Short Story Series: Helen and Thor

“Thor, I’m pregnant.” Helen’s reflection responded with a stressed expression.

She took a deep breath. Mixed emotions rose with the inhalation and almost came pouring out on her exhale. “A-and it’s yours. No it ours. Y-you’re the father. Oh God, I’m so screwed.”

She wiped the tears that began flowing down her pale face smearing some of the make-up she had on. Not that she could look any worse right now. Her blonde hair had tangles in the worst spots and her clothing was ruffled because she had rushed putting them on. Again she breathed in and out. “Thor, I’m pregnant. The baby is ours.”

She repeated this several times and eventually out of frustration tossed herself into her bed. Fortunately her house was really well insulated and her bathroom was right next door, or her parents would have heard what she had been saying. Helen was terrified. What was she going to do now? Thor needed to know. Her parents would find out anyways, so they needed to know. Everybody in school would find out and then she’d be a nobody. Not that she had many friends to begin with. She shook in fear on her bed, occasionally a sob escaped her lips.

She had found out this morning and spent the entire day avoiding Thor and trying to figure out how to tell him. It was only a matter of time that he’d come knocking and her parents would let him in, then everyone would know that she was upset, and they’d pester her and she’d eventually have to give in. She didn’t want that to happen. “Oh God, help me please. I don’t know what to do.”

Her parents were strict Catholics and believed in consummation, and when they’d find out that she’s pregnant she didn’t know what they’d do. Thor would be given the worst from them too. Every part of Helen hurt.

She didn’t even know if she wanted to have the child.

A small voice squeaked from her lips. “Mom, Dad, I’m pregnant.” Suddenly those emotions that she dammed up broke out and she put her head in a pillow and cried her heart out for a good fifteen minutes. After that she threw the pillow at the wall with significant force.

Then the dreaded door bell went off. After a few breathless moments the dreaded “Honey, it’s Thor.” echoed up the stairs. Helen’s heart skipped a few beats. She tried to say something, but her throat had closed shut and she could not speak.

“Honey?”

Helen began to panic. She hastily cleaned herself up and tried to wipe the make-up off of her face and then stepped to the top of the stairs. Her mother was at the bottom of the stairs with Thor right next to her. Thor in his handsome leather jacket. His wavy brunette hair. His perfect blue eyes. For a moment, Helen lost her breath, but she nodded at Mom and Thor, wincing at the stupid gesture.

Mom looked at Helen with concern as Helen descended the stair. “Are you OK, honey? You look like you’ve been crying.”

Again her throat closed up and she couldn’t say anything. She prayed to God to let her speak. Thor spoke up. “She had a rough day in school. I was just coming to check in on her.”

Mom smiled. “Aren’t you a sweetheart. You’ll grow up to be a wonderful gentleman.”

Thor blushed. “I’m not sure how much more I’ll grow up, ma’am.”

Mom chuckled and began walking away. “Alright, I’ll let you two be. Take care of her.”

Thor nodded and smiled back. “OK, ma’am.”

I whispered to him. “Can we talk?” as soon as Mom was out of sight.

We went upstairs to my room. After we made it he asked. “Where have you been all day?”

Helen sat on her bed and bowed her head. A couple tears dropped off of her face. “I’m pregnant. It’s ours.”

Thor’s expression changed from confusion to shock. His hands dropped in mid-gesture to his sides. “What?”

“I’m pregnant.” Helen dared to look into Thor’s eyes. “The baby is ours.”

“Y-you’re pregnant. That’s why you’ve been avoiding me all day? Why the hell didn’t you tell me at school?! God damn it!” A few other expletives exploded from his mouth and a few moments later, they heard stomping up the stairs.

Dad loomed into the room. “What is going on?” his bear like voice cowed Helen even more and Thor backed off a bit.

Thor looked back at Helen. “Screw this, I’m leaving. I’m not having anything to do with this.”

Dad grabbed Thor on his way out. “Not having anything to do with what?”

Thor jerked his arm out of Dad’s grasped and continued leaving. “Don’t touch me old man.”

Dad roared various statements at Thor and shortly after there was a loud bang as the door closed. Soon after, both Mom and Dad were in Helen’s room. They both had their arms crossed.

“What happened, honey?”

Helen looked at her parents and then burst out crying. “I’m pregnant. The baby is Thor’s. I’m scared. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.”

Dad was the first to react. “I’m calling that disrespectful punk’s parents.”

Mom wrapped arms around Helen. She cooed loving caring words. Helen was a little surprised at her parents. She hadn’t expected their support, in fact she had expected them to yell at her and throw her out of the house. She smiled and returned her mother’s warm loving embrace. One last tear, a tear of happiness rolled down her face, and all the fear and uncertainty washed away.

The last words out of Helen’s mouth for the rest of the night were. “I’m keeping it.”

Paul Davis’ Story

The pain and anger I felt at those words, hit me so hard for a while I could only see red. I wanted to hunt down the man or men responsible for the explosions and kill them. I have never felt hate and rage so strong at anything, it was overwhelming. My wife and child were both murdered.

