#42 - Envy

With a longing gaze, Beth stared into the poster of her idol that hung upon the wall. It was not the only piece of memorabilia from this particular person; numerous photos plastered the room like squatting insects. She admired the long, flowing locks of blonde-hued hair that cascaded about the woman's perfect face. Her eyes, looking from a side angle, seemed to glitter within the portrait. Her fashion sense was spot on; Beth absolutely adored the clothes that she both made and wore whenever a picture was being snapped in her direction.

Beth hated herself. She hated her bland brown hair and her boring brown eyes. She hated the baggy, inexpensive clothing that her mother always ended up buying for her. Her glasses were the worst. Like two, clouded bottle caps that sat upon her face, she always looked cross-eyed and unfocused. With a sigh, she turned her face from the blowing picture and laid back upon her small bed. She stared blankly at the ceiling for several, long moments. Time seemed to begin to blur. Her body felt excessively light within her trance, the muted tone of the wall starting to swirl.

Then, she was falling. Beth let out a gasp of surprised terror as she slipped into a dark, vapid void. Discerning up from down was impossible. She merely attempted to brace herself; for what, she had no idea.

“It's her!” came the shrill voice of a girl.

Camera flashes were suddenly all around her, causing her eyes to water from the sudden light change. People were all around her, each with the look of longing that seemed oddly familiar. She gazed down at her arms to see hand-tailored sleeves clinging to her. With mouth agape, she patted at her face. A strand of blond hair fell between her searching fingers, causing her to smile wide. She was her! All past confusions melted away like boiling ice as she threw her shoulders back in pride. She looked to some of the onlookers, flashing them a smile. Some of them leapt into the air, others reaching out with pens and scraps of paper. They all wanted her. They all wanted to be her!

Then, something turned her attention toward a girl that was standing in the front of the enormous crowd. Her head was cocked downward, but the unmistakable brown hair and thick glasses gave her away immediately. Beth slowly approached the girl.

“Are you ok-?”

Her face shot upward, causing her to scream in shock and horror. The crowds instantly died out around her, leaving just the two of them amidst their indiscernible surroundings. Her face was completely missing. Two empty eye sockets gazed through the glasses. A permanent smile was etched upon the girl's carved face. Blood poured from the injury, staining her neck and clothing beneath. With one, swift movement, her small hands grabbed at Beth's cheeks. She let out a second scream as she felt the girl's fingernails dig deeply into her pulpy flesh. She felt the skin begin to tear away. Her entire body was paralyzed; she could merely watch as the girl continued to force the skin to rend and tear.

“I'm just like you now!” she said triumphantly.

Searing pain seemed to come all at once. Beth touched at her mouth, immediately drawing her hands back at the resulting feeling of skin and bone. The girl had crudely placed the flap of skin over her own empty face. As she pressed it closer, it seemed to fuse with her body.

“Just what I always wanted,” she concluded, those empty eye sockets continuing to stare blankly, “Just one more thing.”

Beth cried out in pain and surprise as the girl's small fingers stabbed at her left eyeball. With one, swift movement, she felt it dislodge from the socket. She watched in one-eyed terror as the girl pushed her glasses aside and inserted the squishy sphere in one of the gaping holes-

Beth awoke with a start. She wiped away a layer of thick, cold sweat that had built upon her brow. With wild eyes, she looked about the room, settling upon the serene face of the poster.

She suddenly stood from her bed, approached the large picture, and tore it from the wall.

#41 - Gluttony

They sat within the small room, the television blaring gunfire in the middle of the fourth action movie they had been watching. All around them, wrappers, boxes and packages of eaten foodstuffs littered the ground. Two large men were splayed out above a sagging, old couch. One attempted to pull his grease-stained shirt over the protrusion of his gut.

“Hey Tommy,” he practically belched the word, “You wanna order another pizza?”

The second, an even larger man with a round face and tiny glasses, shifted his girth within the furniture. It squeaked loudly in protest.

“Sure man,” came his response, “Hand me the phone, will ya?”

A bit of half-hearted rummaging commenced, followed by a smallish, white device being placed within his sausage-like fingers.

“I'm really glad you decided to come out, Tommy,” the other man bellowed with a rotten smile, “Old friends need to catch up sometimes, ya know?”

He clicked the phone on.

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied simply with a chuckle that rippled his massive stomach.

