Fubar Blog Posts 2

Chaos&mayhem Creations
NEED A BULLETIN FOR AN UPCOMMING EVENT? TRIED OF TRYING TO ASKING SOME ONE TO MAKE THE FOR YOU? WE ARE YOU ONE STOP BULLETIN MAKERS YOU WANT IT WE CAN MAKE IT WELCOME TO CHAOS&MAYHEM CREATIONS IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE OUR WORK BEFORE MAKING YOUR CHOICE PLEASE CHECK OUT DJ DEMONS BLOGS OR OUR BLOGS WE HERE AT CHAOS& MEYHEM THANK YOU FOR STOPING BY ***CLICK BELOW AND THANK YOU AGAN *** Chaos&Mayhem Creations@ fubar"

Chaos&mayhem
NEED A BULLETIN FOR AN UPCOMMING EVENT? TRIED OF TRYING TO ASKING SOME ONE TO MAKE THE FOR YOU? WE ARE YOU ONE STOP BULLETIN MAKERS YOU WANT IT WE CAN MAKE IT WELCOME TO CHAOS&MAYHEM CREATIONS IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE OUR WORK BEFORE MAKING YOUR CHOICE PLEASE CHECK OUT DJ DEMONS BLOGS OR OUR BLOGS WE HERE AT CHAOS& MEYHEM THANK YOU FOR STOPING BY ***CLICK BELOW AND THANK YOU AGAN *** Chaos&Mayhem Creations@ fubar"

Chaotic And Bratt Did It Again- Blinging My Constant Helpers Again
COMMENTS,COMMENTS,COMMENTS,COMMENTS=) imikimi - Customize Your World OK,WE ARE IN A GIVAWAY,NO TIME LIMIT.SO ANY HELP ANY TIME YOU ARE BORED OR HAVE A FEW MINUTES WOULD BE GREAT.I WILL BE HANDING OUT BLINGYS FOR HELPING METHE MORE YOU DO THE MORE BLINGYS YOU GET=). SO COME 1 ,COME ALL.LOVE YA ALL ^^^^CLICK ME^^^^ ^^^^CLICK ME^^^^ ^^CLICK ME TOO^^ ^^CLICK ME TOO^^ ~Bratt~& CHAOTIC PRINCESS= ) imikimi - Customize Your World

Chaotic And Bratt Are At It Again
COMMENTS,COMMENTS,COMMENTS,COMMENTS=) imikimi - Customize Your World OK,WE ARE IN A GIVAWAY,NO TIME LIMIT.SO ANY HELP ANY TIME YOU ARE BORED OR HAVE A FEW MINUTES WOULD BE GREAT.I WILL BE HANDING OUT BLINGYS FOR HELPING METHE MORE YOU DO THE MORE BLINGYS YOU GET=). SO COME 1 ,COME ALL.LOVE YA ALL ^^^^CLICK ME^^^^ ^^^^CLICK ME^^^^ ^^CLICK ME TOO^^ ^^CLICK ME TOO^^ ~Bratt~& CHAOTIC PRINCESS= ) imikimi - Customize Your World

Chaos
Life is just like water spiraling down the drain to endless blackness. We try to scrape the sides and hold on as long as we can, but no matter how hard we try we keep going farther down to the deep dark pit of eternity. Chaos surrounds us. Objects come floating by us and we cling to them hoping to get out of the spiral for even a moment, just to get thrown off and end up even farther down the spiral then we would have been on our own. Eventually the endless chaos of life gets to some and they begin to paddle to the blackness. Welcome it even. Where is the survival line that keeps us out of the blackness? when does the chaos end?

Chaotic Princess Contest
COME SHOW SOME LOVE TO A GREAT FRIEND A WONDERFUL PERSON AND THE SEXXEST BITCH ON FUBAR WE AT CHAOS & MAYHEM CREATIONS INVITE YOU TO VIEW AND BOMB Chaotic Princess ***CLICK THE PIC TO LEND A HAND*** " />

Chaotic Needs Some Help Now!!
~Chaotic~NEEDS SOME HELP IN HER GIVEAWAY!LET'S SHOW HER THE LOVE YOU SHOWED ME. AND IF ANYONE NEEDS A HAND JUST HOLLAR AT ME AND WE WILL POP IN AND HELP YOU!!GIT R DONE=) ^^^^^CLICK^^^^ ^^^^^CLICK^^^^ THANKS FRIENDS, FROM ~Chaotic~ and ~Bratt~=) ♥ Çhåøtï¢ ¶®îñçë$$ ♥ ~*Founder Of Shadow Bombers*~Owned By Bratt n Dj Superman@ fubar ♥~BRATT~♥@ fubar

Chaos
do i scare you its ok i dont feel that way now ever stood on a bridge and wanted to jump i dont feel that anymore depression only a few weeks ago now happyness comes with writing of sadness only weeks ago and not feel depressed since the last time from my little brother now two i felt like "not to be" my dad so scare come home early my bath tub was to be my grave already fill of pills from mom's cesarean lay in warm water knife at hand but could not use lying with bottles on the floor figure the pills will do it just laid back to let the pills work these were mom's medication she took for sleeping and ones for pain too i figured i wouldnt feel the pain wow that was just after gregory was born it has been over 2 years now mom has this awful scar under her belly button cesarean did that give me the source those were her pain killers for that and the sleeping aid for the same reason it seem easier then the bridge stood at the bridge a many ti

The Chaos Theory (poem)
in the deep submission where the touch of lips can cause the eruption of destruction irrationality flooding the doors of innocence where the slightest blink of an eye can cause mass hysteria and the most soft spoken "i love you" can destroy a human life-among others it goes back to where we went where we were and where we are from that can cause a sweet taste of denial to have the power to start waves of malice and to deliver every trusting human with a stab to the back-typically speaking watch the horror unfold-relentless while some watch in fascination others run in panic-no control welcome to the chaos theory it has its grip on your soul

Chaos' Goddess' Fu Luv Ride
Goddess's Fu-Luv Ride So you wanna join? Easy to do! Step 1 - Rate, Fan & Add All the Riders!! Step 2 - Rate Tags/Pics In The Fu-Luv Ride Folder Step 3 - Send Me A Fu-Mail, Saying I showed Fu-Luv ~ Let Me Ride (or whatever..) and please include a link to the pic you would like used in your tag (if you want one). **Please be sure to leave a comment and/or send a drink to those whom you've already R/F&A'd Showing Fu-Luv ~ So Hop On Da Ride... Chaos Goddess DJ Chaos Tulsa's Angel Maddog RedneckPrincess Blueroses ^sin^ MathProf Robin Mistress Broken vitamin de~

Chaotic And ~bratt~ Will Be Gone
LOL SHOW US LOVE TILL WE GET BACK ,WE WILL TRY TO POP ON IF WE CAN BUT A FEW FRIENDS ARE TAKING CARE OF OUR ACCT..TY We will be on and off Fu and comp till after the 17th and it's too slow to rerate profiles or pics cause takes a long time to load pages from here,, Not a lot of bombing till the 17th of nov. And if we don't talk right away bare with us,This comp we am using is slower than a turtle lol.But am gonna try to pop on to say hi anyway till we get back home..Love ya's and bare with us!!! ~Bratt~&*Chaotic Princess* ~Bratt~ ♥~BRATT~♥@ fubar *Chaotic Princess* ♀Çhåøtï¢ ¶®îñçë$$♀♥ ♀FuWifey 2 k®ï§†ÌÑã♀♥@ fubar

Chaos & Acceptance
I have chaos in my life but I hold it in my hand but some slips like grains of dry sand between my fingertips the more I try to control the chaos or try to maneuver my control by gripping tighter the more it seems to elude my grasp. Some day I will have the courage to open my fist and see what happens. I know.. but don’t that it will dance like a flame in my open palm to wonder and amaze but that time is yet to come I have not the wisdom to realize the consequences of my actions... That day will come and with it I will fly in this world.., once more As I open so shall chaos be drawn in to fill the void? I like lamas although they do tend to spit if it is in their minds to do so lol. as do Yaks that I had the honor to share a hut with in Tibet I was searching and working although not at the same time but in the same local... Another story all together lol Life brings us what we want and also puts what we don’t in our path to see if we will evolve or be relegated to the primal

Chaotic N Bratts At Again
Let’s help these ladies hit their goals!!! They are always helping out, really awesome ladies. Show lots of luvzzzzzzzzzzz to these two!!! OK,♥ Çhåøtï¢ ¶®îñçë$$ ♥ needs 50,000 rate/comments to receive a 150 credit bling pack !!=) ================== OK, ♥~Bratt~♥ needs 50,000 rate/comments to receive a 150 credit bling pack !!=) (repost of original by '~SassyMysticDawn~ Shadow Bombers~thanks~RICKY~WILDMAN55 ~4 MY SKINS~' on '2008-10-28 09:36:52')

Chaos' Wild Angels
~ Check Out These Wild Angels ~ They may show you another piece of heaven you have never seen. Please show these ladies some fu-luv if you would like to be a Wild Angel plz let me know but first rate add and fan these lovely angels. BBW Goddess Tulsa's Angel °*?T?ÏÑ?*° *ST Giggles* ST3PH4NI3 In your dreams or mine sweetpeabayba BROUGHT TO YOU BY: DJ CHAOS

Chaos Of My Life
I sit here so late in the night, or early in the morning as some might see it, because I cant sleep. I am plagued with nightmares and aches and pains that wont go away. I know from my pictures I seem like a happy go lucky person, surrounded by her friends. But inside no one sees the pain that I am in. I put on a fake smile. I pretend that my life is roses and stars when in reality its not. Alcohol helps mask the pain and guilt that I feel every day. My life seems to be one disaster right after another. Like a train wreck of sorts. Behind every smile that I put on, behind every giggle there is a tear and a cry. No one sees it, not even my friends or family. I am so tired of having to be the strong one. Tired of having to be the one that everyone turns to and to stay emotionally numb to the pain, at least in front of others. Too long have I let my feelings go. Too long I have let my heart die. So much has hit me in the past few months and I am not sure if I am strong enough to hang on

Chaos
Chaos-Where Great Dreams Begin: Befor a great vision can become reality there may be difficulty. Befor a person begins a great endeaver, they may encounter chaos. As a new plan breaks the ground with grave difficulty feres becoming the huge tree so must we sometimes push against difficulty in bringing forth our dreams. Out of chaos......Brilliant stars are born !!! I ching Hexagram 3

Chaos Driven
chaos driven December brought me many concerns. January saw things settle some. February has exhausted me and it is not even over yet! Of course, the road trip is mostly likely to blame for that! Until Tuesday the 10th we were unsure if my daughter would be going to Oklahoma for school or not. It required her to be physically able and she had not been released from doctor's care until then. With the release (all but to drive...not yet) came the wake of chaos as I refused to plan for much of anything until knowing for sure. On the same day was the funeral of a loved one. I assisted with hosting the dinner following the funeral before going into work and still had made only a minimal of arrangements. Plans were to leave Sunday and return Tuesday. Thanks to the kindness of fellow employees shift switches were made and we were off and running finishing packing Saturday night and on the road Sunday. We arrived safely to grab some food and some sleep Sunday night before the blur

Chaotic Mess I Am
My day seems to end before it even begins these days....same shit everyday...wake up take care of my responsibilities, never time to do what i want...cook,clean,cook,clean thats it thats what my life has come down to...never anyone asking if maybe i need help, nope they know ive got it handled or at least thats what they see on the outside....i have many relaltives right here, next door, around the corner,no one asks... I dont blame my 83 year old, leukemia ridden aunt for any of this...i was brought back to this place to care for her,she needs me,theres no one else that cares like i do, to do what i do for her each day...ive given up my life at this moment to give her hers back... does this make me selfish for thinking i want to leave,its just a thought id never leave her,she would die...ive been doing this now for well over a year,24 hours a day 7 days a week... i feel like im losing it slowly,im so tired i want to lay down and sleep for a day or two,i only say it i never do it...

Chaos
Going crazy Perception's hazy Nothing makes sense Nerves are tense Head is spinning Confusion is winning Told the truth What more could I do But it wasn't enough I just want your love Unbearable pain Going insane Efforts in vain Done with this game If you want me You know where I'll be Hands are tied Now I cry Heart going numb My senses struck dumb Hope you had fun Congratulations you won Can't think anymore Hearts' on the floor Kick it around It won't make a sound It will take your beating Never retreating For the sake of dedication At the risk of desecration I have become lost In all this chaos

Chaotic World
I am angry with this chaotic world, this existance is like a feral twirl its a flaming all consuming life its entertaining my disdain and strife right now a small with inside my self I could mawl those who challenge this space i carved out and bleed at times and it helps to define myself a place a trace of me no surrender not with breath in my body I ache to comprehend this chaotic world then to ammend the cycle it breaths life from then rescend any invitation of its existance

Chaos
March 14, 2009 I've been hearing reports on the radio that dead people are returning to life, and feeding on the living. I can only assume it's some type of "War of the Worlds" trick. A rib...Nothing more! Either way I'm feeling good about fencing in my entire property last year. My friends laughed...If this shit is true, I'll get the last laugh. Susan left a few hours ago to get groceries. She should be back soon. Maybe she got some news from town. There's nothing on the TV. Just the same old boring crap about Paris Hilton's new boyfriend, and the politicians promising a "Better Tomorrow.

Chaos
What is Chaos? A life without meaning? A heart bearing scars but has felt no pain. A thought sparked from a mind with no focus. What gives a life meaning? Inspiration? Hope? Love? Dreams? No. Only chaos. Simple chaos. Chaos brings emotion. Emotion triggers action. Hope inspires more actions. Actions resorts to more chaos. Each action takes thought. Thoughts flood a mind with no control. No control is chaotic. Multiple thoughts form dreams. Dreams inspire hope. Without hope, life is simple. There is no chaos. Life has no meaning. Without chaos, there can only be peace. Peace is thought to be enriched with happiness. Peace without happiness leads to loneliness. Loneliness ends where happiness begins. Love is happiness. Love is uncontrollable. Love sparks new emotions. Love is chaotic. Life is simply chaotic. Full of Hope. Of Love. Of Inspiration. Of Dreams. We cant control our thoughts. We cant control our emotions. We cant control what inspires us. We cant control what we dream. We ca

Chaos Rock Radio
I am starting up a new lounge on fubar called Chaos Rock Radio. I have really high hopes for this lounge to grow into a full blown online radio station and eventually go to airwaves. I am presently hiring all staff and all shifts so that we can have a wonderful grand opening. I am hopefully in the process of getting it coded and fixed up the way that I would like it to be and then GRAND OPENING soon as I get a little staff. I need some good staff. So if you are interested, please let me know!!! PLEASE leave me a message or shout at me. I WILL REPLY TO ALL MESSAGES, SHOUTS, AND COMMENTS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

Chaos
To say life went to hell in a handbasket this week is an understatement. I've having to choose between compromising my morals for the path of least resistance and letting a minor evil go unpunished, or making a mountain out of a molehill, which is the technically "right" thing to do, but which will screw me royally in the long term. I hate compromising, but I wonder if sometimes I take small things too far.

Chaos
Chaos....total and utter chaos....heart torn ftrom ur chest and nothing u can do to stop the pain.....complete loss of motor skills....blackness......no need for food or sleep......just total darkness.....pain.....slowly killing u pain......the kind u cant subside.....tears......falling like rain....no one here to wipe them away.....chaos.....total and utter chaos....1,000 thoughts running through ur head......spinning......cant stop spinning......drowning....sorrow over takes u.....chaos....total and utter chaos.....fade to black.....

Chaos Reigns
Beautifully broken Soundly, spoken. Darkness falls Light shines through Chaos reigns. Eerily quiet Yet to loud to think To loud to speak Screaming loud But there is no sound Chaos reigns. Too much Too little There was something There was nothing Chaos reigns. Floating, soaring. Downwardly falling Nothing makes sense Yet everything is crystal clear Chaos reigns.

Chaos Never Died
CHAOS NEVER DIED. Primordial uncarved block, sole worshipful monster, inert & spontaneous, more ultraviolet than any mythology (like the shadows before Babylon), the original undifferentiated oneness-of-being still radiates serene as the black pennants of Assassins, random & perpetually intoxicated.Chaos comes before all principles of order & entropy, it's neither a god nor a maggot, its idiotic desires encompass & define every possible choreography, all meaningless aethers & phlogistons: its masks are crystallizations of its own facelessness, like clouds. Everything in nature is perfectly real including consciousness, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Not only have the chains of the Law been broken, they never existed; demons never guarded the stars, the Empire never got started, Eros never grew a beard. No, listen, what happened was this: they lied to you, sold you ideas of good & evil, gave you distrust of your body & shame for your prophethood of chaos, inven

Chaos Again...
Things had been pretty peaceful until last week...on wednesday momma decides she is going to town and that shee is driving..I asked if she thought she should as the drs have told her that she wouldnt be able to drive ever again, she said they never said it...If she wants to wrap herself around a tree fine, she doesnt need to take innocents with her while she does it.. The family is obviously going to have to step in no matter how pissed off she gets. I threatened to call the cops on her today , she said she is going out this afternoon and got mad because I refused to ride with her...say a prayer people we need em

Chaos Mayhem And Anarchy
Is it right or wrong to live in a world of chaos, mayhem and anarchy, whereby we outstretch the strict boundaries of society or would we be deemed as a misfit, unfit to belong in society, is the question. Personally I believe if there weren't any chaos, mayhem or anarchy we would be dwelling in a society of "The Stepford Wives" domain and that would be Hell, least to me LOL, considering all were fake and pretenscious, and as we see it, society already has had a gutful of those who are fake, pretenscious, self engrossed and arrogant, why add to it? If there weren't any chaos, mayhem or anarchy, we wouldn't learn right from wrong, that and the fact everyone goes on and on about freedom of speech, freedom of thoughts etc, yet when we try to do just that we get a backlash of b.s. That is hypocritical to do that, therefore I believe we need Chaos, Mayhem and Anarchy to a degree, without it we are doomed.

Chaos
The venom of disorder seeps through their wretched veins. Chaos is holding hands with death and endless pain. Binding those who hate, infecting the innocent and weak. Havoc and destruction, adds to this technique. An infection in the air, spread randomly at will. A contagion nationwide, a prescription refill. With side effects of anger and mind numbing thoughts. The world pays the price for every person shot. Chaos is the chef, filling their mind with unhealthy protein. While suffering from withdrawals, just trying to come clean. That’s the perfect time, for chaos to plant its seed. Fertilizing it well, feeding the need. To spreading the infection, a disease without a cure. Destroying goodwill, contaminating the pure. Can anything prevent this, you might ask. There is only one treatment, to overcoming this task. Whether you are strong enough, only time will tell. But giving into love, seems to break the spell.

Chapter One: The Snake
There was nothing worse than the dead of winter. The cold, the snow, the cloudy, gray skies. No sun for days on end. Leda Harper was the kind of girl who couldn't stand not seeing the sun. She wasn't a pampered beach bunny or anything. She just loved the feeling of that warm, golden glow on her back. And when it was warm enough and sunny enough, the children who were healthy enough could go outside and play. Leda felt a tug on the leg of her jeans. She looked down at the small, blue-eyed girl who she was taking care of today. Mary was absolutely adorable and so sweet. She was six years old, very small for her age, and had lost her first teeth...the front two. In fact she looked like a normal girl, except that she had no hair. It's not fair for this to happen to one so young, Leda thought, as she lifted Mary up. As if the illness wasn't bad enough, she might lose the only home she's ever known. She worked in a hospice for children who were terminally ill. Worse, these children had

Chapter Two: The Scheme
Aidan's head was pounding and he felt slightly nauseous. Worse, he'd just woken up in a hospital room; he hated hospitals with a passion. Sitting in the chair across from him was George, the son of one of his father's business partners. They weren't friends, really, so much as partners in crime. Whenever Aidan had a scheme it was George who helped him. "You're awake," George said, rising from his chair. "Let me get a nurse." "Wait," Aidan rasped. His throat hurt. "What the hell happened?" "A flower pot fell on your head," George explained, trying and failing to hide his amusement. "She said she didn't, but I think it was that chick from the hospice. She sure as hell didn't like you." Aidan groaned. "Damn bitch! And in front of everyone!" That was humiliating. It was hard to get businessmen to respect you when they saw you get knocked out by a girl. Even indirectly. Well, I can't let her get away with this, Aidan thought, frowning. There's no way in hell she's going to be

Chapter Three: The Problem
Considering what a lousy place the couch was to sleep, Aidan was not happy when he was woken up by a loud pounding. He pulled the pillow over his ears and rolled against the back of the couch, trying to tune out the noise. There was the sound of someone scrambling around the apartment and finally reaching the source of the pounding to make it stop. Aidan sighed in relief, but as it turned out, he wasn't going to have the opportunity to sleep. "Take these," said a familiar, frantic male voice. "I need you to watch him today. I've got a business meeting." "Me!?" a female voice. "I can't, I'm busy!" Aidan sat up, groaning. "George, what are you doing here?" "Bringing you your damn clothes," George shot back. "Forget that too?" "Sorry," Aidan muttered, winding a blanket around his hips and standing up. "Sorry...I just feel kinda...disoriented." Well, that was the truth. It had been incredibly odd trying to sleep in a place that wasn't his home, on a couch that was definit

Chapter Four: The First Week
Aidan woke the next morning feeling groggy and stiff. He sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and stood up off the couch. Bathroom, he thought, as he stumbled through the apartment. He'd had a lot of soda with his pizza last night and hadn't gone to the bathroom before bed. Figuring that it must be too early for Leda to be up (his vision was still foggy) Aidan barged into the bathroom without thinking. Heat and the smell of flowers hit him as soon as he opened the door. However what caught his attention was Leda...turned towards him and just sliding a towel around herself. She froze when she saw him, but not for long. As Aidan stared, she wrapped the towel around herself, tucked it so it would stay on, and pushed past him. He stood in the doorway for a long moment, completely stunned. There's nothing to be stunned about, damnit, he thought, trying to shake the cobwebs from his head. She's nothing special! She was slender, but not trim and toned like the women he knew. He'd caught

Chapter Five: Decorations
Aidan watched from the corner of his eye as Leda collected cups and plates from lunch. They hadn't really been talking to each other much the last couple days. Of course, it was hard not to feel awkward after what had happened. Waking up with her snuggled against his side had been surprisingly pleasant. But Leda had seemed embarrassed and horrified, and she was no longer relaxed in his presence. Of course she was horrified, Aidan thought, scowling. She thinks I'm a complete ass. Well, if he was going to be truthful with himself, he was a complete ass. He'd never had any motivation to be anything but, and since he was learning the business from his father, it wouldn't due to become softhearted. But he wasn't the Aidan Kirkland she knew anymore. And as far as she was concerned, he didn't even remember who that was. Then again, neither do I, he thought, frowning. Guilt, an emotion he wasn't very used to, was sneaking up on him. No one in Aidan's life had been nice or caring. He'd ne

Chapter Six: The Bake Sale
Leda Harper was hands down the most frustrating woman he had ever met. Aidan leaned against the far wall of the auditorium and watched her add cookies to a sheet on one of the tables. Apparently the hospice she worked at was not the only one like it in the state. And all of them were here today participating in the bake sale. This is not a good place for me to be, Aidan thought, frowning. He'd been staying as far away as possible, in the shadow of the wall, so no one could see him and recognize him. It was really amazing how much could change in such a short time. When he'd begun this charade his goal had been to humiliate Leda as much as she had humiliated him. That was no longer Aidan's goal. I can't spent the rest of my life pretending to have amnesia, though, he thought, frowning. I've got to find a way to make sure she won't hate me when I finally have to tell her. And he was going to have to tell her soon. He wanted her, wanted her in a way he'd never before wanted another wom

Chapter Seven: Valentine's Day
Leda supposed that, in retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea to give Tara and Mary control of the confetti. She laughed, shaking pieces of red and pink heart-shaped paper from her hair. Aidan had a ton in his hair, too. He looked slightly dismayed by the amount of confetti in his hair and on his clothes. Leda thought he looked cute like that, though. She reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair away from his face. "This is so unruly," Aidan said, brushing his hair back. "I like it," Leda told him. "You used to wear it slicked back all the time, but it looks so much better like this." Aidan smiled. "In that case, I'll keep it this way." That smile warmed her down to her toes. In the two and a half weeks they'd known each other, they'd gone from wary dislike to a warm friendship. Could it ever be more? Leda wondered, glancing at him. If he regains his memory, what then? They settled together on the floor of the crafts room, which had been cleared for the party. Each c

Chapter Eight: The Apology
Aidan had, as Leda requested, vacated her apartment before she returned. What he wanted more than anything else was for her to listen to him, but somehow he doubted that she would be very calm if he was still there when she got back. In the time since he'd left her apartment he'd considered a hundred different ways to get her to listen. Yet nothing Aidan came up with seemed right. He lay sprawled out on his bed, ignoring George's ranting and pacing. Even the comforts of home couldn't cheer him up. Every time Aidan stretched out on his bed, he couldn't stop thinking of how he'd love for Leda to be with him. And he'd been lounging about his place in jeans and a t-shirt, having been completely unwilling to even consider putting on a suit. "Damnit, Aidan, listen to me!" George growled. "I can't put your father off any longer!" "I'm not in the mood," Aidan grumbled. George threw up his hands, exasperated. "Not in the mood!? Aidan, what the hell happened to you? You've changed! Y

Chapter 1
I was born at 3:33am in a rundown hospital in downtown Detroit. As soon as I was brought into this world, I took my first life. My mother. Giving birth to me killed my birthmother during the process. I spent my first year in a hypersensitive oxygen chamber. Fun times. During this period my genetic father was busy murdering and raping various women in the Metro area. The name they used to describe this unknown enity was only muttered amungst the local and federal law enforcement agencies. My first year, what a helluva way to start. I was never released to the custody of my birth father of course, mostly due to not being able to find him. So when I left the hospital for the first time at age 2, it was to a foster family. Of course I cannot remember any of this and only go by what I have been told and what I have read. My earliest memory was age 5. I do not remember what led up to this moment, or what exactly happend. But the records I have state I was admitted to Hawthorn Me

Chapter One
The moment I walked into the bar, I knew something was up. I couldn’t sense anything. No fear, no lust, no jealousy, no rage- in short, none of the usual emotions that hit me, (or any other clairsentient worth their salt) once I enter a bar. These people- were they zombies? My eye fell on a woman sitting near the entrance. She smiled at a joke her partner was making, showing off canines that were very sharp, very pointy, and very, very un-human. Shiiit, I thought earnestly. Shit shit shit. Of all the bars in LA, I had to walk into a damned vampire bar. The patrons had fallen silent. Many, many pairs of unnaturally beautiful eyes of all hues were on me now. Shit. I walked very slowly up to the bar. The smart thing to do would not be to bolt. Like wolves, vampires are predators. You run, they chase. It’s a sign of weakness, and one does not go showing signs of weakness in a roomful of killing machines that can rip your heart out without even breaking a sweat. Besid

Chapter 1 Cont.
Have you ever forgotten what the sky looked like? How the sun felt on your skin? The way grass moved in the wind? I did. I was ten years old when I was released to a place called Childrens Home of Detroit. It was a village inside a city so to speak. That was the first time I had been let outside in five years. Released into a campus type gated community for the damned children of the state. My companions we're a shade lighter then what I was accustomed to. Children who set thier house on fire with thier family inside 'just because' and such. Thugs, wannabe thugs and just plain 'odd' kiddies. I guess the state thought I would fit right in there. I did, for the first hour. I put two kids in the hospital after being shown my living space, which was one of the many cots in the house. I remember that day pretty vivid, as I broke one kids nose and lodged a lincoln log into anothers kidney. I was transferred to another mental hospital immediatly. My bittersweet taste of freedom motivat

Chapter 2
A barrage of images flooded my mind. A field of bodies, soldiers kicking a boy with unruly chestnut curls. A little girl with the same hair, but longer, lying glassy-eyed in her bed, gaping puncture wounds in her throat, body ravaged, face tear-stained. A head rolling. Blood, so much blood; the smell of it coated the inside of my head, inducing a wave of nausea. I snatched my hand away, willing myself not to scream aloud. He stared at me evenly. “I am sorry, madam. I did not know you were an empath.” “Clairsentient,” I said curtly. “And my name is Alegria.” He was still looking at me oddly, with those lovely eyes; jade green in the centre of each iris, fanning out to caramel at the edges, flecked with light amber. I forced myself to look away from those eyes. The bartender set my drink down, quietly. It was very quiet, in fact. No-one in the bar was talking any more. Joao looked around at the patrons intently. After a few seconds, the customers looked away and continued

Chapter 3
The Master of the City looked vaguely amused. If I smoked one of his vampires in self-defense, would he be pissed off? Probably. Then again, he did have the hots for me. In a manner of speaking. And he had looked more annoyed than aroused when the psychotic bitch had been pawing him. I made up my mind. Showtime, then. “I said I’m not the one dressed like a streetwalker, offering up my cookies, and pawing some Joe’s balls in public, so I’m not the whore here. Bitch.” I added, smiling pleasantly. She snarled and reached for me. “I’ll rip out your throat!” she shrieked, livid. A sliver of wood detached itself from my bar stool and hovered at her heart, pressing slightly against her skin. I smiled widely at her, and she stopped mid-stance, going very still. “I’ve been doing this since I was twelve,” I said casually, “So there’s a fair chance this will go right through all that silicone and pierce your heart.” A vein started twitching in her forehead, but she stayed put.

