Left To Die - a Botched Abortion

By Unknown Author

There were no balloons announcing It's a boy. No sounds of laughter, no tears of joy.
No little onesies marked zero to three. No warm blankets soft and fluffy.
It was a little past five when a little boy was born alive.

A botched abortion, an unwanted life.
Before the doctor could do what he needed to do the little guy had pushed his way through.
About the same time his mother came to with me still holding the baby, the doctor nudged me.

From the room down the hall far from there with me muzzling his cries so she would not hear.
The doctor grabbed a plastic tub and said, "Put him in here."
So I put him inside still covered in blood,
then I listened to the doctor tell her all went as planned.

I confirmed it with a smile and a pat on her hand.
It was after seven when she left to go home leaving the baby she would never know.
With medical attention, the baby would thrive...but protected by new law we just left him to die.

With the lid on the bin, we could still hear his cries
as we closed the door and turned off the lights.
We went home like we always did but if I could go back I would choose him instead.

The memories of him now burn in my head
like the next day when I found him lying there dead.
Like the fear on his face as he struggled to breathe;
how we looked the other way and showed him no mercy.

I'm not talking about a woman's choice.
I'm talking about a little infant who didn't have a voice.
I'm not talking about a woman's right but a tiny human beings life.

I am talking about an infant, not quite a day old with big round eyes and his mother's nose.
With ten little fingers and ten perfect toes.
With a head full of hair that curled around his ears and chubby little cheeks wet with tears.

He was never given a name he was never measured or weighed.
He died sometime in the night scared and alone and too weak to fight.
Because unwanted babies have no rights.

This happens more often then they want you to know
and former employees will tell you it's so.
If this doesn't bother you and you think it's okay,
then keep doing what you've been doing and look the other way.

But if you think life should come before choice
then stand up and fight. Lift up your voice!
Innocent blood has now covered this land leaving us all with red-stained hands.

The Lord wills that it will end.
Even now mountains are moving at His command.
We have the choice to choose where to stand.
I choose to be under the protection rather than the wrath of His hand.



*********************************
This is a You Tube link of the Van Marin radio show where he has guest Jill Stanek who was a registered nurse in Illinois in 1999, when she witnessed babies being born alive and left to die after failed abortions. She blew the whistle on this barbaric practice.

The shocking truth: Aborted babies are born alive,

 and left to die

Cat's Eyes - A Halloween Short Story

By Glenda Reynolds

I’ll never forget that Halloween at my Grandmother Mimi’s house. It left a lasting impression on me. There were three of us kids including me and my two siblings who lived with Mimi. I loved the fact that her house was built on a sloping hill just outside of some woods in the Tennessee country. Other than the television, the woods provided a good place for pre-teen kids to play. The dirt driveway was home to several dogs that were chained near their dog houses. I always wondered why there were so many dogs since they were not used for hunting.

       Just days before, her son - my Uncle Victor - came to visit. He just lived a few miles from Mimi’s house; his visit was not out of the ordinary. There was a stray tabby cat that just wouldn’t leave Mimi’s property. Why would it when there were children that gave it love and attention? I peered out of the kitchen window at Victor who was seated just outside the window. Across the driveway from him sat the tabby cat oblivious to my uncle’s intentions. Victor pulled a small pistol from his pocket and shot the cat. You can imagine that as a child, seeing an animal killed for the first time would have caused some distress. The cat was confused as it writhed on the ground before dying. My brother Sammy acted like a big boy as he volunteered to throw the cat’s body in the woods. My uncle wasn’t a mean man; he thought he was doing his mother a favor. After all, it was another mouth to feed. Who needs a cat, right?

       That image was burned in my brain.

       After school, I went into the woods to be alone with my thoughts. The autumn leaves crunched under my feet. The smell of fall was in the air as the leaves fell into brown and gold piles on the forest floor. There was a woody vine that we would swing on in the center of the woods. I blew off some pent up energy by swinging on the vine. On my second try, I slipped off and fell in a pile of leaves. I immediately felt a stinging sensation as a wasp stung my leg. After swiping it off, I rolled onto my knees. The sound of crushed leaves made me look behind me. A tabby cat lay there with its ears pinned down and large black eyes. It emitted a guttural growling and hissing as it edged toward me. It looked just like the cat that I had seen die just a few days before.

