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Tonight's music is brought to you by Dorothy

Right now it is:

This band is fast becoming some of my happy music, I love the whole blusey - rock n' roll vibe.

They have this really cool attitude in their music and plainly sound great.

And now a word from our sponsors:

Blue mind

Sometimes I find that music whether with words or simple instrumental songs doesn't really cut it when I am concentrating either on work or on writing.

So I find myself listening to simple ocean waves.

Call it hippy of you want but I find it works.

Plus the ocean holds a special place in my heart, it is one noise I will never tire of.

I guess it is easy to say that when, if I am lucky, I visit the beach once a year (this year was a miss -_-) but for me it is one of those places that is just beautiful and the sound of crashing waves is always soothing.

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This basic idea of the ocean is explored quite well in The Blue Mind by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Mind-Surprising-Healthier-Connected/dp/0316252115 

It basically connects the dots between the mind and water and the science between the two as well as the art. 

So try it, you don't have anything to really lose. 

 

Other Side Tales - The Fourth Turn

Susan turned flipping her black hair, the purple streak in it hanging in her face. She blew at it but the stubborn lock of hair stayed put.

“Welcome to John’s Coffee House, what can I get you?” she asked the man standing in front of the counter.
The man spent a few minutes staring at the menu before he ordered a special house coffee with hazelnut, cream and made it extra large.

Susan set about putting his order into the cash register and took his money, the machine printed out the receipts needed and she passed one to the barrister.

Outside students and lecturers streamed passed; some came into the coffee house, others simply walked by.

Susan watched them for a moment wondering if she would ever be that carefree again. The attack on her by the creature three years ago had more than just scarred her leg. It had left her with the knowledge that something was after her, she just never knew what.

Her only clue being a story by Lewis Carroll regarding the bandersnatch.

She had changed her degree from Law to one in the Humanities faculty, learning anything she could about ancient stories, old books and creatures found in bedtime stories.

So far her research had not helped much, she was not sure what she was looking for though every now and then she found some item that seemed promising.

But since the bandersnatch, that is what she had taken to calling the strange dog-like beast, nothing else had tried to attack her.

Her best friend, Janice, entered the coffee shop and walked behind the counter putting on an apron she bumped Susan with her hip lightly.

“How’s it going, girl?” she asked.

“Boring as usual,” replied Susan still watching the students outside the shop.

“What you looking at? Any cute guys out there?”

Since the attack Susan had barely gone out let alone tried to go on one of the many dates Janice had tried to set up.

“Susan?… Helloooo, earth to girl-purple…”

Girl purple was a nickname Janice had given Susan when she first dyed her hair black and purple, the university counsellor had said that it was a phase and Susan would grow out of it, so far Janice had not seen that happen.

“Huh? Oh… Yeah I guess,” mumbled Susan in reply.

“You know they said it was some rabid animal that got into the library, remember?” said Janice worriedly knowing that Susan often thought about the attack.

“Right, yes animal attack… Ugh sorry Janice, I’m not really here today.”

“I can see that, silly… Hey why don’t you come out with us tonight?”

Susan turned to look at Janice, one eyebrow raised, “I swear I’m not to trying to hook you up … after you nearly broke the last guy’s arm with your kung fu I won’t try that in a hurry.”
“It was Ju jitsu not kung fu… also I have school work to finish…” replied Susan in the same half-hearted voice.

“Nu-uh, you’re not getting off that that easy space-head. And I won’t take no for an answer.”

Janice pouted her lower lip out at Susan and opened her eyes to stare at Susan.
“Not the puppy dog eyes. You fight dirty,” laughed Susan, “Ok, ok, I’ll come out tonight.

“Yay!” exclaimed Janie and hugged Susan as a student walked in.

“Hey girl-on-girl action, yeah.”

“Mike!” said Janice and ran to hug her boyfriend, Susan simply nodded to him.

“Babes,” replied Mike picking Janice up, “You joining us tonight girl-purple?”

This last was directed at Susan who had started wiping down the counter, “Yeah sure, Janice asked nicely.”

“She made the face didn’t she?”

“Yup.”

