"Time Warp Prom Date" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

It was really funny how the whole thing happened. Jenny Porter was trying to find a date to the prom when this guy showed up from out of nowhere.

The guy said his name was Brian Meadows and that he came from the year 1978. Jenny thought the story was a little strange, but Brian was kind of cute and had a cool muscle car from the 1960s.

After a little persuasion, Brian agreed to take Jenny to the prom on the condition that she pay for everything. According to Brian, he only had a few dollars that he brought from 1978.

The time travel story that Brian kept gabbing about was starting to get annoying.

Another problem was finding Brian a place to live until the night of the prom. (According to Brian his house was no longer where it was supposed to be.) Fortunately, Jenny's parents had a guest house that he could use for a few days.

On the night of the prom, Brian showed up at her house like a normal date and Julie had to admit that he was really cool about posing for photos and all that business. Her mom had some questions, but Julie told her that his family just moved to the area.

Jenny was surprised to find out that Brian was a really good dancer, and she loved the jealous looks from her friends, but as the night wore on, he started acting weirder than usual.

In the middle of a slow dance, Brian told her that he had a feeling that it was time for him to go back and he rushed out of the ballroom.

Jenny followed him out to the parking lot and watched with fascination as Brian and his car disappeared in a cloud of mist.

Jenny was happy that Brian was headed back to his own time, but she wished he could have waited until the end of the prom.

"Feeding Time" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

As a young wife and mother, Melody Danvers got in the habit of collecting the leftovers from dinner and depositing them outside in the yard.

In the morning, the scraps were all gone. Occasionally, Melody would hear some faint growling sounds at night, but it did not occur to her that leaving food outside in a rural area may be dangerous. 

Several years went by and the husband and the boys had long since departed. The solitary meals that Melody prepared for herself didn't produce the number of leftovers that her family dinners had and so she gradually stopped the old custom of putting scraps in the yard.

One night, after a lonely dinner of a burger and fries, Melody decided to go to bed early. A loud splintering noise awakened her from a sound sleep.

As Melody struggled to find her glasses, she could hear heavy steps coming up the staircase. Finding her glasses, she immediately dialed 911 on her cell phone, but the steps had already stopped at her bedroom door.

A blow of tremendous force knocked the door off its hinges and a massive beast filled the entry. Unable to look at the hideous creature coming towards her, Melody looked at the clock on a bedside table and realized it was about the time that she put dinner leftovers in the yard.

"Julie's Valentine" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

The last time that Julie Mason had received a valentine was in the sixth grade, so she was greatly surprised to find a red envelope with her name taped to her locker.

For most of the morning, Julie thought about who might give her a valentine card. Karl from the soccer team had smiled at her a couple of times and David from the chess club seemed to like her.

Finally, she just gave up and opened the envelope. The card had a proton and an electron dancing with the caption: "I particularly like you" and was signed "Anthony."

The only Anthony that Julie knew was in her physics class which would explain the card. During lunch period, she found Anthony sitting alone and reading a thick book. Julie sat down across from him and put the red envelope on the table.

Anthony put down the thick book. "Did you like the card?" he asked anxiously. Julie couldn't help but smile. Anthony was cute in a mad scientist kind of way. "Yes, but why me?" she asked gently.

"Well, you like to read like I do, you're nice to everybody-including the jerks, and I think you're really pretty." Anthony's face turned a deep red at the last part of his answer.

Julie wasn't quite sure how to move forward in a situation like this but finally decided that having lunch with Anthony would be a good place to start.

"Rideshare" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Jeff Carson had a miserable day at work and was grateful to see his rideshare arrive on time.

He barely glanced at the driver before getting in the car but got the impression of some weird distortion hiding the man's face. 

The driver confirmed Jeff's address and they moved into traffic.

For several minutes, there was blessed silence and Jeff closed his eyes thankful to be away from the office.

"Do you remember being born?" the driver asked.