Chapter One
CONTRACT Chapter 1 It was 3pm on a Thursday afternoon. Christina sat at her computer desk listening to some of Gorillaz music and thinking of how her and her husband had met. She thought about it as she wrote things down in her laptop computer. Was it really only three years ago when she first saw him? Christina remembered the clearing where she first saw him. Both had noticed each other at the same time but only she ran from him. "Why did I fall in love with him?" She sighed as she put the head phones on and turned up the music so everything else was drowned out. 3 years ago Another bead of sweat dropped as Chris dropped the final bundle of twigs into the shed at the side of her home. Winter was coming soon and she was going to need a lot more to keep her settled up for the coming season. Time like these really made her miss her father, it was usually him who did all the backbreaking chores while she did all the simple chores of cooking and cleaning while he was ar

Chapter Two
Chapter 2 As Christina continued to type on her computer with the headphone still on, a small brown dog suddenly lept onto her lap and peeked at monitor between her hands. Christina smiled. "Oh? What am I writing?" The dog barked, wagging its small tail. "Well take a look." Chris gestured. The dog took a moment too look at the monitor. It immediately growled and sorta slumped, as if recognizing something discomforting. "Yeah yeah." Chris laughed. "It wasnt exactly one of the most comfortable moments of my life either." 3 years ago As Van looked at girl beneath him he only managed a small, "Yo." Chris immediately freaked, screaming loudly and backing up. Van jerked in surprised and covered his ears. "GEEEZ! Whats your~!" "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY BROWNIE!" Chris suddenly demanded. "Uh, Brownie?" "Wheres my Brownie!!?" "I-I-I dont know!" Van said confused and panicky. " I never took any cooking classes." Chris looked at him weirdly. "NO!" She shook her head. "

Chapter 3
Christina continued typing on her laptop. Then she stretched her arms and yawned. Brownie beside her barked. "What say we get a little exercise, hmm?" Immediately brownie stood up and barked in agreement, waging her tail. "Alright, give me a minute okay? Ill need to change clothes." Chris then got up and walked up stairs to her bedroom. She then began ruffling through hangers and clothes, choosing what should would wear. Then she stopped. Hiding all the way at the end of the closet, hung a particular outfit covered in a white, plastic protector. Astonished to find it, she took it out and laid it on her bed, removing the plastic. She was speechless as she saw the set of clothing laid before her. My God She thought as she put her hand across it. It was so long ago.. But it hasnt changed one bit. " Chris sighed as she looked down and placed her hand over her stomach. "Too bad I won't be able to wear this in a couple of months" 3 years ago Van had been gone for twenty

Chapter Four(all Chapters Are Unedited)
Chapter 4 After putting on her blue dress and leather boots Christina leashed her dog and went outside. Immediately her next door neighbor who was working on his yard gave her a wave. "Hey John." She waved back. "Hey Neighbor. You working on your book?" John asked. "Yes I am." She replied. "Great! I can't wait to read it when it's done. Especially my kids, you and your husband are their heroes." Christina laughed. "I don't know if you would call it 'heroic.' Or at least I would." She answered. "What happened and what we did, we did for ourselves, you know." "I know." John said. "That's that's exactly what my kids admire about you both." Chris didn't reply, but only smiled. "Well, I'll just be taking a walk. See you later John." John then waved her bye as she walked down the street heading into town. It was the middle of summer, yet the gentle air and clear sky made it a pleasant day. As both Christina and Brownie were enjoying it a load, crackling motor suddenly fille

Chapter Five (all Chapters Are Unedited)
CONTRACT Chapter 5 Chris and Brownie kept walking down the street admiring the scenery that were before them when a familiar face showed up behind a gate of a two story house. "Hi Luke." "HI Christana. How are you feeling today?" Brownie growled at him and he looked down. "Oh, I'm sorry. Good afternoon to you too. May I join you two?" "Sure." Chris smiled at him as they walked off in silence. After they reached the end of the street and took a left, Luke spoke up. "Christana, ummmm......I have never umm stopped having feelings for ya. You have to know this right? I just....I know I'm stupid for even saying that." He laughed at himself. "I don't even know why I am telling you this." He sighed as he thought that Chris might find this funny but was surprised when she stopped and put a chaste kiss on his lips. Luke stopped in mid-stride and was shocked. "Luke, I've known how you felt about me since back at the inn but I can't return the feelings. I like you, but not in tha

Chapter Six (all Chapters Unedited)
Chapter 6 Luke and Chris reached the Halem resturant and went in to find a table. As they waited for the waiter, Chris began to tell him what happened after they left the inn. Luke had listened to her with great interest. He knew she still carried the markings on her body but not so much as when he knew her three years ago. The markings on her had disappeared all except for her upper arms now. 3 years ago..... After Siska left Van and went back to check up on Chris, she received a shock when she arrived in the room. Chris was no longer there but the doctor was. The doctor layed against the wall with his skin pealing off and the back of his head cracked open. Blood lined the walls around him but no sword marks appeared on his body. "Christina, what have you done?" Siska walked into the bathroom to notice the swords were still intact and still clean. "Where did you go?" Siska grabbed the swords and ran out of the inn leaving some money on the front desk before running out the

Chapter 1 Excerpt. Please Leave Comments
Enjoy, purchases available at: The Wormwood Conspiracy Homepage CHAPTER ONE The Deception OCTOBER, 31 A.D. The sky is as black as the darkest night imagined, filled with gloomy clouds colliding as they billow. A powerful wind is advancing from every direction, as if ready to unleash a hurricane. Thunderous roars can be heard as bright, crisp, eye-piercing lightning stretches out like mighty fists, destroying anything in its path. The earth shakes violently and rocks shatter into dust. Graves are unearthed and tombs are opened. Screaming, shouting and crying are heard for miles. The beasts of the field are seeking refuge from what appears to be a terrible disaster, as if the world is going to shatter into a million pieces. A woman’s voice is heard, painfully crying and sobbing, as she holds her head in her blood stained hands. “Heee’s dead! Uhhhhh! Heeee’s dead! My son is dead! Please take him down, take him down!” The Roman soldiers guarding the man ar

Chapter 1- Kit, Introduction To The Woman
with a wry smile she brought a half gloved hand to wipe over the buzzed portion of her head..fingernails tickling with the prickle of the small hair.. her bright red lips pulled into a coy smirk as she tilted her head and wrinkled her nose while she looked at him.. what was she thinking...this man meant nothing to her. a narrowly shaved brow lifted, the eye beneath tinted with a dark evergreen. her tongue slipped past and and slid over to a corner probbing the spot where her lips met and she lowered her eyes to the floor as she leaned back on a counter, the palms of her hands gripping its wooden edge, elbows slightly bent to support her weight. Ah yes..her weight..she was a small bean of a girl..thin arms, small thighs..little feet and a just smaller than normal chest which was Adorne with a white wife beater underneath a tattered green over lay, the top half of the shirts buttons had been popped off long ago..the shirt itself lasted her for a good ten years or so..but that w

Chapter 2- I Love Cars!
moving down the hall she sighed lightly and stopped at the end, just infront of her stood another window looking down upon the guards at the front door and the three men that had gotten out of the car.. but to her right was a set of stairs and she debated..~ do I go or do I stay?~ a soft chuckle escaped her lips and she tilted her head in thought..~I think I'll take my chances..~ she laughed out loud and pressed herself quickly to the wall, just milimeters from the open hallway leading down the stairs.. she brought her hands up infront of her and gave a devilish smile as her fingers entwined to make one of those childhood guns..if memory served her correct...~ thumb here..these two here..AH!~ she laughed again and held her stance..her knees bent and she used the wall to hold her particular small frame up. again she pushed her tongue into the joint of her lips and probbed it absently..not long after standing there slouched like that..she heard footsteps coming up the hall..she gri

Chapter 3- Hit The Road Jack!
After a few moments of twisting this, checking that, turning that knob bumping on that..she pulled herself from under the car and rolled her eyes back.." oh baby..you make me so hot..!" she cried out and then looked over towards the guards and gave them an insane smile.. "wassup boies" she raised a brow and then pulled herself from the ground to stand and slowly move towards them..shoving her hands back into her back pockets she tilted her head tonguing her own mouth and stopping in the crease again..she raised a brow in their direction..."nothin?" she bent over laughing and then flung herself backwards to laugh out loudly, her voice ringing in the breeze.. then she looked back at them and with a wide set grin she choked.." HA!" she turned to walk back towards the car.." didn't think so.." the two men exchanged glances and then shook their heads, returning to duty. Again she grasped the door handle..lucky bastards didn't know what hit them as she slid into the drivers seat an

Chapter 4- New York City
" I got my first real 6 string..over at the five and dime! played it till my fingers bled..it was the summer of 69!" The sound got louder and louder as her voice echoed through the valley.. " oh baby Bryan..sing it to me.." she squealed and wrinkled her nose..a faint glow had risen in her skin..she knew she couldn't stay in the sun for long due to certain bionical parts she had gotten long ago..but the thought was nice and the sun felt great..brown eyes opened and looked around as she sat up.. " damnit!" she cursed as she slid off of the car and pulled her overlay back onto her arms.." come here to get away and relax and its to freggin quiet!" she sighed and tossed her sunglasses back into her shirt pocket and she opened the car door..a blast of cold air hit her in the face and she chuckled.. " go figure..I say i'm tired and you give me the cold shoulder.." laughing she slid inside the car and started the engine.. she looked around and raised a brow.." where the hell am I?" th

Chapter 5- Old Time Diner
she brought a hand to quickly cover her tummy..she hadn't exactly eaten in the past few days and the rumbling in her belly made it perfectly clear that if she didn't eat soon she would wither away and die.."Dumb luck" she let a push of air pass her lips as she revved the motor and headed down the street she needed a place to eat.. tuning into the cars AI she pressed a button or two on the radio pad.. "I'm hungry where can I get some grub.." she spoke loud and clear and then raised a brow as the radio began to emitt and low humming sound..the AI spoke loudly.."You do not have authorization to drive this vehicle.." a nice small pause.." You do not have authorization to drive this vehicle.." over and over again it repeated until she pressed the off button and threw both of her hands on the wheel..the thin wire stretching from the gears to the wheel as it reeled from the tip of her finger.. she muttered and pouted her lips.." stupid car..I didn't want your opinion anyway.." she huff

Chapter 6- Music Video Mania
Cursing the bot as he left she bent down onto the table and poped her head on the surface a couple of times, each thud made a slight echoing sound and in turn it made her laugh lightly.. Sitting up quickly she threw her arms up as she forced all of the air otu of her lungs with a quick.."Daaammmnnn" and then let them fall dramatically to her sides, her hands flopping on the tight red leather seat..she was instantly struck with boredom and she let it show by slamming her palms down on the table top and drumming her fingers again, but bobbing her head to a def beat...then she wrinkled her nose and stood up into the seat and her eyes shifted all around her to those seated within the diner.. a devilish smile crossed her lips as she began to sing at the top of her lungs..."Got my first real six string..BOUGHT it at the five and dime...played it til my fingers bled...was the summer of 69!! Me and some guys from school had a band and we tried real hard..jimmy quit and jody got married..

Chapter 7- Litlle Girl...whats Your Name?
the car came to a sudden stop..she threw it in park..and then tossed her hands in the air..they came in contact with the ceiling of the car and she quickly brought her hands down and back up in a forceful fit.." FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!" her breathing had started coming on fast and blood rushed to her face to let it glow a soft cherry as her temper flared..~ what the fuck happened back there?~ she closed her eyes tightly and then slumped down into the seat and against the steering wheel.. she was parked there in the middle of the street and as she threw her fit a couple of people huddled together on the streets had lifted their heads to watch..a few even dared a laugh..She threw her hazel eyes at them and let them have the look of a thousand deaths as she opened the car door and hoped out.. slamming the door she slowly made her way around the car..her eyes looking everywhich way as she moved to the curb and shoving a hand into her front right pocket she pulled out a crinkled pack of

Chapter 8- Survival Of The Fittest
the two of them were silent as they rolled along the roads of old new york..tension had set in at least on Kits behalf as wide blue eyes, once staring out the window, errily turned to stare at her..she had a blank expression on her face and her fingers absently rubbed over the smooth leather of the seats..she sat snug in the corner of the door and her seat with her feet tangle up underneath her weight.. Her long brown hair sat kinked and knotted around her petit frame and as Kit drove, her eyes watched the girl every once in awhile, but tried to keep from making eye contact..her fingers absently drummed on the steering wheel as the girl just stared.. uneasily as they neared the Diner where Kit had performed her little musical dance... they got closer to the morgue still creeping along and suddenly she was struck by the site of the doors flipping outward and splintering..she raised a brow and then her eyes grew wide with fright..that..that..thing.."HOLY SHIT!" she squealed as the

Chapter 9- My Hero
laying there in a screen of smoke she coughed lightly and listened to the small girl as she whined lightly..kit tried to take a hand to her, to make sure she was alright..but she went unconscious and her head slumped against the door of the car..thankfully the small girl had been thrown into the floorboard and was unharmed except for a small bump on the head, but she was scared and she whined alittle louder as Kit passed out.. she climbed the best she could out of the floorboard and pressed her face to the windshield, there was a fire starting under the motor and it caused the heat within the vechile to rise..tears streamed her face as the cool glass soothed her reddened cheeks.. suddenly a really big man had shown up out of no where and yelled..." Cover yer face!!" and showed her what to do..quickly she covered her face with her arms and fell over top of Kit on instinct as the big mans hands went crashing through the windshield.. glass shattered around the two of them and bef

Chapter 10 - Nasty Cops
They continued to rock and as soon as the knock came upon the large doors her breath caught in her throat..she had to cover the small girls mouth and absently rub her stomach to get her to calm down so that they wouldn't be heard. the big man started to act confused about the whole situation but the knock upon the door came again and he moved to open them.. the commotion outside made Kit shiver and she hugged the girl that much closer to her as she heard the large mans voice get louder..everything seemed to be in a blur..her vision was tainted and her body was hurt in places she hadn't begun to feel yet..all that mattered was that the local police left her to herself.. in her arms the little girl turned and burried her face in Kits chest, her arms wrapping and grasping around her waist and shirt..her little eyes were closed as tightly as they could be for one so young and she took in a deep breath and then let it out heavily against her..Kit could barely smell the smoke that

Chapter 11- Hold On!
as she lay fallen and slowly being drenched in her own blood the small child began to squirm and cry louder and louder in the big man's arms..clinging to him helplessly..the entered Violet as Joseph echoed Kit.. "What is going on? What is that?" she did not register the girl as human offspring at first. "Shhh. It's ok darlin.." he tried to soothe the child as he pryed her loose from him and handed the once again squallng child to his bewildered android "little sister". Standing there was Android, Drednaught Violet Culver, 5'8", soft brown eyes stared almost blankly at the child..shoulder lenght brown hair swayed with her movements as she lifted her hands to take the child Joseph was throwing at her.. "For God sake Violet its a baby girl.. here take her or her uh sister there is gonna bleed her life out." her eyes switched to look at kit laying there on the floor. she held the screaming child at arms lenght as she shifted her gaze again to the little girl.. thigh hig

Chapter 12- Emergency
Joseph clasped the woman hard to him he saw the blood on her chin.With a sinking feeling he knew the glass had penetrated deeper than he had thought. "Hold still dammit! You wanna die or something?" he growled at her out of concern. "Vincent! Want is the ETA for a medivac!" he yelled out to the empty bar room. "Fifteen minutes minimum Joseph. Does she have time?" Vincent replied through bars sound system. He had already looked up the emergency postings of the local hospitals when he saw the woman hit the floor earlier. No dammit! Get the bike out I am gonna have to take her in." Kit had slumped over on him once again her breath came in ragged gasps - blood still bubbled on her lips. Joseph got the T shirt on her like a child dressing a doll and made for the doors which Vincent opened ahead of him. The bars delivery elevator rattled and from the depth below the bar rose Joseph's Victory 2300. Joseph put Kit on laying her in front of him on top of the bikes big fuel cell and cli

Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREE - Zepman's "How I Met Jimmy Page" ...and it made me wonder (now where have we heard that phrase before?) what I should do - should I ring the buzzer, or shouldn't I? I decided that since it was pure fate (and luck) that got me this far, why not push the button - if I was told to "get lost", or some kinder (or harsher) expression of the same meaning, I would fully understand, not be dismayed or disturbed by it, and would simply pass on my greetings to Mr. Page from one who was given great inspiration, motivation, and pleasure from his music - so, holding my breath, I reached out and pressed the button. A distinctly British voice answered, and I proceeded to explain who I was, where I was from, why I was in England, and how I happened to find out where Mr. Page lives. I also said that it would "mean a lot to me if I can thank Mr. Page for the inspiration to play guitar, since the first song I learned was Tangerine". He replied that "Mr. Page is in the studio n

Chapter Four
CHAPTER FOUR - Zepman's "How I Met Jimmy Page" I awoke to a beautiful, sunny summer day, with surprisingly little ill effects from my night of drunken abandonment. After a nice breakfast across the Thames in Eton, I decided to check out Windsor Castle, which is one of the "residences" the Queen stays at when not at Buckingham Palace. The Castle tour was fabulous, with my favorite places being the Armor room (with a fantastic collection of antique swords, guns, and rifles), and some of the gardens that were in full bloom at that time. Around 4 pm, I took several more pictures to finish that roll of film, then started making my way over to Page's house. I thought it would be appropriate, and a nice gesture, so I stopped in town to purchase a really fine bottle of wine (I didn't want to show up empty- handed!). While walking along the banks of the Thames on my way to Jimmy's residence, I started getting nervous, and worried that I would hear the same dreaded words, "Mr. Page is stil

Chapter Five (end Of Story)
CHAPTER FIVE - Zepman's "How I Met Jimmy Page" Note: Thanks for all of your patience, fellow Zeppelin fans, it's been a long winding road of a tale to get to this point, but I hope you found the telling interesting, nonetheless...tonight we get to the meat and potatoes of the story, the part you were all waiting for...but alas, as all true tales seem to have either a silver lining to a dark cloud, or vice-versa, there will be one more chapter published, The Epilogue, which will enlighten you on the aftermath of this encounter. ...as I rang the buzzer, now for the fourth time (and definitely last, I thought, if the same voice answered and told me yet again that "Mr. Page is still in the studio, but...", because I didn't want to seem like a pest, and I would just tell him to pass along my greetings, appreciation, and thanks for so many years of musical enjoyment, and the inspiration to play guitar myself), I admired the large, old trees on the properties in that area, and the vie

Chaplaincy: The Background For What We Do - "the History Of Chaplains - 3000+ Years"
Lately, I've been getting a LOT of questions regarding who we are, what we do and how we keep our sanity in an Industry that chews people up and spits them out. This is Part 1 of my answer. This first one is a history lesson! Enjoy! :-) From WikiPedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplain Chaplain From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search --> --> --> --> --> --> --> start content --> A chaplain is typically a member of the clergy serving a group of people who are not organized as a mission or church; lay chaplains are also found in some settings such as universities. For example a chaplain is often attached to a military unit (often known as padre), a private chapel, a ship, a prison, a hospital, a college or other (especially boarding) school, even a parliamentary assembly and so on. Lay persons may also be appointed as official or unofficial chaplains, particularly to organisations too small to justify an ordained chaplain. A chaplain in the

Chapped Lips..
Two bros scootin' on a crisp fall morning. First one signals to pull over. Second one says "What's wrong?" First one says, "Man my lips are really chapped and hurtin'." Second one says, "C'mon man, tough it out." Down the road the same thing happens, again. Second one says, "C'mon man, tough it out." First one signals for a third time to pull over. Disgusted, the second pulls over and walks into a farmer's field. There, he gets four fingers full of cow shit and returns to the scoots. First one says, "Is that goin' to stop my lips from hurtin'?" "No," says the second, "but it'll sure as hell keep you from lickin' 'em!"

Chapter 2
Midsummer Nights’ Dreams - His side How much longer could this go on? For the third night in a row, he woke up so hard that all it would take to finish would be touch it. Damn, but she was hot! Her voice rang in his head: Please! Please fuck me! Her hands were so smooth, her mouth was… inviting. Man, he’d like to meet her, whoever she was, to see if she was as good as he thought she’d be. He got out of bed, went to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took a swig from the soda bottle without getting a glass. The bubbles exploded in his stomach, sending tingles through him. He made his way back to bed, thought he could smell her, the musky scent that only warm pussy can give off. He closed his eyes, saw her face, imagined her pink lips open, waiting for him to put his dick between them. He took hold of it, sliding his fingers up-and-down, like she would. Like she would, faster, faster, he could even see her gorgeous hair as it lay on his legs, feel her breath on his s

Chapter 3 - Her Side
MSD: Night Seven - Her story One solid week of this! How could anybody come so hard every night for a week? The radio was playing a recognizable eighties song, Bon Jovi’s “Bad Medicine.” She chuckled to herself, remembering that this wasn’t the first time she’d had great sex, alone or with a partner, to this song. This dream guy, his green eyes, haunted her. She had thought she’d seen him during lunch today, buying a huge bouquet of daisies. She’d stopped almost dead, had spilled her soda, but managed to keep hold of her sandwich and book. She’d been bent over as he paid and walked away. She had turned around in time to see him going. A cheesy cliché had run through her mind: I’d wish I had a swing like that in my backyard. I’d take it apart and see how many screws I could get out of it. But seeing this person, so like her dream lover, had caused some uncomfortable wetness that she’d had to run back to the office and lock herself in the bathroom to take care of. And no

Chaplaincy: Faq
Thank you for exploring our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Please choose one of the following as best suites your needs: 1) FAQ for Corporations (General) 2) FAQ for Studios & Production Companies (Television/Film/Music/Agencies, etc). 3) FAQ for Bands 4) FAQ for Individuals & Celebrities

Chapter 3 - His Side
MSD: Night Seven - His story He hadn’t jacked off this much in one week since he had fallen in lust with that blonde chick from Bon Jovi’s “Bad Medicine” video, the one that flashed her extremely nice tits at the band. He had never wanted to be a rock star as bad as at that moment. But instead, here he was, with Bon Jovi on the radio and this dream re-playing in his head. The woman, she felt like she was really there when he dreamt of her, she just wasn’t next to him when he woke up. This afternoon, he had stopped to buy his mom a bouquet of daisies for her birthday, one for every year she’d lived. He had looked up in time to see her eyes, the mysterious changing blue-green color (they always turned green as she came in his dreams) flashing. Her eyes had slid him over and then were gone, the gold and red hints in her hair visible in the dappled sunlight. Seeing her, and it had to be her, had startled him so badly that he had just paid for his flowers and practically run away.

Chapter 5
MSD: Night Twelve - her side... She kicked her apartment door open far enough to sway through it, keys dangling in the lock as she breathed the familiar air. She kept her outlets filled with those plug things in her favorite scent, Warm Vanilla Sugar. Mmm, she thought in her impaired state, I love coming home. Not that she didn’t enjoy going out; she wasn’t necessarily a party animal, but she could hold her own on a group outing. It was just that in the last handful of days, her time alone had been spent pondering the mystery of her dreams. She had begun keeping a dream journal about a week into it, just to see if there were any similarities, any unifying facts, any hint as to who this man was and why this was happening to her. All she knew so far was that he was handsome, not in a Wrangler-butted, dirty cowboy way, nor was he a preppy, up-scale business type. Hell, he wasn’t even big-brother-of-your-best-friend-during-your-teenage-years adorable. But he was. He was all of

Chapter 6 - His Side - This One Makes Me Wet...
MSD: Night Twelve What a freakin’ night… he leaned against the door frame of his second-floor walk-up, not sure if he had the energy to finish the walk through the opening, even if it was Sara Evans on the video channel he had left playing. It had been a shitty day at work, “one of those days,” and he had decided at 3 o’clock that Happy Hour at the bar down the street from his house sounded like something he couldn’t pass up. Even the idea of running home to spend the evening in deep contemplation of the past two weeks’ worth of dreams, those hot, sexy, erotic, steamy, obscene, sensual dreams, mmm, dreams… wasn’t enough to keep him from a pitcher or three of something domestic, light, and cold. Despite his crappy day, and despite the alcohol in his system, or maybe a little because of both, he sat down at his computer to continue the list of details from those incredible dreams he’d started working on after, like, the seventh consecutive night. He thought it might help him figu

Chapter 7
MSD: Night Seventeen It had been a long day. She was sitting in her cubicle, in front of her computer, working late due to an emergency in work load because, apparently, her department had stolen a new I.T. guy from their sister division across town. It has caused some “restructuring.” She’d even worked through lunch to help her team finalize the trimester reports. So, now it was 6:30 pm and all she could think about was a large steak… well, maybe one other nice piece of meat… She giggled to herself, not really wanting to keep her mind from wandering down the now-familiar thought path. Since the dream in her living room just five nights before, she had become… used to the idea of her dream lover. I mean, beggars can’t be choosers, right? She’d decided to just enjoy it, “take it as it comes,” so to speak. The rumble in her stomach brought her mind back the here and now… I’ve got to get something in me… In the deli section of the grocery store, she looked, unimpressed, at th

Chapter 1 : First Date
Dan was a little nervous as he pulled in front of the big white house. He'd been enthralled with the looks of Jennifer Grayson for close to three months, ever since he'd seen her in the halls of school, and was as close to "in love" as any eighteen year old guy could be. He'd only recently gotten up the nerve to ask her out, and had spent a good share of his time simply fantasizing and watching her in the halls and in class. Almost every boy at Washington High was doing the same thing. Jennifer was the type of girl that was simply too beautiful to be approached by the normal high schooler. Her habit of wearing short skirts that showed her incredibly long legs, and her obvious distaste for bras made her food for every boys dreams. Jennifer was any boy's dream come true. Long, thick brown hair that reached almost to her waist, a wonderful sense of humor, a lot of brains, and a body most men, sixteen or not, would kill for. Although she didn't possess large breasts that most o

Chapter Two. Father's Grave.
"Tsk tsk Rain. You broke father's rule." a blood red haired man said. "Shut up Ymra. Didn't ask for a memory." Rain returned to his brother's comment. "Just cause you are older doesn't mean you can correct me." "I'm going to tell our brothers. You know they won't be happy." Ymra said turning towards town. "Just hope I can find them all. Nightmare will probably be the hardest. He never stays in one spot." "Well you're looking for a shadow. It was just once no one will really care." Rain said while sitting on the edge of a cliff. "You killed a man that you could be paid to kill. And doomed one to death." Ymra said then started walking off. "First time I've killed a man in twenty years." Rain yelled. "No big deal." His brother continued walking. Rain jumped off the cliff and fell to the ground below. He hit the ground and it collapsed under him, shattering out and he was off to a dead sprint toward the next town. His mind was running faster than he was.

Chapter Ii ... Payback
Chapter II: Payback Dan's heart began pounding again as he sat back in his seat. He watched Jennifer as she sat up, drawing her legs under her. She sat on her knees, and looked smilingly at Dan. Slowly, she pulled her blouse off and set it behind her. She turned back to him and cupped her breasts with her hands as she stared at Dan's hard-on rising from his lap. Her tongue poked out and she ran it over her lips. She reached her hand out and wrapped it once again around Dan's cock. She began to stroke him as she moved closer. "I wasn't going to tell you this tonight...." she whispered, "but I think I can trust you..." She began to lean forward. She kissed his mouth, running her tongue around his lips. She looked deep into his eyes. "I love the feel of a hard cock in my mouth, Dan...I always have....I love everything about it..." She was panting now, getting excited about what she was going to do. "I want to suck your cock, Dan...." she sighed. Her hand was flying over Da

Chapter Iii: A Little Family History
Chapter III: A Little Family History Jennifer closed the door silently and watched from the window as Dan pulled away. She, too, was feeling the love that was developing. Her hand closed around the wet handkerchief in her pocket. She thought that maybe tomorrow, at school, she'd find a way to get Dan alone. Somewhere....anywhere.... For now, she had another thing on her mind, though. The real reason she'd wanted to go into the house alone was that she'd seen her cousin Jeff's car parked beside the garage. Obviously he was home from college for a few days. Jennifer's parents had been killed in a tragic accident when she was just twelve. Her uncle and aunt had taken her in and ever since, had raised her with their son Jeff, as one of their own. What her uncle and aunt didn't realize though, was the relationship between the two cousins had blossomed over the years into something they probably wouldn't have approved of... And, although her mind was still on Dan, she wan

Chapter One:burial Of Jessalyn Marie
The evening breeze filled the air, not to cold but not to warm, just right as cool as could be...The monks moved from the temple followed by a coffin and two straight lines of the people of the Alinjah Realm. Following behind them was the Goddess Tennarrathe with her head lowered in honor of the funeral going on. The monk’s soft voices of the song of the Alinjah realm filled the evening through the wind. The wind carried their voices over the entire realm which awoken the other creatures of the realm whom began to gather within the walk. . Tears flowed down Manie's cheeks and soaked her red silky blindfold given to her by her twin sister Jessalyn Marie Shadowbane. Ravn walked in silence with her head lowered not a word spoken from her as she continued on her way behind the casket that carried Jessalyn. The sun within the sky was shining brightly however it was not filled with warmth and happiness as it normally was but on this day it was filled with sadness and pain it would seem li

Chapter Iv: New Romance
Chapter IV: New Romance It was almost noon when Jennifer awoke from her slumber. She felt wonderfully rested and refreshed, considering all that had transpired the night before. She knew she could explain away her absence from morning classes and didn't give it a second thought. One of the advantages of being a straight "A" student, was that you could goof off once in a while and get away with it. As she showered, she thought of Dan. If she hurried, she could still make it to chemistry class, which was her first class with him, anyway. Her mind turned to the previous night at the drive-in, and she began to get excited. She couldn't wait to see him again. She'd never felt to happy in her whole life. She quickly finished her shower, and dried her hair. She rifled through her closet for something to wear, and chose a relatively conservative medium length black skirt and a gray silk blouse. As she slipped the blouse over her shoulders, the coolness of the fabric made her nipple

Chapter V: A Vee Bit Of Voyuerism
Chapter V: A vee bit of voyuerism "Hi, Mr. Renquist..." she said cheerfully. She hoped she looked at least half-way presentable. From the look on Dan's father's eyes as they danced over her, she figured she was. She relaxed and smiled. This time for real. "Hi, Dad!" Dan called out, trying to control the shaking in his voice. "You're home early...!" Dan's father looked at him with a gleam in his eyes and a half smile on his lips. "I have to get some paperwork from the study..." he said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything..." He looked over at Jennifer with a "concerned" look in his eyes, then smiled. "Uh...no...." Dan stammered. "Jennifer and I were just discussing.. uh.. homework.. right, Jen?" Jennifer looked directly into Mr. Renquist's eyes and smiled. "Uh-huh...homework..." She stepped over to sit beside Dan, her eyes still fixed on his father. Her smiled increased when she saw his eyes drop to her legs as she sat, and she made no attempt to adjust her sk

Chapter Vi: Developing Interests
Chapter VI: Developing Interests The rest of the week was comparatively uneventful for Jennifer. The only class she shared with Dan on Thursday was a long study hall in the afternoon, but they had no opportunity to sneak away as they'd hoped. And after school, Dan had football practice, which negated any plans they might have had for getting together for some fun. Now that Jennifer had exposed her true sexual self to Dan, he couldn't get his mind off her. He found himself walking around with an almost perpetual hard-on as he thought of her mouth on his cock, and the look of pure sexuality on her face as he came in her mouth. He'd never met anyone who enjoyed sex on the level that Jennifer Grayson did. On one hand, she was the picture of demure innocence in the presence of others. On the other she was the consummate slut when they were alone. The way that she would tease him, flashing her panties or tits at him when she was certain no one was looking...the way she would run

Chapter Vii: Experimenting In The Lab (1)
Chapter VII: Experimenting In The Lab As Jennifer made her way towards the chem. Lab, her mind was whirling. She'd always been a cock-teaser, there was no denying that, nor was she anything but proud of it. She knew she was a great tease, and luckily, was attracted to guys who were attracted to teasing. What was giving her pause was the level at which her sexuality was expressing itself lately. She'd always been a tease, yes. But she'd never let it go beyond that, until these last few weeks. She was truly loving acting the slut with Dan and had always had a bit of that in her with her steadier boyfriends. Once she got to trust them that they wouldn't blab in the locker room, she was more than willing to open up, so to speak... And all of her boyfriends were made fully aware that if any word of their exploits made it into the boys' friendly war stories, that it would be the end of the line for them. That always seemed to keep them in line. And, even though she always hated movin

Chapter Vii: Experimenting In The Lab (2)
When Jennifer walked into the lab, general pandemonium was pretty much the rule. Students were everywhere, sitting on the lab tables, leaning out of the windows...pretty much just enjoying their freedom. She saw Dan in the back, reserving their lab table. He was already wearing his lab coat and was talking with Shannon West, a gorgeous blond cheerleader that Jennifer had never really gotten to know. She knew of Shannon's reputation as a "party girl" though, and felt a moment of jealousy as she watched Dan talking and laughing with her. He was obviously acting interested, and Shannon was obviously flirting with him, placing her hand on his arm and pressing her nubile body against his as they laughed. As Jennifer walked towards them though, her jealousy disappeared. After what she'd just experienced with Mr. Redfield, to say nothing of what she'd done with Todd Bridges in the breezeway of the school, she realized that she had little right to be jealous. Dan was having some fun, just

Chapter Vii: Experimenting In The Lab (3)
Shivering at the feel of his hand, she moved her right hand out, brushing against the tent in Dan's lab coat. She heard him sigh and felt his hand tighten on her thigh. Both of them stared ahead, trying to make it appear that they were still working on their experiment as their hands began to move. Dan couldn't resist her suggestive moves, or the feel of her leg. He began to move his hand up and down her inner thigh, letting it go a little higher with each pass. Shannon sighed and let her legs part more, encouraging him to continue. Her own fingers curled around the tent in his coat, encircling his hard cock. Feeling the heat of his organ through the lab coat, she looked at him with a lust filled grin. "You were a bit more than a 'little' nasty, I think..." she whispered. Working her fingers between the buttons of his coat, the sexy cheerleader finally contacted his naked cock. Dan groaned as he felt Shannon's fingers close around him and begin to pump his staff. Glancing a

Chapter Viii: The Weekend
Chapter VIII: The Weekend Jennifer's engines were still running hotter than they ever had as the three of them walked through the breezeway. She glanced to the corner where she'd been with Todd Bridges that morning. She squeezed Dan's arm as she remembered how Todd had felt coming in her hand. She definitely owed Dan an extra exciting time. She'd left him hard all morning long, while she'd taken pleasure in making two other men come with her hand. She definitely owed him an extra good come. And it wouldn't be with her hand this time. Her mouth was going to do the work this time, and she would let Dan decide where to shoot his semen. She knew that she would enjoy his choice...wherever that would be. Squeezing her boyfriend to her, she glanced over at Shannon, wondering what thoughts were going through the young blonde's mind. She was about to ask her, when the toot of a car horn made the three of them look up. "Shit!" Shannon cursed. "It's Randy..." Randy was Shann

Chapter Viii: The Weekend (2)
"Come here..." she whispered, pulling Dan closer. Confused at first, Dan moved close to his girlfriend, then realized what she was doing. Smiling he straddled Shannon's body, moving close to Jennifer. She curled her fingers around his hard-on as he knelt over Shannon. Jennifer raised herself up slightly, and placed Dan's cock between Shannon's tits, then pushed the girl's breasts together, making a warm fuck tunnel for Dan's prick. She heard Shannon groan underneath her and smiled as Dan reached out to fondle her own tits. He began to slide his cock back and forth, fucking Shannon's tits as he squeezed and pinched Jennifer's. "I want to see you come on her tits..." Jennifer teased. "I want you to shoot your hot thick cum all over her...then I'm going to lick it all off..." Dan groaned, feeling his balls filling and tingling. Jennifer smiled at the look of pure pleasure on her boyfriend's face. Looking into his eyes, she lowered her pussy closer to Shannon's tits. Using her thig

Chapter Ix: Pool Party!
Chapter IX: Pool Party! Dan was still lying face down on the carpeting, pretending to be asleep. His hard-on was still providing him a bit of discomfort, but he'd managed to adust his position slightly without drawing the girls' attention. Now all he had to do was control himself while he listened to Shannon telling her story to Jennifer as they sat on the couch just three feet away from him. He knew that his 'awakening' would certainly not put out the fires that had been raging through the three of them, but his voyeuristic side was enjoying secretly listening and watching Shannon and Jennifer interact. Jennifer's story had certainly set the mood and Shannon was just beginning her tale. He grinned to himself as he began to realize that all those rumors circulating about the cheerleader were based at least on some level of fact... He slowly, imperceptibly he hoped, turned his head to allow for a better view of the two girls on the couch and had to stifle a groan. Both girls wer

Chapter X: Before The Beach Party... A Pool Party
Chapter X: Before the Beach Party... A Pool Party Giggling and laughing, the girls ran to the house, leaving the door open for Dan as they ran up the stairs to Shannon's room. Dan followed at a leisurely pace. Shutting the door behind him, he saw that there was no one else at home. Grinning, he made his way upstairs. He found Shannon's room from the sound of the shower and crept inside. Peering into the bathroom, he could see the steamy outline of two naked bodies as the girls showered. Grinning again, he made his way closer, stepping to the glass and slowly sliding the doors open. He felt his cock begin to expand as he looked inside. Shannon and Jennifer were gloriously naked, and giggling as they soaped each others bodies. Their hands moved slowly over each other's breasts and asses. It was an incredibly erotic sight, and Dan's cock was suddenly very uncomfortable inside his tight swim suit. He smiled as Jennifer noticed him watching them. She turned to him and grinned, h