Mike laughed and put his girlfriend down, he ordered himself a plain cup of coffee giving Janice a kiss who had pulled him into a deeper, more lingering kiss.

“Move it lover-boy, we have customers,” said Susan after a minute, not caring much for the public display of affection.

Mike broke the clinch first and kissed Janice on the nose before winking at Susan and leaving the shop.

The rest of the day passed by slowly and the two friends left just as the sun set. It had been a good day in tips none the less and Janice was excited about the evening.

“Ok so I’ll pick you up in two hours time?” asked Janice as she got into her car.

“Yeah, seven is fine.”
“You’ll enjoy it Suzy, don’t worry.”

Susan waved her friend off and walked to her apartment a block away from the university. Since turning twenty she had gained control of her inheritance.

Though her uncle had been sad to see her go, Susan knew that he was secretly relieved. He knew nothing of taking care of a teenage girl and still battled his own demons at the bottom of a bottle. So Susan had moved out soon after the attack, she knew that she needed her own space.

During the short walk she felt like she was being followed but no matter how much she tried she could not see anyone on her tail. Susan made her apartment door without incident letting herself in with a nod to her neighbour across the hallway. The girl waved at her and sorted through her post.

Inside Susan let her back drop onto the floor and collapsed into a couch face first, “You understand me couch… Let me just sleep.”

After ten minutes she levered herself out of the couch knowing that if she stayed she would fall asleep and Janice would not be pleased . Her friend would not let her hear the end of it, so in the end Susan shuffled to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich with a cup of tea.

Since working at John’s Coffee House she had gone off coffee even the instant kind. So she stuck to her tea and rather enjoyed it.

Half an hour later she walked into her room and removed her clothes throwing them onto the floor, she would clean it up in the morning.

Looking down at her left thigh she ran her fingers across the three scars there.

Three years and she still felt anger at the attack, no one had believed her when she had said that the beast was not normal and that it had been a person before changing.

The doctors said that misplaced memories were common in such a trauma, and that the student she had seen had probably been in the library when the animal attack happened. She would heal in time, but Susan knew what had attacked her.

So far all she knew was that the Pied Piper, jabberwocky and bandersnatch were real in one form or another.

“All I need now is for vampires to sparkle,” Susan chuckled to herself and walked to the bathroom to shower.

An hour and a half later she heard hooting and looked out her window where Janice waved at her, she waved back and picked up her bag.

She also strapped a knife to her waist which she hid under her shirt and another long bladed knife to the inside of her boot.

She caught her reflection in a mirror and looked into her own eyes, "What? I'm not crazy."

Ready she exited her apartment and made her way downstairs.

Twenty minutes later she was at a local bar as Janice ordered them a round of drinks, and shots. Eyeing her friend she said nothing as a few minutes later the waitress brought them a tray of tequila shots.

“Wooow!” shouted Janice as the first round of shots was finished, “Ugh, that tastes terrible.”

Susan shuddered as the warm alcohol wormed its way down her system, looking at Janice and mike she asked “Then why order it?”

“’Cause,” was the reply.

Susan shook her head and took a sip of her drink, luckily the next day was Saturday and they were both off from work, it looked like it would be a long night.

The night wore on as they drank more and told stories, even Susan felt herself relaxing as the fifth round of tequila shots was finished.

“This… This tastes like ass,” she said as the empty shot glasses were tapped on the table.

“A Mexican’s ass!” called Mike next to Janice as he ordered another round of drinks.

“So where’s that stick up your butt tonight?” asked Janice nudging Susan.

“Dunno, guess it’s in for repairs shop,” said Susan straight faced before she descended into peals of laughter Janice leaning on top of her laughing away.

“You know, you need to come out more, girl-purple. Live a little,” said Janice still leaning on her friend.

“Yeah, guess it’s just been a crappy few years,”

“Yeah but you’re no victim,”

“Nu-uh, we ain't starting the 2AM philosophy until…” Susan squinted at her watch and squealed in laughter as Janice grabbed her arm to look at the watch.

“In three hours, fine, 2AM philosophy here we come!”

The three friends finished the last round of shots and Susan excused herself from the table as Mike called out “Where you going Suzy?”