       It can’t be!

        I clawed my way up the slope. My eye caught the movement of a snake to my left going in and out of the leaves. I tripped over a thick tree root and landed on my face and stomach. There’s nothing like a black, hairy spider crawling towards your face to get you up and running again. I could have sworn I saw a pair of glowing eyes following me at a distance.Beautiful daylight greeted me as I ran out of the woods, down the small hill, and into the house. I crossed the den and sat at the kitchen table where my brother was putting the finishing touches on a Jack-O-Lantern. Sammy stuck his tongue out at me as if to say, don’t touch my pumpkin, or else! After the afternoon I had, I wouldn’t dream of it.

       After several minutes, I stood up from the kitchen table. I happened to glance out of the kitchen window. I took a quick intake of breath…for at the edge of the woods was a pair of glowing eyes.

For Sale: 31 Days of October Volume 3

Hot off the press, get your eBook 

On sale at Amazon #Kindle 31 Days of October Vol 3 for $3.95. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YL3SZ3T #AmWriting #paranormal #Halloween2019 

 

View the book Trailer ~ 

 

 

If you purchase a copy, please write a review at Amazon. Thank you!

Invasion of Seaburg - Parts 1 and 2

 

Invasion of Seaburg

By Glenda Reynolds

There was a legend about the Arctic Ocean in the North Pole that a comet crashed there long ago. Ever since then strange things have happened. Things like folks coming across perfect clones of themselves. When they were found out, the clones ran for the hills, never to be seen again.

These days the Siberian huskies can sense the presence of aliens. They go berserk, trying to chew through their restraints. I heard that one dog got taken. Its chain was burned apart. The footprints leading away were unidentifiable. I’ve even seen large polar bears laying dead in the winter wasteland looking like they’ve been split open with lasers. What did the aliens think they would find? Could it be true that such a race hunts for sport, needing some kind of trophy?

Those Northern lights? They aren’t always caused by the gaseous particles interacting with the sun’s rays in the atmosphere. Some believe that they are alien spacecrafts looking for the stray one that crashed at the North Pole.

One day, a team of scientists discovered the UFO spacecraft deep in the Arctic Ocean. They deployed a submarine with robotic arms to use flotation devices to bring it to the surface. Cranes would’ve been too heavy for the ice. While it was being towed to the nearest Canadian city, the lights on the outside of the craft started blinking. The sub ceased its towing, and docked the craft in my town of Seaburg. The ship had established communications with the alien ships in the orbiting atmosphere. One of these spaceships landed in the North Pole.

The aliens had been monitoring Earth for a long time. They knew it was Christmas. When they disembarked from their ship, the aliens cloned themselves with special technology to look like Santa, white beards and red suites, the total package. Otherwise, these beings were reptilian in nature with a nasty disposition. And they were packing heat: laser guns that could take a person’s head clean off. A parade of alien Santas rode off, each one on what could only be described as magnetic hover-boards, only much faster.

We were ready for them. People in my little town all owned guns and were members of the NRA. This doesn’t stand for No Radical Aliens, but today that could be the case. The extraterrestrial activity was monitored and talked about daily. We could feel the electricity in the air.

There was no solar horizon event to mark a time for guns to be drawn and ready. The North Pole was experiencing its Polar Night cycle, continual darkness until March. Even through this period there may be only times of twilight.

We placed Jeb in a lookout tower. He used a pair of night vision goggles. He spotted the parade of fake Santas coming at a fast pace. He was almost fooled until he saw the weapons they carried and the hover-boards they traveled on. He sent a flaming arrow into a large pile of kindling in the town center creating a bonfire.

