A not-very-Christmassy short story

Merry Christmas!

I promised you a story, didn't I? Well, I wanted to write you something fluffy and happy for the season, but I couldn't think of anything, and then I watched Donnie Darko. So... here's this.

It's very sad. Please don't hate me for writing you something sad at Christmas!

~~~~

Alone
by Sarah Elisabeth Newman

“What’s your name?” he asked her.
“Annie.”
“I’m Mark.”  It was all they needed to say.
Mark smiled and held out his hand.  Annie took it, and they walked together across the empty world.
There was no one else.  Mark and Annie were all that was left of humanity.  For so long, Mark thought he was the last.  But now he had found her.
They started a life.  Occupied a small house.  Tried to repopulate.  Annie feared they would never have children; Mark didn’t care.  If they were the only two left, they should be happy until they died.  Let humanity go out on a good note.
And they were happy.  For a while.
Mark sat with Annie on their front porch.  They gazed over their garden, which had been someone’s front lawn at some point, to the destroyed road and houses beyond.
“This is good,” Mark said.  “I’m so glad we’re together here.”
“If only it didn’t have to end,” Annie said wistfully, sighing.  She was sitting beside him, leaning into his chest.  Their arms wrapped around each other.
He frowned.  “It doesn’t.  Not until we die.”
“Oh, no.  Much sooner than that.”
Now he was upset, worried, and without a reason that he could understand.  “Why, sweetheart?”
“Because, Mark, I’m not real.”  Annie gazed sadly up at him, her blue eyes shining with unshed tears.  “Soon, you will have to wake up.”
“What…?  Don’t be ridiculous.  No!”
“Yes, darling.”  She sat up and kissed him.  “I’m only a dream.”
Mark cupped her face in his hands, brushing the drops from her cheeks.  “Dreams don’t cry,” he whispered.  He was beginning to panic.
“We do,” Annie said gently.
“Why?”  It was a question directed to their situation, not her statement.  She didn’t know, or she chose not to understand.
She looked away, her gaze focused on something he couldn’t see.  “We don’t want to die.”
Mark felt his world begin to slip away and grabbed his love.  “Don’t leave me, Annie!” he cried.
Annie kissed his lips gently, for the last time, but he barely felt her.  “Goodbye, my love…”

…

Mark woke up in his bed.
Sunlight slanted through his window, alerting him to the new day.  The scent of fresh coffee wafted through his apartment, brewed automatically every morning.  Birdsong, neighbors chattering, and car horns drifted through the thin walls to him.
Mark felt the bed beside him, searching for something.  But there was no one; there never had been.  Mark had always been on his own.
For a moment, this thought made Mark terribly sad.  So very sad.  He didn’t know why as it wasn’t a new development.  It had always been like this.  But when he touched his face, his fingers became wet with tears.
How strange.

A really cool article

This.

It's an article about gender stereotypes and how completely pointless and ridiculous they are. If you don't care, that's fine, but I wanted to share.

(Warning, this article is PG-13 for things of a sexual nature. I think it's important though, so if you're a grownup and not bothered by this, please read it.)

(Also, I like that the write has my last name. It makes me smile.)

Merry Christmas!

I celebrate Christmas. If you don't, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice... and everything else. Just have a happy life, everybody.

Back to Christmas. Since I'm trying to start using this blog more, I was thinking that I should do something for my readers (all two of you) this holiday season. And because I have no other skills, I thought I would write you a story, to be posted on Christmas Eve. It will probably be late at night, but it will be posted, so check in on December 24th for it.

Until then, here's an awesome picture I found online for you.

Little Sherly made a snowman (and stole Mycroft's brolly).

NaNo update!

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow! Well... it starts in five and a half hours. I'll be very busy writing then (I have a setting, characters, and most of a plot) and won't be updating this month. Not that I update much anyway...

I'll be writing a story about what it means to be human. That's really the best I can do in way of synopsis. There's magic, a scary psychopath, romance, a dog, and maybe a few jokes scattered in. We'll see how it goes.

Also, to keep me focused on my writing, I have special incentive.

Firstly, this is what I'll be imagining if I get online:

Jawn isn't pleased.

That smile tells me I should either run or beg forgiveness for whatever I did to deserve it.

Secondly, this is my current desktop background:

Feel free to message me for the full size if you'd like to use it.

And that one is like being sent to the principals office nine times. Adorable principals but terrifying, nonetheless.

So do you have any tricks to keep you focused? Share in the comments.

(So. Was I supposed to be professional here? I don't know. I don't think it matters anymore.)

"Muslim" is not synonymous with "monster"

Here's something I found online:

And you know what? It makes me angry. It makes my blood boil. "All I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9-11." That's like saying, "All I need to know about Christianity, I learned from Westboro Baptist Church."

Let me be clear. September 11th, 2001 (and no, I didn't need to look that up) was a very dark day. Not just for America but for the world. It marked a terrible tragedy, a crime that left so many people shocked, terrified, and grieving. There aren't enough words in the English language to describe what happened on that day. But.

It wasn't new. History repeats itself, again and again. 9-11 showed us what monsters we can be, but we've been shown that before and since. The Holocaust? Slavery? Pretty much any war? We have the capacity for great evil and depravity; we should remember that but hope and strive for goodness.

Muslims are not evil. I know, it's shocking, isn't it?* We all need to understand that man is not evil. We have, as I just said, the capacity for evil. We can be horrible and disgusting, but we were originally created for righteousness. Since then, we've allowed ourselves to become... Well, if you've ever read Ted Dekker's book Thr3e, you'll see it. "The Good, the bad, and the beautiful." We are humans; we struggle between good and evil, always having to pick a side. Those of us who have chosen light are still drawn back into darkness. My point is (I just realized how much I'm rambling), Muslims are no more evil than any other religion. In case you've forgotten, we're all human beings.

Now, I'm not compromising my beliefs here. I'm a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, but I don't believe He'd be very pleased with us for the prejudice we're showing our fellow man. He calls us to love them and teach them about Him. It's our job to give others guidance, letting them know that we Christians are not better than anyone else. We are broken and lost and royally screwed up, just like everyone else, but we rely on a perfect God to teach us how to be better.

Everyone chooses his own path. We don't force our beliefs; we don't hate anyone for their beliefs. We only teach, answer questions, and pray that God (not us; remember, it's God who saves, not Christians) gets through to them someday.

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" -- Romans 10:14

*Just a disclaimer. This is sarcasm from my own anger at the ignorance, not condescension aimed at any reader.