He went to click the buttons for the local pizza shop. Instead, something squished within his hand. He looked with confusion to see that the phone had disappeared, replaced with an oozing slice of cake. Tommy laughed a second time.

“Come on man,” he said while showing him his stained fingers, “Stop messing with me.”

The other man merely stared in confusion. Tommy watched him for a few moments. Something caught his attention. He gazed at the television screen, the images of muscled gunfighters now replaced with a twirling picture of a fresh pizza. He watched as it seemed to swirl outward, right in midair. He reached out to grab for a slice, but immediately retracted his hand with a surprised yelp.

“Dude, what's wrong?”

His friend's voice was distant and ignored. He inspected his once outstretched arm. Pepperoni and other toppings now bristled through the hairs of his arms. He pulled at the strange protrusions, resulting in a hunk of cheese and grease to pull away from his arm. He cried out as a mixture of sauce and blood poured from his skin. He looked to his other arm to see the brownish tinge of cake had overtaken the entire limb. Chocolate and frosting dripped from his elbow. He tried to move. Two cake fingers broke away and fell to the floor.

“Tommy, look at me!”

His wild eyes looked up to his friend. His eyes were a mess of various colored candies. He held onto him with two solid masses of potato chips that seemed to crack at the slightest of movements. The walls around them began to ripple. Tommy dared not look at them.

His friend slapped lightly at his face, seeming to cut into his cheek as easily as butter. In fact, as he pulled away, Tommy watched a large piece of his face slide from him and splash to the floor in a heap of jiggling mess. He clamped his eyes shut, the aromas of the mixture of foods around him making him want to vomit.

“Hey. Hey!”

He reopened his eyes. His friend was plopped in front of him, his fat face decorated with genuine concern. He quickly inspected his arms, met only with normal appendages. He felt at his whole face, a sweeping relief washing over him like nothing he had ever felt.

“What the hell just happened?” his friend asked him, “You want all loopy and started smacking yourself.”

A layer of sweat had built upon Tommy's forehead. He wiped at it as he allowed his ragged breath to slow. He merely shrugged, the room falling silent.

“You're probably just hungry,” his friend tried to rationalize, “Let me get on that pizza for you.”

“No,” he replied simply, “No more pizza. No more anything.”

#40 - Vanity

“Anne, are you ready?” came a muffled voice from across the closed doorway.

She stood tall as she admired herself in a long mirror that hung upon the wall just beside her bed. She knew she was beautiful, no one had to reassure her of that. Long, golden locks of blonde spilled from her shoulders and cascaded to her lumbar. She was a petite, yet full-bodied woman. Her eyes; those were her favorite. Like bright, sparkling pools of turquoise that seemed to draw in the light around them just to maintain their luminous shade.

“Be right out,” she called back in a honeyed, rich tone.

“You got five,” the voice answered back, followed by hasty footsteps away from the door.

She continued admiring herself through the mirror. Every man wished to be with her, that she knew for sure. They all cheered as she would step out into the bright, harsh spotlights. She heard their sighs of longing as she would dance upon the stage, felt their swelling hearts as she allowed them the privilege of her beautiful voice. They always loved what she wore, for it was always-

She stared back at herself again. She blinked a few times. The once lovely, glimmering blue dress that she wore was different somehow. She took a step closer, peering into the mirror through the dim lighting within the room. A surprised cry erupted from her pouty lips as clumps of rotting meat now clung to her body. She tore the rancid garment from her in one, quick swipe, her naked body now exposed to the mirror.

She saw them. Every man and woman was staring at her through the mirror's glassy surface, their eyes wide and mouths hung open in shock and awe. She placed her hands over her body to cover herself, beginning to feel hands begin to grip at her. She screamed again and wheeled around, the room instantly changed to something else. A room of pure mirror glass surrounded her. Her naked, trembling body reflected a million times over. The eyes were everywhere. She abandoned her feeble attempts to cover herself as she ran about the room, searching in vain for any exit. She heard cat calls, felt more fingers brush over her body. She found one of the walls, her face looking back at her in the polished surface. Her once beautiful eyes were now rotted holes of oozing, reddish flesh. She screamed, the mirror shattering instantly before her.

“Anne, you have to go on now.”