The fake Santas saw our people holding their weapons and immediately began shooting their laser guns. A few people hurled what looked like snow globes at the creatures. These were Molotov cocktails with lit fuses. There’s nothing that smells worse than a burning alien.

Jeb and his cousin Bobby raced into view, each in his own sleigh drawn by a fast reindeer. Bobby had his collectible ninja sword ready to do battle. He said that a man must look into the eyes of his enemy when he kills him. After killing his first alien this way, he opted for his Remington rifle. Cousin Jeb always wanted to try out his new Springfield Armory semiautomatic pistol. Reptilians were splattering everywhere as he rode by with a dazzling smile on his face. Soon the smile vanished as an alien shot his reindeer, sending animal, sleigh and rider tumbling in the snow.

Suddenly there was an explosion in the distance. The ship that the Reptilians landed in had been blown up by another alien race. The cloning devices failed simultaneously, revealing the ugly true form of the enemy. The other aliens known as the Nordics came onto the scene. These were human-like with blond hair, shining blue eyes, and were 7 ft. tall. They had twice the strength of the average man. They quickly defeated the Reptilians.

When the fighting was over, the Nordics gathered with our towns people in the center by the bonfire.

“Thank you for helping us in our time of need, stranger,” said Mayor Johnson as he shouldered his rifle.

A Nordic that looked like the leader said, “It’s a time to celebrate peace and good will towards man. Even we Nordics know the true meaning of Christmas. You see, God made many worlds, but there was only one Son that was born in Bethlehem.”

After the people of Seaburg expressed their thanks, the Nordics returned to their ship to continue to keep the universe safe for us all, human and alien alike.

*****

Part 2

Several months have passed since the invasion of Seaburg, a coastal community near the North Pole. Ever since that “so called” comet hit Earth years ago, we observed strange happenings: human clones and animals ripped apart or missing. These alien beings would come to be known as the Reptilians. One thing that would give them away is that they have luminescent green eyes. But like an unwanted nightmare, the Reptilians would come for us.

March brought some sun into our endless winter night, but only astronomical twilight, not even enough light to cast a shadow. It remained just dark enough to see illumination below the sea. We feared that it could be aliens who had not engaged in battle and were left behind in safety.

We were right.

“What a beautiful sunset!” exclaimed Bobby, the twenty-something year old northern redneck who was fond of his sword and rifle collection. He admired the sparkling glow on the waves caused by the alien craft.

“That’s no sunset, you idiot. I’m pretty sure it’s ‘them’. We didn’t get rid of those aliens like we thought we did,” chided his cousin Jeb.

Bobby was no scaredy-cat. He had killed a good number of Reptilians when they invaded Seaburg during the holidays. He was a good shot with his Remington rifle.

“And what is that putrid smell?” Jeb asked with disgust on his face, “We have to alert the town about this.”

 Tendrils of luminescent fluid made its way to the surface. What we didn’t know was this: the life blood of humans and animals mixed with a concoction was being ejected from the submerged alien ship. The stench of death wafted its way to our village.

Later we saw plenty of activity in the sky, such as UFOs traveling lightening fast. Some would stop suddenly in the sky, come nearer, and then dart off in another direction. Lights on these spaceships would twinkle as if communicating with the ship below the sea. The submerged craft blinked lights of its own in return.

The space craft continued to expel the bloody concoction which polluted the shoreline. It attracted meat eaters such as polar bears, wolves, and white arctic foxes. The ingested mixture caused them to convulse violently. They became infected with an illness that we would later come to know more about. It caused their eyes to glow all of the time. Soon the infected animals made their way into the city of Seaburg.

The ambassador of the Nordics came with his troop to visit Mayor Johnson of Seaburg after receiving a call of distress. Nordics were an alien race which were human-like with blond hair, shining blue eyes, and were 7 ft. tall. They had twice the strength of the average man.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice. I am humbled by your faithfulness to stand by our side,” said the mayor.