“To find some girl on girl action, Mike!” she called after him, he whooped as a few other people around the bar heard her and cheered after her as well.

Susan stumbled and dodged a few dancers as she made her way into the women’s bathroom.

Sitting down she closed the stall door and breathed for a few minutes as she got her bearings back.

“Ok Suzy, don’t puke… Don’t puke,” she murmured to herself putting her head in her hands.

 The nauseous feeling in her stomach soon faded and Susan slowly stood up feeling the room spin a little.

“Whoa, a little too much alcohol girl-purple,” she said and staggered out of the bathroom.

As she exited the bathroom she bumped into a man who had been standing near the entrance, he grabbed her arms as she nearly fell.

“Sorry, she half-shouted over the loud music looking up and instantly recoiled.

The man in front of her had no eyes to speak of, just black pits where they should have been.

“No, no, no, no…  Not again… Not here,” she said trying to stumble backwards but the man held onto her.

She kicked him hard in the shin causing him to stumble, this allowed her to pull her arms from the man’s grasp.

Susan quickly tried to lose herself in the crowd of dancers as she made her way back to Janice and Mark, the adrenalin making her very sober.

She stopped at the table and leaned into Janice saying “Can we leave? I don’t feel too good.”

Janice looked at her smiling, the smile fading as she looked into Susan’s ashen face “Honey? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just feel kind of sick.”

“Ok, let me just get my things, alright?” she replied worrying about her friend.

Susan bounced up and down on her heels anxious to leave, she kept on looking around as Janice explained the situation to her boyfriend.

As her friend got up from the table Susan looked around one last time making sure the strange man was not around, she began hoping that maybe she had lost him and there would be no incident this time.

Checking her watch Susan saw that it was after 12:00AM, she was officially twenty three years old. Fear gripped her and she nearly snapped at Janice to move but managed to keep her mouth closed. Alarming her friend would not help the situation.

The two friends left the bar and made their way to Janice’s parked car.

Susan looked back one last time as Janice said “What’s this really about? You have been on edge since you came back.”

Susan looked at her friend and sighed “Some creep tried to come onto me and I just feel uncomfortable and want to go home.”

Janice looked at her for a moment and simply unlocked the car not saying a word.

“Sorry if I ruined your night,” mumbled Susan as Janice got into the car, the young woman opened the car door opposite and stopped.

“Get in the car already,” said Janice but stopped as Susan closed the door and walked away from the car.

The man was standing a few feet away simply watching the two women, Susan slowly approached stopping a meter away. Janice looked at Susan and then at the man. To her eyes the man did not look right, it was as if he had no fear. Susan on the other hand looked terrified yet in control at the same time.

“Suzy? What’s going on?”

“Janice… Go back inside.”

“What do you mean go back inside? Is this the creepo you told me about?”

“Janice,” Susan was almost shouting now, “Just go back inside.”

The man looked at Janice then disregarded her, his gaze fixing on Susan.

“Well? What do you want this time?” called Susan to the man, “I’m getting tired of all this bullshit on my birthday.”

Janice struggled with her seatbelt as she heard Susan talk to the man, she was confused by her friend’s comment and was now feeling scared. She had to get inside and find Mark.

Finally getting her seatbelt off Janice half stumbled out of the car and looked at her best friend. Susan looked small close to the man. It was not that he was big, in fact he was rather average. He just radiated a palpable sense of fear and a wrongness that Janice could not put her finger on.

“Suzy?” she called again in a quiet voice but Susan did not seem to hear her.

“I’m going to get help!” Janice called in a louder voice and ran as fast as she could to the bar to fetch Mark, Susan barely acknowledged her friend glad that Janice was now gone.

“Alright you bastard, let’s get this over with,” growled Susan as she fell into a fighting stance.

The strange man took a step forward and was abruptly gone, Susan gulped as she felt a hand grab her jacket.

The young woman twisted out of the grip slipping from her jacket and took three steps backwards but the man was next to her again, this time swinging a haymaker for her head.

Susan ducked and drove the palm of her hand into the man’s chin staggering him. She waded in and grabbed his one flailing arm and with a heave threw the man over her shoulder using her own leg for leverage.