Chapter Xi: Beach Party!
Chapter XI: BEACH PARTY! Dan walked up to Jennifer as she stood in the doorway. He drew her into his arms, feeling her full breasts pressing into his chest. His hands moved over her back as they exchanged a wet, passionate kiss, and from the feel of her skin, he knew she was naked under her skirt and T-shirt. Jennifer smiled sexily at him as he looked into her eyes. "I decided against a bathing suit." she said, her eyes bright and burning. "I have a feeling that there won't be a lot of swimming going on tonight..." Dan nodded in agreement, glancing down at her hard nipples pushing out from her shirt. "And if you do decide to get wet, you'll look fabulous in what you have on....", he said. Jennifer smiled and ran her hand over his flat belly, moving slowly lower until it slid over his hard cock. She squeezed him lovingly before moving lower to cup his re-filled balls. "I definitely plan on getting wet tonight..." she teased, her hand returning to his cock. "But not f

Chapter Xii: Burning Ring Of Fire!
Chapter XII: Burning Ring of Fire! Dan was also feeling the heat as he and Jennifer slowly made their way through the crowd of kids. Instead of feeling jealousy, he was feeling pure excitement as he watched boys and girl's running their hands over Jennifer's body as she walked. And, of course, the fact that he was getting his own share of female hands running over his crotch as he walked didn't hurt matters. This was obviously a group that enjoyed sex purely for the sake of sex. A number of the kids were stark naked as they brushed against one another, and more than once he noticed a young girl on her knees...sucking a cock...sometimes two and three...and sometimes even a girlfriend. More than a few kids had spread blankets over the sand and were fucking in every conceivable position. The kids that stood around them were either making comments on technique, or getting themselves aroused at the sights. But just as many were focusing on the action around the fire, peering over ea

Chapter Xiii: Jennifer's Heat (1)
Chapter XIII: Jennifer's Heat Jennifer could see Dan as he walked away from the fire ring with April. She felt a momentary pang of jealousy that was quickly replaced with a smile. From the look on Dan's face as he walked away, she knew he was simply off for a good time. And from her conversation with Tracy a minute ago, she also knew that the plans she had gave her little room for jealousy. Laughing to herself, she turned to follow Tracy around the circle. Through the groups of people, she caught occasional glimpses of Shannon as the two girls moved closer to their friend. At first, Jennifer thought Shannon might be too close to the fire, as her body was covered with a shiny layer of sweat. Then as they got close Jennifer sighed in awe. The glistening sheen was not from sweat after all. Shannon's skin was shiny, all right, but from semen, not from sweat. Jennifer stood and watched in amazement as Shannon sucked one cock after another, sometimes taking the boy's thick load in he

Chapter Xiii: Jennifer's Heat (2)
Jennifer moaned and moved into position behind them. She could see in her mind what she was going to do and her heart was beating furiously. She leaned forward, placing one hand on Kevin's tight ass, and the other between Shannon's wide-spread legs, moving higher and higher until she felt Shannon's wet pussy. Without hesitating, she plunged two fingers inside her, fucking her fast as she leaned over to Kevin's ass. Parting his cheeks, Jennifer ran her tongue from his low hanging balls to his asshole, pausing to push her tongue deep inside as she heard him groan. She began to fuck his asshole with her tongue, desperately trying to synchronize her rhythm with his face fucking. When she finally got it right, she smiled to herself and reached down to cup his balls, squeezing them gently as she felt them slap against Shannon's chin. Finally, when she felt Kevin's balls begin to dance in her hand, she released them. Moving her finger to his sopping wet asshole, toying with his tight ring and

Chapter Xiii: Jennifer's Heat (3)
Jennifer smiled and walked a little further, pausing to watch couples, groups and singles heatedly doing things to each other or themselves. She could feel her heart begin to pound as the lust within her began to grow again. She was still intent on finding Dan and the others, but Jennifer couldn't resist a brief pause when she came upon a group of guys standing in a circle around a couple fucking on a blanket. The girl was sitting, reverse-cowboy style, on her boyfriend's size-able cock, and Jennifer sighed as she watched the boy slide in and out of her pussy, pulling out until just his head was between her lips, then slowly fucking his entire length inside her, making her groan. The young blond had her head thrown back, and on either side of her stood a boy. Her hands were around their hard-ons, stroking them as she got fucked from below. Jennifer's excitement grew as she watched the boy on the left begin to shake, then groan as he began to cum over the blonde's tits. She looked down,

Chapter 2
This is Chapter 2 Im up to ten So if U like message me and I'll post the rest I have 10 so Far WooHoo. I did write myself Arnt you impressed HaHa Chapter 2 I grab some lotion and warm it up rubbing my hands until the coldness is gone I have you roll on your stomach, and get comfortable. I begin by rubbing you loose all over your body as rough or gentle as you like. As the lotion soaks in your soft skin your body becomes tingly and you are almost limp your so relaxed. As you begin to drift off you feel my hands working up the inside of your leg, Im sitting on the side of you knelt down so I can pull your leg making it limber. As I slowly move closer and closer to your smooth pussy, as I rub and pull towards me over and over, your pussy becomes moist and you begin to moan in pleasure, I keep doing it until I can here your breath getting more and more intense. I bend down to kiss your ass I gently kiss you all over your backside gently biting at your skin, you smell so good I wanna

Chapter 3
Chapter 3 I want to force you to your knees so I can hold your head and thrust my hardness into your mouth. Has there ever been another woman who enjoyed sucking cock more than you, my little cocksucker? Is there anything to compare with the excitement you generate in me when you give yourself over to the heat and hardness of a thick shaft between your lips? The sighs and moans. The grinding of your ass as you attempt to quell the heat between your thighs. The wet softness of your lips and tongue around my prick. Lick my balls, bitch, and suck my nut. You know you love it, you hungry slut. That's it. Now nibble my head with your lips. Ah yes - now take it in your mouth - all of it. I want to feel you all around me. I want to feel my head in your throat. Now swallow so your muscles milk my cock. That's it, cunt. Drive me wild with your mouth. Bring it up. Take me to the point of no return. Yes. Now. I’m gonna make you gag on my cock. NOW get down on all fours. I'm going to sti

Chapter 4
Chapter 4 The time we had chatted we had gotten the curiously going we both were aroused by our emails back and forth. We even tryd to meet on occasions, just never seemed to happen. Then one day out of the blue I received an email saying how you couldn't stand it anymore, you had to meet me it was killing you. It had been a long week and you were ready to be taken advantage of and made to please someone. You felt really naughty and you wanted to be bad. It was my lucky day you said, you didn't want to wait and play games anymore. You were at the point of fucking the first thing that walked by. You really wanted to suck my cock bad you had been thinking about it all day. We had another one of those fun chats, it had really gotten you so worked up your panties were soaking.This time we decided that the only way to meet was to find a spot we could easily get to and was easy to find somewhere to fuck. It was like we were thinking the same thing Starbucks it was a cute little

Chapter 5
Chapter 5 It was a gloomy day out that day and we decided to stay home for the day Pam was gonna workout inside and I was going to do some work around the house, I needed to catch up on. I didn't really want to work to much in the yard. I just assumed to stay inside and snuggle in bed with Pam. So the day was getting worse weather wise so I decided to call it quits for the yard, let the leafs fall where they may. I went in to find Pam watching her porn fucking her pussy with her dildo, she had her legs spread wide fucking herself her moans were slow and soft and they were increasing as she kept pushing it slowly in and out. I didn't want to say anything until she made herself cum. I could tell she was getting close to cumming the moans became more and more intense. As she let out a scream of anticipation. She took a deep breath and as she was watching the end of the movie that's when she noticed me watching. It startled her and she asked how long I had been standing there. I sai

Chapter 6
Chapter 6 I rushed home knowing you would be there with Pam you two had got the day off to get to know each other more before we actually met. It was supposed to be a surprise but Pam is so bad she couldn't resist telling me I had a big surprise waiting for me. I could only imagine all day at work I was fantasizing about it I was hoping the surprise would be you two together. I had no Idea you two were with each other all day. You two were out playing all day going to spa, shopping at victoria's secret and getting sexy outfits to model for me. BUt as I found out later you two were in the dressing room trying on the outfits and you both started to suck on each others nipples and finger each other to orgasm, the ladies at the store must have heard giggling cause they were checking you two out as you left, I'm sure they were loving it, wishing they were in there with you two as well. After a day out you two had came back to the house and made everything special. There were flo

Chapter 7
Chapter 7 It felt odd but yet so exciting. Pam and I had discussed what if the woman wanted me for herself, would she be comfortable with it. She insisted that to have fun is to let go the feelings that I'm cheating. She wanted me to experience a date persay. We have been so happy with eachother and we want to experience the wilder side of our marriage and sexual desires. As if it didn't sound amazing enough, We were chatting with you on a day to day basis friendly hellos, sexy little flirts and always â€œwhat ifâ€ was my response. Then one day I was checking email on my break and saw the email that said. â€œWhat Timeâ€ Of course I clicked immediately not caring what or who was around. The message seems like its taking forever to open. Finally It opens and immediately I smile the first line said. OK the time has come, to take this to the next level. Its time to finally meet face to face. I couldn't believe that we were actually going to meet. We both were a bit cautious

Chapter 8
Chapter 8 After the amazing sensual rub down you gave me I was soon ready to take on our next, little romp. This time you wanted me give you something from behind. I wasn't exactly the best at it. My wife and I had try'd it several times and it was so tight but her sensations, were still unbelievable, she would tell me that it made her cum so fast and good. So as I took hold of your hips they were so nice and sexy I caressed you first kissing your back down to the top of your ass. Gently biting it you, smelled so delicious, like a desert. It was so hard not to bite you tasted so sweet. I reached over to grab the lube so it would be easier to shove my cock in. I licked your ass and kissed on it. The same time Iâ€™ve been working on your pussy it was so wet your cum was just dripping down the sides of your smooth pussy, and the sides of your legs, moaning in pleasure you were so sexy looking at you from behind your ass was lubed so nice I was working it loose. Ready to drive my co

Chapter 9
Chapter 9 It was just about time to go home, I had not heard from anyone today, It was all quiet. Pam had called and said she wanted to take some things back to the store. She may be awhile, she said to try and see if you were available, to keep me company. I hoped you would call me and you had talked about it all I could do was to email you when I got home only knowing you wernt on. You never talked much at night. I got home and saw you were still online, I was so happy to catch you finally. I asked you if you had plans and you said you had just finished everything and that's why you were on you were gonna surprise me. You did I was so happy. You were busy all day getting your stuff done to surprise me at night. I soon asked the question I ask everyday, but diffident this time, I asked you to think of something you wanted to eat. You had been having cravings and couldn't find the time to get it. I responded back that I would get it for you really not thinking you would say yes.

Chapter 1 The Escape
I don't know who I am. I awoke surrounded by creatures with no will of their own. They follow my wishes, but speak no words. Its maddening. Already once I have sent a few to their doom for no good reason. Does that make me a monster or just a tyrant? Are they alive? Am I? Perhaps this is payment for an earlier life of death and destruction. I would leave, but I feel that the answers I seek can be found nowhere else. Maybe, I simply can't. It matters not for I haven't tried. These lemmings who worship me seem destined to fall prey to every little thing. Last... how long ago was that? How long have I been here? Anyway, the lemmings who live south of the river fell prey to a band of maddened fools. I watched it all from here. They were busy trying to put water in a bottomless bucket when a group of bell ringers decided to use their skulls as bells. I must say that they somehow did achieve a melody, In spite of the screams... This lasted until a second group arrived to eat the

Chapter 2 Lost Souls
Chapter 2 Entry 1 For the first few weeks after leaving lemming cove, I wandered more or less aimlessly. It was during this time that I reflected on the significance of my so called escape. My kind has always took what they wanted, with little or no care of consequence. I guess arrogance comes with total immortality and absolute power. Mother, GAIA, always gave me whatever I... whatever we wanted. That... That was to be our downfall. When one can do almost anything, you begin to focus on the almost. There were nine voices in our choir. Nine different visions of what reality should be. This was not our most shining moment, for our whims were still being created. We, my kin and I, are responsible for JEALOUSY, GREED, ENVY, HATE, RAGE, and Ultimately DEATH. GAIA constructed all of these, even the ones that enslaved their masters. From these new additions to our reality, it was only natural that we turn to our darker halves. Nine Edens warred with each other. Nine paradises were lost. O

Chaplaincy: Frequently Asked Questions For Corporations (general)
Frequently Asked Questions for Corporations (General) What is The Entertainment Industry Chaplains? The Entertainment Industry Chaplains (TEIC) is an organization that places chaplains in companies, with bands, on set, on location, and provides personal services to individuals in the Entertainment Industry. Through TEIC, companies can offer a Chaplain Assistance Program (CAP) as an employee benefit, outsourcing stress management and employee care to a business that cares for businesses. How will the program be introduced to my employees? Before a TEIC chaplain starts work with a client, an orientation meeting is held to explain the ground rules, including chaplain confidentiality. This meeting is similar in tone and function to other benefits orientation meetings, with a time for questions and answers. At the end of the orientation employees receive a business card with the chaplain’s toll-free telephone number. How do I deal with employees who may not want a chapl

Chapter 1
December 11th, 1999 Florence, Italy Living as a bachelor, in a two hundred year old Victorian house, Antonio Naccaratto was an ordinary John Doe working as a CEO in the corporate world. But what he didn’t know was that he was a puppet in this world…a lost soul being toyed with. Antonio has no clue that his life is about to change forever… As he walked along the dark streets of Italy, shadows crossed his path, he felt as though he was being watched. Moving faster, he would look over his shoulder to see nothing but shadows lurking in the darkest part of the structures in the surrounding area. As he turned the corner he saw some sort of movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned just in time to see, what looked to him at that point in time, to be a giant bat. Having no time to run, he was forced to ground. The last thing that he could remember was the feeling of sleep crossing over his very soul as he slowly faded into the world of unconscious nothingness. Awakened by the so

Chapter 2 - The First Of The Three Spirits
When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that looking out of bed, he could scarcely distinguish the transparent window from the opaque walls of his chamber. He was endeavouring to pierce the darkness with his ferret eyes, when the chimes of a neighbouring church struck the four quarters. So he listened for the hour. To his great astonishment the heavy bell went on from six to seven, and from seven to eight, and regularly up to twelve; then stopped. Twelve! It was past two when he went to bed. The clock was wrong. An icicle must have got into the works. Twelve! He touched the spring of his repeater, to correct this most preposterous clock. Its rapid little pulse beat twelve: and stopped. ``Why, it isn't possible,'' said Scrooge, ``that I can have slept through a whole day and far into another night. It isn't possible that anything has happened to the sun, and this is twelve at noon!'' The idea being an alarming one, he scrambled out of bed, and groped his way to the window. He wa

Chapter 3 - The Second Of The Three Spirits
Awaking in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that the bell was again upon the stroke of One. He felt that he was restored to consciousness in the right nick of time, for the especial purpose of holding a conference with the second messenger despatched to him through Jacob Marley's intervention. But, finding that he turned uncomfortably cold when he began to wonder which of his curtains this new spectre would draw back, he put them every one aside with his own hands; and lying down again, established a sharp look-out all round the bed. For he wished to challenge the Spirit on the moment of its appearance, and did not wish to be taken by surprise, and made nervous. Gentlemen of the free-and-easy sort, who plume themselves on being acquainted with a move or two, and being usually equal to the time-of-day, express the wide range of their capacity for adventure by observing that they are good f

Chapter 4 - The Last Of The Spirits
The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded. He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved. ``I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?'' said Scrooge. The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand. ``You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us,'' Scrooge pursued. ``Is that so, Spirit?'' The upper portion of the garme

Chapter 5 - The End Of It
Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in! ``I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!'' Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. ``The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this! I say it on my knees, old Jacob; on my knees!'' He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his call. He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears. ``They are not torn down,'' cried Scrooge, folding one of his bed-curtains in his arms, ``they are not torn down, rings and all. They are here: I am here: the shadows of the things that would have been, may be dispelled. They will be. I know they will!'' His hands were busy with his garments all this time: turning them inside out, putting them o

Chapter Three. Enter The Deadman Unfinished>
Rain woke up in the bed of a hotel room. A hotel-worker was sitting in a chair in the room, "You have been asleep for three days. A pale, black haired man dropped you off here." Rain sat up and looked out of the window. "Now that you are awake i can send in your guests." She stood up and Rain shot out of the bed to a corner. "Mister rain it's ok. Your weapons are being cleaned now." She walked to and opened the door. Rain looked around for any type of weapon he could use. As he scrambled around, a large, cloth-armored man walked through the door. "Rain" Roared the man with his deep, gutteral voice. Rain stopped and turned around to face the man. "Shank! It's been so long brother, how are you?" Rain said in surprise and shot accross the room to his brother. Shank put his hand up and Rain's head hit it and he flipped over into the wall. "Rain I'm here to get you and take you home. The Chief says you cannot run around right now. More people may be hurt." The lar

Chapter 1!
[flash back] [amanda's pov] justin: *walks up to amanda and wraps arms around her waist* hey baby, i'm gonna go to town real quick. ok? amanda: *points* but but but :-(... *sighs* ok justin: *kisses amanda's neck* dont worry, i'll be back, i'm invincible. amanda: *smiles and laughs then kisses ustin* okay, but you better hurry back. justin: be back, like kangaroo jack. amanda: lol. okie. i love you. justin: i love you too baby. *walks out of house into car, starts it up and drives away* [justin's pov] oh my gosh, i'm going to go pick up the ring that i'm going to propose to amanda with. gah i love her so much. -i chimed in haven't you people ever heard of, closing the god **** door no, it's much better to face these kinds of things, with a sense of poise and rationality- (okay now for those who know justin know he doesn't like this song but this is the old justin i'm talking about)

Chapter 2!
[justin's pov still] i get out of the car at the jewlery store, walking in i spot this silver ring (since amanda told me she preferred silver over gold), it had a beautiful blue sahire in the middle with little diamonds around it. it was small, but i know amanda would love it. she's never really been one to be too crazy about something big, just something small and meaningful. i ask the clerk how much it is and he said it was on sale for $200. i handed him my credit car and he give me the ring in a silky celcet black box, my credit card, and the reciept. we exchange goodbye's. then i get in the car and drive home. [end of justin's pov] [nobody's pov] justin walks in the house and finds amanda sitting on the couch watching degrassi. justin: are you watching degrassi again? lol. amanda: *smiles big* uh-uh. justin: *shakes head and laughs sitting next to amanda, wrapping his arms around her cuddling her* amanda: *smiles placing a hand on his neck kissing him softly* justin: (

Chapter 10
Just something Else Ive do To I havnt been doing much of lately this was the last one I did Chapter 10 Heres a treat Im sitting there working and trying to get out a RUSH Job clients calling on phone Press guys are screaming on EMAILS at Me WE NEED THE PDF ASAP OR NOW... Rush Rush Rush. In panic mode I'm making things happen and just as I finish with the most recent revisions. I take a deep breath stretch my arms up in a sigh of releif, knowing that now I have only to wait on them for their approval. With only minutes to grab something to eat and feed the cats and the outdoor cats Pam has lured in with her food and Happiness, wash what dishes in the sink and run back to check email for the approval. Im beat I try to check on Pam shes coming home from a long night of work and a meeting with her Skin Care Specialist, HAHA Sephora and a Mall fix. She answers and said she's on her way home. So "DING" The email rings its another quick revision to one of the Ads Damn 12 times o

Chapter I
Dream away... Dream away... As I fall into this world, only seen by my minds eye. Everything becomes quiet, the darkness, like a blanket, falls over me. Eyes likes stars sparkle in the head of the woman I love. Along side this woman of pure beauty, sits a black rose, full of mystery and dark as the night sky. As mysterious as they are, I can't help but to love them. But all good things come to an end. And as the water begins to rise, and fade things out. It's been a while since I've felt anything. A reoccurring nightmare... Awakening in a cold sweat, back in this hell again. Living through a day of nothing. I've fallen back into what I was. Torn in two by love for one and wanting of another. I really need to decide before I hurt someone, or myself. If you truly love someone, you should be able to let them go when the time comes. And to start anew, so strange, so New. Things will be different this time around, I can feel it, but then again that could be just gas (*th

Chapter Ii
Dream away... Dream away... I've slumped into the darkness again, I wish someone would turn on the damn lights. Ah that's better a new look into what my mind has perceived as the true world that I live in. I wish, no!, I really wish that I could figure out why I keep coming here to think, of all places! I picked a black, then a red rose. Sniffing each one and wondering where she is. Oh yeah that's right, you don't know her. My mind-scape twists and forgets minor details like that date I had last night. Revelations!! Have you ever missed someone so much that you wish for just one minute that they would show up and be there with you? I think of her eyes and there they are staring right back at me, but... no can't be! This must be a dream, because I don't remember inviting her into my rose garden. She picked a black rose and sniffed it. I know she said something profound about this garden of black and red roses but yet nothing came out of her mouth. The tiki torches are

Chapter Iii
Dream Away... Dream Away... To jump, or a leap of faith, the BIG question in life! Death is a forewarner of future events. But I am uncertain! I keep having the same dream: A wedding, mine in fact, accompanied by my past. Death and the after life as my groomsmen. The most wonderful part of the dream was the Bride! My love, my life, my world. The isle covered with black rose pedals. This is no wedding, this is a funeral of a dream. Why do I feel as if I don't belong in this world, this time, this place? Anger fills the garden, Burning it to the ground like a wild fire in a dry forest. Ashes fall to the ground around me, blanketing the sky, in a thick gray mess of thoughts. Awakening again into this world of hell that holds me here. Shackled to this demise that I have created. What does hold me here? I know my love, my life, my sweetheart, she keeps me here. I still feel as if I'm not supposed to be here in this... place! I've come to learn that death is a world

Chapter Iv (long Post!)
Dream Away... Dream Away... Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is a form of god, and to de from love means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source. If we reason, would we be understood; if we imagine, would we that the airy children of our brain were born anew within another's; if we feel, would we that another's nerves should vibrate to our own, that the beams of their eyes should kindle at once, and mix and melt into our own; that lips quivering and burning with the hearts best blood. This is love. Not some text book love, but a love of immeasurable plains. A feeling that surpasses all of the expectations and desires to fall into the sea of love. So let me drown in my loves heart, if this is what its like to feel love. Love gives naught but itself, and takes naught but from itself. Love p

Chapter V
Dream Away... Dream Away... I just want to be happy! The last thing i want is to lose the one I love. It's like they say, "People come and people go", its the same with friends. I'm tired of trying to please everyone I consider a friend. I'm in love with my angel, cause there is a god, of some sort, that wants me to be happy and free from my past. I'm not saying my actions or words have been the best, but hey, everyone must learn from their mistakes. Trust me the mistakes keep happening. I wonder what anyone will say if they knew what I've been through. I don't trust love anymore! There is no love, just attraction. What is the angel I love, really in truth was wearing a mask to hide the lies? Relationships are screwed up like that. Like me, I love an angel and she loves me not. If only people believed me! Lately I haven't lied or twisted anything around. I don't want anymore trouble. I'm now starting to realize what everyone has tried to teach me. The truth is a v

Chapter One
Chapter 1 In the very heart of Watergate, in a tavern renowned for its ale and its secrets, six old friends gathered about a table in a cozy, private room. Thick walls of fieldstones and ancient beams muffled the sounds coming from the kitchen, and the taproom beyond, and in the middle of the four walls was a lamp that glowed with faint blue light. The lamps magical devices kept any sound from leaving the room; it also barred inquisitive mages from scrying in. In all the scene was common enough; the friends were not. “I learned of this just last evening,” said Bethany Neathal, a striking blonde whom despite the early hour, was draped in white silk and ropes of pearls. “I was entertaining a prince of one of those lesser kingdoms-and he spoke at length about a vampire on one of the islands. He said something about a vampire coming here and making a home for himself in the Black Forest. He claims the vampire would bite its prey and drink its blood, but if the vampire di

Chapter Four
Give me your hand, (Conceived and born was one of light) blood is spilt and man will follow infernal man, (Rain and dark, the other born black night) punishment too great to bear Raise your head and taste the courage (the one of light) Fall from grace, unholy night I've come here to kill you, won't leave until you've died Murder born of vengeance, I closed my brothers eyes tonight... It's cold tonight as the clouds turn grey and from my hands to my brothers grave You took his side, you took his gift, feel the power of a fallen man, crestfallen man... Far away in this land I must go, out of the site of the One. A punishment sent from his hand a hardship that no one should know Now go out of the site of the One, away in this land you must go. Where has he gone? What have you done? A voice commands from high above this earth. From the soil his blood cries out to me Murder, liar, vengeance, deceit. Far away in this land I must go, out of the sit

A Chapter Closed
I HAVE RELEASED MY INNER POET. A Chapter Closed By Tommy Reed A chapter closed, A chapter gone. The pages filled, The story done. A happy ending? Well, not this time. The sad reality, This story is mine. The laughs and tears, Still remain. The fun and fear, Gone again. The ink is dry, The paper crisp. I no longer, Can taste your lips. The journey's over, At least for now. Maybe one day, You'll come back somehow. The tears still falling, The last page open. I sign the words I hate to say, My heart for now, is very Broken.

Chapter 1 Is Done!!!!!!
Chapter one is complete. WOW... I went back over it and edited it and made it even better. Hmmmmm - a shower, shaving, hot water... what a way to start the day. My poor husband... he won't know what hit him tonight thanks to how I wrote this chapter. I think I will now go shower and act out my chapter and live through it again live. I cannot wait till I finish chapter 2 now. It can only get better as it goes along.

Chapter 3 Is Complete
While watching the second half of the super bowl I completed chapter 3 of my ebook. Damn!!! While writing and visualizing the story in my own mind's eye I got so hot and horny. I told my husband that he is NOT going anywhere after the game and that we are going to bed early as soon as our son goes to bed. He smiled and all he could say was, "this book of yours must be good." I winked at him and said, "just wait till I am done and then you can read it." We just arrived at the hotel and chapter four is checking in and going to our room. Oh this is getting good... so good.

Chapter 4 Of My Ebook
OH MY GOD!!! In the story we have just checked into the hotel and I can be so naughty in my fantasies... I have teased every guy in the lobby with my long legs in a very short skirt ... oh yeah, and there is the sheer top too that shows all. The poor valet will never be the same after he got a shot between my legs as I stepped out of the car wearing no panties. We just stepped into the elevator and as the door closes I am planning to have my husband crawl all over me as we are the only ones in the elevator and we are going to the 86th floor in this very fancy hotel. Damn! I got so aroused writing it I need to take a breather. Time to jump in the shower and get ready for my fundraising presentaion. oh yeah... and I need to shave my legs too.

1 Chapter (draft)
Jessie sit and stare at couch and thinking " what should I do?" she sigh. she said "damn it, I need talk with NYC6969 so badly".. NYC6969 is 26 years old, live in New York City and single. Jessie and NYC6969 been chatted for 7 months.. Jessie give up and left the desk and go out to drive around the town because she need to thinking and somehow she stop at grocery store and decide buy few food. she look at fruit and decide buy strawberry and and other fruit.. she didn't look where she is going.. she bumped a handsome guy. she said "I am sorry, I didn't pay attention where Im going." he said " that is alright and enjoy your afternoon." Jessie walked to asile.. somehow there is handsome man front of her.. she look at his eyes and start fanastized about his brown hair, brown eyes and his nice arm. she said " stop it , stop it . he is probably is taken." she walked to the car, suddenly a handsome guy apporach her and hand the paper to her.. Jessie is shook up and

2 Chapter (draft)
Jessie walk to outfit area and took the outfit for John to wear it. Jessie said " You have wear this for me please baby" John said " yes ma'am ". John changed his outfit in changeroom and he come out of changeroom.. Jessie are just speechless and look at him.. he look so sexy in outfit. he wear black leather thong with chain around his chest. Jessie said " go and sit same place where you sit like before and silent." John walked and sit and quiet. Jessie tied him up and walk away.. John get wondering where she is gone to? Jessie is in changeroom and change hottest outfit that John will never see before.. Jessie been staying in changroom for while cuz it is hard to put the outfit and do something with make up and hair. John start get restless and no patient. he trying struggle to get out of chair but he couldn't because he is tied up on his both arms and legs.. it is very tight. Jessie walked and saw him what he been doing.. she grab the whip and slap his back and she sai

Chapter One Begins....
this is where i shall place any and all postings of the new book in progress. i hope you all check it out and leave me your thoughts. oh....and it seems CT doesn't like to keep the format of my text. i tried to fix it the best i could. if you want to read it correctly, you can always check out my Myspace page. peace and blessings.... ONE The night brought a chill wind. The breeze was a playful imp; lifting up skirts, tossing off hats, scattering crisp dry leaves. The breeze approached me yet seemed to touch not one hair upon my flesh. That was because I was akin to it. I, like it, was a creature borne of the darkness. To a passerby, the path of the breeze would seem to have just shifted, yet I knew otherwise. Once devoid of all color, drained of all feeling, and bereft of any concern except the need for survival, a heart became one with the night. They were kindred spirits, lovers that trod upon a stage of chaotic insanity, scratching, tearing, thras

Chapter 2: Fallen Amungst Man
On a blood soaked highway, each and every step a macrocosm of memories. Endless millennia lost in a world feed to hate or deny my existence. Well I'm here and I be not alone all who were unjustly thrown from the pail of endless warmth now wonder amounts these things they sought to free. I have already told you the story of what truly happened at the war in heaven, now I shall tell you some of the misery, horrors and abominations of which I've seen and been apart of. Once me and the other legionaries realized the full extent of what had happened when we fell many in a fit of anger and despair left to seek there own deaths some attempted to usurp the still strong command of Lucifris only to be destroyed. I on the other hand decided I shall stay at the side of my friend in a hope to continue out fight against the childish and mindless reign of the omnipotent. But quickly I saw how destroyed Lucifris was, he had so much hope for mankind and the possibilities of which could have been bor

Chapter 1
Well we must start back when I was 15. I was in highschool. It was my first tiem in a public school so everythign was knew to me. Beigna Freshman, we sat in the yop of the gym during Pep Rallies. I woudl watch each week as the football players wodl come out. One guy stood out....He had pale blonde hair and he was tall! I wanted to meet him. I wanted t he mto call his name out but they ever did. With football session ending I put the football player on the shelf. I guess I wasn't meant to meet him. My parents visited several churches in the are untill we settled on one. I walked into the SUnday School class room and when asked what school I went to they todl me well so and so goes there. Over the course of a few weeks I leanr more about thsi stranger. He played football at my high school and he had bleached his hair out to a pale blonde. No way thsi was not the same guy. I am not that lucky. But it was him and the love affair I had has gone on. I never held his hand, kis

Chapter Vi (come Clean)
Dream Away… Dream Away… Falling deeper and deeper into my trance of sorts I guess I should explain myself a bit in detail. Im 5ft 6in tall, 28 year’s dead, dark brown hair, green eyes. Every day im haunted by my past. I look forward to the day I get revenge on the woman who made me this way. Feeling hollow from the inside out I get lost in the norm that is my life. The only thing driving me forward is the heartbeat of my children and the knowledge past down to me. Every generation a life story of sorts is past down. Every generation adds its own chapter. How to carry on and finish what was left over from the life before. How do I go on when I have already completed my goals? This sickness cannot be past down thank god! To become a child of the night you must be shown the way, as I was once shown many years ago. I fear for what I have become. I fear for what I am. Every beat of every heart that passes by, every whiff of every drop as one passes makes me crave the beast inside. Fighti

Chapter 1
GIS: The Necrocon Files By: John LeRoy Chapter 1 (This is for those who like GIS. THis ficiton is self contained and does not involve in any way really Section 9 or the other chars in GIS: STA. However, it does contain elements of that world created by the artists of GIS.) All was quiet upon the streets of the city, the night's life stream flowing uninterrupted in the form of various pedestrians on the sidewalks and cars on the streets. The people of the city pass through its crowded streets, unaware of the events taking place elsewhere. On the east side of the city, the side of a skyscraper's fifth floor explodes as a man dressed in combat gear flies out of the building through the explosion of flames and glass. Landing in the street, knees bent, amidst a group of startled pedestrians, the road cracking under him as a small crater forms from the impact of such a drop from the height he fell. Terrified, they flee the scene as the man stands, dusting himself off; seemingly ob

Chapter 2
GIS: The Necrocon Files By: John LeRoy Chapter 2 Rex sat in his new desk, savoring the feel of power, his hands placed on each armrest. He smiles evily as he thinks about all he is going to accomplish, drifiting into a world of fantasies and desires. In the dream, the world is set asunder and burning in its own self created chaos, with Rex at its helm of destruction. Just as he settles down into the daydream, it is broken by the opening of his office door. Annoyed, he slowly opens each eye, one at a time, and glares at the man who dare intrude on his moment of victory. "Yes?" The man from before, the Kingpin's personal assitant and now his, takes a few steps into the room before closing the door. He had a flexi in his hands and his eyes shifted a little nervously. Necrocon had a past of being easly displeased and therefore quite violent when displeased. He walks over to the Neo Kingpin's desk and stands before it, collecting his thoughts as he does so. "Please excuse my int

Chapters One And Two
LEARNING TO FALL By Brian T. Jackson This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events described herein are fictitious, and are products of the author’s imagination. Nothing described within these pages should be considered in any fashion to be true or factual. All opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author, and not necessarily that of any other person, institution, organization, or government. Copyright © 2007 Brian T. Jackson. All rights reserved. ONE Throughout the course of my life I’ve done some very bad things. I won’t get into a list; I wouldn’t know how to begin to number it, but I will admit that I’ve done bad things, and I’m going to write about them. You’re going to read about alcoholism, drug use, and violence. Things that are considered bad in most civilized societies. That doesn’t make me a bad person though. Not at all. It doesn’t make me a bad man. What does it make me? Human. It makes me human.