“It is our pleasure to preserve peace throughout the galaxy, including your planet Earth. We have come to love your planet and wish to protect it,” replied the ambassador. A garbled language came out of the wrist communicator alerting him. “I’m sorry to cut this short. It appears that your town is being overrun by diseased Earth animals, thanks to the Reptilians. My guards have informed me that they are infested with the LumEco virus. It will spread to other animals and humans. All will eventually die.”

“‘All’ as meaning all life forms on Earth?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Both Nordics and humans acted swiftly to rally the townspeople to protect the city. Not only were men placed on roofs tops to signal when the infected animals came into town, but they also took a proactive stance. Troops of humans and Nordics scoured the snowy terrain to hunt and kill meat eaters with glowing green eyes. To be thorough, they burned the carcasses in a bonfire. One wolf managed to make its way into the middle of town. It lay on the ground, convulsing violently. Upon dying, the stomach of the wolf ripped open as baby Reptilians crawled from it and scattered throughout the street.

“What in THE Hell?” shouted Jeff.

“I got this, cousin,” assured Bobby. He would not be deterred after seeing this. He unleashed his bird dogs and got an assortment of weapons, one being a flame thrower. Soon the entire group of baby Reptilians had been cornered and burned.

When the townspeople and Nordics thought they had a good handle on the infestation, they decided to take more action. Two Nordics dressed in scuba gear. They swam out to the submerged space craft and attached explosives to it. As the mixed group watched from shore, the explosives were detonated. The blast created a great pillar of water with fireworks reminiscent of the fourth of July. Blinking lights in the sky above meant that the UFOs were chattering about the destruction of the ship. They were gone in a millisecond. The town’s people cheered as once again they were able to defeat the Reptilians.

In a humble cabin in the south side of town, a little boy was getting ready for bed. But first he enjoyed a steaming cup of hot chocolate and some chocolate chip cookies as he sat up against the head board of his bed.

“Come on, little fella,” he coaxed as he held a piece of cookie under the bed. It was quickly snatched and swallowed.

The baby Reptilian’s thoughts were, “Cookies good! Humans bad!”

Only One Wish ~ short story based on hurricane Michael

One Wish Only

By Glenda Reynolds

I awoke from a restless sleep, afraid to face the day. I pushed the fear from my mind as I rose from my bed and changed my clothes. You wouldn’t know it was October. The Florida Panhandle heat was unbearable since we had no electricity to air-condition the house. Breakfast consisted of bottled protein drinks and bagels.

There wasn’t much of a breeze as the temperature climbed to the upper nineties. The humidity added to the pervasive misery. It made you look forward to the sponge bath at day’s end using only one cup of water. We had no running water either. It was as if we were dropped in Hell and had to make the best of it. But then we had no idea about the extent of the damage from hurricane Michael.

My husband Bob and I decided to venture out on foot the day after. All roads going out of the neighborhood were blocked by masses of downed trees and windblown debris. It was a few days before we could even leave our neighborhood. When we were finally able to leave in our truck, we headed east to survey the ravaged city. Block after block we ran over downed power lines. There were missing roofs, crumbled mobile homes, and masses of downed privacy fences. Endless acres of beautiful magnolia trees, large oak trees, and pine trees were snapped in half, uprooted, or left with a permanent bend as if bowing to an evil conqueror. There were no squirrels that frolicked about playing king-of-the-pine-tree. Instead, the wasps flew to close in my personal space as if expressing their anger with the terrible weather event they survived.

     I couldn’t blame them.
     Bob and I arrived at a nearby park to gather pond water to help us with the tasks at home. We needed to conserve bottled water.
    “Honey, is that a person sleeping there on that small hill under the palms?” Bob asked.
    “It looks like it. Let’s see if that person is okay,” I answered with some reservation.
     Sure enough, a young woman was sleeping peacefully on the ground. I nudged her hip to wake her.
    “Ma’am, are you okay?” I asked.
She didn’t answer, but her eyes opened. She had a back-pack on the ground above her head. Was she without a home or traveling? She was probably too embarrassed to talk to us. We left her alone to return to our truck.
    “You want to drive to Under The Oaks Park? Are you curious about how that faired?” I asked my husband.
    “I’m afraid too, but okay. You’re the driver,” he said reluctantly.