The man slammed into the concrete and simply stood up throwing two wild punches at Susan. The woman ducked under the blows and lashed out with a foot hearing the man’s knee crunch but he kept on coming, this time his punch caught Susan on the side of the chin. The young woman went down seeing stars.

The strange man walked in not uttering a word and raised his boot to hammer it into Susan but the young woman drew the long knife from her boot and stabbed upwards with a savage thrust. The blade entered easily, parting flesh until it hooked on the man’s sternum. Susan gave it a twist as she pulled it free.

The man looked at Susan with an expression of surprise on his face and toppled over onto the ground dead.

Susan stood wincing as she felt the bruise forming on her jaw. Looking over to the bar she saw Janice standing just outside the entrance, her hands over her mouth. Susan looked at the blood on her hands and at the knife on the floor. Dropping it in horror Susan looked again at her friend, climbed into Janice’s car and drove off.

A few minutes later Susan was in her apartment throwing clothes into a backpack along with a few personal items. As she turned to exit she spied her Tibetan prayer beads on the entrance table. She picked them up and stared at them for a moment before she stuffed them into her pocket.

She had murdered a man but it was also not a man. The police would not understand, Janice would not understand, so Susan did what she thought was best.

She ran.

Out into the world she ran and disappeared into the night leaving behind the only life she had ever known.

This is UWP Radio and you're listening to...

Tonight's music seems to be a lot of Blind Guardian.

Right now it is:

One of the reasons I love them is that they infuse a lot of fantasy elements into their music.

They are masterful storytellers in their own right, pretty much modern  day Bards. 

Plus it is just kick ass metal \m/

Next up is:

And now a word from our sponsors...

One liners

I met a scarecrow today at the mall, he tried to sell me his soul

An ode to ... "Life"

You just wish that you could put life on pause

Stop the wheels spinning even for a moment

Just so that you can finish your work

And take a breath and rest

But it doesn't work that way

People die

Things break

Friends disappear

You wonder if there is something beyond this

This thing called ... "Life"

Is this life?

Is it really?

Other Side Tales - The Third Turn

Susan Adams picked up her backpack hefting the books inside onto her shoulder, downstairs she heard her uncle stumble into the kitchen. The nearly twenty year old had been living with him for the past four years since her father had been killed. As she remembered her sixteenth birthday Susan gritted her teeth in anger at the flash of memory, her father sitting against the wall slowly dying in her arms.

She glanced down at the Tibetan prayer beads on her left wrist, his last gift to her. She still did not know what she was supposed to do with them but he had said belonged in her family and it was now her only link to him.

“Not much of a family anymore,” Susan said bitterly thinking of her institutionalised mother and her alcoholic uncle downstairs.

Her uncle was not terrible as people went but treated her with a kind of mild neglect. Whatever demons he was trying to chase away he kept to himself, for that Susan was grateful though she had hardly grown up with much love over the last four years of her life.

Outside she heard car hoot and walked out of her room and down the stairs. As Susan passed the kitchen she heard her uncle open up a beer can singing to himself. She shook her head sadly, it was going to be another long day again.

Susan opened the front door and smiled at her friend Janice who sat in a small car waving, Susan waved back and jogged down the stairs. Janice was one of the few friends she had, since her sixteenth birthday Susan kept most people at arm’s length it had taken Janice three years to get into the walls Susan had built.

Still no one knew of the truth behind her father’s death at the hands of some creature that had possessed the wealthy business man, Tom Mayhew. The police could not understand why he had been at her father’s house that night but Susan knew the truth and it was far worse than some business man who had grudge against her father or so people thought, why else would someone as wealthy as Tom Mayhew come after her father in a small town.

His company had paid for her medical bills and had set up a fund in her name though she could only access it on her twenty first birthday, so now her uncle was the executor of her estate.

Thirty minutes later the two friends arrived at the university where Susan studied Law and Janice was trying to get a degree in Philosophy and Dramatic Arts.

“You so have to come out with us tonight,” said Janice as she parked the car in the university’s lot, “Mark’s friend is going to be there, and he’s a cutie.”