Chapter Three
THREE I was small growing up. Kind of odd for a kid who weighed over eight and a half pounds at birth, but then again, stranger things have happened. I was shorter than most of the boys in my class (I didn’t start putting on any real height until my junior year) but there are a couple of good reasons for that. Well, at least one good reason. I started school in the state of Florida, and at that time, Florida allowed children to start kindergarten a year earlier than almost any other state in the country. That’s why I was two years older than Marc, but three grades ahead of him. That was something that always ticked him off. So, in Mississippi, I was a full year younger than all of the other boys in my grade. This meant that I was smaller as well. I was skinny, too. I still am. Not thin. Not un-fat. But skinny. All through school, especially high school, I heard all of the jokes. “You’re so skinny that…” “…You have to run around in the shower to get wet…” “…You have to stand in the

Chapter 1
Souls of the Dead Chapter.1 Tom’s Love. It was a time of death and war, no one was safe, the world’s life is set on one man and that man’s name is Tom Rage Fire, a man that is half demon and half human. He is only 16 years old but is the only person that can save the world. April 10, 1993 (300 years before the war) Tom went to school he is only 14 right now. He has one teacher and his name is Scott, a nice teacher and tall with an Iron fist. He Walk up to Tom Giving him a hand shake. “Hey, Scott how is you today?” Said Tome taking his hand back. “Good, Tom you do your Homework?” Scott said greetings other students in class. “Uh, yeah here you go.” Tom handed Scott his packet on Germen History. Scott Looks through the Packet and Looks at Tom, “You know you could do better.” Tom looks down, “Yeah I know but something came up so I had to rush the paper.” “What came up?” “My mother is in the hospital.” Said Tom with one Tear going down his face. “I see,”

.chapter 1.
Cherries--Chapter 1 Eeliah, Howard and Jaidin were walking down the hallway in Albany High Scool. Howard had his arm around Eeliah's dainty waist. Jaidin was so jealous, they had such a wonderful relationship. She knew Howard loved Eeliah and Eeliah loved him much more. She always tells Jaidin about it. As they were walking down the hall, Eeliah leaned her head on Howard's shoulder and Jaidin was kind of left out. Jaidin only had one boyfriend her whole entire life and she was a senior. It kind of made her depressed. One day she thought that her crush Deavion was going to ask her out, because he wanted to talk to her alone at lunch. So at lunch she went to Deavion's car in the parking lot and sat on his hood like she always did and she saw him coming to his car. He walked up to her and put his hands on her thighs. "Hey cutie." he said. "Hey, how are you?" she asked as she smiled sweetly at him. "Ya know Jai, your smile is beautiful and you're a really great person, you're really

.chapter 2.
Cherries--Chapter 2 After school Jaidin went outside and to Deavions car and sat on his hood waiting for him to come outside. A few minutes later he walked out of the building and he saw that she was waiting for him. He ran to his car and when he got there he picked her up and spinned her in a circle hugging her. "Hey there beautiful." he smiled and set her back down to the ground. She smiled as she looked into his eyes. "Hey D." she said as she went to sit back on the hood. He smiled at her. "How was your day?" he asked. "Great now that you're in it." Jaidin said and she smiled at her. A few minutes later Dianna found her with Deavion. "Hey Jai." Dianna said and started to walk quicker to the car. "Hey Dianna." Jaidin said smiling. Dianna got to the car and she hugged Jaidin. "I'm about to go home, can you call me later on tonight Jai?" Dianna asked. "Yeah I can do that." Jaidin said. "Great." Dianna walked away from them and started toward the bus. "Wow that was umm interesting."

.chapter 3.
Cherries-Chapter 3 The next morning Jaidin woke abruptly. She looked around and noticed that Deavion wasn't there anymore. "Deavion." she said quietly. "Deavion, where are you?" Deavion walked out of the bathroom. "Hey there beautiful, you're awake finally." he smiled at her quickly."How'd you sleep?" he asked her walking to the mirror to make sure that the outfit he picked out looked good. "I slept fine D." she said smiling. "How'd you sleep?" she asked. "Fine, knowing that I was sleeping next to you." he said smiled at her. "Are you gonna get ready for school or are you not going?" he asked her. "I'm going. I promised Dianna I would be there." Jaidin said and got up and walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and looked at him through the mirror. He smiled at her through the mirror. "Even when you wake up you're the most beautiful person I have ever met. Did you know that Jai?" he asked her. "Really. Am I?" she asked. "Most definitely." he smiled at her. She smiled

Chapter Five
FIVE When I enlisted in the Army I gave my family and friends some of the best bull I’ve ever made up. I had to. I was only seventeen, which meant that I had to have Mom’s consent. I went on about how I would have a guaranteed paycheck every month, how I would be able to send money home to Mom to help with the costs of raising Marc, which I did, at least for a while. I explained how I would learn skills that would be useful to me my entire life; sprinkle with just a bit more crap for taste. The truth of the matter was that I was beginning a cycle that would last for the rest of my life, at least up until now; since I’ve finally identified it. I was running away. I blame Dad for starting that. Georgia, California, Florida, West Virginia, all before I was in the fourth grade. I blame Mom for continuing it. Two cities in West Virginia and three different moves inside Mississippi before I graduated high school. I did the math once. The longest we ever stayed in any one place before

Chapter 1{the War Of The Worlds,
BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS CHAPTER ONE THE EVE OF THE WAR No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scru- tinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fa

Chapter 2 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER TWO THE FALLING STAR Then came the night of the first falling star. It was seen early in the morning, rushing over Winchester eastward, a line of flame high in the atmosphere. Hundreds must have seen it, and taken it for an ordinary falling star. Albin de- scribed it as leaving a greenish streak behind it that glowed for some seconds. Denning, our greatest authority on meteor- ites, stated that the height of its first appearance was about ninety or one hundred miles. It seemed to him that it fell to earth about one hundred miles east of him. I was at home at that hour and writing in my study; and although my French windows face towards Ottershaw and the blind was up (for I loved in those days to look up at the night sky), I saw nothing of it. Yet this strangest of all things that ever came to earth from outer space must have fallen while I was sitting there, visible to me had I only looked up as it passed. Some of those who saw its flight say it travelled w

Chapter 3 { The War Of The Worlds
I found a little crowd of perhaps twenty people sur- rounding the huge hole in which the cylinder lay. I have already described the appearance of that colossal bulk, em- bedded in the ground. The turf and gravel about it seemed charred as if by a sudden explosion. No doubt its impact had caused a flash of fire. Henderson and Ogilvy were not there. I think they perceived that nothing was to be done for the present, and had gone away to breakfast at Henderson's house. There were four or five boys sitting on the edge of the Pit, with their feet dangling, and amusing themselves--until I stopped them--by throwing stones at the giant mass. After I had spoken to them about it, they began playing at "touch" in and out of the group of bystanders. Among these were a couple of cyclists, a jobbing gardener I employed sometimes, a girl carrying a baby, Gregg the butcher and his little boy, and two or three loafers and golf caddies who were accustomed to hang about the railway station. T

Chapter 4 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER FOUR THE CYLINDER OPENS When I returned to the common the sun was setting. Scattered groups were hurrying from the direction of Woking, and one or two persons were returning. The crowd about the pit had increased, and stood out black against the lemon yellow of the sky--a couple of hundred people, perhaps. There were raised voices, and some sort of struggle appeared to be going on about the pit. Strange imaginings passed through my mind. As I drew nearer I heard Stent's voice: "Keep back! Keep back!" A boy came running towards me. "It's a-movin'," he said to me as he passed; "a-screwin' and a-screwin' out. I don't like it. I'm a-goin' 'ome, I am." I went on to the crowd. There were really, I should think, two or three hundred people elbowing and jostling one an- other, the one or two ladies there being by no means the least active. "He's fallen in the pit!" cried some one. "Keep back!" said several. The crowd swayed a lit

Chapter 5 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER FIVE THE HEAT-RAY After the glimpse I had had of the Martians emerging from the cylinder in which they had come to the earth from their planet, a kind of fascination paralysed my actions. I remained standing knee-deep in the heather, staring at the mound that hid them. I was a battleground of fear and curiosity. I did not dare to go back towards the pit, but I felt a pas- sionate longing to peer into it. I began walking, therefore, in a big curve, seeking some point of vantage and continually looking at the sand heaps that hid these new-comers to our earth. Once a leash of thin black whips, like the arms of an octopus, flashed across the sunset and was immediately with- drawn, and afterwards a thin rod rose up, joint by joint, bearing at its apex a circular disk that spun with a wobbling motion. What could be going on there? Most of the spectators had gathered in one or two groups --one a little crowd towards Woking, the other a knot of people in the di

Chapter 6 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER SIX THE HEAT-RAY IN THE CHOBHAM ROAD It is still a matter of wonder how the Martians are able to slay men so swiftly and so silently. Many think that in some way they are able to generate an intense heat in a chamber of practically absolute non-conductivity. This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against any object they choose, by means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition, much as the parabolic mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light. But no one has absolutely proved these details. However it is done, it is certain that a beam of heat is the essence of the matter. Heat, and invisible, instead of visible, light. Whatever is combustible flashes into flame at its touch, lead runs like water, it softens iron, cracks and melts glass, and when it falls upon water, incontinently that explodes into steam. That night nearly forty people lay under the starlight about the pit, charred and distorted beyond recognition, and all night

Chapter 7 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER SEVEN HOW I REACHED HOME For my own part, I remember nothing of my flight except the stress of blundering against trees and stumbling through the heather. All about me gathered the invisible terrors of the Martians; that pitiless sword of heat seemed whirling to and fro, flourishing overhead before it descended and smote me out of life. I came into the road between the crossroads and Horsell, and ran along this to the crossroads. At last I could go no further; I was exhausted with the violence of my emotion and of my flight, and I staggered and fell by the wayside. That was near the bridge that crosses the canal by the gasworks. I fell and lay still. I must have remained there some time. I sat up, strangely perplexed. For a moment, perhaps, I could not clearly understand how I came there. My terror had fallen from me like a garment. My hat had gone, and my collar had burst away from its fastener. A few minutes before, there had only been three rea

Chapter 8 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER EIGHT FRIDAY NIGHT The most extraordinary thing to my mind, of all the strange and wonderful things that happened upon that Friday, was the dovetailing of the commonplace habits of our social order with the first beginnings of the series of events that was to topple that social order headlong. If on Friday night you had taken a pair of compasses and drawn a circle with a radius of five miles round the Woking sand pits, I doubt if you would have had one human being outside it, unless it were some relation of Stent or of the three or four cyclists or London people lying dead on the common, whose emotions or habits were at all affected by the new-comers. Many people had heard of the cylinder, of course, and talked about it in their leisure, but it certainly did not make the sensation that an ultimatum to Germany would have done. In London that night poor Henderson's telegram describing the gradual unscrewing of the shot was judged to be a canard, and his evening

Chapter 9 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER NINE THE FIGHTING BEGINS Saturday lives in my memory as a day of suspense. It was a day of lassitude too, hot and close, with, I am told, a rapidly fluctuating barometer. I had slept but little, though my wife had succeeded in sleeping, and I rose early. I went into my garden before breakfast and stood listening, but towards the common there was nothing stirring but a lark. The milkman came as usual. I heard the rattle of his chariot and I went round to the side gate to ask the latest news. He told me that during the night the Martians had been surrounded by troops, and that guns were expected. Then--a familiar, reassuring note--I heard a train running towards Woking. "They aren't to be killed," said the milkman, "if that can possibly be avoided." I saw my neighbour gardening, chatted with him for a time, and then strolled in to breakfast. It was a most un- exceptional morning. My neighbour was of opinion that the troops would be able to capture o

Chapter 10 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER TEN IN THE STORM Leatherhead is about twelve miles from Maybury Hill. The scent of hay was in the air through the lush meadows beyond Pyrford, and the hedges on either side were sweet and gay with multitudes of dog-roses. The heavy firing that had broken out while we were driving down Maybury Hill ceased as abruptly as it began, leaving the evening very peace- ful and still. We got to Leatherhead without misadventure about nine o'clock, and the horse had an hour's rest while I took supper with my cousins and commended my wife to their care. My wife was curiously silent throughout the drive, and seemed oppressed with forebodings of evil. I talked to her reassuringly, pointing out that the Martians were tied to the Pit by sheer heaviness, and at the utmost could but crawl a little out of it; but she answered only in monosyllables. Had it not been for my promise to the innkeeper, she would, I think, have urged me to stay in Leatherhead that night. Would that I

Chapter 11 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER ELEVEN AT THE WINDOW I have already said that my storms of emotion have a trick of exhausting themselves. After a time I discovered that I was cold and wet, and with little pools of water about me on the stair carpet. I got up almost mechanically, went into the dining room and drank some whiskey, and then I was moved to change my clothes. After I had done that I went upstairs to my study, but why I did so I do not know. The window of my study looks over the trees and the railway towards Horsell Common. In the hurry of our departure this window had been left open. The passage was dark, and, by contrast with the picture the window frame enclosed, the side of the room seemed im- penetrably dark. I stopped short in the doorway. The thunderstorm had passed. The towers of the Oriental College and the pine trees about it had gone, and very far away, lit by a vivid red glare, the common about the sand pits was visible. Across the light huge black shapes, gro-

Chapter 12 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER TWELVE WHAT I SAW OF THE DESTRUCTION OF WEYBRIDGE AND SHEPPERTON As the dawn grew brighter we withdrew from the win- dow from which we had watched the Martians, and went very quietly downstairs. The artilleryman agreed with me that the house was no place to stay in. He proposed, he said, to make his way Londonward, and thence rejoin his battery--No. 12, of the Horse Artillery. My plan was to return at once to Leather- head; and so greatly had the strength of the Martians im- pressed me that I had determined to take my wife to New- haven, and go with her out of the country forthwith. For I already perceived clearly that the country about London must inevitably be the scene of a disastrous struggle before such creatures as these could be destroyed. Between us and Leatherhead, however, lay the third cylin- der, with its guarding giants. Had I been alone, I think I should have taken my chance and struck across country. But the artilleryman dissuaded me

Chapter 13 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER THIRTEEN HOW I FELL IN WITH THE CURATE After getting this sudden lesson in the power of terres- trial weapons, the Martians retreated to their original position upon Horsell Common; and in their haste, and encumbered with the de'bris of their smashed companion, they no doubt overlooked many such a stray and negligible victim as myself. Had they left their comrade and pushed on forthwith, there was nothing at that time between them and London but batteries of twelve-pounder guns, and they would certainly have reached the capital in advance of the tidings of their approach; as sudden, dreadful, and destructive their advent would have been as the earthquake that destroyed Lisbon a century ago. But they were in no hurry. Cylinder followed cylinder on its interplanetary flight; every twenty-four hours brought them reinforcement. And meanwhile the military and naval authorities, now fully alive to the tremendous power of their antagonists, worked with furious e

Chapter 14 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER FOURTEEN IN LONDON My younger brother was in London when the Martians fell at Woking. He was a medical student working for an imminent examination, and he heard nothing of the arrival until Saturday morning. The morning papers on Saturday contained, in addition to lengthy special articles on the planet Mars, on life in the planets, and so forth, a brief and vaguely worded telegram, all the more striking for its brevity. The Martians, alarmed by the approach of a crowd, had killed a number of people with a quick-firing gun, so the story ran. The telegram concluded with the words: "Formi- dable as they seem to be, the Martians have not moved from the pit into which they have fallen, and, indeed, seem incapa- ble of doing so. Probably this is due to the relative strength of the earth's gravitational energy." On that last text their leader-writer expanded very comfortingly. Of course all the students in the crammer's biology class, to which my brother w

Chapter 15 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER FIFTEEN WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN SURREY It was while the curate had sat and talked so wildly to me under the hedge in the flat meadows near Halliford, and while my brother was watching the fugitives stream over Westminster Bridge, that the Martians had resumed the of- fensive. So far as one can ascertain from the conflicting accounts that have been put forth, the majority of them remained busied with preparations in the Horsell pit until nine that night, hurrying on some operation that disengaged huge volumes of green smoke. But three certainly came out about eight o'clock and, advancing slowly and cautiously, made their way through Byfleet and Pyrford towards Ripley and Weybridge, and so came in sight of the expectant batteries against the setting sun. These Martians did not advance in a body, but in a line, each perhaps a mile and a half from his nearest fellow. They communicated with one another by means of sirenlike howls, running up and down the scale fr

Chapter 16 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER SIXTEEN THE EXODUS FROM LONDON So you understand the roaring wave of fear that swept through the greatest city in the world just as Monday was dawning--the stream of flight rising swiftly to a torrent, lash- ing in a foaming tumult round the railway stations, banked up into a horrible struggle about the shipping in the Thames, and hurrying by every available channel northward and east- ward. By ten o'clock the police organisation, and by midday even the railway organisations, were losing coherency, losing shape and efficiency, guttering, softening, running at last in that swift liquefaction of the social body. All the railway lines north of the Thames and the South- Eastern people at Cannon Street had been warned by mid- night on Sunday, and trains were being filled. People were fighting savagely for standing-room in the carriages even at two o'clock. By three, people were being trampled and crushed even in Bishopsgate Street, a couple of hundred yards or mor

Chapter 17 { The War Of The Worlds
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE "THUNDER CHILD" Had the Martians aimed only at destruction, they might on Monday have annihilated the entire population of London, as it spread itself slowly through the home counties. Not only along the road through Barnet, but also through Edgware and Waltham Abbey, and along the roads eastward to South- end and Shoeburyness, and south of the Thames to Deal and Broadstairs, poured the same frantic rout. If one could have hung that June morning in a balloon in the blazing blue above London every northward and eastward road running out of the tangled maze of streets would have seemed stippled black with the streaming fugitives, each dot a human agony of terror and physical distress. I have set forth at length in the last chapter my brother's account of the road through Chipping Barnet, in order that my readers may realise how that swarming of black dots appeared to one of those con- cerned. Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of h

Chapter 1 { Dracular
CHAPTER 1 Jonathan Harker's Journal May 3. Bistritz.-- Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish rule. We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem. get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and

Chapter 2 { Dracular
CHAPTER 2 Jonathan Harker's Journal Continued May 5.--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight. When the caleche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took my traps, and placed them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of massive stone. I could see even in th e dim light that the stone was massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his

Chapter 3 { Dracular
CHAPTER 3 Jonathan Harker's Journal Continued When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me. I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of every window I could find, but after a little the conviction of my helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I look back after a few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me that I was helpless I sat down quietly, as quietly as I have ever done anything in my life, and began to think over what was best to be done. I am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of one thing only am I certain. That it is no use making my ideas known to the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned, and as he has done it himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only plan will be to keep my know

Chapter 1 { Frankenstien
Chapter 1 I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years counsellors and syndics, and my father had filled several public situations with honour and reputation. He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to public business. He passed his younger days perpetually occupied by the affairs of his country; a variety of circumstances had prevented his marrying early, nor was it until the decline of life that he became a husband and the father of a family. As the circumstances of his marriage illustrate his character, I cannot refrain from relating them. One of his most intimate friends was a merchant who, from a flourishing state, fell, through numerous mischances, into poverty. This man, whose name was Beaufort, was of a proud and unbending disposition and could not bear to live in poverty and oblivion in the same country where he had formerly been distinguished f

Chapter 2 { Frankenstein
Chapter 2 We were brought up together; there was not quite a year difference in our ages. I need not say that we were strangers to any species of disunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our companionship, and the diversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us nearer together. Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated disposition; but, with all my ardour, I was capable of a more intense application and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge. She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home --the sublime shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, tempest and calm, the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers--she found ample scope for admiration and delight. While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their causes. The worl

Chapter 3 { Frankenstein
Chapter 3 When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt. I had hitherto attended the schools of Geneva, but my father thought it necessary for the completion of my education that I should be made acquainted with other customs than those of my native country. My departure was therefore fixed at an early date, but before the day resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune of my life occurred--an omen, as it were, of my future misery. Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and she was in the greatest danger. During her illness many arguments had been urged to persuade my mother to refrain from attending upon her. She had at first yielded to our entreaties, but when she heard that the life of her favourite was menaced, she could no longer control her anxiety. She attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper--Elizabeth was saved, but

Chapter 4 { Dracular
CHAPTER 4 Jonathan Harker's Journal Continued I awoke in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, for some cause or another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof. Of one thing I am glad. If it was that the Count carried me here and undressed me, he must have been hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I am sure this diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look round this room, although it has been

Chapter 4 { Frankenstein
Chapter 4 From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable. In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousand ways he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension. My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and soon became so

Chapter 5 { Dracular
CHAPTER 5 LETTER FROM MISS MINA MURRAY TO MISS LUCY WESTENRA May 9. My dearest Lucy, Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have been practicing shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for him on the typewriter, at which also I am practicing very hard. He and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a stenographic journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I shall keep a diary in the same way. I don't mean one of those two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a sort of

Chapter 5 { Frankenstein
Chapter 5 It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more hor

Chapter 6 { Dracular
CHAPTER 6 MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL July 24. Whitby.--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and lovlier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in which they have rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the harbour. A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through which the view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to see down. The houses of the old town-- the side away from us, are all red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of "Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and roman

Chapter 6 { Frankenstein
Chapter 6 Clerval then put the following letter into my hands. It was from my own Elizabeth: "My dearest Cousin, "You have been ill, very ill, and even the constant letters of dear kind Henry are not sufficient to reassure me on your account. You are forbidden to write--to hold a pen; yet one word from you, dear Victor, is necessary to calm our apprehensions. For a long time I have thought that each post would bring this line, and my persuasions have restrained my uncle from undertaking a journey to Ingolstadt. I have prevented his encountering the inconveniences and perhaps dangers of so long a journey, yet how often have I regretted not being able to perform it myself! I figure to myself that the task of attending on your sickbed has devolved on some mercenary old nurse, who could never guess your wishes nor minister to them with the care and affection of your poor cousin. Yet that is over now: Clerval writes that indeed you are getting better. I eagerly hope that you wil

Chapter 7 { Dracular
CHAPTER 7 CUTTING FROM "THE DAILYGRAPH," 8 AUGUST (PASTED IN MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL) From a correspondent. Whitby. One of the greatest and suddenest storms on record has just been experienced here, with results both strange and unique. The weather had been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the month of August. Saturday evening was as fine as was ever known, and the great body of holiday-makers laid out yesterday for visits to Mulgrave Woods, Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes, and the various trips in the neighborhood of Whitby. The steamers Emma and Scarborough made trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of `tripping' both to and from Whitby. The day was unusually fine till the afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff churchyard, and from the commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of `mares tails' high in the sky to the

Chapter 7 { Frankenstein
Chapter 7 On my return, I found the following letter from my father: -- "My dear Victor, "You have probably waited impatiently for a letter to fix the date of your return to us; and I was at first tempted to write only a few lines, merely mentioning the day on which I should expect you. But that would be a cruel kindness, and I dare not do it. What would be your surprise, my son, when you expected a happy and glad welcome, to behold, on the contrary, tears and wretchedness? And how, Victor, can I relate our misfortune? Absence cannot have rendered you callous to our joys and griefs; and how shall I inflict pain on my long absent son? I wish to prepare you for the woeful news, but I know it is impossible; even now your eye skims over the page to seek the words which are to convey to you the horrible tidings. "William is dead!--that sweet child, whose smiles delighted and warmed my heart, who was so gentle, yet so gay! Victor, he is murdered! "I will not attempt to co

Chapter 1 Mr Hyde And Dr Jekyll
chapter 1 Story of the Door Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theater, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. "I incline to Cain's heresy," he used to say quaintly: "I l

Chapter 8 { Dracluar
CHAPTER 8 MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL Same day, 11 o'clock P.M.--Oh, but I am tired! If it were not that I had made my diary a duty I should not open it tonight. We had a lovely walk. Lucy, after a while, was in gay spirits, owing, I think, to some dear cows who came nosing towards us in a field close to the lighthouse, and frightened the wits out of us. I believe we forgot everything, except of course, personal fear, and it seemed to wipe the slate clean and give us a fresh start. We had a capital `severe tea' at Robin Hood's Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow window right over the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand. I believe we should have shocked the `New Woman' with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless them! Then we walked home with some, or rather many, stoppages to rest, and with our hearts full of a constant dread of wild bulls. Lucy was really tired, and we intended to creep off to bed as soon as we could. The young curate came in, however, and Mrs.

Chapter 8 { Frankenstein
Chapter 8 We passed a few sad hours until eleven o'clock, when the trial was to commence. My father and the rest of the family being obliged to attend as witnesses, I accompanied them to the court. During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture. It was to be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow beings: one a smiling babe full of innocence and joy, the other far more dreadfully murdered, with every aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror. Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave, and I the cause! A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have exculpated her who suffe

Chapter 2 { Mr Hyde And Dr Jekyll
Search for Mr. Hyde That evening Mr. Utterson came home to his bachelor house in sombre spirits and sat down to dinner without relish. It was his custom of a Sunday, when this meal was over, to sit close by the fire, a volume of some dry divinity on his reading desk, until the clock of the neighbouring church rang out the hour of twelve, when he would go soberly and gratefully to bed. On this night however, as soon as the cloth was taken away, he took up a candle and went into his business room. There he opened his safe, took from the most private part of it a document endorsed on the envelope as Dr. Jekyll's Will and sat down with a clouded brow to study its contents. The will was holograph, for Mr. Utterson though he took charge of it now that it was made, had refused to lend the least assistance in the making of it; it provided not only that, in case of the decease of Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L., L.L.D., F.R.S., etc., all his possessions were to pass into the

Chapter 3 { Mr Hyde And Dr Jekyll
Dr. Jekyll Was Quite at Ease A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all intelligent, reputable men and all judges of good wine; and Mr. Utterson so contrived that he remained behind after the others had departed. This was no new arrangement, but a thing that had befallen many scores of times. Where Utterson was liked, he was liked well. Hosts loved to detain the dry lawyer, when the light-hearted and loose-tongued had already their foot on the threshold; they liked to sit a while in his unobtrusive company, practising for solitude, sobering their minds in the man's rich silence after the expense and strain of gaiety. To this rule, Dr. Jekyll was no exception; and as he now sat on the opposite side of the fire--a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a stylish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness--you could see by his looks that he ch

Chapter 1 { Robin Hood
In merry England in the time of old, when good King Henry the Second ruled the land, there lived within the green glades of Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham Town, a famous outlaw whose name was Robin Hood. No archer ever lived that could speed a gray goose shaft with such skill and cunning as his, nor were there ever such yeomen as the sevenscore merry men that roamed with him through the greenwood shades. Right merrily they dwelled within the depths of Sherwood Forest, suffering neither care nor want, but passing the time in merry games of archery or bouts of cudgel play, living upon the King's venison, washed down with draughts of ale of October brewing. Not only Robin himself but all the band were outlaws and dwelled apart from other men, yet they were beloved by the country people round about, for no one ever came to jolly Robin for help in time of need and went away again with an empty fist. And now I will tell how it came about that Robin Hood fell afoul of the law. When

Chapter 9 { Dracular
CHAPTER 9 LETTER, MINA HARKER TO LUCY WESTENRA Buda-Pesth, 24 August. "My dearest Lucy, "I know you will be anxious to hear all that has happened since we parted at the railway station at Whitby. "Well, my dear, I got to Hull all right, and caught the boat to Hamburg, and then the train on here. I feel that I can hardly recall anything of the journey, except that I knew I was coming to Jonathan, and that as I should have to do some nursing, I had better get all the sleep I could. I found my dear one, oh, so thin and pale and weak-looking. All the resolution has gone out of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his face has vanished. He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At least, he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask. "He has had some terrible shock, and I fear it might tax his poor brain if he were to try to recall it. Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and

Chapter 9 { Frankenstein
Chapter 9 Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul both of hope and fear. Justine died, she rested, and I was alive. The blood flowed freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart which nothing could remove. Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered like an evil spirit, for I had committed deeds of mischief beyond description horrible, and more, much more (I persuaded myself) was yet behind. Yet my heart overflowed with kindness and the love of virtue. I had begun life with benevolent intentions and thirsted for the moment when I should put them in practice and make myself useful to my fellow beings. Now all was blasted; instead of that serenity of conscience which allowed me to look back upon the past with self-satisfaction, and from thence to gather promise of new hopes, I was seized by remorse and t

Chapter 2 { Robin Hood
Now it was told before how two hundred pounds were set upon Robin Hood's head, and how the Sheriff of Nottingham swore that he himself would seize Robin, both because he would fain have the two hundred pounds and because the slain man was a kinsman of his own. Now the Sheriff did not yet know what a force Robin had about him in Sherwood, but thought that he might serve a warrant for his arrest as he could upon any other man that had broken the laws; therefore he offered fourscore golden angels to anyone who would serve this warrant. But men of Nottingham Town knew more of Robin Hood and his doings than the Sheriff did, and many laughed to think of serving a warrant upon the bold outlaw, knowing well that all they would get for such service would be cracked crowns; so that no one came forward to take the matter in hand. Thus a fortnight passed, in which time none came forward to do the Sheriff's business. Then said he, "A right good reward have I offered to whosoever would serve my warr

Chapter 4 { Mr Hyde And Dr Jekyll
The Carew Murder Case Nearly a year later, in the month of October, 18--, London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim. The details were few and startling. A maid servant living alone in a house not far from the river, had gone upstairs to bed about eleven. Although a fog rolled over the city in the small hours, the early part of the night was cloudless, and the lane, which the maid's window overlooked, was brilliantly lit by the full moon. It seems she was romantically given, for she sat down upon her box, which stood immediately under the window, and fell into a dream of musing. Never (she used to say, with streaming tears, when she narrated that experience), never had she felt more at peace with all men or thought more kindly of the world. And as she so sat she became aware of an aged beautiful gentleman with white hair, drawing near along the lane; and advancing to meet him, an

Chapter 10 { Dracular
CHAPTER 10 LETTER, DR. SEWARD TO HON. ARTHUR HOLMWOOD September 6 "My dear Art, "My news today is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a bit. There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it. Mrs. Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with myself. So now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with difficulties, all of us, my poor fellow, but, please God, we shall come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if you do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for news, In haste, "Yours ever," John Seward DR. SEWARD'S DIARY September 7

Chapter 10 { Frankenstein
Chapter 10 I spent the following day roaming through the valley. I stood beside the sources of the Arveiron, which take their rise in a glacier, that with slow pace is advancing down from the summit of the hills to barricade the valley. The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands. These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving. They elevated me from all littleness of feeling, and although they did not remove my grief, they subdued and tranquilliz

Chapter 3 { Robin Hood
Then the Sheriff was very wroth because of this failure to take jolly Robin, for it came to his ears, as ill news always does, that the people laughed at him and made a jest of his thinking to serve a warrant upon such a one as the bold outlaw. And a man hates nothing so much as being made a jest of; so he said: "Our gracious lord and sovereign King himself shall know of this, and how his laws are perverted and despised by this band of rebel outlaws. As for yon traitor Tinker, him will I hang, if I catch him, upon the very highest gallows tree in all Nottinghamshire." Then he bade all his servants and retainers to make ready to go to London Town, to see and speak with the King. At this there was bustling at the Sheriff's castle, and men ran hither and thither upon this business and upon that, while the forge fires of Nottingham glowed red far into the night like twinkling stars, for all the smiths of the town were busy making or mending armor for the Sheriff's troop of escort. Fo

Chapter 1 { The Time Machine
Chapter I The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way - marking the points with a lean forefinger - as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it:) and his fecundity. 'You must follow me carefully. I shall have to controvert one or two ideas that are almost universally accepted. The geometry, for instance, they taught you at school is founded on a misconception.' 'Is not that rather a large thing to

Chapter 5 { Mr Hyde And Dr Jekyll
Incident of the Letter It was late in the afternoon, when Mr. Utterson found his way to Dr. Jekyll's door, where he was at once admitted by Poole, and carried down by the kitchen offices and across a yard which had once been a garden, to the building which was indifferently known as the laboratory or dissecting rooms. The doctor had bought the house from the heirs of a celebrated surgeon; and his own tastes being rather chemical than anatomical, had changed the destination of the block at the bottom of the garden. It was the first time that the lawyer had been received in that part of his friend's quarters; and he eyed the dingy, windowless structure with curiosity, and gazed round with a distasteful sense of strangeness as he crossed the theatre, once crowded with eager students and now lying gaunt and silent, the tables laden with chemical apparatus, the floor strewn with crates and littered with packing straw, and the light falling dimly through the foggy cupo

