Duane L. Martin
  • Home
  • Books & Author Info
  • Bonus Scenes & Short Stories
  • Buy Online
  • Other Authors

The Great Q-tip Phobia

 

Another writing prompt story from my writers group.

 

Prompt: Imagine the most harmless, least frightening thing you can think of, and write about someone who’s deathly afraid of it.

 

“What the hell Julie???  I thought I told you never to bring these damn things into the house!” I shouted as I ran from the bathroom, my hands trembling as my whole body suddenly felt hollow inside.  “Get those stupid things the hell outta here!”

“What the hell is it with you and your Q-tip phobia?” she asked irritably as she brushed past me roughly and grabbed the box of those horrid, cotton tipped death machines from the sink.  “I need these for my makeup, and to clean my ears and stuff.”

“No!!!  Don’t you ever stick those things in your ears!!!” I shouted, cringing as she walked out and shook the box in my face just to be an annoying bitch.  I hated it when she was in a mood like this.  It was then that I realized that a few of the dreaded things had fallen out of the box, and one of them had landed on my shoe.  I squealed like a little girl and scooted down the hall so fast that I slammed into the wall, and then slid down into a crouching position, cowering in fear as she looked at me and shook her head in disgust.

“Ok seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded.  “This just isn’t rational.  There’s gotta be something behind this phobia of yours.  Maybe you should get some therapy.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” I said, cringing as I glanced down at the floor where I’d been standing.

“Come on, just tell me what it is.  Maybe it’ll help to get it out,” she prodded.

“It’s just…”

“What?” she asked.

“Q-tips killed my father,” I said as I closed my eyes and relived the horror of that day in my head for about the millionth time.

“What do you mean Q-tips killed your father?  How the hell could Q-tips kill anyone?”

“He was playin’ around with me when I was a kid.  I was only about five at the time.  He used to goof around, putting ‘em in his ears and up his nose and stuff, and then he’d chase me around the house.  Well one day he was chasin’ me around, and he tripped on a toy I’d left on the floor.  When he fell, the Q-tips he had up his nose got shoved all the way up, and then his head bounced and one of the ones he had in his ears got jammed in and ruptured his eardrum.  Mom rushed him to the hospital and they pulled ‘em out, but they didn’t get all of ‘em.  There were still pieces broken off inside, and they got infected.  He was in massive pain for like two days before the infection spread into his blood stream and killed him.”

“Oh my god, why didn’t you ever tell me that???” she asked, suddenly quite sympathetic to his condition.

“I try not to think about it.  It’s been living in my head since I was five, and all I can think is, why didn’t I put my toys away?  If I’d have only put my toys away, my father would still be alive.”

“Well you can’t keep living like this, so we’re gonna have to cure you of this thing once and for all,” she said as she pulled out some Q-tips and started shoving them into her ears and up her nose.

“No!!!” I shouted as I got up and ran toward her.  “Stop!  Don’t do that!”

“See, they’re harmless,” she said as my sock-covered feet skidded along the hardwood floor.  Unable to stop, I unintentionally slammed into her, sending her sideways into the wall.  The Q-tip in her ear hit the wall and got shoved deep into her ear canal, and as she screamed out in pain, she spun around, lost her balance, and fell face first onto the floor.  The Q-tips in her nose were driven deep into her sinus cavity, and she was knocked unconscious.

Unable to cope with not only what I’d done to her, but with the flashbacks I was experiencing about my father, I curled up into a little ball and leaned against the wall of the hallway, mumbling to myself incoherently as I watched her choke to death on her own blood.

The police didn’t charge me with anything because they didn’t know what to charge me with.  They knew I didn’t insert the Q-tips into her nose and ears, but they had to do something with me, so they took me into the hospital for a 72-hour psych eval, which ended up turning into a much longer stay.  Maybe someday I’ll be able to believe that it was all just a coincidence, and that Q-tips really aren’t all that dangerous…or maybe, just maybe…that conviction will only get stronger as the body count of the unsuspecting Q-tip users continues to grow exponentially.  Only time will tell I suppose.

