I was that woman who's reflection I was peering at in the mirror.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie's Sweet Sixteen (3)

Albert Sidney Johnstone Memorial Library was the heart and soul of geek culture in Benton. Here each Tuesday the anime club gathered together to watch a few episodes of any given anime that seemed popular or given reports on the manga we've read that week. And on Friday and Saturday evening the Roleplaying Club would host sessions. Of course Dungeons and Dragons was the main draw, but there were other games people could play. Little Fears was another darling and my personal favorite.

Chapter 22 - This Too Shall Pass

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

CAUTION - Highly Emotional Content

--

Josh was finally ready. Having spent most of the day getting his hair and nails done, a complete facial, and then almost two hours to get dressed, he looked at the final product. Trying to make himself like what he saw, he still hated the vision of young womanhood staring back at him from his closet mirror. Seventeen and hours away from his Junior Prom, he was irreparably and unmistakably a woman in all but the most basic of ways. No one would even believe you if you told them you were a boy. he ridiculed himself as he examined the beautiful woman in his mirror.

Chapter 21 - High School Memories

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Before the end of the month, Grace had her driver's license and the two spent their first evening out alone without Judy. It was a simple dinner at a fast food place and then a movie, but she and Josh enjoyed it just the same.

Chapter 20 - Another Birthday

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Judy spent the next month looking into any legal options for Josh. In the end all that came of it was that he could file a malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Williams, but not until after he turned eighteen. Until then only his parents could file one on his behalf.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie's Sweet Sixteen (2)

Like many small towns in the southern United States, Benton's principal commercial district was Main Street. Here along this bricked paved section of street, one would find the backbone and lifeblood of the community, its numerous small businesses all locally owned and operated. Some were well over one hundred years old. Two famous examples were Potter's Mercantile, a general store that had been owned by generations of Potters, the family I came from. And Brewer's Hardware Both had been founded the same time as Hannah's Landing, that was before Hannah's Landing had grown into Benton. 

Chapter 19 - Growing Up is Hard to Do

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Trapped in a one-car garage filling with smoke, Josh found it strange that he could breath just fine. It was then that he saw both Jennifer and Grace were there and choking on the deadly fumes as he watched helplessly. Suddenly, he noticed he had a respirator in his hand and looked at the two girls in turn. He knew that he could only save one of them at this point, as they were both so close to death that by the time he'd saved one, the other would be gone. Frozen in indecision, he stood there and watched as both succumbed to the smoke and fell lifeless to the floor as he screamed.

Chronicles of Sea Breeze (4)

-9-
So This Is A Dungeon?

Hello again my imaginary audience, when you last left me I was walking to the Peppercorn Mountains because I'd heard stories about a king's ransom of gold and jewels. Right now I'm somewhere under those mountains. About a day's passed since I've last encountered you guys, I'd finally reached the Peppercorn Mountains after four or five hours of hard marching. I then took a rest and somehow I managed to find this cave.

Chapter 18 - Right or Wrong

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

CAUTION: Attempted Suicide
CAUTION: Referenced / Discussed Suicide
CAUTION - Highly Emotional Content

--

As the school year came to a close, Josh and Grace were getting closer to one another, but he continued to struggle with his feelings while still clinging to the memory of his love for Jennifer and all that she'd tried to do for him. No matter how many times he tried to look at it, he couldn't figure out what the right thing to do was.

Chapter 17 - Beware the Ides of March

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Turning in place and looking at himself in his closet mirror, Josh sighed at the utter futility of looking anything like a boy. He'd bought some boy's clothes in a department store; a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap. Even with his hair tucked up in the cap and his still-growing breasts strapped down with an ace bandage, the image he saw reflected in his mirror looked like a pre-teen girl wearing boy's clothes. Once he took off the cap and his hair spilled out, the vision was complete and he would even be hard-pressed to say they were boy clothes. On him, he felt they still looked girly.

The Adventures of Jamie Potter: Jamie's Sweet Sixteen

I took a deep breath as I tossed the heavy woolen blanket over the side of the bed. Releasing that breath I planted my feet firmly on the wooden floorboards of my bedroom. The moment I did though was the moment I felt a sudden coldness rush into me. The calendar on the bedroom wall said it was March. March the fourteenth.. skip three squares and you would find the seventeenth circled with a little note written into the square. The note read. “Birthday – Sweet Sixteen” and there I paused as I peered at the little pink circle.