Chapter 4 { Robin Hood
Now when the Sheriff found that neither law nor guile could overcome Robin Hood, he was much perplexed, and said to himself, "Fool that I am! Had I not told our King of Robin Hood, I would not have gotten myself into such a coil; but now I must either take him captive or have wrath visited upon my head from his most gracious Majesty. I have tried law, and I have tried guile, and I have failed in both; so I will try what may be done with might." Thus communing within himself, he called his constables together and told them what was in his mind. "Now take ye each four men, all armed in proof," said he, "and get ye gone to the forest, at different points, and lie in wait for this same Robin Hood. But if any constable finds too many men against him, let him sound a horn, and then let each band within hearing come with all speed and join the party that calls them. Thus, I think, shall we take this green-clad knave. Furthermore, to him that first meeteth with Robin Hood shall one hundred

Chapter 11 { Dracular
CHAPTER 11 LUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY September 12.--How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread being alone tonight, and I can go to sleep without fear. I shall not mind any flapping outside the window. Oh, the terrible struggle that I have had against sleep so often of late, the pain of sleeplessness, or the pain of the fear of sleep, and with such unknown horrors as it has for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams. Well, here I am tonight, hoping for sleep, and lying like Ophelia in the play, with`virgin crants and maiden strewments.' I never liked garlic before, but tonight it is delightful! There is peace in its smell. I feel sleep coming already. Good

Chapter 11 { Frankenstein
Chapter 11 "It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being; all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct. A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses. By degrees, I remember, a stronger light pressed upon my nerves, so that I was obliged to shut my eyes. Darkness then came over me and troubled me, but hardly had I felt this when, by opening my eyes, as I now suppose, the light poured in upon me again. I walked and, I believe, descended, but I presently found a great alteration in my sensations. Before, dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me, impervious to my touch or sight; but I now found that I could wander on at liberty, with no obstacles which I could not either surmount or avoid. The light became more and more oppressive to me, and the heat wearying me as I walked,

Chapter 2 { The Time Machine
Chapter II I think that at that time none of us quite believed in the Time Machine. The fact is, the Time Traveller was one of those men who are too clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all round him; you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness. Had Filby shown the model and explained the matter in the Time Traveller's words, we should have shown him far less scepticism. For we should have perceived his motives; a pork butcher could understand Filby. But the Time Traveller had more than a touch of whim among his elements, and we distrusted him. Things that would have made the frame of a less clever man seemed tricks in his hands. It is a mistake to do things too easily. The serious people who took him seriously never felt quite sure of his deportment; they were somehow aware that trusting their reputations for judgment with him was like furnishing a nursery with egg-shell china. So I don't think any of us said very much

Chapter 5 { Robin Hood
Now after all these things had happened, and it became known to Robin Hood how the Sheriff had tried three times to make him captive, he said to himself, "If I have the chance, I will make our worshipful Sheriff pay right well for that which he hath done to me. Maybe I may bring him some time into Sherwood Forest and have him to a right merry feast with us." For when Robin Hood caught a baron or a squire, or a fat abbot or bishop, he brought them to the greenwood tree and feasted them before he lightened their purses. But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him. But though they did not go abroad, they lived a merry life within the woodlands, spending the days in shooting at garlands hung upon a willow wand at the end of the glade, the leafy aisles ringing with merry jests and

Chapter 3 { The Time Machine
Chapter III I told some of you last Thursday of the principles of the Time Machine, and showed you the actual thing itself, incomplete in the workshop. There it is now, a little travel-worn, truly; and one of the ivory bars is cracked, and a brass rail bent; but the rest of it's sound enough. I expected to finish it on Friday, but on Friday, when the putting together was nearly done, I found that one of the nickel bars was exactly one inch too short, and this I had to get remade; so that the thing was not complete until this morning. It was at ten o'clock to-day that the first of all Time Machines began its career. I gave it a last tap, tried all the screws again, put one more drop of oil on the quartz rod, and sat myself in the saddle. I suppose a suicide who holds a pistol to his skull feels much the same wonder at what will come next as I felt then. I took the starting lever in one hand and the stopping one in the other, pressed the first, and almost immediately the second. I seeme

Chapter 6 { Mr Hyde And Dr Jekyll
Incident of Dr. Lanyon Time ran on; thousands of pounds were offered in reward, for the death of Sir Danvers was resented as a public injury; but Mr. Hyde had disappeared out of the ken of the police as though he had never existed. Much of his past was unearthed, indeed, and all disreputable: tales came out of the man's cruelty, at once so callous and violent; of his vile life, of his strange associates, of the hatred that seemed to have surrounded his career; but of his present whereabouts, not a whisper. From the time he had left the house in Soho on the morning of the murder, he was simply blotted out; and gradually, as time drew on, Mr. Utterson began to recover from the hotness of his alarm, and to grow more at quiet with himself. The death of Sir Danvers was, to his way of thinking, more than paid for by the disappearance of Mr. Hyde. Now that that evil influence had been withdrawn, a new life began for Dr. Jekyll. He came out of his seclusion, renewed r

Chapter 12 { Dracular
CHAPTER 12 DR. SEWARD'S DIARY September 18.--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early. Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy or her mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door. After a while, finding no response, I knocked and rang again, still no answer. I cursed the laziness of the servants that they should lie abed at such an hour, for it was now ten o'clock, and so rang and knocked again, but more impatiently, but still without response. Hitherto I had blamed only the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me. Was this desolation but another link in the chain of doom which seemed drawing tight round us? Was it indeed a house of death to which I had come, too late? I know that minutes, even seconds of delay, might mean hours of danger to Lucy, if she had had again one of those frightful relapses, and I went round the house to try if I could find by chanc

Chapter 12 { Frankenstein
Chapter 12 "I lay on my straw, but I could not sleep. I thought of the occurrences of the day. What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people, and I longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel, watching and endeavouring to discover the motives which influenced their actions. "The cottagers arose the next morning before the sun. The young woman arranged the cottage and prepared the food, and the youth departed after the first meal. "This day was passed in the same routine as that which preceded it. The young man was constantly employed out of doors, and the girl in various laborious occupations within. The old man, whom I soon perceived to be blind, employed his leisure hours on his instrument or in contemplation. Nothing could excee

Chapter 1 { The Invisibel Man
I. THE STRANGE MAN'S ARRIVAL The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking as it seemed from Bramblehurst railway station, and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand. He was wrapped up from head to foot, and the brim of his soft felt hat hid every inch of his face but the shiny tip of his nose; the snow had piled itself against his shoulders and chest, and added a white crest to the burden he carried. He staggered into the Coach and Horses, more dead than alive as it seemed, and flung his portmanteau down. "A fire," he cried, "in the name of human charity! A room and a fire!" He stamped and shook the snow from off himself in the bar, and followed Mrs. Hall into her guest parlor to strike his bargain. And with that much introduction, that and a ready acquiescence to terms and a couple of sovereigns flung upon the table, he took up his quarters in the inn.

Chapter 2 { The Invisibel Man
II. MR. TEDDY HENFREY'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS At four o'clock, when it was fairly dark and Mrs. Hall was screwing up her courage to go in and ask her visitor if he would take some tea, Teddy Henfrey, the clock-jobber, came into the bar. "My sakes! Mrs. Hall," said he, "but this is terrible weather for thin boots!" The snow outside was falling faster. Mrs. Hall agreed with him, and then noticed he had his bag, and hit upon a brilliant idea. "Now you're here, Mr. Teddy," said she, "I'd be glad if you'd give th' old clock in the parlour a bit of a look. 'T is going, and it strikes well and hearty; but the hour-hand won't do nuthin' but point at six." And leading the way, she went across to the parlour door and rapped and entered. Her visitor, she saw as she opened the door, was seated in the armchair before the fire, dozing it would seem, with his bandaged head drooping on one side. The only light in the room was the red glow from the fire -- which lit his eyes like adverse railw

Chapter 6 { Robin Hood
Spring had gone since the Sheriff's feast in Sherwood, and summer also, and the mellow month of October had come. All the air was cool and fresh; the harvests were gathered home, the young birds were full fledged, the hops were plucked, and apples were ripe. But though time had so smoothed things over that men no longer talked of the horned beasts that the Sheriff wished to buy, he was still sore about the matter and could not bear to hear Robin Hood's name spoken in his presence. With October had come the time for holding the great Fair which was celebrated every five years at Nottingham Town, to which folk came from far and near throughout the country. At such times archery was always the main sport of the day, for the Nottinghamshire yeomen were the best hand at the longbow in all merry England, but this year the Sheriff hesitated a long time before he issued proclamation of the Fair, fearing lest Robin Hood and his band might come to it. At first he had a great part of a mind no

Chapter 4 { The Time Machine
Chapter IV In another moment we were standing face to face, I and this fragile thing out of futurity. He came straight up to me and laughed into my eyes. The absence from his bearing of any sign of fear struck me at once. Then he turned to the two others who were following him and spoke to them in a strange and very sweet and liquid tongue. There were others coming, and presently a little group of perhaps eight or ten of these exquisite creatures were about me. One of them addressed me. It came into my head, oddly enough, that my voice was too harsh and deep for them. So I shook my head, and, pointing to my ears, shook it again. He came a step forward, hesitated, and then touched my hand. Then I felt other soft little tentacles upon my back and shoulders. They wanted to make sure I was real. There was nothing in this at all alarming. Indeed, there was something in these pretty little people that inspired confidence - a graceful gentleness, a certain childlike ease. And besides, the

Chapter 5 { The Time Machine
Chapter V As I stood there musing over this too perfect triumph of man, the full moon, yellow and gibbous, came up out of an overflow of silver light in the north-east. The bright little figures ceased to move about below, a noiseless owl flitted by, and I shivered with the chill of the night. I determined to descend and find where I could sleep. I looked for the building I knew. Then my eye travelled along to the figure of the White Sphinx upon the pedestal of bronze, growing distinct as the light of the rising moon grew brighter. I could see the silver birch against it. There was the tangle of rhododendron bushes, black in the pale light, and there was the little lawn. I looked at the lawn again. A queer doubt chilled my complacency. "No," said I stoutly to myself, "that was not the lawn." But it was the lawn. For the white leprous face of the sphinx was towards it. Can you imagine what I felt as this conviction came home to me? But you cannot. The Time Machine was gone! At

Chapter 3 { The Invisibel Man
III. THE THOUSAND AND ONE BOTTLES So it was that on the twenty-ninth day of February, at the beginning of the thaw, this singular person fell out of infinity into Iping Village. Next day his luggage arrived through the slush. And very remarkable luggage it was. There were a couple of trunks indeed, such as a rational man might need, but in addition there were a box of books, -- big, fat books, of which some were just in an incomprehensible handwriting, -- and a dozen or more crates, boxes, and cases, containing objects packed in straw, as it seemed to Hall, tugging with a casual curiosity at the straw -- glass bottles. The stranger, muffled in hat, coat, gloves, and wrapper, came out impatiently to meet Fearenside's cart, while Hall was having a word or so of gossip preparatory to helping being them in. Out he came, not noticing Fearenside's dog, who was sniffing in a dilettante spirit at Hall's legs. "Come along with those boxes," he said. "I've been waiting long enough." And he

Chapter 13 { Dracular
CHAPTER 13 DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--cont. The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and her mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastly formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff was afflicted, or blessed, with something of his own obsequious suavity. Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out from the death chamber, "She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege to attend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to our establishment!" I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possible from the disordered state of things in the household. There were no relatives at hand, and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend at his father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should have been bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it upon ourselves t

Chapter 13 { Frankenstein
Chapter 13 "I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I had been, have made me what I am. "Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine and the skies cloudless. It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure. My senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight and a thousand sights of beauty. "It was on one of these days, when my cottagers periodically rested from labour--the old man played on his guitar, and the children listened to him--that I observed the countenance of Felix was melancholy beyond expression; he sighed frequently, and once his father paused in his music, and I conjectured by his manner that he inquired the cause of his son's sorrow. Felix replied in a cheerful accent, and the old man was recommencing his music when someone tapped at the door. "It was a lady on horseback, accompanied

Chapter 6 { The Time Machine
Chapter VI It may seem odd to you, but it was two days before I could follow up the new-found clue in what was manifestly the proper way. I felt a peculiar shrinking from those pallid bodies. They were just the half-bleached colour of the worms and things one sees preserved in spirit in a zoological museum. And they were filthily cold to the touch. Probably my shrinking was largely due to the sympathetic influence of the Eloi, whose disgust of the Morlocks I now began to appreciate. The next night I did not sleep well. Probably my health was a little disordered. I was oppressed with perplexity and doubt. Once or twice I had a feeling of intense fear for which I could perceive no definite reason. I remember creeping noiselessly into the great hall where the little people were sleeping in the moonlight - that night Weena was among them - and feeling reassured by their presence. It occurred to me even then, that in the course of a few days the moon must pass through its last quarter,

Chapter 4 { The Invisibel Man
IV. MR. CUSS INTERVIEWS THE STRANGER I have told the circumstances of the stranger's arrival in Iping with a certain fulness of detail, in order that the curious impression he created may be understood by the reader. But the excepting two odd incidents, the circumstances of his stay until the extraordinary day of the Club Festival may be passed over very cursorily. There were a number of skirmishes with Mrs. Hall on matters of domestic discipline, but in every case until late April, when the first signs of penury began, he over-rode her by the easy expedient of an extra payment. Hall did not like him, and whenever he dared he talked of the advisability of getting rid of him; but he showed his dislike chiefly by concealing it ostentatiously, and avoiding his visitor as much as possible. "Wait till the summer," said Mrs. Hall, sagely, "when the artisks are beginning to come. Then we'll see. He may be a bit overbearing, but bills settled punctual is bills settled punctual, whatever you'd

Chapter 1 { The First Men In The Moon
As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under the blue sky of southern Italy, it comes to me with a certain quality of astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr. Cavor was, after all, the outcome of the purest accident. It might have been any one. I fell into these things at a time when I thought myself removed from the slightest possibility of disturbing experiences. I had gone to Lympne because I had imagined it the most uneventful place in the world. "Here, at any rate," said I, "I shall find peace and a chance to work!" And this book is the sequel. So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men. I may perhaps mention here that very recently I had come an ugly cropper in certain business enterprises. Sitting now surrounded by all the circumstances of wealth, there is a luxury in admitting my extremity. I can admit, even, that to a certain extent my disasters were conceivably of my own making. It may be there ar

Chapter 2 { The First Men In The Moon
But Cavor's fears were groundless, so far as the actual making was concerned. On the 14th of October, 1899, this incredible substance was made! Oddly enough, it was made at last by accident, when Mr. Cavor least expected it. He had fused together a number of metals and certain other things - I wish I knew the particulars now ! - and he intended to leave the mixture a week and then allow it to cool slowly. Unless he had miscalculated, the last stage in the combination would occur when the stuff sank to a temperature of 60 Fahr. But it chanced that, unknown to Cavor, dissension had arisen about the furnace tending. Gibbs, who had previously seen to this, had suddenly attempted to shift it to the man who had been a gardener, on the score that coal was soil, being dug, and therefore could not possibly fall within the province of a joiner; the man who had been a jobbing gardener alleged, however, that coal was a metallic or ore-like substance, let alone that he was cook. But Spargus ins

Chapter 7 { Mr Hyde And Dr Jekyll
Incident at the Window It chanced on Sunday, when Mr. Utterson was on his usual walk with Mr. Enfield, that their way lay once again through the by-street; and that when they came in front of the door, both stopped to gaze on it. "Well," said Enfield, "that story's at an end at least. We shall never see more of Mr. Hyde." "I hope not," said Utterson. "Did I ever tell you that I once saw him, and shared your feeling of repulsion?" "It was impossible to do the one without the other," returned Enfield. "And by the way, what an ass you must have thought me, not to know that this was a back way to Dr. Jekyll's! It was partly your own fault that I found it out, even when I did." "So you found it out, did you?" said Utterson. "But if that be so, we may step into the court and take a look at the windows. To tell you the truth, I am uneasy about poor Jekyll; and even outside, I feel as if the presence of a friend might do him good." The

Chapter 14 { Dracular
CHAPTER 14 MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL September 23.--Jonathan is better after a bad night. I am so glad that he has plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the terrible things, and oh, I am rejoiced that he is not now weighed down with the responsibility of his new position. I knew he would be true to himself, and now how proud I am to see my Jonathan rising to the height of his advancement and keeping pace in all ways with the duties that come upon him. He will be away all day till late, for he said he could not lunch at home. My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal, and lock myself up in my room and read it. September 24.--I hadn't the heart to write last night, that terrible record of Jonathan's upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth in it at all. Did he get his brain fever, and then write all those terrible things, or had he some cause for it all? I suppose I shal

Chapter 14 { Frankenstein
Chapter 14 "Some time elapsed before I learned the history of my friends. It was one which could not fail to impress itself deeply on my mind, unfolding as it did a number of circumstances, each interesting and wonderful to one so utterly inexperienced as I was. "The name of the old man was De Lacey. He was descended from a good family in France, where he had lived for many years in affluence, respected by his superiors and beloved by his equals. His son was bred in the service of his country, and Agatha had ranked with ladies of the highest distinction. A few months before my arrival they had lived in a large and luxurious city called Paris, surrounded by friends and possessed of every enjoyment which virtue, refinement of intellect, or taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune, could afford. "The father of Safie had been the cause of their ruin. He was a Turkish merchant and had inhabited Paris for many years, when, for some reason which I could not learn, he became obnoxi

Chapter 7 { Robin Hood
Thus Little John entered into the Sheriff's service and found the life he led there easy enough, for the Sheriff made him his right-hand man and held him in great favor. He sat nigh the Sheriff at meat, and he ran beside his horse when he went a-hunting; so that, what with hunting and hawking a little, and eating rich dishes and drinking good sack, and sleeping until late hours in the morning, he grew as fat as a stall-fed ox. Thus things floated easily along with the tide, until one day when the Sheriff went a-hunting, there happened that which broke the smooth surface of things. This morning the Sheriff and many of his men set forth to meet certain lords, to go a-hunting. He looked all about him for his good man, Reynold Greenleaf, but, not finding him, was vexed, for he wished to show Little John's skill to his noble friends. As for Little John, he lay abed, snoring lustily, till the sun was high in the heavens. At last he opened his eyes and looked about him but did not move to

Chapter 3 { The First Men In The Moon
I REMEMBER the occasion very distinctly when Cavor told me of his idea of the sphere. He had had intimations of it before, but at the time it seemed to come to him in a rush. We were returning to the bungalow for tea, and on the way he fell humming. Suddenly he shouted, "That's it! That finishes it! A sort of roller blind!" "Finishes what?" I asked. "Space - anywhere! The moon." "What do you mean? " "Mean? Why - it must be a sphere! That's what I mean!" I saw I was out of it, and for a time I let him talk in his own fashion. I hadn't the ghost of an idea then of his drift. But after he had taken tea he made it clear to me. "It's like this," he said. "Last time I ran this stuff that cuts things off from gravitation into a flat tank with an overlap that held it down. And directly it had cooled and the manufacture was completed all that uproar happened, nothing above it weighed anything, the air went squirting up, the house squirted up, and if the stuff itself hadn

Chapter 5 { The Invisibel Man
V. THE BURGLARY AT THE VICARAGE The facts of the burglary at the vicarage came to us chiefly through the medium of the vicar and his wife. It occurred in the small hours of Whit-Monday -- the day devoted in Iping to the Club festivities. Mrs. Bunting, it seems, woke up suddenly in the stillness that comes before the dawn, with the strong impression that the door of their bedroom had opened and closed. She did not arouse her husband at first, but sat up in bed listening. She then distinctly heard the pad, pad, pad of bare feet coming out of the adjoining dressing-room and walking along the passage towards the staircase. As soon as she felt assured of this, she aroused the Rev. Mr. Bunting as quietly as possible. He did not strike a light, but putting on his spectacles, her dressing-gown and his bath slippers, he went out on the landing to listen. He heard quite distinctly a fumbling going on at his study desk down-stairs, and then a violent sneeze. At that he returned to his bedroo

Chapter 15 { Dracular
CHAPTER 15 DR. SEWARD'S DIARY-cont. For a while sheer anger mastered me. It was as if he had during her life struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to him, "Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?" He raised his head and looked at me, and somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once. "Would I were!" he said. "Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my friend, whey, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, no so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a fearful death? Ah no!" "Forgive me," said I. He went on, "My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the breaking to you, for I know you have loved that so sweet lady. But even yet I do not expect you to believe. It is so hard to accept at once any abstract truth, that we may doubt such to

Chapter 15 { Frankenstein
Chapter 15 "Such was the history of my beloved cottagers. It impressed me deeply. I learned, from the views of social life which it developed, to admire their virtues and to deprecate the vices of mankind. "As yet I looked upon crime as a distant evil, benevolence and generosity were ever present before me, inciting within me a desire to become an actor in the busy scene where so many admirable qualities were called forth and displayed. But in giving an account of the progress of my intellect, I must not omit a circumstance which occurred in the beginning of the month of August of the same year. "One night during my accustomed visit to the neighbouring wood where I collected my own food and brought home firing for my protectors, I found on the ground a leathern portmanteau containing several articles of dress and some books. I eagerly seized the prize and returned with it to my hovel. Fortunately the books were written in the language, the elements of which I had acquired a

Chapter 7 { The Time Machine
Chapter VII Now, indeed, I seemed in a worse case than before. Hitherto, except during my night's anguish at the loss of the Time Machine, I had felt a sustaining hope of ultimate escape, but that hope was staggered by these new discoveries. Hitherto I had merely thought myself impeded by the childish simplicity of the little people, and by some unknown forces which I had only to understand to overcome; but there was an altogether new element in the sickening quality of the Morlocks - a something inhuman and malign. Instinctively I loathed them. Before, I had felt as a man might feel who had fallen into a pit: my concern was with the pit and how to get out of it. Now I felt like a beast in a trap, whose enemy would come upon him soon. The enemy I dreaded may surprise you. It was the darkness of the new moon. Weena had put this into my head by some at first incomprehensible remarks about the Dark Nights. It was not now such a very difficult problem to guess what the coming Dark Nigh

Chapter 1 The Mummy { The Jewel Of Seven Stars
It all seemed so real that I could hardly imagine that it had ever occurred before; and yet each episode came, not as a fresh step in the logic of things, but as something expected. It is in such wise that memory plays its pranks for good or ill; for pleasure or pain; for weal or woe. It is thus that life is bitter-sweet, and that which has been done becomes eternal. Again, the light skiff, ceasing to shoot through the lazy water as when the oars flashed and dripped, glided out of the fierce July sunlight into the cool shade of the great drooping willow branches--I standing up in the swaying boat, she sitting still and with deft fingers guarding herself from stray twigs or the freedom of the resilience of moving boughs. Again, the water, looked golden-brown under the canopy of translucent green; and the grassy bank was of emerald hue. Again, we sat in the cool shade, with the myriad noises of nature both without and within our bower merging into that drowsy hum in whose sufficing en

Chapter 2 The Mummy { The Jewel Of The Seven Stars
Superintendent Dolan went quietly to the door; by a sort of natural understanding he had taken possession of affairs in the room. The rest of us waited. He opened the door a little way, and then with a gesture of manifest relief threw it wide, and a young man stepped in. A young man clean-shaven, tall and slight; with an eagle face and bright, quick eyes that seemed to take in everything around him at a glance. As he came in, the Superintendent held out his hand; the two men shook hands warmly. 'I came at once, sir, the moment I got your message. I am glad I still have your confidence.' 'That you'll always have,' said the Superintendent heartily. 'I have not forgotten our old Bow Street days, and I never shall!' Then, without a word of preliminary, he began to tell everything he knew up to the moment of the newcomer's entry. Sergeant Daw asked a few questions--a very few--when it was necessary for his understanding of circumstances or the relative positions of persons; but as a r

Chapter 4 { The First Men In The Moon
"GO ON," said Cavor, as I sat across the edge of the manhole, and looked down into the black interior of the sphere. We two were alone. It was evening, the sun had set, and the stillness of the twilight was upon everything. I drew my other leg inside and slid down the smooth glass to the bottom of the sphere, then turned to take the cans of food and other impedimenta from Cavor. The interior was warm, the thermometer stood at eighty, and as we should lose little or none of this by radiation, we were dressed in shoes and thin flannels. We had, however, a bundle of thick woollen clothing and several thick blankets to guard against mischance. By Cavor's direction I placed the packages, the cylinders of oxygen, and so forth, loosely about my feet, and soon we had everything in. He walked about the roofless shed for a time seeking anything we had overlooked, and then crawled in after me. I noted something in his hand. "What have you got there? " I asked. "Haven't you brought

Chapter 3 The Mummy { The Jewel Of The Seven Stars
I was struck by the way the two young women looked at each other. I suppose I have been so much in the habit of weighing up in my own mind the personality of witnesses and of forming judgement by their unconscious action and mode of bearing themselves, that the habit extends to my life outside as well as within the court-house. At this moment of my life anything that interested Miss Trelawny interested me; and as she had been struck by the newcomer I instinctively weighed her up also. By comparison of the two I seemed somehow to gain a new knowledge of Miss Trelawny. Certainly, the two women made a good contrast. Miss Trelawny was of fine figure, dark, straight-featured. She had marvelous eyes; great, wide-open, and as black and soft as velvet, with a mysterious depth. To look in them was like gazing at a black mirror such as Doctor Dee used in his wizard rites. I heard an old gentleman at the picnic, a great oriental traveller, describe the effect of her eyes 'as looking at night at t

Chapter 1 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
A Scandal in Bohemia I. To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained teasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be mor

Chapter 2 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Red-headed League I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson," he said cordially. "I was afraid that you were engaged." "So I am. Very much so." "Then I can wait in the next room." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small fat-encircled eyes. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together, as was his cu

Chapter 3 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
A Case of Identity "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generation, and leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, neither fascinating n

Chapter 4 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Boscombe Valley Mystery We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran in this way: Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Leave Paddington by the 11:15. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Will you go?" "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at present." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes's cases." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack at once, for I have only half an hour." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the effect o

Chapter 4 The Mummy { The Jewel Of Seven Stars
The sight which met my eyes had the horror of a dream within a dream, with the certainty of reality added. The room was as I had seen it last; except that the shadowy look had gone in the glare of the many lights, and every article in it stood stark and solidly real. By the empty bed sat Nurse Kennedy, as my eyes had last seen her, sitting bolt upright in the armchair beside the bed. She had placed a pillow behind her, so that her back might be erect: but her neck was fixed as that of one in a cataleptic trance. She was, to all intents and purposes, turned into stone. There was no special expression on her face--no fear, no horror; nothing such as might be expected of one in such a condition. Her open eyes showed neither wonder nor interest. She was simply a negative existence, warm, breathing, placid; but absolutely unconscious of the world around her. The bedclothes were disarranged, as though the patient had been drawn from under them without throwing them back. The corner of the

Chapter 16 { Dracular
CHAPTER 16 DR SEWARD'S DIARY-cont. It was just a quarter before twelve o'clock when we got into the churchyard over the low wall. The night was dark with occasional gleams of moonlight between the dents of the heavy clouds that scudded across the sky. We all kept somehow close together, with Van Helsing slightly in front as he led the way. When we had come close to the tomb I looked well at Arthur, for I feared the proximity to a place laden with so sorrowful a memory would upset him, but he bore himself well. I took it that the very mystery of the proceeding was in some way a counteractant to his grief. The Professor unlocked the door, and seeing a natural hesitation amongst us for various reasons, solved the difficulty by entering first himself. The rest of us followed, and he closed the door. He then lit a dark lantern and pointed to a coffin. Arthur stepped forward hesitatingly. Van Helsing said to me, "You were with me here yesterday. Was the body of Miss Lucy in that coffin

Chapter 16 { Frankenstein
Chapter 16 "Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery. "When night came I quitted my retreat and wandered in the wood; and now, no longer restrained by the fear of discovery, I gave vent to my anguish in fearful howlings. I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging through the wood with a staglike swiftness. Oh! What a miserable night I passed! The cold stars shone in mockery, and the bare trees waved their branches above me; now and then the sweet voice of a bird burst forth amidst the universal stillness. All, save I, were at rest or in enjoyment; I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and f

Chapter 8 { Robin Hood
One fine day, not long after Little John had left abiding with the Sheriff and had come back, with his worship's cook, to the merry greenwood, as has just been told, Robin Hood and a few chosen fellows of his band lay upon the soft sward beneath the greenwood tree where they dwelled. The day was warm and sultry, so that while most of the band were scattered through the forest upon this mission and upon that, these few stout fellows lay lazily beneath the shade of the tree, in the soft afternoon, passing jests among themselves and telling merry stories, with laughter and mirth. All the air was laden with the bitter fragrance of the May, and all the bosky shades of the woodlands beyond rang with the sweet song of birds--the throstle cock, the cuckoo, and the wood pigeon-- and with the song of birds mingled the cool sound of the gurgling brook that leaped out of the forest shades, and ran fretting amid its rough, gray stones across the sunlit open glade before the trysting tree. And a

Chapter 1 { Moby Dick
CHAPTER 1 Loomings Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in th

Chapter 1 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
PART ONE CHAPTER I A SHIFTING REEF The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were particularly excited. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several States on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter. For some time past vessels had been met by "an enormous thing," a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale. The facts relating to this apparition (entered in various log-books) agreed in most respects as to the shape of the object or creature in question, the untiring rapidity of its movements, its surprising power of locomotion, and the peculiar li

Chapter 2 { Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
CHAPTER II PRO AND CON At the period when these events took place, I had just returned from a scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska, in the United States. In virtue of my office as Assistant Professor in the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French Government had attached me to that expedition. After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New York towards the end of March, laden with a precious collection. My departure for France was fixed for the first days in May. Meanwhile I was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical, botanical, and zoological riches, when the accident happened to the Scotia. I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day. How could I be otherwise? I had read and reread all the American and European papers without being any nearer a conclusion. This mystery puzzled me. Under the impossibility of forming an opinion, I jumped from one extreme to the other. That there really was something could not be doub

Chapter 2 { Moby Dick
CHAPTER 2 The Carpet-Bag I stuffed a shirt or two into my old carpet-bag, tucked it under my arm, and started for Cape Horn and the Pacific. Quitting the good city of old Manhatto, I duly arrived in New Bedford. It was a Saturday night in December. Much was I disappointed upon learning that the little packet for Nantucket had already sailed, and that no way of reaching that place would offer, till the following Monday. As most young candidates for the pains and penalties of whaling stop at this same New Bedford, thence to embark on their voyage, it may as well be related that I, for one, had no idea of so doing. For my mind was made up to sail in no other than a Nantucket craft, because there was a fine, boisterous something about everything connected with that famous old island, which amazingly pleased me. Besides though New Bedford has of late been gradually monopolizing the business of whaling, and though in this matter poor old Nantucket is now much behind her, yet Nant

Chapter 5 The Mummy { The Jewel Of Seven Stars
When I came from my room at half-past eleven o'clock I found all well in the sick-room. The new nurse, prim, neat, and watchful, sat in the chair by the bedside where Nurse Kennedy had sat last night. A little way off, between the bed and the safe, sat Doctor Winchester alert and wakeful, but looking strange and almost comic with the respirator over mouth and nose. As I stood in the doorway looking at them I heard a slight sound; turning round I saw the new detective, who nodded, held up the finger of silence and withdrew quietly. Hitherto no one of the watchers was overcome by sleep. I took a chair outside the door. As yet there was no need for me to risk coming again under the subtle influence of last night. Naturally my thoughts went revolving round the main incidents of the last day and night and I found myself arriving at strange conclusions, doubts, conjectures; but I did not lose myself, as on last night, in the trains of thought. The sense of the present was ever with me, an

Chapter 17 { Dracular
CHAPTER 17 DR. SEWARD'S DIARY-cont. When we arrived at the Berkely Hotel, Van Helsing found a telegram waiting for him. "Am coming up by train. Jonathan at Whitby. Important news. Mina Harker." The Professor was delighted. "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina," he said, "pearl among women! She arrive, but I cannot stay. She must go to your house, friend John. You must meet her at the station. Telegraph her en route so that she may be prepared." When the wire was dispatched he had a cup of tea. Over it he told me of a diary kept by Jonathan Harker when abroad, and gave me a typewritten copy of it, as also of Mrs. Harker's diary at Whitby. "Take these," he said, "and study them well. When I have returned you will be master of all the facts, and we can then better enter on our inquisition. Keep them safe, for there is in them much of treasure. You will need all your faith, even you who have had such an experience as that of today. What is here told," he laid his hand heavily an

Chapter 17 { Frankenstein
Chapter 17 The being finished speaking and fixed his looks upon me in the expectation of a reply. But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his proposition. He continued, "You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede." The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers, and as he said this I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within me. "I do refuse it," I replied; "and no torture shall ever extort a consent from me. You may render me the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world. Begone! I have answered you; you may torture me, but

Chapter 8 { The Time Machine
Chapter VIII I found the Palace of Green Porcelain, when we approached it about noon, deserted and falling into ruin. Only ragged vestiges of glass remained in its windows, and great sheets of the green facing had fallen away from the corroded metallic framework. It lay very high upon a turfy down, and looking north-eastward before I entered it, I was surprised to see a large estuary, or even creek, where I judged Wandsworth and Battersea must once have been. I thought then - though I never followed up the thought - of what might have happened, or might be happening, to the living things in the sea. The material of the Palace proved on examination to be indeed porcelain, and along the face of it I saw an inscription in some unknown character. I thought, rather foolishly, that Weena might help me to interpret this, but I only learned that the bare idea of writing had never entered her head. She always seemed to me, I fancy, more human than she was, perhaps because her affection was