 

 

By Duane • Short Stories By Duane L. Martin • 0

Scare the Reader in Two Sentences

 

Prompt: Scare your audience in one or two sentences.

 

“Did I do it right?” the child asked after he’d buried the kitchen knife into the back of his mother’s neck.

“She’s my mother now,” a disembodied voice said from behind him.
 

 

By Duane • Short Stories By Duane L. Martin • 0

God is an Elected Position

 

This is another piece I wrote for a writing prompt with my writers group.  We have a limited amount of time to write whatever we can on these prompts, so we just have to get through as much as we can in the time allotted.

 

Prompt: The prompt was, God is an elected position, and the election is coming.

“So who all am I running against?” Yahweh asked the angel Gabriel, who was currently acting as his campaign manager.  The elections for the position of God only happened every few thousand years, and Yahweh was in the incumbent position.  Unfortunately, he was facing some stiff competition this time around.  He’d been rather lazy and absent when it came to his duties, and numerous other gods had stepped up to challenge him in the current election cycle.

“Well, first off there’s Buddah,” Gabriel said as he looked down at the list he was holding.

“Buddah?  He’s not even a god!  How can he be running?  Isn’t there some rule against that?” Yahweh demanded.

“Apparently he has enough worshipers to qualify.  Besides, if we let him run, at least it’ll keep his followers busy for a while and we won’t have to listen to all that stupid chanting they do that puts me to sleep every time I hear it.”

“Yeah, me too.  Oh well, at least he’s a pretty mellow guy, so we won’t have to worry about any mud slinging from him.  Who else we got?” he asked.  Gabriel looked down at his list once again.

“Lucifer the Lightbringer,” Gabriel said.

“Oh god, him again.  Didn’t I banish him?” Yahweh asked.

“Yeah, but he’s developed quite a following over the past few millennia; mostly among the heavy metal fans and the Goth types.  The latest polls show him closing in on us fast.  He’ already within the margin of error.”

“Can’t we get some dirt on him or somethin’?”

“On Lucifer?  Are you serious?  It’s the dirt that makes him so popular,” Gabriel said.  “Anyway, he’s not the only one we have to worry about.  Thor is rising in the polls as well thanks to some stupid movies he’s been in, and Zeus is right there with him.”

“Zeus?  I didn’t know that old bastard was running for this.  Why would anyone vote for him?  I mean, he killed his own father.  How could anyone find that appealing?”

“Yeah well, to be fair, Cronos was kind of an ass hole, so he totally deserved it.  Besides, you let your son get tortured and killed, so you know…glass houses and all that.  Probably better if we just don’t mention the whole patricide thing with Zeus, otherwise you’re gonna be opening a door you don’t want him walkin’ through,” Gabriel advised.

“All right, anyone else?” Yahweh asked.

“Yeah, there’s a few Egyptian gods running, but they don’t have much support at the moment.  Then there’s the Flying Spaghetti Monster…”

“What???  The Flying Spaghetti Monster?  He’s not even real!  How can he be running???” Yahweh asked incredulously as he cocked his eyebrow at Gabriel.

“Actually sir, he does exist.  Don’t you remember that night we visited Earth and went to that Italian restaurant.  You got all drunk and said Hey, watch this!”

“Oh…shit, that’s right.  Jeez, I forgot all about that.  That was pretty fun though, wasn’t it?  That place had great bread sticks.”

“Come on now, focus!” Gabriel said firmly.  “We’ve got an election to win here!”

“So who do we really need to be concerned about?” Yahweh asked.

“Mostly Lucifer and Thor I think, but like I said, Buddah’s making a fairly good showing as well.”

“All right, let’s get to work then,” Yahweh said with a heavy sigh.  “I hate running for office.  Maybe I should just retire.”

“Up to you,” Gabriel said with a shrug.  “You gotta remember though, if Buddah wins, we’re gonna have to listen to all that stupid chanting for the next few millennia.”