We found the park open to the public. It might as well have been closed. We stood contrite at having made the decision to be there. The majestic magnolia and oak trees were stripped from where they once stood, providing a clear view of the bay from the parking lot. It was as if someone told me that a close relative died as I was overcome by grief. Tears welled up in my eyes and those of my husband. The tracks of heavy equipment marred the ground everywhere. There was no walking/running path anymore. Stumps, some with yellow caution tape but mostly without, could be seen everywhere you looked. We were several yards from the bay as I turned to see fast approaching dark clouds swallow the rays of the sun. The silhouettes of disfigured trees reminded me of the book covers from spooky, paranormal novels. The dark clouds seem to extinguish the light in our souls as well as we walked back to the truck. The only sounds were our sobs.

   After we returned home, we resumed the task of picking up the many roof shingles that littered the ground and our shrubs. As I collected broken branches, pine cones, and other debris, a glint of gold caught my eye. I pushed back the broken limbs to discover a gold, old-fashioned oil lamp. I rubbed it with a rag to get the dirt off. This action produced an animated smoke that took a life of its own. It became large, then solid, and finally, a genie appeared near me in the back yard. This was no Middle Eastern genie. This was a Panama City redneck genie, complete with a pot belly, baseball cap, shorts, and flip-flops. He yawned, stretched, and then rubbed his belly. Finally, he noticed me standing there with my mouth opened.
    “Hey!” he drawled.
    “Hi! You are the first genie I’ve ever seen.”
    “Well, it’s your lucky day, isn’t it?”
    “Does this mean that I get three wishes?”
    “Nah, you’ve seen too many movies. I’ll grant you one wish, so make it good.”
    “Okay…,” I said as I thought about the best thing to ask for. “I wish I had a million dollars - in cash!”
    “Your wish is granted, darlin’,” he replied as he reached in his pocket. He pulled out a tiny sack, Barbie doll size. He blew on it, pinched it, and stretched it until it reached normal size. He handed it to me as he smiled, showing a missing front tooth.
    The redneck genie made a giant beach towel appear. It floated above the ground. He took the golden lamp from me, sat on his magic beach towel, and flew into the clouds. I ran into the house and told Bob what had just happened. He thought that the heat had gotten to me until I pulled bundles of money from the sack.
    We could barely go to sleep while thoughts of how to spend the money went through our heads for most of the night. The temperature cooled down enough to allow us to sleep.
    The next morning Bob and I were in agreement. We needed to help our community recover from the hurricane. Our first trip was to the park where we got our pond water. The young woman was still there. We walked softly up the hill and placed a bundle of money near her curled form. Next, we got in touch with the county Parks and Recreation Department to get permission to pay a landscaping company to do stump grinding, level the ground, and plant some trees at Under the Oaks Park. We saw countless business owners standing outside of their businesses as they removed plywood from windows. We gave away tens of thousands for them to get back on their feet. There were many people who lost everything. One woman could be seen through the gaping hole of her residence as she clutched a negligee to her chest. All of her belongings were in trash heaps or blown to the winds. Her face lit up as we handed her a roll of money. We picked the worst houses to visit to give them cash aid until we nearly depleted our funds. There were so many more people to help and not enough money. Churches stood with two-thirds of their roofs missing; they were abandoned.
    I didn’t ask the genie for enough money! I thought sadly to myself.
    Bob sensed how I was feeling. He put his arm around my shoulders saying, “You can’t save the world, sweetie.”
    “I know. It was worth a try though.”
    We had just arrived home when a postal carrier arrived with a certified mail for me. I quickly opened it to see a check for one million dollars. There was also a yellow post-it note which said,
    “I lied. I’m sure you’ll put this to good use.
           Yours truly,
                         Genie.”

*****

Note by author: most of the events at the beginning of this story are true events experienced by the author & spouse. The fictional character was added with things to follow for a monthly writing challenge at Writers 750 Goodreads.