Happy very belated Thanksgiving to everyone! I was traveling for most of last week, visiting relatives in LOLIA (the Land Of Limited Internet Access). However, I did have a lot of driving to do: around 24 hours in a car with no radio or CD player. I made up one great story for this picture, but then needed more than 100 words to tell it properly. So I made up another one, but the same thing happened. So I made up a third, which is below. I’ll write the other ones down soon and post them as well.
This story is so late for the Fictioneers that the next week’s picture is due out in a few hours. But I wanted to do it, so as not to miss any.
copyright Randy Mazie
Out There
“I just lose myself in the library!” my brother exclaimed once.
“You mean in the stories?” I asked.
“No, beyond them. In the worlds beyond paper and ink and words. Out there.”
I hugged him and thought: quirky.
*
Until the paranoia set in. He stopped going to the library unarmed and then stopped altogether. He changed his route to school to avoid it. Finally, he broke in and washed the shelves in gasoline. You could see the blaze for miles. The town was about to crucify him.
*
Until they found the partially-burned thing in the ashes of the horror section.
The Green-Walled Tower 