The nurse looked at me sadly and then left the room. I let out a savage yell that was so loud two other nurses came running in to see what was wrong.

I recovered, but it took me a couple months. I did the only thing I could think to do: return to work. In my absence things changed. Both of our interns had left and a new one, Alexis took their place. Jake looked like he put on a couple of years and hugged me when he saw me, telling me that I was missed and he’s glad I’m fine. I decided to give the radio station a new direction and proposed it to the Boss.

“Hey, Boss, I’ve got an idea. Jenna inspired me to do it actually, and I would like your permission to do through with it.”

The Boss tilted his head curiously. “Yeah? What is it?”

I coughed. “Well, for most of my life with her, she was a pillar of hope for me. She’s the one that pulled me through all the troubled times I’ve had and she kept telling me to ‘never give up’ and I thought, maybe I could continue that using the radio station. There may not be much hope left for the United States, but there’s still hope that we can be united and have law. I’m not about to let some murdering organization keep that dream from happening. I want to keep the hope for our future alive.”

The Boss smiled. “You got it, Paul. Go for it. If anyone can do this it’s you. Just don’t embarrass me OK?”

I nodded. “Got it.”

When I made it to the mics, Jake shook my hand. “It’s good to have you back, Paul, I’m sorry about what happened.”

I smiled sadly. “It’s not your fault, Jake. You ready to begin this show?”

He looked at me incredulously and all those years faded away. “Ready? I was born ready.”

I laughed. “Good lets do this.”

“And we’re on the air. Hello folks, this is Jake here and can we have a welcome back cheer for Paul Davis?” Jake waited a few moments. “I can’t hear you.”

“Jake, of course you can’t hear them.”

Jake hushed me. “Alright folks, it’s time for the Paul Davis Show!”

I smiled and lightly punched Jake’s shoulder. “Yeah, you heard right folks, I’m back, and boy do I have something for you…”

That’s how I began my campaign for order and unity. My campaign for hope. I didn’t experience any more explosions or shootings. I didn’t find another girl. I didn’t fight in any wars. I did, however, give the people the hope they needed to survive this and create a new and better order.

Cashback

What would you do if you were able to stop time? Ben uses his time stopping for his artistic talent. Wait. That’s not the main point of this beautiful drama. Directed and written by Sean Ellis, Cashback is an excellent story about a young man who just experienced a terrible break-up and has developed insomnia because of it. In order to kill time he gets a night shift job in a grocery store and to pass the time there he develops this ability to stop time and observe the naked beauty of the women who shop there and draw every single one of them.

Ben Willis is a college art student with extraordinary talent, and with an artistic fascination with the female body. His break up hit him so hard that he could not sleep, after he gets the job at the grocery store he begins to interact with the wide spectrum of characters that he has to work with. He has a womanizing and overly competitive manager. A trickster pair of best friends that pass their time by doing some of the craziest stuff. And a few others, but most importantly, he meets Sharon Pintey the only female co-worker who he begins to develop a crush on, but cannot figure out how to let her know.

Every so often you get flashbacks to Ben’s previous crushes and the reasons as to why he has his fascination with the beauty of the female form. The story of the movie is very well put together and while it does indeed have its predictable moments these moments are forgiven by the creative license taken with the movie. The humor throughout the movie is often a little over the top, but so are most of the supporting characters.

Yes, this movie does in fact have nudity, but that is not the entirety of what the movie revolves around.

This still isn’t one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, but it is very well put together and I’ll give it a 8/10.

Cashback

Paul Davis’ Story

I was on my way to work when suddenly there was a roaring sound and my car flipped over. For a moment I thought I was dreaming still, but reality hit me when the car hit the ground. Pain spiked across my chest and neck as whiplash twisted my neck in ways it shouldn’t and the seat belt tightened against me. I lost my breath and began to see spots. Only one phrase went through my head: what happened? It took me several minutes to gather myself, but I noticed that my left side felt a lot hotter than my right, and I turned my head to face that side only to see the remains of a building and several flaming cars. Sirens, I could hear sirens in the distance. My seat belt pinched uncomfortably against my chest and I fumbled to free myself from its grasp. Bad choice. Pain surged anew when I landed on my back on the ceiling of my car. I spent the next several minute laying there analyzing the situation I was in.

“What on earth happened?” I said aloud, not that I expected to get an answer right away.

There was no way that the Knights could have extended their reach this far. No way. Some sirens got closer and others got farther away. Did this happen in other places? A splash of water hit me as firefighters began to do their jobs. Soon, I was extracted from the remains of my car and rolled into an ambulance.

“Sir, can you tell me your name?” A concerned female voice asked. I couldn’t see who it was because my neck wouldn’t move, because of the brace they put it in.

“Paul Davis,” my voice sounded a little hoarse.

I was then bombarded with a bunch of questions dealing with my address, phone number, and some medical questions. I answered them all by the time that I arrived in the hospital. Again the question. “What happened?” It felt like somebody else was speaking using my mouth, but I knew I was the one asking the question.