Chapter 5 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Five Orange Pips When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which present strange and interesting features that it is no easy matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are points in connection with

Chapter 5 { The First Men In The Moon
PRESENTLY Cavor extinguished the light. He said we had not overmuch energy stored, and that what we had we must economise for reading. For a time, whether it was long or short I do not know, there was nothing but blank darkness. A question floated up out of the void. "How are we pointing?" I said. "What is our direction?" "We are flying away from the earth at a tangent, and as the moon is near her third quarter we are going somewhere towards her. I will open a blind -" Came a click, and then a window in the outer case yawned open. The sky outside was as black as the darkness within the sphere, but the shape of the open window was marked by an infinite number of stars. Those who have only seen the starry sky from the earth cannot imagine its appearance when the vague, half luminous veil of our air has been withdrawn. The stars we see on earth are the mere scattered survivors that penetrate our misty atmosphere. But now at last I could realise the meaning of the hosts of

Chapter 8 { Mr Hyde And Dr Jekyll
The Last Night Mr. Utterson was sitting by his fireside one evening after dinner, when he was surprised to receive a visit from Poole. "Bless me, Poole, what brings you here?" he cried; and then taking a second look at him, "What ails you?" he added; is the doctor ill?" "Mr. Utterson," said the man, "there is something wrong." "Take a seat, and here is a glass of wine for you," said the lawyer. "Now, take your time, and tell me plainly what you want." "You know the doctor's ways, sir," replied Poole, "and how he shuts himself up. Well, he's shut up again in the cabinet; and I don't like it, sir--I wish I may die if I like it. Mr. Utterson, sir, I'm afraid." "Now, my good man," said the lawyer, "be explicit. What are you afraid of?" "I've been afraid for about a week," returned Poole, doggedly disregarding the question, "and I can bear it no more." The man's appearance amply bore out his words; his manner was altered for

Chapter 9 { Robin Hood
Thus they traveled along the sunny road, three stout fellows such as you could hardly match anywhere else in all merry England. Many stopped to gaze after them as they strode along, so broad were their shoulders and so sturdy their gait. Quoth Robin Hood to Little John, "Why didst thou not go straight to Ancaster, yesterday, as I told thee? Thou hadst not gotten thyself into such a coil hadst thou done as I ordered." "I feared the rain that threatened," said Little John in a sullen tone, for he was vexed at being so chaffed by Robin with what had happened to him. "The rain!" cried Robin, stopping of a sudden in the middle of the road, and looking at Little John in wonder. "Why, thou great oaf! not a drop of rain has fallen these three days, neither has any threatened, nor hath there been a sign of foul weather in earth or sky or water." "Nevertheless," growled Little John, "the holy Saint Swithin holdeth the waters of the heavens in his pewter pot, and he could have poured

Chapter 9 { Mr Hyed And Dr Jekyll
Dr. Lanyon's Narrative On the ninth of January, now four days ago, I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope, addressed in the hand of my colleague and old school companion, Henry Jekyll. I was a good deal surprised by this; for we were by no means in the habit of correspondence; I had seen the man, dined with him, indeed, the night before; and I could imagine nothing in our intercourse that should justify formality of registration. The contents increased my wonder; for this is how the letter ran: "10th December, 18--. "Dear Lanyon,--You are one of my oldest friends; and although we may have differed at times on scientific questions, I cannot remember, at least on my side, any break in our affection. There was never a day when, if you had said to me, `Jekyll, my life, my honour, my reason, depend upon you,' I would not have sacrificed my left hand to help you. Lanyon my life, my honour, my reason, are all at your mercy; if you fail me t

Chapter 10 { Mr Hyed And Dr Jekyll
Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case I was born in the year 18-- to a large fortune, endowed besides with excellent parts, inclined by nature to industry, fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellowmen, and thus, as might have been supposed, with every guarantee of an honorurable and distinguished future. And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public. Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of me. Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded

Chapter 6 { The Invisibel Man
VI. THE FURNITURE THAT WENT MAD Now it happened that in the early hours of Whit-Monday, before Millie was hunted out for the day, Mr. Hall and Mrs. Hall both rose and went noiselessly down into the cellar. Their business there was of a private nature, and had something to do with the specific gravity of their beer. They had hardly entered the cellar when Mrs. Hall found she had forgotten to bring down a bottle of sarsaparilla from their joint-room. As she was the expert and principal operator in this affair, Hall very properly went upstairs for it. On the landing he was surprised to see that the stranger's door was ajar. He went on into his own room and found the bottle as he had been directed. But returning with the bottle, he noticed that the bolts of the front door had been shot back, that the door was in fact simply on the latch. And with a flash of inspiration he connected this with the stranger's room upstairs and the suggestions of Mr. Teddy Henfrey. He distinctly remem

Chapter 3 { Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
CHAPTER III I FORM MY RESOLUTION Three seconds before the arrival of J. B. Hobson's letter I no more thought of pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the North Sea. Three seconds after reading the letter of the honourable Secretary of Marine, I felt that my true vocation, the sole end of my life, was to chase this disturbing monster and purge it from the world. But I had just returned from a fatiguing journey, weary and longing for repose. I aspired to nothing more than again seeing my country, my friends, my little lodging by the Jardin des Plantes, my dear and precious collections--but nothing could keep me back! I forgot all--fatigue, friends and collections--and accepted without hesitation the offer of the American Government. "Besides," thought I, "all roads lead back to Europe; and the unicorn may be amiable enough to hurry me towards the coast of France. This worthy animal may allow itself to be caught in the seas of Europe (for my particular benefit), a

Chapter 3 { Moby Dick
CHAPTER 3 The Spouter Inn Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks of some condemned old craft. On one side hung a very large oil painting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the unequal crosslights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose. Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched. But by dint of much and earnest contemplation, and oft repeated ponderings, and especially by throwing open the little window towards the back of the entry, you at last come to the conclusion that such an idea, however wild, might not be altogether unwarranted. But

Chapter 18 { Dracular
CHAPTER 18 DR. SEWARD'S DIARY September 30.--I got home at five o'clock, and found that Godalming and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied the transcript of the various diaries and letters which Harker had not yet returned from his visit to the carriers' men, of whom Dr. Hennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave us a cup of tea, and I can honestly say that, for the first time since I have lived in it, this old house seemed like home. When we had finished, Mrs. Harker said, "Dr. Seward, may I ask a favor? I want to see your patient, Mr. Renfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your diary interests me so much!" She looked so appealing and so pretty that I could not refuse her, and there was no possible reason why I should, so I took her with me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a lady would like to see him, to which he simply answered, "Why?" "She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in it," I answered.

Chapter 18 { Frankenstein
Chapter 18 Day after day, week after week, passed away on my return to Geneva; and I could not collect the courage to recommence my work. I feared the vengeance of the disappointed fiend, yet I was unable to overcome my repugnance to the task which was enjoined me. I found that I could not compose a female without again devoting several months to profound study and laborious disquisition. I had heard of some discoveries having been made by an English philosopher, the knowledge of which was material to my success, and I sometimes thought of obtaining my father's consent to visit England for this purpose; but I clung to every pretence of delay and shrank from taking the first step in an undertaking whose immediate necessity began to appear less absolute to me. A change indeed had taken place in me; my health, which had hitherto declined, was now much restored; and my spirits, when unchecked by the memory of my unhappy promise, rose proportionably. My father saw this change with pleas

Chapter 9 { The Time Machine
Chapter IX We emerged from the palace while the sun was still in part above the horizon. I was determined to reach the White Sphinx early the next morning, and ere the dusk I purposed pushing through the woods that had stopped me on the previous journey. My plan was to go as far as possible that night, and then, building a fire, to sleep in the protection of its glare. Accordingly, as we went along I gathered any sticks or dried grass I saw, and presently had my arms full of such litter. Thus loaded, our progress was slower than I had anticipated, and besides Weena was tired. And I began to suffer from sleepiness too; so that it was full night before we reached the wood. Upon the shrubby hill of its edge Weena would have stopped, fearing the darkness before us; but a singular sense of impending calamity, that should indeed have served me as a warning, drove me onward. I had been without sleep for a night and two days, and I was feverish and irritable. I felt sleep coming upon me, and

Chapter 6 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Man with the Twisted Lip Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble man. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work down in her lap and made a littl

Chapter 10 { The Time Machine
Chapter X About eight or nine in the morning I came to the same seat of yellow metal from which I had viewed the world upon the evening of my arrival. I thought of my hasty conclusions upon that evening and could not refrain from laughing bitterly at my confidence. Here was the same beautiful scene, the same abundant foliage, the same splendid palaces and magnificent ruins, the same silver river running between its fertile banks. The gay robes of the beautiful people moved hither and thither among the trees. Some were bathing in exactly the place where I had saved Weena, and that suddenly gave me a keen stab of pain. And like blots upon the landscape rose the cupolas above the ways to the Under-world. I understood now what all the beauty of the Over- world people covered. Very pleasant was their day, as pleasant as the day of the cattle in the field. Like the cattle, they knew of no enemies and provided against no needs. And their end was the same. I grieved to think how brief the

Chapter 11 { The Time Machine
Chapter XI I have already told you of the sickness and confusion that comes with time travelling. And this time I was not seated properly in the saddle, but sideways and in an unstable fashion. For an indefinite time I clung to the machine as it swayed and vibrated, quite unheeding how I went, and when I brought myself to look at the dials again I was amazed to find where I had arrived. One dial records days, and another thousands of days, another millions of days, and another thousands of millions. Now, instead of reversing the levers, I had pulled them over so as to go forward with them, and when I came to look at these indicators I found that the thousands hand was sweeping round as fast as the seconds hand of a watch - into futurity. As I drove on, a peculiar change crept over the appearance of things. The palpitating greyness grew darker; then - though I was still travelling with prodigious velocity - the blinking succession of day and night, which was usually indicative of a

Chapter 12 { The Time Machine
Chapter XII So I came back. For a long time I must have been insensible upon the machine. The blinking succession of the days and nights was resumed, the sun got golden again, the sky blue. I breathed with greater freedom. The fluctuating contours of the land ebbed and flowed. The hands spun backward upon the dials. At last I saw again the dim shadows of houses, the evidences of decadent humanity. These, too, changed and passed, and others came. Presently, when the million dial was at zero, I slackened speed. I began to recognize our own petty and familiar architecture, the thousands hand ran back to the starting-point, the night and day flapped slower and slower. Then the old walls of the laboratory came round me. Very gently, now, I slowed the mechanism down. I saw one little thing that seemed odd to me. I think I have told you that when I set out, before my velocity became very high, Mrs. Watchett had walked across the room, travelling, as it seemed to me, like a rocket. As I re

Chapter 13 { The Time Machine
Epilogue One cannot choose but wonder. Will he ever return? It may be that he swept back into the past, and fell among the blood-drinking, hairy savages of the Age of Unpolished Stone; into the abysses of the Cretaceous Sea; or among the grotesque saurians, the huge reptilian brutes of the Jurassic times. He may even now - if I may use the phrase - be wandering on some plesiosaurus-haunted Oolitic coral reef, or beside the lonely saline lakes of the Triassic Age. Or did he go forward, into one of the nearer ages, in which men are still men, but with the riddles of our own time answered and its wearisome problems solved? Into the manhood of the race: for I, for my own part cannot think that these latter days of weak experiment, fragmentary theory, and mutual discord are indeed man's culminating time! I say, for my own part. He, I know - for the question had been discussed among us long before the Time Machine was made - thought but cheerlessly of the Advancement of Mankind, and saw in

Chapter 1 { In The Days Of The Comet
Dust in the Shadows I I have set myself to write the story of the Great Change, so far as it has affected my own life and the lives of one or two people closely connected with me, primarily to please myself. Long ago, in my crude unhappy youth, I conceived a desire to write a book. To scribble secretly and dream of authorship was one of my chief alleviations, and I read with a sympathetic envy every scrap I could get about he world of literature and the lives of literary people. It is something, even amidst this present happiness, to find leisure and opportunity to take up and partially relive these old and hopeless dreams. But that alone, in a world where so much of vivid and increasing interest presents itself to be done, even by an old man, would not, I think, suffice to set me at this desk. I find some such recapitulation of my past as this will involve, is becoming necessary to my own secure mental continuity. The passage of years brings a man at last to retrospection;

Chapter 2 { In The Days Of The Comet
4 Always with Parload I was chief talker. I can look back upon myself with, I believe, an almost perfect detachment, things have so changed that indeed now I am another being, with scarce anything in common with that boastful foolish youngster whose troubles I recall. I see him vulgarly theatrical, egotistical, insincere; indeed I do not like him save with that instinctive material sympathy that is the fruit of incessant intimacy. Because he was myself I may be able to feel and write understandingly about motives that will put him out of sympathy with nearly every reader, but why should I palliate or defend his quality? Always, I say, I did the talking, and at would have amazed me beyond measure if any one had told me that mine was not the greater intelligence in these wordy encounters. Parload was a quiet youth, and stiff and restrained in all things, while I had that supreme gift for young men and democracies, the gift of copious expression. Parload I diagnosed in my se

Chapter 6 { The First Men In The Moon
I REMEBER how one day Cavor suddenly opened six of our shutters and blinded me so that I cried aloud at him. The whole area was moon, a stupendous scimitar of white dawn with its edge hacked out by notches of darkness, the crescent shore of an ebbing tide of darkness, out of which peaks and pinnacles came glittering into the blaze of the sun. I take it reader has seen pictures or photographs of the moon and that I need not describe the broader features of that landscape, those spacious ringlike ranges vaster than any terrestrial mountains, their summits shining in the day, their shadows harsh and deep, the gray disordered plains, the ridges, hills, and craterlets, all passing at last from a blazing illumination into a common mystery of black. Athwart this world we were flying scarcely a hundred miles above its crests and pinnacles. And now we could see, what no eye on earth will ever see, that under the blaze of the day the harsh outlines of the rocks and ravines of the plains and crat

Chapter 3 { In The Days Of The Comet
Nettie I I CANNOT now remember (the story resumed) what interval separated that evening on which Parload first showed me the comet -- I think I only pretended to see it then -- and the Sunday afternoon I spent at Checkshill. Between those two there was time enough for me to give notice and leave Rawdon's, to seek for some other situations very strenuously in vain, to think and say many hard and violent things to my mother and to Parload, and to pass through some phases of very profound wretchedness. There must have been a passionate correspondence with Nettie but all the froth and fury of that has faded now out of my memory. All I have clear now is that I wrote one magnificent farewell to her, casting her off for ever, and that I got in reply a prim little note to say that even if there was to be an end to everything, that was no excuse for writing such things as I had done, and then I think I wrote again in a vein I considered satirical. To that she did not reply. That

Chapter 4 { In The Days Of The Comet
4 When I and Nettie had been sixteen we had been just of an age and contemporaries altogether. Now we were a year and three-quarters older, and she -- her metamorphosis was almost complete, and I was still only at the beginning of a man's long adolescence. In an instant she grasped the situation. The hidden motives of her quick-ripened little mind flashed out their intuitive scheme of action. She treated me with that neat perfection of understanding a young woman has for a boy. "But how did you come?" she asked. I told her I had walked. "Walked!" In an instant she was leading me towards the gardens. I must be tired. I must come home with her at once and sit down. Indeed it was near tea-time (the Stuarts had tea at the old-fashioned hour of five). Everyone would be so surprised to see me. Fancy walking! Fancy! But she supposed a man thought nothing of seventeen miles. When could I have started! All the while, keeping me at a distance, without even the touch of

Chapter 19 {dracular
CHAPTER 19 JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL October 1, 5 A.M.--I went with the party to the search with an easy mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well. I am so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work. Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful business at all, but now that her work is done, and that it is due to her energy and brains and foresight that the whole story is put together in such a way that every point tells, she may well feel that her part is finished, and that she can henceforth leave the rest to us. We were, I think, all a little upset by the scene with Mr. Renfield. When we came away from his room we were silent till we got back to the study. Then Mr. Morris said to Dr. Seward, "Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had some serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a chance." Lord G

Chapter 20 { Dracular
JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL October 1, evening.--I found Thomas Snelling in his house at Bethnal Green, but unhappily he was not in a condition to remember anything. The very prospect of beer which my expected coming had opened to him had proved too much, and he had begun too early on his expected debauch. I learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor soul, that he was only the assistant of Smollet, who of the two mates was the responsible person. So off I drove to Walworth, and found Mr. Joseph Smollet at home and in his shirtsleeves, taking a late tea out of a saucer. He is a decent, intelligent fellow, distinctly a good, reliable type of workman, and with a headpiece of his own. He remembered all about the incident of the boxes, and from a wonderful dog-eared notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle about the seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries in thick, half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the boxes. There

Chapter 21 { Dracular
CHAPTER 21 DR. SEWARD'S DIARY October 3.--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well as I can remember, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that I can recall must be forgotten. In all calmness I must proceed. When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries. There seemed none of the unity of purpose between the parts of the body which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the floor. Indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood originated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as we turned him over, "I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and the whole side of his face are paralysed." How such a thing could have happened puzzled the attendant beyond

Chapter 22 { Dracular
CHAPTER 22 JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL October 3.--As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary. It is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and take something to eat, for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best will be, God knows, required today. I must keep writing at every chance, for I dare not stop to think. All, big and little, must go down. Perhaps at the end the little things may teach us most. The teaching, big or little, could not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we are today. However, we must trust and hope. Poor Mina told me just now, with the tears running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and trial that our faith is tested. That we must keep on trusting, and that God will aid us up to the end. The end! Oh my God! What end?. . . To work! To work! When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be

Chapter 23 { Dracular
CHAPTER 23 DR. SEWARD'S DIARY October 3.--The time seemed teribly long whilst we were waiting for the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. Today he is a drawn, haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact. In fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for if all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period. He will then, in a kind of way, wake again to the realities o f life. Poor fellow, I thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his. . .! The Professor knows this well enough, and is doing his best

Chapter 24 { Dracular
CHAPTER 24 DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING This to Jonathan Harker. You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our search, if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her today. This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away. He have gone back to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and that last earth box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the money. For this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him. But there was not of time. When that fail he make s

Chapter 25 { Dracular
CHAPTER 25 DR SEWARD'S DIARY October 11, Evening.--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this, as he says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record kept. I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs. Harker a little before the time of sunset. We have of late come to understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar freedom. When her old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing or restraining her, or inciting her to action. This mood or condition begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise or sunset, and lasts till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds are still aglow with the rays streaming above the horizon. At first there is a sort of negative condition, as if some tie were loosened, and then the absolute freedom quickly follows. When, however, the freedom ceases the change back or relapse comes quickly, preceeded only by a spell of warning silence. Tonight, when we met, she was some

Chapter 26 { Dracular
CHAPTER 26 DR. SEWARD'S DIARY October 29.--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz. Last night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset. Each of us had done his work as well as he could, so far as thought, and endeavor, and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our journey, and for our work when we get to Galatz. When the usual time came round Mrs. Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort, and after a longer and more serious effort on the part of Van Helsing than has been usually necessary, she sank into the trance. Usually she speaks on a hint, but this time the Professor had to ask her questions, and to ask them pretty resolutely, before we could learn anything. At last her answer came. "I can see nothing. We are still. There are no waves lapping, but only a steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser. I can hear men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in the rowlocks. A gun is fired somewhere, the

Chapter 27 { Dracular
CHAPTER 27 MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL November 1.--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic, he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea, and off we go. It is a lovely country. Full of beauties of all imaginable kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full of nice qualities. They are very, very superstitious. In the first house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an extra amount of garlic into our food, and I can

Chapter 19 { Frankenstein
Chapter 19 London was our present point of rest; we determined to remain several months in this wonderful and celebrated city. Clerval desired the intercourse of the men of genius and talent who flourished at this time, but this was with me a secondary object; I was principally occupied with the means of obtaining the information necessary for the completion of my promise and quickly availed myself of the letters of introduction that I had brought with me, addressed to the most distinguished natural philosophers. If this journey had taken place during my days of study and happiness, it would have afforded me inexpressible pleasure. But a blight had come over my existence, and I only visited these people for the sake of the information they might give me on the subject in which my interest was so terribly profound. Company was irksome to me; when alone, I could fill my mind with the sights of heaven and earth; the voice of Henry soothed me, and I could thus cheat myself into a t

Chapter 20 { Frankenstein
Chapter 20 I sat one evening in my laboratory; the sun had set, and the moon was just rising from the sea; I had not sufficient light for my employment, and I remained idle, in a pause of consideration of whether I should leave my labour for the night or hasten its conclusion by an unremitting attention to it. As I sat, a train of reflection occurred to me which led me to consider the effects of what I was now doing. Three years before, I was engaged in the same manner and had created a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart and filled it forever with the bitterest remorse. I was now about to form another being of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness. He had sworn to quit the neighbourhood of man and hide himself in deserts, but she had not; and she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to com

Chapter 21 {frankenstein
Chapter 21 I was soon introduced into the presence of the magistrate, an old benevolent man with calm and mild manners. He looked upon me, however, with some degree of severity, and then, turning towards my conductors, he asked who appeared as witnesses on this occasion. About half a dozen men came forward; and, one being selected by the magistrate, he deposed that he had been out fishing the night before with his son and brother-in-law, Daniel Nugent, when, about ten o'clock, they observed a strong northerly blast rising, and they accordingly put in for port. It was a very dark night, as the moon had not yet risen; they did not land at the harbour, but, as they had been accustomed, at a creek about two miles below. He walked on first, carrying a part of the fishing tackle, and his companions followed him at some distance. As he was proceeding along the sands, he struck his foot against something and fell at his length on the ground. His companions came up to assist him, an

Chapter 22 { Frankenstein
Chapter 22 The voyage came to an end. We landed, and proceeded to Paris. I soon found that I had overtaxed my strength and that I must repose before I could continue my journey. My father's care and attentions were indefatigable, but he did not know the origin of my sufferings and sought erroneous methods to remedy the incurable ill. He wished me to seek amusement in society. I abhorred the face of man. Oh, not abhorred! They were my brethren, my fellow beings, and I felt attracted even to the most repulsive among them, as to creatures of an angelic nature and celestial mechanism. But I felt that I had no right to share their intercourse. I had unchained an enemy among them whose joy it was to shed their blood and to revel in their groans. How they would, each and all, abhor me and hunt me from the world did they know my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their source in me! My father yielded at length to my desire to avoid society and strove by various arguments to banis

Chapter 23 { Frankenstein
Chapter 23 It was eight o'clock when we landed; we walked for a short time on the shore, enjoying the transitory light, and then retired to the inn and contemplated the lovely scene of waters, woods, and mountains, obscured in darkness, yet still displaying their black outlines. The wind, which had fallen in the south, now rose with great violence in the west. The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was beginning to descend; the clouds swept across it swifter than the flight of the vulture and dimmed her rays, while the lake reflected the scene of the busy heavens, rendered still busier by the restless waves that were beginning to rise. Suddenly a heavy storm of rain descended. I had been calm during the day, but so soon as night obscured the shapes of objects, a thousand fears arose in my mind. I was anxious and watchful, while my right hand grasped a pistol which was hidden in my bosom; every sound terrified me, but I resolved that I would sell my life dearly a

Chapter 24 { Frankenstein
Chapter 24 My present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was swallowed up and lost. I was hurried away by fury; revenge alone endowed me with strength and composure; it moulded my feelings and allowed me to be calculating and calm at periods when otherwise delirium or death would have been my portion. My first resolution was to quit Geneva forever; my country, which, when I was happy and beloved, was dear to me, now, in my adversity, became hateful. I provided myself with a sum of money, together with a few jewels which had belonged to my mother, and departed. And now my wanderings began which are to cease but with life. I have traversed a vast portion of the earth and have endured all the hardships which travellers in deserts and barbarous countries are wont to meet. How I have lived I hardly know; many times have I stretched my failing limbs upon the sandy plain and prayed for death. But revenge kept me alive; I dared not die and leave my adversary in being.

Chapter 25 { Frankenstein
Walton, in continuation. August 26th, 17- You have read this strange and terrific story, Margaret; and do you not feel your blood congeal with horror, like that which even now curdles mine? Sometimes, seized with sudden agony, he could not continue his tale; at others, his voice broken, yet piercing, uttered with difficulty the words so replete with anguish. His fine and lovely eyes were now lighted up with indignation, now subdued to downcast sorrow and quenched in infinite wretchedness. Sometimes he commanded his countenance and tones and related the most horrible incidents with a tranquil voice, suppressing every mark of agitation; then, like a volcano bursting forth, his face would suddenly change to an expression of the wildest rage as he shrieked out imprecations on his persecutor. His tale is connected and told with an appearance of the simplest truth, yet I own to you that the letters of Felix and Safie, which he showed me, and the apparition of the monster seen from o

Chapter 7 { The Invisibel Man
VII. THE UNVEILING OF THE STRANGER The stranger went into the little parlour of the Coach and Horses about half-past five in the morning, and there he remained until near midday, the blinds down, the door shut, and none, after Hall's repulse, venturing near him. All that time he must have fasted. Thrice he rang his bell, the third time furiously and continuously, but no one answered him. "Him and his `go to the devil' indeed!" said Mrs. Hall. Presently came an imperfect rumour of the burglary at the vicarage, and two and two were put together. Hall, assisted by Wadgers, went off to find Mr. Shuckleforth, the magistrate, and take his advice. No one ventured upstairs. How the stranger occupied himself is unknown. Now and then he would stride violently up and down, and twice came an outburst of curses, a tearing of paper, and a violent smashing of bottles. The little group of scared but curious people increased. Mrs. Huxter came over; some gay young fellows resplendent in black r

Chapter 10 { Robin Hood
When the four yeomen had traveled for a long time toward Sherwood again, high noontide being past, they began to wax hungry. Quoth Robin Hood, "I would that I had somewhat to eat. Methinks a good loaf of white bread, with a piece of snow-white cheese, washed down with a draught of humming ale, were a feast for a king." "Since thou speakest of it," said Will Scarlet, "methinks it would not be amiss myself. There is that within me crieth out, `Victuals, good friend, victuals!' " "I know a house near by," said Arthur a Bland, "and, had I but the money, I would bring ye that ye speak of; to wit, a sweet loaf of bread, a fair cheese, and a skin of brown ale." "For the matter of that, thou knowest I have money by me, good master," quoth Little John. "Why, so thou hast, Little John," said Robin. "How much money will it take, good Arthur, to buy us meat and drink?" "I think that six broad pennies will buy food enow for a dozen men," said the Tanner. "Then give him six pennies

Chapter 11 { Robin Hood
It has just been told how three unlucky adventures fell upon Robin Hood and Little John all in one day bringing them sore ribs and aching bones. So next we will tell how they made up for those ill happenings by a good action that came about not without some small pain to Robin. Two days had passed by, and somewhat of the soreness had passed away from Robin Hood's joints, yet still, when he moved of a sudden and without thinking, pain here and there would, as it were, jog him, crying, "Thou hast had a drubbing, good fellow." The day was bright and jocund, and the morning dew still lay upon the grass. Under the greenwood tree sat Robin Hood; on one side was Will Scarlet, lying at full length upon his back, gazing up into the clear sky, with hands clasped behind his head; upon the other side sat Little John, fashioning a cudgel out of a stout crab-tree limb; elsewhere upon the grass sat or lay many others of the band. "By the faith of my heart," quoth merry Robin, "I do bethink m

Chapter 12 { Robin Hood
The stout yeomen of Sherwood Forest were ever early risers of a morn, more especially when the summertime had come, for then in the freshness of the dawn the dew was always the brightest, and the song of the small birds the sweetest. Quoth Robin, "Now will I go to seek this same Friar of Fountain Abbey of whom we spake yesternight, and I will take with me four of my good men, and these four shall be Little John, Will Scarlet, David of Doncaster, and Arthur a Bland. Bide the rest of you here, and Will Stutely shall be your chief while I am gone." Then straightway Robin Hood donned a fine steel coat of chain mail, over which he put on a light jacket of Lincoln green. Upon his head he clapped a steel cap, and this he covered by one of soft white leather, in which stood a nodding cock's plume. By his side he hung a good broadsword of tempered steel, the bluish blade marked all over with strange figures of dragons, winged women, and what not. A gallant sight was Robin so arrayed, I wot,

Chapter 13 { Robin Hood
And now had come the morning when fair Ellen was to be married, and on which merry Robin had sworn that Allan a Dale should, as it were, eat out of the platter that had been filled for Sir Stephen of Trent. Up rose Robin Hood, blithe and gay, up rose his merry men one and all, and up rose last of all stout Friar Tuck, winking the smart of sleep from out his eyes. Then, while the air seemed to brim over with the song of many birds, all blended together and all joying in the misty morn, each man raved face and hands in the leaping brook, and so the day began. "Now," quoth Robin, when they had broken their fast, and each man had eaten his fill, "it is time for us to set forth upon the undertaking that we have in hand for today. I will choose me one score of my good men to go with me, for I may need aid; and thou, Will Scarlet, wilt abide here and be the chief while I am gone." Then searching through all the band, each man of whom crowded forward eager to be chosen, Robin called such as

Chapter 1 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 1. Mr. Sherlock Holmes Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a "Penang lawyer." Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. "To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.," was engraved upon it, with the date "1884." It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry--dignified, solid, and reassuring. "Well, Watson, what do you make of it?" Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation. "How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head." "I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me,"

Chapter 1 { The Canterville Ghost
When Mr. Hiram B. Otis, the American Minister, bought Canterville Chase, every one told him he was doing a very foolish thing, as there was no doubt at all that the place was haunted. Indeed, Lord Canterville himself, who was a man of the most punctilious honour, had felt it his duty to mention the fact to Mr. Otis when they came to discuss terms. "We have not cared to live in the place ourselves," said Lord Canterville, "since my grandaunt, the Dowager Duchess of Bolton, was frightened into a fit, from which she never really recovered, by two skeleton hands being placed on her shoulders as she was dressing for dinner, and I feel bound to tell you, Mr. Otis, that the ghost has been seen by several living members of my family, as well as by the rector of the parish, the Rev. Augustus Dampier, who is a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. After the unfortunate accident to the Duchess, none of our younger servants would stay with us, and Lady Canterville often got very lit

Chapter 14 { Robin Hood
So passed the gentle springtime away in budding beauty; its silver showers and sunshine, its green meadows and its flowers. So, likewise, passed the summer with its yellow sunlight, its quivering heat and deep, bosky foliage, its long twilights and its mellow nights, through which the frogs croaked and fairy folk were said to be out on the hillsides. All this had passed and the time of fall had come, bringing with it its own pleasures and joyousness; for now, when the harvest was gathered home, merry bands of gleaners roamed the country about, singing along the roads in the daytime, and sleeping beneath the hedgerows and the hay-ricks at night. Now the hips burned red in the tangled thickets and the hews waxed black in the hedgerows, the stubble lay all crisp and naked to the sky, and the green leaves were fast turning russet and brown. Also, at this merry season, good things of the year are gathered in in great store. Brown ale lies ripening in the cellar, hams and bacon hang in the s

Chapter 7 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the purpose of examination. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest a

Chapter 15 { Robin Hood
The long highway stretched straight on, gray and dusty in the sun. On either side were dikes full of water bordered by osiers, and far away in the distance stood the towers of Emmet Priory with tall poplar trees around. Along the causeway rode a knight with a score of stout men-at-arms behind him. The Knight was clad in a plain, long robe of gray serge, gathered in at the waist with a broad leathern belt, from which hung a long dagger and a stout sword. But though he was so plainly dressed himself, the horse he rode was a noble barb, and its trappings were rich with silk and silver bells. So thus the band journeyed along the causeway between the dikes, till at last they reached the great gate of Emmet Priory. There the Knight called to one of his men and bade him knock at the porter's lodge with the heft of his sword. The porter was drowsing on his bench within the lodge, but at the knock he roused himself and, opening the wicket, came hobbling forth and greeted the Knight, wh

Chapter 16 { Robin Hood
Cold winter had passed and spring had come. No leafy thickness had yet clad the woodlands, but the budding leaves hung like a tender mist about the trees. In the open country the meadow lands lay a sheeny green, the cornfields a dark velvety color, for they were thick and soft with the growing blades. The plowboy shouted in the sun, and in the purple new-turned furrows flocks of birds hunted for fat worms. All the broad moist earth smiled in the warm light, and each little green hill clapped its hand for joy. On a deer's hide, stretched on the ground in the open in front of the greenwood tree, sat Robin Hood basking in the sun like an old dog fox. Leaning back with his hands clasped about his knees, he lazily watched Little John rolling a stout bowstring from long strands of hempen thread, wetting the palms of his hands ever and anon, and rolling the cord upon his thigh. Near by sat Allan a Dale fitting a new string to his harp. Quoth Robin at last, "Methinks I would rather roam

