"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.