“Ugh…ok.  Let’s get started then,” Yahweh said, rolling his eyes in an exasperated fashion.  “You got the practice debate questions ready?”

“Yep, got ’em right here.  Let’s get to it,” Gabriel said as he flipped through the pages in his notebook.

 

By Duane • Short Stories By Duane L. Martin • 0

I will be interviewed today…

I will be interviewed today once again by Wayne Clingman on the Milwaukee Mob podcast.  If you’d like to listen live, I’ll be interviewed at 11am MST, after which I’ll add a link in the press section here to the archived show.  We’ll be talking about the Unseen Things series, Cindy’s Story, my next book Retribution, and about writing in general.

Here’s the link if you’d like to listen in: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/themilwaukeemob/2017/01/26/duane-l-martin-a-writers-story

 

By Duane • Uncategorized • 0

Jeez… :P

So…this is how my last month and a half has gone.  I was sick as hell for a month while trying to keep up with the work I had to do for my day job, and then the skies opened up a great big can of winter whoop ass on us and dumped more snow than we’ve had since the 80s.  Oh, and did I mention that my ISP is ending their DSL service?  I had to switch to CenturyLink, and that’s been a great big ol’ pain in the ass too.

The long and the short of it is, I haven’t had my head in writing at all lately.  A big part of it is all the work I have to do for my job, which leaves me pretty much drained mentally.  Another part is that I was sick for so long that I lost the feeling for what I was writing.  I managed to finish three chapters, but I just can’t find the motivation to work on it.  That said, I’m super happy with how the story’s gone so far, so when I finally do bury myself in it again and get it finished, I’m sure it’ll have been worth the wait.  There’s already some pretty nasty stuff going on in it, and there’s a lot more to come.

I just wanted to post a little update.  I’ve just been beaten down and tired, so right now I’m trying to get caught up on both work and sleep so I can get my head back into my writing.  Hopefully that’ll happen soon.

 

By Duane • Uncategorized • 0

My god have I been sick!

There is some seriously nasty cold going around here that everyone seems to be getting, including me.  I’ve been sick as hell for a week and a half now.  Whatever this is, it’s really bad, and it seems to have three stages.  The first day and a half or so it’s pretty mild.  You may even think you’re getting over it.  Then near the end of the second day, it hits you like a damn freight train and turns into a severe head cold.  The following day you lose your voice.  For three days you’ll barely be able to talk, and then for ages after your voice will slowly start to recover, but only very slowly.  Then about a week into it, it changes into something else entirely.  You start feeling completely dried out, and you get a dry cough that often leads to serious coughing fits that’ll make you wish you were dead.  There’s something going on in the throat too that makes it feel like you tried to swallow a pill that got stuck in there and won’t shift, even though there’s nothing there.

Oh, and on top of all that, I got a flare up of gout in my left foot as well. 😛

Despite it all, I somehow managed to finish chapter 2 in my next book today.  Progress on it has been extremely slow for a variety of reasons, including work, illness, and general life issues that I’ve had to deal with.  Don’t worry though, I’ll never give up on it.  It may be slow going, but I’m going to try to be more on top of working on it now.

Anyway, I haven’t posted an update in a while.  That’s what’s been going on here.  Oh, and on the 23 / 24th of this month, the site will be down for a while.  I’m changing internet providers and getting new static IPs, so things will be down until the new ones propagate.

 

By Duane • Uncategorized • 0

«< 3 4 5 6 7 >»

Progress Report: Trackers 2nd Edition Re-Edit

First editing pass: Complete!

Second editing pass: Complete!

Total # of Words Added: 18,930

Spellcheck: Incomplete
Metadata: Incomplete
Print Version: Incomplete
Synopsis: Incomplete
Cover: Incomplete

Progress Report: Ghost Worlds 2nd Edition Re-Edit

First Editing Pass: Complete

Second Editing Pass: In Process

Chapters Completed: 4/16

Total number of words added: 21,414

Archives

  • December 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013

↑

© Duane L. Martin 2021
Powered by WordPress • Themify WordPress Themes