Chapter 17 { Robin Hood
After jolly Robin had left Little John at the forking of the roads, he walked merrily onward in the mellow sunshine that shone about him. Ever and anon he would skip and leap or sing a snatch of song, for pure joyousness of the day; for, because of the sweetness of the springtide, his heart was as lusty within him as that of a colt newly turned out to grass. Sometimes he would walk a long distance, gazing aloft at the great white swelling clouds that moved slowly across the deep blue sky; anon he would stop and drink in the fullness of life of all things, for the hedgerows were budding tenderly and the grass of the meadows was waxing long and green; again he would stand still and listen to the pretty song of the little birds in the thickets or hearken to the clear crow of the cock daring the sky to rain, whereat he would laugh, for it took but little to tickle Robin's heart into merriment. So he trudged manfully along, ever willing to stop for this reason or for that, and ever ready to

Chapter 18 { Robin Hood
The highroad stretched white and dusty in the hot summer afternoon sun, and the trees stood motionless along the roadside. All across the meadow lands the hot air danced and quivered, and in the limpid waters of the lowland brook, spanned by a little stone bridge, the fish hung motionless above the yellow gravel, and the dragonfly sat quite still, perched upon the sharp tip of a spike of the rushes, with its wings glistening in the sun. Along the road a youth came riding upon a fair milk-white barb, and the folk that he passed stopped and turned and looked after him, for never had so lovely a lad or one so gaily clad been seen in Nottingham before. He could not have been more than sixteen years of age, and was as fair as any maiden. His long yellow hair flowed behind him as he rode along, all clad in silk and velvet, with jewels flashing and dagger jingling against the pommel of the saddle. Thus came the Queen's Page, young Richard Partington, from famous London Town down into Notti

Chapter 19 { Robin Hood
So Robin Hood and the others left the archery range at Finsbury Fields, and, tarrying not, set forth straightway upon their homeward journey. It was well for them that they did so, for they had not gone more than three or four miles upon their way when six of the yeomen of the King's guard came bustling among the crowd that still lingered, seeking for Robin and his men, to seize upon them and make them prisoners. Truly, it was an ill-done thing in the King to break his promise, but it all came about through the Bishop of Hereford's doing, for thus it happened: After the King left the archery ground, he went straightway to his cabinet, and with him went the Bishop of Hereford and Sir Robert Lee; but the King said never a word to these two, but sat gnawing his nether lip, for his heart was galled within him by what had happened. At last the Bishop of Hereford spoke, in a low, sorrowful voice: "It is a sad thing, Your Majesty, that this knavish outlaw should be let to escape in this wi

Chapter 20 { Robin Hood
A long time passed after the great shooting match, and during that time Robin followed one part of the advice of Sir Robert Lee, to wit, that of being less bold in his comings and his goings; for though mayhap he may not have been more honest (as most folks regard honesty), he took good care not to travel so far from Sherwood that he could not reach it both easily and quickly. Great changes had fallen in this time; for King Henry had died and King Richard had come to the crown that fitted him so well through many hard trials, and through adventures as stirring as any that ever befell Robin Hood. But though great changes came, they did not reach to Sherwood's shades, for there Robin Hood and his men dwelled as merrily as they had ever done, with hunting and feasting and singing and blithe woodland sports; for it was little the outside striving of the world troubled them. The dawning of a summer's day was fresh and bright, and the birds sang sweetly in a great tumult of sound. So l

Chapter 21 { Robin Hood
Not more than two months had passed and gone since these stirring adventures befell Robin Hood and Little John, when all Nottinghamshire was a mighty stir and tumult, for King Richard of the Lion's Heart was making a royal progress through merry England, and everyone expected him to come to Nottingham Town in his journeying. Messengers went riding back and forth between the Sheriff and the King, until at last the time was fixed upon when His Majesty was to stop in Nottingham, as the guest of his worship. And now came more bustle than ever; a great running hither and thither, a rapping of hammers and a babble of voices sounded everywhere through the place, for the folk were building great arches across the streets, beneath which the King was to pass, and were draping these arches with silken banners and streamers of many colors. Great hubbub was going on in the Guild Hall of the town, also, for here a grand banquet was to be given to the King and the nobles of his train, and the best

Chapter 22 { Robin Hood
Thus end the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood; for, in spite of his promise, it was many a year ere he saw Sherwood again. After a year or two at court Little John came back to Nottinghamshire, where he lived in an orderly way, though within sight of Sherwood, and where he achieved great fame as the champion of all England with the quarterstaff. Will Scarlet after a time came back to his own home, whence he had been driven by his unlucky killing of his father's steward. The rest of the band did their duty as royal rangers right well. But Robin Hood and Allan a Dale did not come again to Sherwood so quickly, for thus it was: Robin, through his great fame as an archer, became a favorite with the King, so that he speedily rose in rank to be the chief of all the yeomen. At last the King, seeing how faithful and how loyal he was, created him Earl of Huntingdon; so Robin followed the King to the wars, and found his time so full that he had no chance to come back to Sherwood for even so m

Chapter 8 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Speckled Band On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which presented more singular features than that which was associated with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. The events in question occurred in the early days of my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the untimely death of

Chapter 9 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Perfectly so." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom to smo

Chapter 2 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 2. The Curse of the Baskervilles "I have in my pocket a manuscript," said Dr. James Mortimer. "I observed it as you entered the room," said Holmes. "It is an old manuscript." "Early eighteenth century, unless it is a forgery." "How can you say that, sir?" "You have presented an inch or two of it to my examination all the time that you have been talking. It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph upon the subject. I put that at 1730." "The exact date is 1742." Dr. Mortimer drew it from his breast- pocket. "This family paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic death some three months ago created so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that I was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant. He was a strong-minded man, sir, shrewd, practical, and as unimaginative as I am myself. Yet he took this document very serio

Chapter 2 { The Canterville Ghost
The storm raged fiercely all that night, but nothing of particular note occurred. The next morning, however, when they came down to breakfast, they found the terrible stain of blood once again on the floor. "I don't think it can be the fault of the Paragon Detergent," said Washington, "for I have tried it with everything. It must be the ghost." He accordingly rubbed out the stain a second time, but the second morning it appeared again. The third morning also it was there, though the library had been locked up at night by Mr. Otis himself, and the key carried up-stairs. The whole family were now quite interested; Mr. Otis began to suspect that he had been too dogmatic in his denial of the existence of ghosts, Mrs. Otis expressed her intention of joining the Psychical Society, and Washington prepared a long letter to Messrs. Myers and Podmore on the subject of the Permanence of Sanguineous Stains when connected with Crime. That night all doubts about the objective existence

Chapter 8 { The Invisibel Man
VIII. IN TRANSIT The eighth chapter is exceedingly brief, and relates that Gibbons, the amateur naturalist of the district, while lying out on the spacious open downs without a soul within a couple of miles of him, as he thought, and almost dozing, heard close to him the sound as of a man coughing, sneezing, and then swearing savagely to himself; and looking, beheld nothing. Yet the voice was indisputable. It continued to swear with that breadth and variety that distinguishes the swearing of a cultivated man. It grew to a climax, diminished again, and died away in the distance, going as it seemed to him in the direction of Adderdean. It lifted to a spasmodic sneeze and ended. Gibbons had heard nothing of the morning's occurrences, but the phenomenon was so striking and disturbing that his philosophical tranquillity vanished; he got up hastily, and hurried down the steepness of the hill towards the village, as fast as he could go.

Chapter 9 { The Invisibel Man
IX. MR. THOMAS MARVEL You must picture Mr. Thomas Marvel as a person of copious, flexible visage, a nose of cylindrical protrusion, a liquorish, ample, fluctuating mouth, and a beard of bristling eccentricity. His figure inclined to embonpoint; his short limbs accentuated this inclination. He wore a furry silk hat, and the frequent substitution of twine and shoe-laces for buttons, apparent at critical points of his costume, marked a man essentially bachelor. Mr. Thomas Marvel was sitting with his feet in a ditch by the roadside over the down towards Adderdean, about a mile and a half out of Iping. His feet, save for socks of irregular open-work, were bare, his big toes were broad, and pricked like the ears of a watchful dog. In a leisurely manner -- he did everything in a leisurely manner -- he was contemplating trying on a pair of boots. They were the soundest boots he had come across for a long time, but too large for him; whereas the ones he had were, in dry weather, a very com

Chapter 10 The Mummy { The Jewel Of Seven Stars
I Placed the book on the little table on which the shaded lamp rested, and moved the screen to one side. Thus I could have the light on my book; and by looking up, see the bed, and the Nurse, and the door. I cannot say that the conditions were enjoyable, or calculated to allow of that absorption in the subject which is advisable for effective study. However, I composed myself to the work as well as I could. The book was one which, on the very face of it, required special attention. It was a folio in Dutch, printed in Amsterdam in 1650. Someone had made a literal translation, writing generally the English word under the Dutch, so that the grammatical differences between the two tongues made even the reading of the translation a difficult matter. One had to dodge backward and forward among the words. This was in addition to the difficulty of deciphering a strange handwriting of two hundred years ago. I found, however, that after a short time I got into the habit of following in conventio

Chapter 3 { The Canterville Ghost
The next morning, when the Otis family met at breakfast, they discussed the ghost at some length. The United States Minister was naturally a little annoyed to find that his present had not been accepted. "I have no wish," he said, "to do the ghost any personal injury, and I must say that, considering the length of time he has been in the house, I don't think it is at all polite to throw pillows at him,"--a very just remark, at which, I am sorry to say, the twins burst into shouts of laughter. "Upon the other hand," he continued, "if he really declines to use the Rising Sun Lubricator, we shall have to take his chains from him. It would be quite impossible to sleep, with such a noise going on outside the bedrooms." For the rest of the week, however, they were undisturbed, the only thing that excited any attention being the continual renewal of the blood-stain on the library floor. This certainly was very strange, as the door was always locked at night by Mr. Otis, and th

Chapter 3 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 3. The Problem I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor's voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. "You saw this?" "As clearly as I see you." "And you said nothing?" "What was the use?" "How was it that no one else saw it?" "The marks were some twenty yards from the body and no one gave them a thought. I don't suppose I should have done so had I not known this legend." "There are many sheep-dogs on the moor?" "No doubt, but this was no sheep-dog." "You say it was large?" "Enormous. " "But it had not approached the body?" "No." "What sort of night was it?' "Damp and raw." "But not actually raining?" "No." "What is the alley like?" "There are two lines of old yew hedge, twelve feet high and impenetrable. The walk

Chapter Six
SIX Marksmanship with the M-16 rifle was one of things that I excelled at. I’d learned how to shoot using my Granddaddy’s .22 rifle back on the farm. The old school .22 rifles, like the one my granddaddy owned, didn’t have adjustable sights, so Granddaddy had taught me how to shoot using Kentucky Windage. This meant that I fired at a target, and then figured out if I was low or high, left or right, and adjusted my aim from there. I adjusted where I aimed to hit what I wanted. The M-16 rifle, however, has adjustable sights. This meant that I fired three shots, called a grouping, figured out if I was high, low, left, or right, and then adjusted the sights accordingly. With sight adjustment I always fired at the exact same spot, and then adjusted the sights, until I hit that spot. This process of firing groupings and adjusting sights is known as zeroing. Kentucky Windage and sight adjustment are two completely different things, as you can tell. I can do both. However, I can zero wit

Chapter 4 { Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
CHAPTER IV NED LAND Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded. His vessel and he were one. He was the soul of it. On the question of the monster there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow the existence of the animal to be disputed on board. He believed in it, as certain good women believe in the leviathan--by faith, not by reason. The monster did exist, and he had sworn to rid the seas of it. Either Captain Farragut would kill the narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the captain. There was no third course. The officers on board shared the opinion of their chief. They were ever chatting, discussing, and calculating the various chances of a meeting, watching narrowly the vast surface of the ocean. More than one took up his quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees, who would have cursed such a berth under any other circumstances. As long as the sun described its daily course, the rigging was crowded with sailors, whose feet were burnt to such an

Chapter 4 { The Canterville Ghost
The next day the ghost was very weak and tired. The terrible excitement of the last four weeks was beginning to have its effect. His nerves were completely shattered, and he started at the slightest noise. For five days he kept his room, and at last made up his mind to give up the point of the blood-stain on the library floor. If the Otis family did not want it, they clearly did not deserve it. They were evidently people on a low, material plane of existence, and quite incapable of appreciating the symbolic value of sensuous phenomena. The question of phantasmic apparitions, and the development of astral bodies, was of course quite a different matter, and really not under his control. It was his solemn duty to appear in the corridor once a week, and to gibber from the large oriel window on the first and third Wednesdays in every month, and he did not see how he could honourably escape from his obligations. It is quite true that his life had been very evil, but, upon the ot

Chapter 4 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 4. Sir Henry Baskerville Our breakfast table was cleared early, and Holmes waited in his dressing-gown for the promised interview. Our clients were punctual to their appointment, for the clock had just struck ten when Dr. Mortimer was shown up, followed by the young baronet. The latter was a small, alert, dark-eyed man about thirty years of age, very sturdily built, with thick black eyebrows and a strong, pugnacious face. He wore a ruddy-tinted tweed suit and had the weather-beaten appearance of one who has spent most of his time in the open air, and yet there was something in his steady eye and the quiet assurance of his bearing which indicated the gentleman. "This is Sir Henry Baskerville," said Dr. Mortimer. "Why, yes," said he, "and the strange thing is, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, that if my friend here had not proposed coming round to you this morning I should have come on my own account. I understand that you think out little puzzles, and I've had one this morning whic

Chapter 5 { The Canterville Ghost
A few days after this, Virginia and her curly-haired cavalier went out riding on Brockley meadows, where she tore her habit so badly in getting through a hedge that, on their return home, she made up her mind to go up by the back staircase so as not to be seen. As she was running past the Tapestry Chamber, the door of which happened to be open, she fancied she saw some one inside, and thinking it was her mother's maid, who sometimes used to bring her work there, looked in to ask her to mend her habit. To her immense surprise, however, it was the Canterville Ghost himself! He was sitting by the window, watching the ruined gold of the yellowing trees fly through the air, and the red leaves dancing madly down the long avenue. His head was leaning on his hand, and his whole attitude was one of extreme depression. Indeed, so forlorn, and so much out of repair did he look, that little Virginia, whose first idea had been to run away and lock herself in her room, was filled with p

Chapter 6 { The Canterville Ghost
About ten minutes later, the bell rang for tea, and, as Virginia did not come down, Mrs. Otis sent up one of the footmen to tell her. After a little time he returned and said that he could not find Miss Virginia anywhere. As she was in the habit of going out to the garden every evening to get flowers for the dinner-table, Mrs. Otis was not at all alarmed at first, but when six o'clock struck, and Virginia did not appear, she became really agitated, and sent the boys out to look for her, while she herself and Mr. Otis searched every room in the house. At half-past six the boys came back and said that they could find no trace of their sister anywhere. They were all now in the greatest state of excitement, and did not know what to do, when Mr. Otis suddenly remembered that, some few days before, he had given a band of gipsies permission to camp in the park. He accordingly at once set off for Blackfell Hollow, where he knew they were, accompanied by his eldest son and two of

Chapter 7 { The Canterville Ghost
Four days after these curious incidents, a funeral started from Canterville Chase at about eleven o'clock at night. The hearse was drawn by eight black horses, each of which carried on its head a great tuft of nodding ostrich-plumes, and the leaden coffin was covered by a rich purple pall, on which was embroidered in gold the Canterville coat-of-arms. By the side of the hearse and the coaches walked the servants with lighted torches, and the whole procession was wonderfully impressive. Lord Canterville was the chief mourner, having come up specially from Wales to attend the funeral, and sat in the first carriage along with little Virginia. Then came the United States Minister and his wife, then Washington and the three boys, and in the last carriage was Mrs. Umney. It was generally felt that, as she had been frightened by the ghost for more than fifty years of her life, she had a right to see the last of him. A deep grave had been dug in the corner of the churchyard, just

Chapter 10 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of this remarkable episode. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one o

Chapter 10 { The Invisibel Man
X. MR. MARVEL'S VISIT TO IPING After the first gusty panic had spent itself Iping became argumentative. Scepticism suddenly reared its head -- rather nervous scepticism, not at all assured of its back, but scepticism nevertheless. It is so much easier not to believe in an invisible man; and those who had actually seen him dissolve into air, or felt the strength of his arm, could be counted on the fingers of two hands. And of these witnesses Mr. Wadgers was presently missing, having retired impregnably behind the bolts and bars of his own house, and Jaffers was lying stunned in the parlour of the Coach and Horses. Great and strange ideas transcending experience often have less effect upon men and women than smaller, more tangible considerations. Iping was gay with bunting, and everybody was in gala dress. Whit-Monday had been looked forward to for a month or more. By the afternoon even those who believed in the Unseen were beginning to resume their little amusements in a tentative fash

Chapter 11 { The Invisibel Man
XI. IN THE COACH AND HORSES Now in order clearly to understand what had happened in the inn, it is necessary to go back to the moment when Mr. Marvel first came into view of Mr. Huxter's window. At that precise moment Mr. Cuss and Mr. Bunting were in the parlour. They were seriously investigating the strange occurrences of the morning, and were, with Mr. Hall's permission, making a thorough examination of the Invisible Man's belongings. Jaffers had partially recovered from his fall and had gone home in the charge of his sympathetic friends. The stranger's scattered garments had been removed by Mrs. Hall and the room tidied up. And on the table under the window where the stranger had been wont to work, Cuss had hit almost at once on three big books in manuscript labelled "Diary." "Diary!" said Cuss, putting the three books on the table. "Now, at any rate, we shall learn something." The Vicar stood with his hands on the table. "Diary," repeated Cuss, sitting down, putting two vo

Chapter 7 The Mummy { The Jewel Of Seven Stars
That night everything went well. Knowing that Miss Trelawny herself was not on guard, Doctor Winchester and I doubled our vigilance. The Nurses and Mrs. Grant kept watch, and the Detectives made their visit each quarter of an hour. All night the patient remained in his trance. He looked healthy, and his chest rose and fell with the easy breathing of a child. But he never stirred; only for his breathing he might have been of marble. Doctor Winchester and I wore our respirators, and irksome they were on that intolerably hot night. Between midnight and three o'clock I felt anxious, and had once more that creepy feeling to which these last few nights had accustomed me; but the grey of the dawn, stealing round the edges of the blinds, came with inexpressible relief. In the cool, hopeful darkness, with the east quickening into pallor, I could breathe freely; the same relief, followed by restfulness, went through the household. During the hot night my ears, strained to every sound, had been a

Chapter 12 { The Invisibel Man
XII. THE INVISIBLE MAN LOSES HIS TEMPER It is unavoidable that at this point the narrative should break off again, for a certain very painful reason that will presently be apparent. And while these things were going on in the parlour, and while Mr. Huxter was watching Mr. Marvel smoking his pipe against the gate, not a dozen yards away were Mr. Hall and Teddy Henfrey discussing in a state of cloudy puzzlement the one Iping topic. Suddenly there came a violent thud against the door of the parlour, a sharp cry, and then -- silence. "Hul-lo!" said Teddy Henfrey. "Hul-lo!" from the Tap. Mr. Hall took things in slowly but surely. "That ain't right," he said, and came round from behind the bar towards the parlour door. He and Teddy approached the door together, with intent faces. Their eyes considered. "Summat wrong," said Hall, and Henfrey nodded agreement. Whiffs of an unpleasant chemical odour met them, and there was a muffled sound of conversation, very rapid and sub

Chapter 13 { The Invisibel Man
XIII. MR. MARVEL DISCUSSES HIS RESIGNATION When the dusk was gathering and Iping was just beginning to peep timorously forth again upon the shattered wreckage of its Bank Holiday, a short, thickset man in a shabby silk hat was marching painfully through the twilight behind the beechwoods on the road to Bramblehurst. He carried three books bound together by some sort of ornamental elastic ligature, and a bundle wrapped in a blue table-cloth. His rubicund face expressed consternation and fatigue; he appeared to be in a spasmodic sort of hurry. He was accompanied by a Voice other than his own, and ever and again he winced under the touch of unseen hands. "If you give me the slip again," said the Voice, "if you attempt to give me the slip again -- " "Lord!" said Mr. Marvel. "That shoulder's a mass of bruises as it is." " -- on my honour," said the Voice, "I will kill you." "I didn't try to give you the slip," said Marvel, in a voice that was not far remote from tears. "I s

Chapter Seven
SEVEN That’s it? There’s no more about basic training? No, there isn’t. I might flash back here and there, but for the most part, I’m done. I know you’re ready to scream at me, and I’m sorry, but that’s all I have to say about basic training. I see no reason to get into all of the expected horror stories; the tales of getting rousted early for PT, Drill Sergeants yelling in my face, people throwing up during road marches, all of the things that everyone expects to read about since Full Metal Jacket hit the movie theaters. No, I don’t need to talk about those things. They are very, very common-place. Many of them did happen. Much of that sort of thing was witnessed by me, but it was also witnessed by nearly every American who’s ever gone through training. I’m fairly sure there’s at least one or two in your own family. You’d probably be surprised at what they’re willing to talk about if you’d only take the time to ask them. They have a story too. As for me, I’m not going to dis

Chapter 14 { The Invisbel Man
XIV. AT PORT STOWE Ten o'clock the next morning found Mr. Marvel, unshaven, dirty, and travel-stained, sitting with the books beside him and his hands deep in his pockets, looking very weary, nervous, and uncomfortable, and inflating his cheeks at infrequent intervals, on the bench outside a little inn on the outskirts of Port Stowe. Beside him were the books, but now they were tied with string. The bundle had been abandoned in the pine-woods beyond Bramblehurst, in accordance with a charge in the plans of the Invisible Man. Mr. Marvel sat on the bench, and although no one took the slightest notice of him, his agitation remained at fever heat. His hands would go ever and again to his various pockets with a curious nervous fumbling. When he had been sitting for the best part of an hour, however, an elderly mariner, carrying a newspaper, came out of the inn and sat down beside him. "Pleasant day," said the mariner. Mr. Marvel glanced about him with something very like terror. "V

Chapter 5 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 5. Three Broken Threads Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power of detaching his mind at will. For two hours the strange business in which we had been involved appeared to be forgotten, and he was entirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters. He would talk of nothing but art, of which he had the crudest ideas, from our leaving the gallery until we found ourselves at the Northumberland Hotel. "Sir Henry Baskerville is upstairs expecting you," said the clerk. "He asked me to show you up at once when you came." "Have you any objection to my looking at your register?" said Holmes. "Not in the least." The book showed that two names had been added after that of Baskerville. One was Theophilus Johnson and family, of Newcastle; the other Mrs. Oldmore and maid, of High Lodge, Alton. "Surely that must be the same Johnson whom I used to know," said Holmes to the porter. "A lawyer, is he not, gray-headed, and walks with a limp?" "

Chapter 8 The Mummy { The Jewel Of Seven Stars
Sergeant Daw at first made some demur; but finally agreed to advise privately on a matter which might be suggested to him. He added that I was to remember that he only undertook to advise; for if action were required he might have to refer the matter to headquarters. With this understanding I left him in the study, and brought Miss Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck to him. Nurse Kennedy resumed her place at the bedside before we left the room. I could not but admire the cautious, cool-headed precision with which the traveller stated his case. He did not seem to conceal anything, and yet he gave the least possible description of the objects missing. He did not enlarge on the mystery of the case; he seemed to look on it as an ordinary hotel theft. Knowing, as I did, that his one object was to recover the articles before their identity could be obliterated, I could see the rare intellectual skill with which he gave the necessary matter and held back all else, though without seeming to do so. 'T

Chapter 5 { Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
CHAPTER V AT A VENTURE The voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was for a long time marked by no special incident. But one circumstance happened which showed the wonderful dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence we might place in him. The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers, from whom we learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal. But one of them, the captain of the Monroe, knowing that Ned Land had shipped on board the Abraham Lincoln, begged for his help in chasing a whale they had in sight. Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing Ned Land at work, gave him permission to go on board the Monroe. And fate served our Canadian so well that, instead of one whale, he harpooned two with a double blow, striking one straight to the heart, and catching the other after some minutes' pursuit. Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land's harpoon, I would not bet in its favour. The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great rapidity.

Chapter 6 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 6. Baskerville Hall Sir Henry Baskerville and Dr. Mortimer were ready upon the appointed day, and we started as arranged for Devonshire. Mr. Sherlock Holmes drove with me to the station and gave me his last parting injunctions and advice. "I will not bias your mind by suggesting theories or suspicions, Watson," said he; "I wish you simply to report facts in the fullest possible manner to me, and you can leave me to do the theorizing." "What sort of facts?" I asked. "Anything which may seem to have a bearing however indirect upon the case, and especially the relations between young Baskerville and his neighbours or any fresh particulars concerning the death of Sir Charles. I have made some inquiries myself in the last few days, but the results have, I fear, been negative. One thing only appears to be certain, and that is that Mr. James Desmond, who is the next heir, is an elderly gentleman of a very amiable disposition, so that this persecution does not arise from hi

Chapter 4 { Moby Dick
CHAPTER 4 The Counterpane Upon waking next morning about daylight, I found Queequeg's arm thrown over me in the most loving and affectionate manner. You had almost thought I had been his wife. The counterpane was of patchwork, full of odd little parti-colored squares and triangles; and this arm of his tattooed all over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth of a figure, no two parts of which were of one precise shade- owing I suppose to his keeping his arm at sea unmethodically in sun and shade, his shirt sleeves irregularly rolled up at various times- this same arm of his, I say, looked for all the world like a strip of that same patchwork quilt. Indeed, partly lying on it as the arm did when I first awoke, I could hardly tell it from the quilt, they so blended their hues together; and it was only by the sense of weight and pressure that I could tell that Queequeg was hugging me. My sensations were strange. Let me try to explain them. When I was a child, I well remember a

Chapter 7 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 7. The Stapletons of Merripit House The fresh beauty of the following morning did something to efface from our minds the grim and gray impression which had been left upon both of us by our first experience of Baskerville Hall. As Sir Henry and I sat at breakfast the sunlight flooded in through the high mullioned windows, throwing watery patches of colour from the coats of arms which covered them. The dark panelling glowed like bronze in the golden rays, and it was hard to realize that this was indeed the chamber which had struck such a gloom into our souls upon the evening before. "I guess it is ourselves and not the house that we have to blame!" said the baronet. "We were tired with our journey and chilled by our drive, so we took a gray view of the place. Now we are fresh and well, so it is all cheerful once more." "And yet it was not entirely a question of imagination," I answered. "Did you, for example, happen to hear someone, a woman I think, sobbing in the night?

Chapter 15 { The Invisibel Man
XV. THE MAN WHO WAS RUNNING In the early evening time Doctor Kemp was sitting in his study in the belvedere on the hill overlooking Burdock. It was a pleasant little room, with three windows, north, west, and south, and bookshelves covered with books and scientific publications, and a broad writing-table, and, under the north window, a microscope, glass slips, minute instruments, some cultures, and scattered bottles of reagents. Doctor Kemp's solar lamp was lit, albeit the sky was still bright with the sunset light, and his blinds were up because there was no offence of peering outsiders to require them pulled down. Doctor Kemp was a tall and slender young man, with flaxen hair and a moustache almost white, and the work he was upon would earn him, he hoped, the fellowship of the Royal Society, so highly did he think of it. And his eye presently wandering from his work caught the sunset blazing at the back of the hill that is over against his own. For a minute perhaps he sat, pen i

Chapter 16 { The Invisibel Man
XVI. THE JOLLY CRICKETERS The Jolly Cricketers is just at the bottom of the hill, where the tram-lines begin. The barman leant his fat red arms on the counter and talked of horses with an anaemic cabman, while a black-bearded man in grey snapped up biscuit and cheese, drank Burton, and conversed in American with a policeman off duty. "What's the shouting about!" said the anaemic cabman, going off at a tangent, trying to see up the hill over the dirty yellow blind in the low window of the inn. Somebody ran by outside. "Fire, perhaps," said the barman. Footsteps approached, running heavily, the door was pushed open violently, and Marvel, weeping and dishevelled, his hat gone, the neck of his coat torn open, rushed in, made a convulsive turn, and attempted to shut the door. It was held half open by a strap. "Coming!" he bawled, his voice shrieking with terror. "He's coming. The 'Visible Man! After me! For Gawd's sake! Elp! Elp! Elp!" "Shut the doors," said the policeman.

Chapter 7 { The First Men In The Moon
As we saw it first it was the wildest and most desolate of scenes. We were in an enormous amphitheatre, a vast circular plain. the floor of the giant crater. Its cliff-like walls closed us in on every side. From the westward the light of the unseen sun fell upon them, reaching to the very foot of the cliff, and showed a disordered escarpment of drab and grayish rock, lined here and there with banks and crevices of snow. This was perhaps a dozen miles away, but at first no intervening atmosphere diminished in the slightest the minutely detailed brilliancy with which these things glared at us. They stood out clear and dazzling against a background of starry blackness that seemed to our earthly eyes rather a gloriously spangled velvet curtain than the spaciousness of the sky. The eastward cliff was at first merely a starless selvedge to the starry dome. No rosy flush, no creeping pallor, announced the commencing day. Only the Corona, the Zodiacal light, a huge cone-shaped, luminous ha

Chapter 5 { In The Days Of The Comet
The Pursuit of the Two Lovers AS THE train carried me on from Birmingham to Monkshampton, it carried me not only into a country where I had never been before, but out of the commonplace daylight and the touch and quality of ordinary things, into the strange unprecedented night that was ruled by the giant meteor of the last days. There was at that time a curious accentuation of the common alternation of night and day. They became separated with a widening difference of value in regard to all mundane affairs. During the day, the comet was an item in the newspapers, it was jostled by a thousand more living interests, it was as nothing in the skirts of the war storm that was now upon us. It was an astronomical phenomenon somewhere away over China, millions of miles away in the deeps. We forgot it. But directly the sun sank one turned ever and again towards the east, and the meteor resumed its sway over us. One waited for its rising, and yet each night it came as a surprise. A

Chapter 6 { In The Days Of The Comet
4 Two people were bathing in the sea. I had awakened. It was still that white and wonderful night, and the blue band of clear sky was no wider than before. These people must have come into sight as I fell asleep, and awakened me almost at once. They waded breast-deep in the water, emerging, coming shoreward, a woman, with her hair coiled about her head, and in pursuit of her a man, graceful figures of black and silver with a bright green surge flowing off from them, a patterning of flashing wavelets about them. He smote the water and splashed it towards her, she retaliated, and then they were knee-deep, and then for an instant their feet broke the long silver margin of the sea. Each wore a tightly fitting bathing dress that hid nothing of the shining, dripping beauty of their youthful forms. She glanced over her shoulder and found him nearer than she thought, started, gesticulated, gave a little cry that pierced me to the heart, and fled up the beach obliquely towards

Chapter 6 { Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
CHAPTER VI AT FULL STEAM At this cry the whole ship's crew hurried towards the harpooner-- commander, officers, masters, sailors, cabin boys; even the engineers left their engines, and the stokers their furnaces. The order to stop her had been given, and the frigate now simply went on by her own momentum. The darkness was then profound, and, however good the Canadian's eyes were, I asked myself how he had managed to see, and what he had been able to see. My heart beat as if it would break. But Ned Land was not mistaken, and we all perceived the object he pointed to. At two cables' length from the Abraham Lincoln, on the starboard quarter, the sea seemed to be illuminated all over. It was not a mere phosphoric phenomenon. The monster emerged some fathoms from the water, and then threw out that very intense but mysterious light mentioned in the report of several captains. This magnificent irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great SHINING power. The luminous part trace

Chapter 10 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 10. Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson So far I have been able to quote from the reports which I have forwarded during these early days to Sherlock Holmes. Now, however, I have arrived at a point in my narrative where I am compelled to abandon this method and to trust once more to my recollections, aided by the diary which I kept at the time. A few extracts from the latter will carry me on to those scenes which are indelibly fixed in every detail upon my memory. I proceed, then, from the morning which followed our abortive chase of the convict and our other strange experiences upon the moor. October 16th. A dull and foggy day with a drizzle of rain. The house is banked in with rolling clouds, which rise now and then to show the dreary curves of the moor, with thin, silver veins upon the sides of the hills, and the distant boulders gleaming where the light strikes upon their wet faces. It is melancholy outside and in. The baronet is in a black reaction after the exciteme

Chapter 17 { The Invisibel Man
XVII. DOCTOR KEMP'S VISITOR Doctor Kemp had continued writing in his study until the shots aroused him. Crack, crack, crack, they came one after the other. "Hullo!" said Doctor Kemp, putting his pen into his mouth again and listening. "Who's letting off revolvers in Burdock? What are the asses at now?" He went to the south window, threw it up, and leaning out stared down on the network of windows, beaded gas-lamps and shops, with its black interstices of roofs that made up the town at night. "Looks like a crowd down the hill," he said, "by the Cricketers," and remained watching. Thence his eyes wandered over the town to far away where the ships' lights shone, and the pier glowed, a little illuminated faceted pavilion like a gem of yellow light. The moon in its first quarter hung over the western hill, and the stars were clear and almost tropically bright. After five minutes, during which his mind had travelled into a remote speculation of social conditions of the future, a

Chapter 7 { In The Days Of The Comet
The Awakening SO THE great day came to me. And even as I had awakened so in that same dawn the whole world awoke. For the whole world of living things had been overtaken by the same tide of insensibility; in an hour, at the touch of this new gas in the comet, the shiver of catalytic change had passed about the globe. They say it was the nitrogen of the air, the old azote, that in the twinkling of an eye was changed out of itself, and in an hour or so became a respirable gas, differing indeed from oxygen, but helping and sustaining its action, a bath of strength and healing for nerve and brain. I do not know the precise changes that occurred, nor the names our chemists gave them; my work has carried me away from such things; only this I know--I and all men were renewed. I picture to myself this thing happening in space, a planetary moment, the faint smudge, the slender whirl of meteor drawing nearer to this planet,--this planet like a ball, like a shaded rounded ball,

Chapter 8 { In The Days Of The Comet
4 Then let me give you a vivid little impression I received of a certain prosaic person, a grocer named Wiggins, and how he passed through the Change. I heard this man's story in the post-office at Menton, when, in the afternoon of the First Day, I bethought me to telegraph to my mother. The place was also a grocer's shop, and I found him and the proprietor talking as I went in. They were trade competitors, and Wiggins had just come across the street to break the hostile silence of a score of years. The sparkle of the Change was in their eyes, their slightly flushed cheeks, their more elastic gestures, spoke of new physical influences that had invaded their beings. "It did us no good, all our hatred," Mr. Wiggins said to me, explaining the emotion of their encounter; "it did our customers no good. I've come to tell him that. You bear that in mind, young man, if ever you come to have a shop of your own. It was a sort of stupid bitterness possessed us, and I can't make out we d

Chapter One
this is a story about jaclyn a woman with a lost heart the mist flowed over the valley like a blanket, walking along a trail the faint outline of a girl is noticable, as her features start to show as the morning sun rises, a beautiful girl of 25 emerges,,at 5 ft 4 and 120 lbs, jaclyn has never had a problem getting a boyfriend, but always something was missing. hearing a crack of a broken branch coming from the woods,,jaclyn quickens her pace,,glancing back,,not able to see anything and hearing only the beat of her heart as she heads towards the nearest dwelling, a large victorian style house well kept and off the path spying a light,,she runs up to the door,,knocking loudly,,as she glances behind her again. trying the door as fear over takes her,,she finds it unlocked. quickly entering the dark house, closing and locking the door behind her, in a soft voice she speaks " Hello, Im lost is anyone home",,walking room to room,she finds the house empty. moving a curtain to

Chapter 18 { The Invisibel Man
XVIII. THE INVISIBLE MAN SLEEPS Exhausted and wounded as the Invisible Man was, he refused to accept Kemp's word that his freedom should be respected. He examined the two windows of the bedroom, drew up the blinds, and opened the sashes, to confirm Kemp's statement that a retreat by them would be possible. Outside the night was very quiet and still, and the new moon was setting over the town. Then he examined the keys of the bedroom and the two dressing-room doors, to satisfy himself that these also could be made an assurance of freedom. Finally he expressed himself satisfied. He stood on the hearth rug and Kemp heard the sound of a yawn. "I'm sorry," said the Invisible Man, "if I cannot tell you all that I have done to-night. But I am worn out. It's grotesque, no doubt. It's horrible! But believe me, Kemp, in spite of your arguments of this morning, it is quit a possible thing. I have made a discovery. I meant to keep it to myself. I can't. I must have a partner. And you -- We ca

Chapter 11 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 11. The Man on the Tor The extract from my private diary which forms the last chapter has brought my narrative up to the eighteenth of October, a time when these strange events began to move swiftly towards their terrible conclusion. The incidents of the next few days are indelibly graven upon my recollection, and I can tell them without reference to the notes made at the time. I start them from the day which succeeded that upon which I had established two facts of great importance, the one that Mrs. Laura Lyons of Coombe Tracey had written to Sir Charles Baskerville and made an appointment with him at the very place and hour that he met his death, the other that the lurking man upon the moor was to be found among the stone huts upon the hillside. With these two facts in my possession I felt that either my intelligence or my courage must be deficient if I could not throw some further light upon these dark places. I had no opportunity to tell the baronet what I had learned

Chapter 19 { The Invisibel Man
XIX. CERTAIN FIRST PRINCIPLES "What's the matter?" asked Kemp, when the Invisible Man admitted him. "Nothing," was the answer. "But, confound it! The smash?" "Fit of temper," said the Invisible Man. "Forgot this arm; and it's sore." "You're rather liable to that sort of thing." "I am." Kemp walked across the room and picked up the fragments of broken glass. "All the facts are out about you," said Kemp, standing up with the glass in his hand; "all that happened in Iping, and down the hill. The world has become aware of its invisible citizen. But no one knows you are here." The Invisible Man swore. "The secret's out. I gather it was a secret. I don't know what your plans are, but of course I'm anxious to help you." The Invisible Man sat down on the bed. "There's breakfast upstairs," said Kemp, speaking as easily as possible, and he was delighted to find his strange guest rose willingly. Kemp led the way up the narrow staircase to the belvedere.

