Chapter 6

Thursday, May 5^th, 2023

6:37 PM

Chet was surprised, but he pointed with his thumb to Bruce’s trailer. “He’s staying in his camper over there.” He wasn’t sure what was going on, but being police, he really didn’t want to question them.

Detective Fraiser nodded, then stepped off the porch and started toward the trailer.

To Return Home

Thanks to Malady for his help editing and for ideas.

Cover image from Unsplash

3.3

I entered Jack and Sylvia’s lab, and found Sylvia alone, hunched over her work bench. She whirled like the proverbial kid with her hand in the cookie jar when she heard me. Speaking of her hands, she slipped something into her pocket, but I couldn’t tell what. She was a bit suspicious, but I put it down to me being suspicious of everything and everyone now, so I forced myself to ignore it.

To Return Home

Thanks to Malady for his help editing and for ideas.

Cover image from Unsplash

3.2

Daddy enlisted Jack and Sylvia to help him work on a way to repair the people’s bodies.

They found that the heinously fast changes that Amos favored, required a commensurate amount of bots inside a person. Structure changes to the skull as well as any in the brain, weren’t made with the health of the victim in mind. As the brain held the person, the repair project started with that. But, due to starting without the person’s original genes, they planned to work back from what they did have, reversing all of Amos’s changes.

Author’s Note: I apologize. I messed up. For some reason, I was thinking of May 3rd as being the day Shelly Chatham, Marcia’s biological mother, passed away, and May 4th as being Marcia’s birthday. That is backwards, so I’m currently working on fixing my error in the previous two chapters – As well as what was supposed to be chapter 3. Rosemary rolls eyes at this point. LOL

Chapter 3

5 AM

Marcia arose and hurried through her morning routine, then hurried out to help Bruce feed the animals. She really wanted to get to the horses. There was one that she absolutely loved, and secretly wished was hers. He was a palomino, and greatly resembled the horse Roy Rogers rode in all of his movies.

When she realized she would be on a farm where there were horses, she decided that she wanted to learn about them. Thus, she had decided to research all she could. When she came across information on the famous palomino, she’d watched as many films as she could find with the old western star and his master.

Chapter Three – Susan

The identity of the killer and his backstory is revealed but not to the police who continue their investigation. Steve's moral courage is tested when temptation comes his way. Penelope continues to remain sober and a valuable asset to the Task Force.

Chapter One - April

Detectives Steve Edwards and Penelope Bishop are chasing a serial killer targeting trans women. Penelope is battling her own demons after the fallout from the Lipstick Killer case and whilst Steve is deeply in love with trans drag queen Felicity Goodnite he is tempted to stray. This is a five-part thriller with plenty of bumps and curves.

To Return Home

Thanks to Malady for his help editing and for ideas.

Cover image from Unsplash

2.7

It was a couple of days later that I entered Marc’s lab.

“Whatcha want, Rose?” he asked, keeping lots of distance between us. I assumed he didn’t want my sister to know he’d been talking to me.

“She’s still mad at us?” I asked.

“I’m on probation. I’m not supposed to help you with anything right now.”

To Return Home

Thanks to Malady for his help editing and for ideas.

Cover image from Unsplash

2.6

As it’s been a little while since I last posted any of this story, I’m going to give a “When we last saw our protagonist…”

From Chapter 2.5

“You’re not acting predictably,” Paula told me.

“I just lost my husband,” I exploded. “Would you care to explain what is predictable about that?”

She sat down, and her demeanor softened. “My bots aren’t able to predict how you’re going to react to things right now.”

Paula turned her attention from me to Carla. “Are you saying you can communicate directly to your bots?”

I was shocked as well. “How can you do that?” I asked. “I asked mine a question a couple of days ago, but I could only talk to them in a dream.”

Carla appeared uncomfortable. “I suppose it’s something that I learned while Amos was in control.”

I shrank away in fear. “Don’t touch me!” I screamed, terrified. “Get away from me!”

“What’s going on!?” Carla was very confused now.

“He’s still here! He killed John, and he’s still in you!” I tried to back away having no control over my actions.

Paula grabbed me as I flailed my arms at my little sister. “Perhaps you should leave and let her calm down,” I heard her say.

I was crying uncontrollably now, the pain of the last few days taking over.

And now on to 2.6...

I wake up in a strange place in a strange body, with no memory of anything which has happened before. Who am I? What sex am I? What race am I? What am I doing here? Why am I wanted by the police? What should I do about the pervert spying upon me? Is he involved in getting me into this position?

The questions seem never-ending.

Author’s Note: There is no explicit sex or violence in this story (apart from a punch under the jaw). There are one or two swear words, and there is talk of historical crimes such as rape and murder. Do not read or read with caution if you think you may be offended or upset by this.

To Return Home

Thanks to Malady for his help editing and for ideas.

Cover image from Unsplash

2.5

The room started to spin as the blackness enveloped John. I felt as though my body was being ripped apart, piece by piece, each molecule separating from all the rest. I lost all sense of what was happening around me, and my mind focused on the link with him. Suddenly, it simply disappeared. I don’t know what happened with it. One moment, I could feel it, and the next there was simply nothing.

For a long time, I stared at the hologram in horror, but there was nothing to see. It was entirely black. Was my husband still there? I couldn’t tell from that at all.

I looked around, and found everyone staring at me. Dumbly, I asked, “Could the tricam have burnt out? That was a bright flash.”

For several minutes, no one answered, then Marc said, “No. The tricam doesn't use any standard light sensors. It measures the light differently. There's no way to overload the sensors.”

This is the last ghost story of Ghost Stories and Urban Legends of Benton. There were a number of stories I wanted to include in this collection but could not because of the cost of printing. I'm sure those stories will appear in the sequel to this collection Ghost Stories and Urban Legends of The Yazoo Delta. A collection of ghost stories centering on the Yazoo Delta at large. This story was told to me by my mentor Lily Potter the older sister of my best friend Jamie Sarah Potter.

Jacked Up Part 14

If commercial airlines could go this fast and this high there would only be a few very rich; or very busy people who would use it. We got high enough that I could see the curvature of the earth and above me there was a tinge of dark space.

My hometown of Benton is surrounded by half a million acres of untouched forest that are rich with game and hold untold natural treasures. Hidden in these forests are dozens and dozens of small deer camps that at most can boost a dozen voting members. The supporting these scattered little camps are dozens of small businesses. I would even say, many merchants even depend on the yearly influx of hunters to balance their books. I say all of this, because I myself am a hunter.