She wheeled around, immediately wishing she hadn't. Her agent, the one that had called out to her before, stood a few feet away. His head looked to have been thrown through another mirror. Jagged edges of glass protruded from his skull and neck. His eyes were replaced with two, neatly trimmed circular shards that reflected her terrified face perfectly in the impossibly bright room. She watched in pure horror as he made his way quickly toward her, reaching out a blood-soaked arm to touch her-

“Hey, are you alright?”

She was extremely hot, yet the room had returned back to normal. Her wild eyes looked back into his, amber-hued ones. The only mirror within the room hung upon the wall near her bed. She was panting in fear, her forehead glistening with fresh sweat.

“You're supposed to be on,” he went on to say, “I can't hold their attention much longer.”

Her heart beat began to slow as reality settled back into place within her. What had just taken place? She met his gaze a bit more evenly.

“Tell them that I couldn't make it,” she called back.

“What?” his response came out in a roar, “This is one of the biggest-”

“I said I couldn't make it,” she responded with a hiss.

They watched each other for several, tense moments. Finally, he turned and walked out the door. She plopped down upon the bed, her head in her hands. She bit her lip as tears welled within her eyes; tears that she wasn't sure why she shed. She had no clue what had just taken place, but a realization instantly struck her. She needed to take a break from singing.

#39 - The Forests of Wynn

Another rumpled hunk of garbage was tossed to the side of the raging campfire. The sounds of clinking eating utensils mixed with the shouts and whoops of the small group of boys that sat in random formation around the blaze. Amongst them, the smallest, was Shaun.

“Great idea on camping out, Shaun!” one of the boys stated, his toothy grin stained with bits of food, “This is way cool! A freaking forest right in your backyard!”

The smaller boy merely nodded as his eyes couldn't help but focus upon the garbage that had just been cast aside. It twinkled a bit in the dim firelight. He longed to retrieve it.

“I could be like this when I grow up,” the other, larger boy suddenly piped up, “Just live out here with nothing but a pack for some food and the clothes on my back!”

With a smirk, he rolled up a large piece of plastic.

“Wanna see how far I can throw it?” he suddenly stated, the ball of plastic cradled in his sausage-like fingers.

As if to answer, a deep rumble sounded from the earth. It shook the trees around them, sending pine needles into the fire and draining the color from the boy's faces.

“Earthquake?” one of them had asked sheepishly.

Shaun merely stood by and watched. The other two were looking all about the small area. Another, larger boom shook an area to their left.

“Holy shit!” one of them said, a word likely parroted from an adult.

Shaun looked on with wide eyes. A mass of shadow was slowly approaching them from the darkness beyond. The boys were frozen with fresh terror. The noise grew steadily closer.

“This forest will not go tainted from the likes of a few mindless youths!”

The voice was deliberate, hoarse and slow. It bellowed with a sullen deepness that seemed to rattle within the trees surrounding them. It filled the space wholly, as if several had spoken the sentence at once. Then, a towering figure was caught by the dim light offered by the flame. Two, luminous slats shown along a congruent, featureless plank of tree bark. Leaves rustled from above, sending more foliage downward to effectively snuff out the fire. Long, spindly protrusions jutted from the being, two larger ones resembling arms. It walked upon a series of roots that shattered anything beneath.

“You shall leave this place,” it spoke once more, a great maw opening below the glowing orbs, “Immediately!”

The boys ran from the thing, each letting out a pure cry of terror. The camp was a mess of packaging, burnt logs and thinning smoke. The monster walked carefully between the trees while jabbing it's feet into the ground.

“I'm sorry it is so difficult for you to make new friends, Shaun,” it spoke as a new root system began piercing the ground beneath.

Shaun was seated upon a nearby rock, his face looking up in somber at the great being. With the gentlest of movements, it patted at the child's shoulder with a bark-covered limb.

“You have to understand the necessity for what I do, however,” it went on to say, “We cannot have such destructive things harming the forest.”

Shaun nodded.

“It wasn't my idea to start the fire, Wynn,” he explained with a sigh, “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt anything.”

He propped his knees upon the cold rock.

“I thought that they might be different,” he stated while looking into the infinite green of the being's eye slats, “They seemed so understanding.”

“You will find someone, someday, Shaun,” Wynn explained with finality, “Perhaps even a female, eh?”

The branch nudged at him, this time in playfulness. With a smile, Shaun looked to his old friend.

“You and I both know that's a long way off,” he replied with a smirk.

“You and I both know I have a long time to wait,” came his light response.