Jeff opened his eyes. "What did you say?" 

"DO YOU REMEMBER BEING BORN?" the driver repeated in what was almost a shout.

Jeff wasn't sure what weird shit was going on, but he answered anyway. "No, I don't remember being born."

The driver seemed satisfied with the answer and went back to his silent demeanor.

As Jeff looked out the window, he noticed that they were now traveling away from the city and his apartment.

"Hey, you're going in the wrong direction." he told the driver. 

The man seemed not to have heard and kept moving.

Trying to refrain from panicking, Jeff tried his cell phone but there was no reception.

Eventually the car entered a forested area that was completely unfamiliar to Jeff and pulled off the road.

"I was told to bring you to this location." the driver announced.

Jeff was furious. "You can't just leave me out here." he shouted at the man.

"There is no other choice" the driver said and pushed Jeff out of the car.

The car sped off and Jeff looked around. 

The dark forest seemed to move, and Jeff quickly began walking away but the darkness was faster and surrounded him until there was nothing more.

"Edwin and Saint Nick" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Edwin the crow's friend Carrie was very sick, and he looked out on the frozen Walmart parking lot for someone who could help.

The humans scurried back and forth in their strange contraptions completely unaware of the silent creatures suffering around them.

As the night wore on a large human in a bizarre red and white costume caught Edwin's attention.

Edwin approached the unusual man, and in the crow language asked the man if he could help.

To Edwin's surprise the man understood and followed Edwin to the scraggly tree where Carrie was perched.

The human examined Carrie for a moment and then took a large cookie from his bag and indicated that she should eat it. 

As Carrie nibbled at the cookie, she seemed to grow stronger and eventually even her crippled leg was healed.

Edwin tried to thank the human, but he had already disappeared into the mist of the parking lot.

"A Rainy Christmas" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

After her father was laid off from Boeing, Emily wasn't expecting much for Christmas. Just to see the worried look on her parent's faces ease for a few hours would have been enough of a gift for her.

During dinner one night, Emily asked about getting a Christmas tree, but her father looked sad, and her mother shook her head no.

On Christmas morning, Emily woke up early like she did when she was a child and was surprised to find a fully decorated tree in the living room.

The rest of the day was pretty cool too. Her father was pleased with the pen and pencil set that Emily gave him and her mother loved the knitted scarf.

All in all, the Christmas of 1972 wasn't so bad, even if it did rain most of the day.

"Whiteout 2" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Julie Reynolds looked over at her driving partner and regretted that she had answered the ride-sharing ad at her college in order to get home for Thanksgiving.

Ben Crowley had been one of her classmates in high school and he was still the same obnoxious jerk that he had been back in the day.

The first argument concerned the route that they should take over the pass. Julie preferred the faster route over I-90, but Ben wanted to take the scenic route over Chinook pass. Since Ben owned the vehicle, Julie was forced to go along with it.

About ten miles outside of Yakima, it began to snow. Julie looked over at Ben, but he seemed unconcerned. The snowfall continued to accelerate until it was almost impossible to see.

Somewhere near the summit the car stopped moving. "What are you doing?" Julie demanded.

"We're stuck" Ben answered simply. Before Julie could say anything else, he exited the car and began looking around.

As Julie watched through the windows to monitor Ben's progress, she noticed a dark shape emerge from the forest on the side of the road and collide with Ben who was removing snow from the under the front tires.

Julie opened her own door and watched in horror as Ben struggled with some sort of creature. Grabbing her purse, Julie frantically searched through the pockets until she found what she was looking for.

After arming her vial of pepper spray, Julie aimed the snout into the red eyes of the huge creature and gave it a long dose.

The thing howled in pain and ran back into the woods. Ben had numerous cuts and bruises but was not badly hurt. A short time later a tow truck was able to pull them out.

"Thank you for helping me." Ben finally remarked as they neared home.

"Next time I pick the travel route." Julie answered.