My dragon breathes fire, lighting my small Halloween lantern. The red candle burns, wax dripping down. I raise my arm. Swimmers do not see me. I run on the beach and climb the white lifeguard tower. Boaters cannot hear me. I use the old megaphone. It crackles.
"Come back. They're becoming alive," I scream.
Terrified boaters and swimmers do not listen and toss their golden pearls and treasures into the sea.
"The dragon will devour you," they say.
"I won't hurt you, but beware of the mermaids," the dragon says.
"Mermaids aren't real," they call out, almost in unison.
People are fleeing from the wrong monsters.
Hidden magic makes evil real, but they don't see it.
Reflective claws drag them under the breaking waves. Breathless! Complex monsters. Robotic mermaids aren't creatures of inner beauty.
Reflections of our own forgotten nightmares.
Mermaids beckon each man and woman. "Remember us."
Every lover is prey. "Remember us. You're not talented, and you'll never win."
A wind-up machine, not yet rusted, but now alive in the flesh. Terror from our creations. We built them with parts of ourselves.
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Tides of Fortune
ParanormalTides of Fortune A collection of short stories and flash fiction. Grieving Kelvin goes to his sister's wedding, as prompted by his grandmother's last gift. The secret papers left in her honey cakes tell the future. Will they lead Kelvin to a treas...