Chapter 20 { The Invisibel Man
XX. AT THE HOUSE IN GREAT PORTLAND STREET For a moment Kemp sat in silence, staring at the back of the headless figure at the window. Then he started, struck by a thought, rose, took the Invisible Man's arm, and turned him away from the outlook. "You are tired," he said, "and while I sit, you walk about. Have my chair." He placed himself between Griffin and the nearest window. For a space Griffin sat silent, and then he resumed abruptly: -- "I had left the Chesilstowe cottage already," he said, "when that happened. It was last December. I had taken a room in London, a large unfurnished room in a big ill-managed lodging-house in a slum near Great Portland Street. The room was soon full of the appliances I had bought with his money; the work was going on steadily, successfully, drawing near an end. I was like a man emerging from a thicket, and suddenly coming on some unmeaning tragedy. I went to bury him. My mind was still on this research, and I did not lift a finger to

Chapter 11 The Mummy { The Jewel Of Seven Stars
'Mr. Trelawny's hope was at least as great as my own. He is not so volatile a man as I am, prone to ups and downs of hope and despair; but he has a fixed purpose which crystallizes hope into belief. At times I had feared that there might have been two such stones, or that the adventures of Van Huyn were traveller's fictions, based on some ordinary acquisition' of the curio in Alexandria or Cairo, or London or Amsterdam. But Mr. Trelawny never faltered in his belief. We had many things to distract our minds from belief or disbelief. This was soon after Arabia, Pasha, and Egypt was no safe place for travellers, .especially if they were English. But Mr. Trelawny is a fearless man; and I almost come to think at times that I am not a coward myself. We got together a band of Arabs whom one or other of us had known in former trips to the desert, and whom we could trust; that is, we did not distrust them as much as others. We were numerous enough to protect ourselves from chance marauding band

Chapter 12 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 12. Death on the Moor For a moment or two I sat breathless, hardly able to believe my ears. Then my senses and my voice came back to me, while a crushing weight of responsibility seemed in an instant to be lifted from my soul. That cold, incisive, ironical voice could belong to but one man in all the world. "Holmes!" I cried--"Holmes!" "Come out," said he, "and please be careful with the revolver." I stooped under the rude lintel, and there he sat upon a stone outside, his gray eyes dancing with amusement as they fell upon my astonished features. He was thin and worn, but clear and alert, his keen face bronzed by the sun and roughened by the wind. In his tweed suit and cloth cap he looked like any other tourist upon the moor, and he had contrived, with that catlike love of personal cleanliness which was one of his characteristics, that his chin should be as smooth and his linen as perfect as if he were in Baker Street. "I never was more glad to see anyone in my l

Chapter 5 { Moby Dick
CHAPTER 5 Breakfast I quickley followed suit, and descending into the bar-room accosted the grinning landlord very pleasantly. I cherished no malice towards him, though he had been skylarking with me not a little in the matter of my bedfellow. However, a good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good thing; the more's the pity. So, if any one man, in his own proper person, afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let him cheerfully allow himself to spend and to be spent in that way. And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think for. The bar-room was now full of the boarders who had been dropping in the night previous, and whom I had not as yet had a good look at. They were nearly all whalemen; chief mates, and second mates, and third mates, and sea carpenters, and sea coopers, and sea blacksmiths, and harpooneers, and ship keepers; a brown and brawny c

Chapter 8 { The First Men In The Moon
The harsh emphasis, the pitiless black and white of scenery had altogether disappeared. The glare of the sun had taken upon itself a faint tinge of amber; the shadows upon the cliff of the crater wall were deeply purple. To the eastward a dark bank of fog still crouched and sheltered from the sunrise, but to the westward the sky was blue and clear. I began to realise the length of my insensibility. We were no longer in a void. An atmosphere had arisen about us. The outline of things had gained in character, had grown acute and varied; save for a shadowed space of white substance here and there, white substance that was no longer air but snow, the arctic appearance had gone altogether. Everywhere broad rusty brown spaces of bare and tumbled earth spread to the blaze of the sun. Here and there at the edge of the snowdrifts were transient little pools and eddies of water, the only things stirring in that expanse of barrenness. The sunlight inundated the upper two blinds of our sphere

Chapter 7 { Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
CHAPTER VII AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of my sensations at the time. I was at first drawn down to a depth of about twenty feet. I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to rival Byron or Edgar Poe, who were masters of the art), and in that plunge I did not lose my presence of mind. Two vigorous strokes brought me to the surface of the water. My first care was to look for the frigate. Had the crew seen me disappear? Had the Abraham Lincoln veered round? Would the captain put out a boat? Might I hope to be saved? The darkness was intense. I caught a glimpse of a black mass disappearing in the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance. It was the frigate! I was lost. "Help, help!" I shouted, swimming towards the Abraham Lincoln in desperation. My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body, and paralysed my movements. I was sinking! I was suffocating! "Help!" This was my last cr

Chapter 11 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
he Adventure of the Beryl Coronet "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as when it fell. The gray pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. He was a man of ab

Chapter 1 { The Return Of Sherlock Holmes
It was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested, and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances. The public has already learned those particulars of the crime which came out in the police investigation, but a good deal was suppressed upon that occasion, since the case for the prosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it was not necessary to bring forward all the facts. Only now, at the end of nearly ten years, am I allowed to supply those missing links which make up the whole of that remarkable chain. The crime was of interest in itself, but that interest was as nothing to me compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the greatest shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life. Even now, after this long interval, I find myself thrilling as I think of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of joy, amazement, and incredulity which utterly s

Chapter 2 { The Return Of Sherlock Holmes
From the point of view of the criminal expert," said Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty." "I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens to agree with you," I answered. "Well, well, I must not be selfish," said he, with a smile, as be pushed back his chair from the breakfast-table. "The community is certainly the gainer, and no one the loser, save the poor out-of-work specialist, whose occupation has gone. With that man in the field, one's morning paper presented infinite possibilities. Often it was only the smallest trace, Watson, the faintest indication, and yet it was enough to tell me that the great malignant brain was there, as the gentlest tremors of the edges of the web remind one of the foul spider which lurks in the centre. Petty thefts, wanton assaults, purposeless outrage-- to the man who held the clue all could be worked into one connected whole. To

Chapter 12 { The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped this truth that in these little records of our cases which you have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much to the many causes celebres and sensational trials in which I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made my special province." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my records." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed,

Chapter 13 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 13. Fixing the Nets "We're at close grips at last," said Holmes as we walked together across the moor. "What a nerve the fellow has! How he pulled himself together in the face of what must have been a paralyzing shock when he found that the wrong man had fallen a victim to his plot. I told you in London, Watson, and I tell you now again, that we have never had a foeman more worthy of our steel." "I am sorry that he has seen you." "And so was I at first. But there was no getting out of it." "What effect do you think it will have upon his plans now that he knows you are here?" "It may cause him to be more cautious, or it may drive him to desperate measures at once. Like most clever criminals, he may be too confident in his own cleverness and imagine that he has completely deceived us." "Why should we not arrest him at once?" "My dear Watson, you were born to be a man of action. Your instinct is always to do something energetic. But supposing, for argument's s

Chapter 21 { The Invisibel Man
XXI. IN OXFORD STREET "In going downstairs the first time I found an unexpected difficulty because I could not see my feet; indeed I stumbled twice, and there was an unaccustomed clumsiness in gripping the bolt. By not looking down, however, I managed to walk on the level passably well. "My mood, I say, was one of exaltation. I felt as a seeing man might do, with padded feet and noiseless clothes, in a city of the blind. I experienced a wild impulse to jest, to startle people, to clap men on the back, fling people's hats astray, and generally revel in my extraordinary advantage. "But hardly had I emerged upon Great Portland Street, however (my lodging was close to the big draper's shop there), when I heard a clashing concussion and was hit violently behind, and turning saw a man carrying a basket of soda-water syphons, and looking in amazement at his burden. Although the blow had really hurt me, I found something so irresistible in his astonishment that I laughed aloud. `The d

Chapter 1 { The Lost World
Chapter I: There Are Heroisms All Round Us Mr. Hungerton, her father, really was the most tactless person upon earth,--a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a man, perfectly good-natured, but absolutely centered upon his own silly self. If anything could have driven me from Gladys, it would have been the thought of such a father-in-law. I am convinced that he really believed in his heart that I came round to the Chestnuts three days a week for the pleasure of his company, and very especially to hear his views upon bimetallism, a subject upon which he was by way of being an authority. For an hour or more that evening I listened to his monotonous chirrup about bad money driving out good, the token value of silver, the depreciation of the rupee, and the true standards of exchange. "Suppose," he cried with feeble violence, "that all the debts in the world were called up simultaneously, and immediate payment insisted upon,--what under our present conditions would happen then?"

Chapter 22 { The Invisibel Man
XXII. IN THE EMPORIUM "So last January, with the beginnings of a snowstorm in the air about me -- and if it settled on me it would betray me! -- weary, cold, painful, inexpressibly wretched, and still but half convinced of my invisible quality, I began this new life to which I am committed. I had no refuge, no appliances, no human being in the world in whom I could confide. To have told my secret would have given me away -- made a mere show and rarity of me. Nevertheless, I was half minded to accost some passer-by and throw myself upon his mercy. But I knew too clearly the terror and brutal cruelty my advances would evoke. I made no plans in the street. My sole object was to get shelter from the snow, to get myself covered and warm; then I might hope to plan. But even to me, an Invisible Man, the rows of London houses stood latched, barred, and bolted impregnably. "Only one thing could I see clearly before me, the cold exposure and misery of the snowstorm and the night. "And t

Chapter 14 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 14. The Hound of the Baskervilles One of Sherlock Holmes's defects--if, indeed, one may call it a defect--was that he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full plans to any other person until the instant of their fulfilment. Partly it came no doubt from his own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him. Partly also from his professional caution, which urged him never to take any chances. The result, however, was very trying for those who were acting as his agents and assistants. I had often suffered under it, but never more so than during that long drive in the darkness. The great ordeal was in front of us; at last we were about to make our final effort, and yet Holmes had said nothing, and I could only surmise what his course of action would be. My nerves thrilled with anticipation when at last the cold wind upon our faces and the dark, void spaces on either side of the narrow road told me that we were back upon the moor once again

Chapter 15 { The Hound Of The Baskervills
Chapter 15. A Retrospection It was the end of November, and Holmes and I sat, upon a raw and foggy night, on either side of a blazing fire in our sitting-room in Baker Street. Since the tragic upshot of our visit to Devonshire he had been engaged in two affairs of the utmost importance, in the first of which he had exposed the atrocious conduct of Colonel Upwood in connection with the famous card scandal of the Nonpareil Club, while in the second he had defended the unfortunate Mme. Montpensier from the charge of murder which hung over her in connection with the death of her step-daughter, Mlle. Carere, the young lady who, as it will be remembered, was found six months later alive and married in New York. My friend was in excellent spirits over the success which had attended a succession of difficult and important cases, so that I was able to induce him to discuss the details of the Baskerville mystery. I had waited patiently for the opportunity for I was aware that he would never p

Chapter 23 { The Invisibel Man
XXIII. IN DRURY LANE "But you begin now to realise," said the Invisible Man, "the full disadvantage of my condition. I had no shelter, no covering, -- to get clothing, was to forego all my advantage, to make myself a strange and terrible thing. I was fasting; for to eat, to fill myself with unassimilated matter, would be to become grotesquely visible again." "I never thought of that," said Kemp. "Nor had I. And the snow had warned me of other dangers. I could not go abroad in snow -- it would settle on me and expose me. Rain, too, would make me a watery outline, a glistening surface of a man -- a bubble. And fog -- I should be like a fainter bubble in a fog, a surface, a greasy glimmer of humanity. Moreover, as I went abroad -- in the London air -- I gathered dirt about my ankles, floating smuts and dust upon my skin. I did not know how long it would be before I should become visible from that cause also. But I saw clearly it could not be for long. "Not in London at any ra

Chapter 24 { The Invisibel Man
XXIV. THE PLAN THAT FAILED "But now," said Kemp, with a side glance out of the window, "what are we to do?" He moved nearer his guest as he spoke in such a manner as to prevent the possibility of a sudden glimpse of the three men who were advancing up the hill road -- with an intolerable slowness, as it seemed to Kemp. "What were you planning to do when you were heading for Port Burdock? Had you any plan?" "I was going to clear out of the country. But I have altered that plan rather since seeing you. I thought it would be wise, now the weather is hot and invisibility possible, to make for the South. Especially as my secret was known, and everyone would be on the lookout for a masked and muffled man. You have a line of steamers from here to France. My idea was to get aboard one and run the risks of passage. Thence I could go by train into Spain, or else get to Algiers. It would not be difficult. There a man might always be invisible -- and yet live. And do things. I was usi

Chapter 1: In The House Of My Parents
Mein KampfADOLF HITLERChapter 1In The House Of My ParentsTODAY it seems to me providential that Fate should have chosen Braunau on the Inn as my birthplace. For this little town lies on the boundary between two German states which we of the younger generation at least have made it our life work to reunite by every means at our disposal. German-Austria must return to the great German mother country, and not because of any economic considerations. No, and again no: even if such a union were unimportant from an economic point of view; yes, even if it were harmful, it must nevertheless take place. One blood demands one Reich. Never will the German nation possess the moral right to engage in colonial politics until, at least, it embraces its own sons within a single state. Only when the Reich borders include the very last German, but can no longer guarantee his daily bread, will the moral right to acquire foreign soil arise from the distress of our own people. Their sword will become our p

Chapter 2: Years Of Study And Suffering In Vienna
Mein KampfADOLF HITLER Chapter 2Years of Study and Suffering in ViennaWHEN my mother died, Fate, at least in one respect, had made its decisions. In the last months of her sickness, I had gone to Vienna to take the entrance examination for the Academy. I had set out with a pile of drawings, convinced that it would be child's play to pass the examination. At the Realschule I had been by far the best in my class at drawing, and since then my ability had developed amazingly; my own satisfaction caused me to take a joyful pride in hoping for the best. Yet sometimes a drop of bitterness put in its appearance: my talent for painting seemed to be excelled by my talent for drawing, especially in almost all fields of architecture. At the same time my interest in architecture as such increased steadily, and this development was accelerated after a two weeks' trip to Vienna which I took when not yet sixteen. The purpose of my trip was to study the picture gallery in the Court Museum, but I had

Chapter 2 Cont'd.
From then on our discussions at work were often very heated. I argued back, from day to day better informed than my antagonists concerning their own knowledge, until one day they made use of the weapon which most readily conquers reason: terror and violence. A few of the spokesmen on the opposing side forced me either to leave the building at once or be thrown off the scaffolding. Since I was alone and resistance seemed hopeless, I preferred, richer by one experience, to follow the former counsel. I went away filled with disgust, but at the same time so agitated that it would have been utterly impossible for me to turn my back on the whole business. No, after the first surge of indignation, my stubbornness regained the upper hand. I was determined to go to work on another building in spite of my experience. In this decision I was reinforced by Poverty which, a few weeks later, after I had spent what little I had saved from my wages. enfolded me in her heartless arms. I had to go back

Chapter 2 Cont'd.
At all events, these occasions slowly made me acquainted with the man and the movement, which in those days guided Vienna's destinies: Dr. Karl Lueger I and the Christian Social Party. When I arrived in Vienna, I was hostile to both of them. The man and the movement seemed 'reactionary' in my eyes. My common sense of justice, however, forced me to change this judgment in proportion as I had occasion to become acquainted with the man and his work; and slowly my fair judgment turned to unconcealed admiration. Today, more than ever, I regard this man as the greatest German mayor of all times. How many of my basic principles were upset by this change in my attitude toward the Christian Social movement! My views with regard to anti-Semitism thus succumbed to the passage of time, and this was my greatest transformation of all. It cost me the greatest inner soul struggles, and only after months of battle between my reason and my sentiments did my reason begin to emerge victorious. Two y

Chapter 3: General Political Considerations Based On My Vienna Period
Mein Kampf.ADOLF HITLERChapter 3General Political Considerations Based on My Vienna PeriodTODAY it is my conviction that in general, aside from cases of unusual talent, a man should not engage in public political activity before his thirtieth year. He should not do so, because up to this time, as a rule, he is engaged in molding a general platform, on the basis of which he proceeds to examine the various political problems and finally establishes his own position on them. Only after he has acquired such a basic philosophy, and the resultant firmness of outlook on the special problems of the day, is he, inwardly at least, mature enough to be justified in partaking in the political leadership of the general public. Otherwise he runs the risk of either having to change his former position on essential questions, or, contrary to his better knowledge and understanding, of clinging to a view which reason and conviction have long since discarded. In the former case this is most embarrassing

Chapter 3 Cont'd
Page 90 into this track of general falsehood and deceit. The very conviction that the non-participation of an individual in the business would in itself change nothing kills every honorable impulse which may rise up in this or that deputy. And finally, moreover, he may tell himself that he personally is far from being the worst among the others, and that the sole effect of his collaboration is perhaps to prevent worse things from happening. It will be objected, to be sure, that. though the individual deputy possesses no special understanding in this or that matter, his position has been discussed by the fraction which directs the policy of the gentleman in question, and that the fraction has its special committees which are more than adequately enlightened by experts anyway. At first glance this seems to be true. But then the question arises: Why are five hundred chosen when only a few possess the necessary wisdom to take a position in the most important matters? And this is the w

Chapter 3 Cont'd
In my Vienna period I had leisure and opportunity enough for an unprejudiced examination of this question too, and in my daily contacts was able to establish the correctness of this view a thousand times over. In this focus of the most varied nationalities, it immediately becomes clearly apparent that the German pacifist is alone in always attempting to view the interests of his own nation objectively, but that the Jew will never regard those of the Jewish people in this way; that only the German Socialist is linternaticnal' in a sense which forbids him to beg justice for his own people except by whimpering and whining in the midst of his international comrades, but never a Czech or a Pole, etc.; in short, I recognized even then that the misfortune lies only partly in these doctrines, and partly in our totally inadequate education in national sentiment and a resultant lack of devotion to our nation. Thus, the first theoretical foundation for a struggle of the PanGerman movement again

Chapter 4: Munich
Mein KampfADOLF HITLERChapter 4MunichIN THE SPRING of 1912 I came at last to Munich. The city itself was as familiar to me as if I had lived for years within its walls. This is accounted for by my study which at every step had led me to this metropolis of German art. Not only has one not seen Germany if one does not know Munich-no, above all, one does not know German art if one has not seen Munich. In any case, this period before the War was the happiest and by far the most contented of my life. Even if my earnings were still extremely meager, I did not live to be able to paint, but painted only to be able to secure my livelihood or rather to enable myself to go on studying. I possessed the conviction that I should some day, in spite of all obstacles, achieve the goal I had set myself. And this alone enabled me to bear all other petty cares of daily existence lightly and without anxiety. In addition to this, there was the heartfelt love which seized me for this city more than for an

Chapter 4 Cont'd
It is true that we, I am sorry to say, would never have done such a thing. If a European territorial policy was only possible against Russia in alliance with England, conversely, a policy of colonies and world trade was conceivable only against England and with Russia. But then we had dauntlessly to draw the consequences- and, above all, abandon Austria in all haste. Viewed from all angles, this alliance with Austria was real madness by the turn of the century. But we did not think of concluding an alliance with Russia against England, any more than with England against Russia, for in both cases the end would have been war, and to prevent this we decided in favor of a policy of commerce and industry. In the 'peaceful economic ' conquest of the world we possessed a recipe which was expected to break the neck of the former policy of violence once and for all.l Occasionally, perhaps, we were not quite sure of ourselves, particularly when from time to time incomprehensible threats came

Chapter 5: The World War
Mein KampfADOLF HITLERChapter 5The World WarAs A YOUNG SCAMP in my wild years, nothing had so grieved me as having been born at a time which obviously erected its Halls of Fame only to shopkeepers and government officials. The waves of historic events seemed to have grown so smooth that the future really seemed to belong only to the 'peaceful contest of nations'; in other words, a cozy mutual swindling match with the exclusion of violent methods of defense. The various nations began to be more and more like private citizens who cut the ground from under one another's feet, stealing each other's customers and orders, trying in every way to get ahead of one another, and staging this whole act amid a hue and cry as loud as it is harmless. This development seemed not only to endure but was expected in time (as was universally recommended) to remodel the whole world into one big department store in whose vestibules the busts of the shrewdest profiteers and the most lamblike administrative o

Chapter 6: War Propaganda
Mein KampfADOLF HITLERChapter 6War PropagandaEVER since I have been scrutinizing political events, I have taken a tremendous interest in propagandist activity. I saw that the Socialist-Marxist organizations mastered and applied this instrument with astounding skill. And I soon realized that the correct use of propaganda is a true art which has remained practically unknown to the bourgeois parties. Only the Christian-Social movement, especially in Lueger's time, achieved a certain virtuosity on this instrument, to which it owed many of its successes. But it was not until the War that it became evident what immense results could be obtained by a correct application of propaganda. Here again, unfortunately, all our studying had to be done on the enemy side, for the activity on our side was modest, to say the least. The total miscarriage of the German 'enlightenment ' service stared every soldier in the face, and this spurred me to take up the question of propaganda even more deeply than

Chapter 7: The Revolution
Mein KampfADOLF HITLERChapter 7The RevolutionWITH THE YEAR 1915 enemy propaganda began in our country, after 1916 it became more and more intensive, till finally, at the beginning of the year 1918, it swelled to a positive flood. Now the results of this seduction could be seen at every step. The army gradually learned to think as the enemy wanted it to. And the German counter-action was a complete failure. In the person of the man whose intellect and will made him its leader, the army had the intention and determination to take up the struggle in this field, too, but it lacked the instrument which would have been necessary. And from the psychological point of view, it was wrong to have this enlightenment work carried on by the troops themselves. If it was to be effective, it had to come from home. Only then was there any assurance of success among the men who, after all, had been performing immortal deeds of heroism and privation for nearly four years for this homeland. But what cam

Chapter 8: The Beginning Of My Political Activity
Mein KampfADOLF HITLERChapter 8The Beginning of My Political ActivityAT THE END of November, 1918, I returned to Munich. Again I went to the replacement battalion of my regiment, which was in the hands of 'soldiers' councils.' Their whole activity was so repellent to me that I decided at once to leave again as soon as possible. With Schmiedt Ernst, a faithful war comrade, I went to Traunstein and remained there till the camp was broken up. In March, 1919, we went back to Munich. The situation was untenable and moved inevitably toward a further continuation of the revolution. Eisner's death only hastened the development and finally led to a dictatorship of the Councils, or, better expressed, to a passing rule of the Jews, as had been the original aim of the instigators of the whole revolution. At this time endless plans chased one another through my head. For days I wondered what could be done, but the end of every meditation was the sober realization that I, nameless as I was, did n

Chapter 9: The 'german Workers' Party'
Mein KampfADOLF HITLERChapter 9The 'German Workers' Party'ONE DAY I received orders from my headquarters to find out what was behind an apparently political organization which was planning to hold a meeting within th next few days under the name of 'German Workers' Party'-with Gottfried Feder as one of the speakers. I was told to go and take a look at the organization and then make a report. The curiosity of the army toward political parties in those days was more than understandable. The revolution had given the soldiers the right of political activity, and it was just the most inexperienced among them who made the most ample use of it. Not until the moment when the Center and the Social Democracy were forced to recognize, to their own grief, that the sympathies of the soldiers were beginning to turn away from the revolutionary parties toward the national movement and reawakening, did they see fit to deprive the troops of suffrage again and prohibit their political activity. It was

Chapter 10: Causes Of The Collapse
Mein KampfADOLF HITLERChapter 10Causes of the CollapseTHE EXTENT of the fall of a body is always measured by the distance between its momentary position and the one it originally occupied. The same is true of nations and states. A decisive significance must be ascribed to their previous position or rather elevation. Only what is accustomed to rise above the common limit can fall and crash to a manifest low This is what makes the collapse of the Reich so hard and terrible for every thinking and feeling man, since it brought a crash from heights which today, in view of the depths of our present degradation, are scarcely conceivable. The very founding of the Reich seemed gilded by the magic of an event which uplifted the entire nation. After a series of incomparable victories, a Reich was born for the sons and grandsons-a reward for immortal heroism. Whether consciously or unconsciously, it matters not, the Germans all had the feeling that this Reich, which did not owe its existence to t

Chapter 10 Cont'd
A further example of the halfheartedness and weakness of the leaders of pre-War Germany in meeting the most important vital questions of the nation is the following: running parallel to the political, ethical, and moral contamination of the people, there had been for many years a no less terrible poisoning of the health of the national body. Especially in the big cities, syphilis was beginning to spread more and more, while tuberculosis steadily reaped its harvest of death throughout nearly the whole country. Though in both cases the consequences were terrible for the nation, the authorities could not summon up the energy to take decisive measures. Particularly with regard to syphilis, the attitude of the leadership of the nation and the state can only be designated as total capitulation. To fight it seriously, they would have had to take somewhat broader measures than was actually the case. The invention of a remedy of questionable character and its commercial exploitation can no l

Chapter 10 Cont'd
As another disquieting attribute, the following must yet be stated: In the nineteenth century our cities began more and more to lose the character of cultural sites and to descend to the level of mere human settlements. The small attachment of our present big-city proletariat for the town they live in is the consequence of the fact that it is only the individual's accidental local stopping place, and nothing more. This is partly connected with the frequent change of residence caused by social conditions, which do not give a man time to form a closer bond with the city, and another cause is to be found in the general cultural insignificance and poverty of our present-day cities per se. At the time of the wars of liberations the German cities were not only small in number, but also modest as to size. The few really big cities were mostly princely residences, and as such nearly always possessed a certain cultural value and for the most part also a certain artistic picture. The few place

Chapter 1
In another part of the world in a room like any other room, Marissa lay on the floor knowing this was the right thing to do. For the first time in as long as she could remember she felt at peace. No pain, no sorrow, no worries. A feeling of quiet and clam that surrounded her, feeling as she must have felt had she returned to her mothers womb. warm, dreamy and safe. Opening her eyes she wondered why Death had not arrived to take her away. She knew she couldnt live, her life blood spilled across the living room carpet. Looking about she finally saw the light. The time had come, her release. But if this was Death why wasnt he wearing his cowl, or carrying his sword thingie. This guy had wings, and was handsome, and light shone all around him, a reddish sort of tinge. She let go of her body and floated in the air hovering, wondering if the man/angel? would say anything to her. She waited. He just kept staring at her, her, not her body down there. He looked really confused

Chapter 2
Having dropped off this latest soul, Death decided to take a detour. "Pearly gates, sure thing," he mumbled as he reached the gates of His fortress. " No pearls of any kind here, just a blockade for His favorites and those that he allows to have some fun." At the entrance of the huge doors, there stood one of the beautiful ones. One of His own personal helpers. He could not help but compare his visage with the other. Where he was allowed a cowl, and ugly body, scarey even, this favorite was all white, wings half the length of his body, flowing hair and handsome, so very handsome. It just wasnt fair. And he had a name of all things, a name! "What is it this time, Death? Did you forget your sickle, need a new blade? Ah, I know, you want to wear a different color black, is that it?" Peter loved ribbing Death. Such a somber personna, no humor at all. Death was determined this time to enter the gates of heaven and have a much wanted meeting with Himself. "Peter, out of m

Chapter 3
Stupid, stupid stupid. She had done it again, but this time it might be a permanant thing, no coming back. She loved the high she got when the drugs first hit her system. But this time she may have over done it. Feeling foolish, ashe struggled for some clarity, and found herself looking directly into the face of Death. she knew it was Death because of his cowl and sickle. And of course the fact that he was the ugliest thing she had ever see. "Hi there death. I guess that maybe you think you might be here for me. Well dont bother, I aint going. I been worse then this, and Im not ready. So go on your merry or unmerry way and find someone else to bug. This gal isnt ready yet." She struggled to curl herelf into an even tighter ball then she already was, and closed her eyes. This must be what heaven was like, she thought. All dreamy and floaty like this. She felt no pain, no nothing. Just dreamy and content. Why couldnt life be like this all the time? So much nicer when

Chapter 4
Marissa knew if she had a chance in hell or heaven of being reborn, she had to figure out where Death was. Being a soul, her options were limited. She could enter the outskirts of Heaven, and she could enter the outside of Hell, but she could mostly stay right where she was, in between. First she decided to try Satan again, since he was the one that wanted her in the first place. How does a soul travel, she thought. Like that old commercial about drugs, "just do it", came to her. So she willed herself to Hell. And there she was, approaching the Gates, a demon stepping out in front of her. " Who are you? Is Satan here? I need to speak to him about something." " and I'm cliff, drop in some time," the demon roared at what on earth was a very old joke. "Seriously, what do you want here? Satan is very busy, sending souls through purgatory and then shipping them back out to Himself for rebirth." " I'm lost", the woman said. " Death never came to get me, and I cant go an