Chapter 16 - The Hand of Fate

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

CAUTION - Indirect Reference to Suicidal Thoughts
CAUTION - Intense scenes involving a minor
CAUTION - Highly Emotional Content

--

Josh was 'sick' the next week, which wasn't far from the truth as he was lost in a near constant fugue state. Friday came and he was taken down to Dr. Biggs's office and got his first three-month shot of puberty blockers. The next Monday, he went back to school and met Tracy at the bus stop.

Dress Codes


This is a short story set in a world where gender roles and dress codes are very fluid.

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“Terry get up. Terry get up!! You’ll be late for school.”

“Ok dad. Where are my clean panties?”

“There should be some in the drawer, if not can’t you wear boxers for a change?”

“I could, but I prefer panties.”

Chapter 15 - Hard Lessons in Parenting 101

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

CAUTION - Intense scenes involving a minor
CAUTION - Highly Emotional Content

--

Slowly, Josh became aware of a hand shaking his shoulder. Not wanting to leave the warm comfort he felt, he groaned at the hand. "Go 'way!"

Chapter 14 - The Birthday Party

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Looking himself over one last time, he nodded with resigned satisfaction. The blue satin dress looked good on him, flattering his natural curves and making him appear to be every bit the pre-teen girl he was made to become. His visits with Jennifer and the Healy family and to their church over the past two weeks had been blissful reprieves from his home life. While his parents were happy to have him come and go as he pleased, when he was home he'd had to endure a new round of pushing from his parents.

A New Identity

“Oh, my aching head.” Bill gets up off the floor of his apartment and walks towards the bathroom.

His head was pounding a minute and he was half awake. He brushes his light brown hair out of his eyes. When he goes to pee, he notices something was wrong. First, the toilet looked bigger to him. Secondly, when he goes to grab his penis, he notices it was gone. He starts feeling his bladder ready to release.

Chapter 13 - Young Love

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

The next morning Josh cheerfully made his way toward the bus stop. It was a beautiful late summer day, so he'd worn one of the skirts that used to belong to Tracy and one of the tops Melanie had gotten him. When he saw his best friend at the stop, he smiled wide and jogged forward to greet her.

Chapter 12 - Parental Guidance Suggested

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Sitting in Jennifer's bedroom, the door open, and with a promise from her parents not to 'wander by' to check up on them for at least half an hour, the two sat on her bed next to one another. Before the three had returned to the Healy's home, Josh had decided that it was now or never, so he'd asked her parents for a moment of semi-privacy to talk with Jennifer alone first.

Jamie's First Valentine's Date (3)

Ben and I enjoyed the rest of the meal in silence, it was the good kind of silence. Oh the Pecan cobbler was simply amazing, totally off my diet but so worth it. Once we finished eating, Ben paid the check and he was escorted back to his car. It was around ten o' clock at night, and nearing my curfew. Not that Lily would have minded if I stayed out at all hours of the night. She is kind of cool like that, and with mom and dad away and Lily manning the fort I'm sure I could have managed to stay out a little past ten.

Chapter 11 - Honesty is the Best Policy

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

After the service, the family went to their usual restaurant for brunch. Josh was quiet and contemplative, distracted as he mentally deconstructed the topic, The Sermon on the Mount. He didn't understand the context, other than in theory, so all he could do was judge the value based on the words spoken. He ate his turkey club sandwich absently, staring off into space as he pondered the words that seemed to be in total contradiction with the impression his parents had given him of the Christian faith.

I Don't Like You Chapter 5



Escape My Mind

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I wish I could get you
Out of my mind
But I think about it all the time
And I wish I could not think
For once in my life
But when I see your face
I can't escape my mind

Chapter 10 - When All Else Fails

Link: The Road to Hell Title Page and Description

--

Josh awoke at six as usual. He almost didn't need the alarm he'd set the night before, having gotten used to rising at that time anyway, but he was taking no chances. Jumping out of bed quickly, he got dressed. Putting on fresh white undies and white tights easily now that he'd had practice at it, he put on a pretty bra and then got into the skirt and blouse.

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