Author: Todd
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Zoo
An hour before the gates opened to the public the human couple were locked in their cage between the leopards and the orangutans. Their meals were prepared at scheduled times, served to them on plates, the food consumed while curious onlookers gathered outside their bars. The couple stared back, curious too. As a rule they…
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Heroics
From pop-up books to electric trains to video games, he dismantled all his toys. Within days after flirting with the notion of play, he divided each item, strewn in pieces across the floor, decomposed to nuts, screws, and micro chips. Neither his father nor mother could comprehend their son’s destructive nature. As he grew, he…
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Guilt
He raped his wife then kissed her crying face before collapsing into sleep. Later that night he was handcuffed and shoved into the caged backseat of a car with flashing red lights. Driven downtown past decaying office buildings and abandoned warehouses he descended with the vehicle into a mausoleum-shaped structure down a cement ramp to…
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Déluge
hectic steps to no music splattering sounds of a dancer gone mad against the cement. the sky falling fast cascading thoughts erratic glistening constellations rippling the sidewalk. news flashing a flood of visions inside devises raining hard reality. trees vanishing outside above the abundant parking meter monuments anchored in place raised to commemorate the masts of…
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Publicity
The interviewer had charmed her with his smile. After being invited into her home, offered coffee, and allowed to have a crew of technicians run cables, cameras, and lights throughout her living room, she soon realized her guest was not only unappreciative but mean-spirited. He sat in her love seat and told her she looked…
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Garden
I had heard of an enormous garden that was like no other in this world. Once I found it the rumors and fables paled before the truth. The flowers were immense, perfectly formed and brighter than I had imagined. A caretaker dressed in white linen emerged from the foliage to greet me. He stepped with…
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Innocence
When a terrorist’s bomb blew apart a national monument scattering to pieces men, women, and children, it ignited a worldwide firestorm of condemnation. The police received an anonymous phone call from a man who claimed to know who was responsible: The Scorpion. It was a moniker invented by the media which the caller rather liked.…
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Inception
She was not to be believed. A beauty undefined. Amorphous warmth entering her body like a lover. Fulfilling her desire by not wanting, simply accepting. His voice a whisper echoing deep within. Melding them as one. He was what she wanted to be. An ecstacy. A conception. Of perfection. Awakening. She awoke. He was nowhere.…
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Magic
Locked in his private hell at the end of the hall, in an ordinary room, was a man held hostage by himself. He had a gun aimed at his head. His demands could not be met and he wanted to die. He had no illusions about God or what to expect. Nothingness. An infinite non-existence.…
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Reflections
She might just as well have been her cat chasing after a reflection of light dancing across the wall. The mercurial vision of who she was kept eluding her. In a flash traveling backwards she glimpsed herself timeless as a child. On the surface of the mirror she saw her renewed face. The bandages removed,…