Mark was Janice’s boyfriend and the two of them had been trying to set up Susan for a while but she kept on declining.

“I’ll see. It depends on my work load. You know they don’t go easy on us in that faculty.”

“Aah come on! Live a little, Suzy.”

With a sigh Susan smiled at Janice and said “I will try, ok lazybones?”

With a small cry of jubilation Janice exited her car and waited for Susan to exit before she locked the doors, “I’ll see you later, your worship!”

“That’s your honour!” called Susan as Janice hurried away sticking her tongue out at Susan.

Susan shook her head still smiling and headed off towards her faculty to start the day as a second year student. The day moved swiftly and the afternoon found Susan in the university library with a book she was looking for at the furthermost corner.

As she searched Susan thought that it must have been twenty minutes since she had last seen any other student. After a further fifteen minutes of searching Susan found what she had been looking for.

Her hand slid the thick book out and she said, “Here you are.”

Susan paged through the book quickly looking up from her find and gave a start. A few meters away stood another student looking at her.

“… Sorry, you startled me,” said Susan.

The student continued to stare at her not uttering a word.

“Err hello?” asked Susan hesitantly lowering the book in her hand.

The student was tall and thin, almost scrawny to Susan’s eyes. He also seemed very pale and a film of sweat had broken out on his forehead.

Susan stared at the boy for a moment as fear started curdling in her gut “Are you… alright?”

The soon to be twenty year old Susan Adams slowly backed away from the boy who had now started twitching as if in the beginning of an epileptic fit, yet he stayed on his feet, eyes fixed on Susan.

“Not this crap again,” moaned Susan as she turned to run from the boy dropping the heavy book.

Behind her the boy lurched after the fleeing girl, bones popping up as he ran. Susan dashed between shelves of books and glanced back once. As he loped after his prey the boy lurched onto all fours and ran, legs twisted under him and the knees folded backwards with a sickening crunch, the boy’s lank form filled out and his hands elongated into grasping claws. His face also pushed outwards into a snarling, fang filled maw.

“Oh fuck,” muttered Susan as she careened around a bookshelf grasping its edge to help her turn. The beast behind her tried to turn but went sliding on the linoleum floor into another bookshelf snarling and whining.

Susan did not stop to look back as she burst out into the populated area of the library. People stared as she came running out of the book stacks.

“Run!” she shouted at the watching people but most of them just stared at her.

Swearing under her breath Susan looked around and spied the nearby fire alarm. She rushed towards it and pulled the lever down and a siren started whooping out through the library.

Most of the students looked around confused and slowly started collecting their belongings as Susan stopped to catch her breath a moment trying to fight the urge to scream at the other students.

She wondered where the creature was when a bookshelf thundered to the floor and the giant hound-like creature stood on top of the fallen wooden shelves. It looked surprised at the students milling around, the students looked back at the creature with its lank mane of black hair and pallid skin.

No one moved.

The creature howled and the students screamed stampeding for the doors.

“Sure, someone shouts run and you all look at me like I’m crazy,” muttered Susan angrily to herself as she ducked down behind a nearby counter.

Risking a glance over the counter Susan saw the beast pounce on a male student who was trying to run away. Its jaws closed around his head and the life was crushed from him blood splattering the floor. The beast growled as it killed, feeding off the blood.

Looking up it snarled and pounced on another student, this one a young woman who had been too terrified to run.

Susan watched in horror as the beast fed on the two corpses tearing at the flesh and lapping at the blood.

“What have I done?” whispered Susan in horror thinking how she had led the beast there.

By now most of the students had managed to run away from the creature, though here and there Susan heard crying and moaning from other students still trapped in cubicles or under desks too scared to move.

Susan ducked back down behind the counter whispering “Think, think, think… Ok assess the situation. Beasty over there needs to be stopped… And I can do that how?”

Susan stopped and reached underneath her shirt, there she wore a hunter’s skinning knife ever since her old knife had broken.

Looking at the sharp blade Susan knew that it would not do much good against the large creature unless she could subdue it somehow and get in close.

