Unicorn

When it heard the tractors approaching, it knew it had run out of places to hide. The forest had been dwindling, as the city spilled and grew. The lights from buildings now made the stars hard to see, and the friends he had in the night sky could no longer converse with him. It drank from the stream and considered its actions. The water was already tasting of poisons and rust, and dead fish floated atop. The unicorn shook its head. There was already a tractor approaching. It turned around and saw the large yellow scoop. It stepped back, then charged forward. The machine continued forward, gaining speed.

121st Day

Over the shortwave radio we were told, we would have to wait. They are creatures, we were told. They need to eat. Without nothing to sustain them, they will fall. We did our best to observe, and it was true. They wasted away. By the 63rd day, they were attacking each other. I went outside and shot all those that I knew. The boys that laughed at me from the schoolground, the girls who made fun of me behind my back, the teachers that flunked me. The school principal I trapped down a well and burnt with fuel oil. He smelled like burning pork. As their movements became lethargic they became easier to pick off, and soon we were finding some that died. There were only four of us in our 'outpost', as they were called, and at times I wanted to kill the others, but I kept away. Winter came, and they were dying. It was estimated the virus had claimed about 99.9%, which meant it still left about 10 million of us. My mother thought actually that would be all right, as long as it spared her friends and the actor she liked on a TV soap.

When we reemerged, we wondered if we had been spared. We burnt whatever corpses we came across, and started our journey to rejoin the others. But I knew we would always be looking over our shoulder, waiting for the screaming mouth, the chattering teeth, the ones that just wanted to tear us, and eat us.

Medusa

I wait in the cave, sucking on lichen, drinking water from dirty pools. The snakes writhe and drip poison, and my thoughts are made evil by their venom. I remember my life before this; walking amongst a field of flowers, sipping clear water from spring, praying in Athena's temple. And then, when he arose out of the sea, mighty and wanton, and I stood there as the priestesses ran. He came for me, reaching for my flesh, and took me while all around me they watched. The water from his hair dripped on my face, and his laughter was unceasing as he rammed into me again and again. My friends who I had come to the temple with were frozen in place. How does one deny a God? I was powerless, and when he was done, he threw me to the ground.
Laughing, he went back to the water, and descended beneath the waves. Then I felt my hair knitting together. All around me, those who had stood frozen were not encased in stone. My eyes darted around me, and I saw the serpents. I thought snakes had fallen onto my hair, but as I tried to pull them and felt pain, I knew the truth. My hair, one of the most admired in Athens, was transformed into snakes. I fled the temple, and those who did look upon me were encased in stone. I took the boat of a blind fisherman, and was placed upon an island where no one resided. There I lived, seething in hate, unable to face or love anyone. My hate grew, but what could I do? I could only look upon the mocking waves, when I did dare to step near the beach. My face has been left intact, but I do not dare stare into the still pools to see my reflection. Now I await for the one who would slay me. All who have tried so far stand around me; figures of grey stone. I touch them, I talk to them, but they can never reply me. In fits of anger I pick up a rock and try to smash them apart. One day I know there will be one who succeeds in slaying me. I am merely a challenge, an obstacle, an aberration. Once the Sea God entered me, I knew I no longer had my own destiny, and was trapped in another's fate.

The Gharal

When they landed, there was hesitation. They were eyed with suspicion, but some embraced them. The slug-like alien beings required hosts to survive; they were essentially parasites, but they also returned substances to the host's body. When it was found that it was hallucinogenic, there was controversy, but more humans began to function as hosts. The Gharal paid the hosts a fee as well, and were able to attach themselves that they did not overwhelm the human's functions. Nonetheless, there were rogue hosts, who forced their Gharal, under threat of removal or death, to inject them with their drugs. The effect was sometimes brain damaging. and hosts were inevitably found in a comatose state, perpetually encased in the hallucinogenic state.

The whispering tree

In the village was a tree where everyone went to tell their secrets, whispering it to the wood. Through the decades the tree had listened to many, many stories. One day, a teacher was walking by and noticed one of the leaves. It appeared to have writing on it. He looked closely. The faint markings of letters could be seen. He made a mental note and came back days later. The words were now clearer. The man checked that no one was looking and removed the leaf. He bought it back and read what was on the leaf. It was a confession by someone who was cheating on his wife. He thought he knew who it might be. He went back to check the leaves on the tree, and found even more words emerging. It would not be proper to remove every left, so he plucked them delicately, trying to choose carefully those leaves where the words could be made out. He then scrutinized the leaves, and wrote down the stories.
He laughed at the tales within; then decided to use them. He blackmailed those he could identify, whose stories told of infidelity, cheating or crimes. Soon he became a rich man. Folks in the village wondered about it, and one day, he was spotted removing a leaf from the tree by a priest. The priest immediately went to the tree and saw the words on the leaves. He realised what was happening. He took a match and set fire to the tree. Blackbirds that had called the tree home fled from its branches. Then, as the tree burnt, the tree started to tell its secrets to the winds. All the stories it had been told started to emerge. The whole village's secrets spilled out into the sky, taken into the wind. At the end of it, everyone in the village knew what each other had done. Gradually the village became deserted as folks left, unable to contain their shame. There was nothing left of the tree but a stump, and soon the woods took back the whole area.

Within

How does one write the story of a thing growing inside a woman? Perhaps she's never had sex before, and she could think she's the next Virgin Mary. Or that it slipped in via the water, and that it's a creature eating her from inside. How should she react? Who should she tell? Does she gaze out of her window thinking about what it is inside her? She goes to the doctor to take a scan, and she can't tell either. Aberration or angel? Messiah or monster? The girl looks out of the window at the neighbours, and she hears both the laughter and the screams, and wonders, as she puts her hand on her stomach, what's inside.

Giant Robot Bunny

It was the end of Chinese New Year, and they were dismantling the decorations around Chinatown. A giant mechanical bunny that had stood outside their home was going to be taken away soon. It was painted with bright red colours, and Samuel and his sister Lila had grown fond of it.

"Lets kidnap it!" said Samuel to his sister that morning.

"How can we get it away?"

"I have an idea," Samuel said.

The bunny was mechanical. Inside was hollow. During the next few nights, Samuel would climb out of bed, making sure not to disturb Ma, and go to the bunny installing parts he had salvaged from trucks, forklifts, motorcycles and whatever he could find.

The morning that the demolition folks came, Samuel had hatched his plan. He climbed into the giant, five-story tall rabbit. Pressing some buttons, he was now in control of it. It started to move.

"It works!" Samuel yelped. The giant robot bunny strode forward, proudly amongst the streets of Chinatown.