She suddenly remembered how it had slid across the floor and plan started forming in her head. Taking a quick, deep breath Susan steeled herself and peeked around the corner of her hiding spot hoping to see something that would help her fledgling plan.

To her right she heard the beast still crunching on one of the unfortunate student’s bones while the fire alarm whooped irritatingly overhead.

To her left was a row of bookshelves that led towards the fiction section. With one last look at the creature she quietly stood in a crouch and crept from behind her hiding place. But the moment her feet passed the safety of the wooden counter the beast reared its head and froze blood dripping off its jaw to splash on the face of the girl underneath it.

The fang filled head followed Susan’s movement, no sound not even a snarl of rage came from the beast as it watched Susan slowly turn towards the shelves.

Susan kept one eye on the beast and muttered to herself “Seems I’m making this up as I go.”

As she finished her sentence she sprinted away from the beast. It sprang away from its kill to follow her.

Susan’s breathing quickly shortened to ragged gasps as fear leeched the strength from her but she knew she had to keep running behind her the beast’s claws scraped at the floor.

In front of Susan a wall loomed with two bookshelves set against it, she stopped and turned to face the creature as it bore down on her.

“Wait Suzy, wait,” she said between gritted teeth.

As the beast charged forward ready to kill, Susan threw herself out to the side diving as far as she could. The beast’s claws still managed to clip her left thigh leaving three bloody furrows in her leg tearing at the jeans she wore. With a cry of pain Susan fell to the ground and gripped her injured leg.

But her plan had worked the beast had gone head first into the bookshelf toppling the heavy oaken piece onto it.

The beast thrashed and shook but was unable to get its feet under it to lever the bookshelf off. Susan glared at the beast as it whined and tried to stand again but the shelves settled more with each struggling movement.

Susan used the second bookshelf to slowly get herself to her feet though she almost collapsed under the pain from her injured leg, crying as it gave way but she managed to catch herself with both hands.

The beast growled as it watched Susan slowly limp forwards using the standing shelf as a crutch.

“Yeah well fuck you too ugly,” she spat at it as it tried again to stand.

Susan drew her skinning knife and stood above the beast her hands trembling, looking down she almost felt pity for it.

“You know tomorrow is my birthday but of course you knew that… Someone keeps on sending you fuckers after me on my birthday,” she growled at the beast before she limped to the back of the beast’s head away from the still dangerous jaws.

Reaching around Susan swiftly cut the beast’s throat and fell backwards as its thrashing caused her to backpedal on her good leg. The beast’s convulsions grew worse dislodging books around it, one skittered open into Susan’s foot as her wounded leg gave way and she collapsed onto the floor

As the beast finally died the young woman picked up the book. It was a copy of Lewis Carols’ ‘Through the Looking Glass.’

Looking at the open section she saw that blood had obscured most of the page but one line stood out “and shun, the frumious Bandersnatch!”

“First a Jabberwocky and now a Bandersnatch?” said Susan incredulously as she started feeling light headed from loss of blood.

A few minutes later police and paramedics rushed into the library to find two half-eaten students and a third lying in a pool of her own blood with some hound like creature dead under a heavy bookshelf.

“This one’s alive!” called one of the paramedics feeling Susan’s pulse, “She’s fading!”

Quickly the paramedics set about stabilising her as one of the police officers looked at the creature and said “What the hell is this?”

“An animal attack.”

Near the two dead students a third officer threw up as the first one said “Never saw an animal like this before, Stan.”

“Well what else can it be? Demon dog devours students?” said Stan gazing at the damage in the library and the blood on the floor.

“Yeah don’t ever become a journalist… Demon dog.”

Susan murmured to herself as the paramedics lifted her on a gurney, the book she had been holding dropped to the floor. Stan picked it up but the pages had been obscured by blood. All he could make out was “a d shun, t   fr m o s Ban        .”

“What’s that you got there?” asked the first officer.

“Damned if I know, Fred… Damned if I know,” replied Stan gazing at the book’s title and at the beast again, “But that’s one brave girl, I’ll tell you that.”

Stan’s partner nodded his head as Susan was wheeled out of the library, outside Janice let out a cry as she saw her best friend being wheeled away looking as pale as death itself.