“Sir, you were in an explosion.” An explosion? That’s what happened?

My brain sluggishly put two and two together and by the time I made it to the room I was supposed to be in I figured it out. Then other questions haunted me. How many people died? Were there other explosions or was the one I was in the only one? How did they get here? Why? The explosion seemed completely random, almost as if there were no purpose. Why Meredith, New Hampshire of all the places to bomb? It’s only a tourist town.

The doctors put me through some tests and came to the conclusion that I had a minor concussion and a few dozen contusions all over my body and major whiplash. They decided to put me under watch just in case the injuries I sustained were worse than believed. From what I heard only three other people survived the same explosion and one of them wasn’t going to make it through the night. I called into work and told Vic, our other intern, to tell the Boss I was in the explosion today and would not be able to show up to work. After that, I turned on the television to the news.

“And recently today, in Meredith, Concord, Plymouth, and other towns and cities there have been dozens of bombings all over. From reports we’ve received from the police and other emergency response personnel, the explosions probably originated from the Knights of Discord. Casualties are very high and damage is reaching the millions-” I turned it off. Dozens of explosions. Deaths and damage. Right here, in my home and my state. There’s nowhere in the United States that’s safe from the Knights. When I get out of here, I’m taking Jenna and we’re leaving the country. I don’t know where, but I want to live someplace safe with my wife and child.

“Mr. Davis?” A nurse peeked into my room from the entrance.

“Yes?”

She timidly entered the room. “Sir, we tried calling the number you gave us, but the line was dead. Um, and we checked the address, and that’s one of, um, the locations that were bombed. When the ambulances arrived, um, they found your wife, but she, uh, she was dead.”

Anything else she had to say was lost to me. After those last three words came out of her mouth, my pain and emotions exploded and everything around me became insignificant. The pain was so powerful, I could only stare with ungodly disbelief at the ceiling as if that could reverse time and undo everything that just happened. There was nothing more I wanted to do than go back in time and back to home and save her.

Paul Davis’ Story

After his announcement, news stations all over began to talk about how the government declared Vincent DeMoore as their most wanted criminal and a threat to society as a whole. Shortly after that declaration, rumors of fights between Knights of Discord all over the states and government establishments spread all over. For all I know, the world might as well have blown up then and there. I tried to preach safety and order, but the more I did so, the more things seemed to go crazy. I was struggling against some overwhelming force and I wasn’t going to give up anytime soon.

Within a month I spoke about how the Knights of Discord gained the Dakotas as territories and the US Military was being forced back. The worst part was the reports of troops firing upon innocent civilians not knowing the difference between them and the Knights. Naturally, the government and military got all the blame, and I couldn’t help but agree that they should have been more careful, but I also had no idea what was happening over there despite all the reports I was receiving and talking about. Many of our listeners had varying opinions on the Knights still, some loved them, others feared, and many still had no idea what to think. I knew I was in the third crowd.

One day, after work my wife and I decided to take a walk in our favorite park.

I started our conversation there with. “I read a letter from a woman who lost her sister and husband to the military. I wanted to talk about it, but I couldn’t find a good way to begin. The letter was so powerful, sad, and angry. I hope she finds some peace somehow.”

Jenna gripped my hand tightly. “She will. It seems like the world has gone crazy, but it just hasn’t hit us yet. We still have children playing in the playground over there, and kids in the skateboard arena having fun. Life here hasn’t changed much, but I can’t help but feel that is going to change.” She put her free hand on her stomach. “I hope things don’t change so badly that it ruins this one’s future.”

I squeezed her hand. “I’ll do everything I can to make sure our child has a perfect life. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing bad happens here.”

We kissed a long and beautiful kiss. Every emotion I had, positive and negative, rose into my heart. I felt angry at the Knights for their timing and their destructive means. I was angry at the government for not serving the people like it should have, therefor preventing the Knights from existing in the first place. I wanted a safe place for my wife and child to live, and it began to feel like the world was turning hostile against us. I would do anything to make sure that would happen, even move out of the states.

Robert White: Trouble’s Brewing

What happened last night? This thought ran through my head as I sipped from a glass of cold water in my living room. The party I went to last night was the only thing on my mind. The bloody image of my dead best friend was the last thing I remembered before I panicked and ran. God, so much blood. Did I kill him? I hope not. I need to remember.

The first thing I remember was when I was getting ready to go to the Volcano, a night club, for a good time with my two best friends, Kevin and Alex. We were just out to celebrate our graduation. I was going to be a forensics specialist, Kev was going to go for a graduate’s degree in Biotechnology, and Alex, poor Alex, was going to begin to pursue his dream as a business owner. This headache is killing me and this Tylenol is not cutting it at all, but I need to remember last night. Why did I drink so much last night?

I only have so much time before the police come knocking at my door to haul me off to jail for something I may not have done. I left more than enough evidence behind to get me to the top of the list of suspects. I’ve been drunk before, I’m not a violent drunk, but I’ve never been blackout drunk before and who knows how I am then.

Ok, so first thing I remember at the club. We had taken a cab to the Volcano, and good lord were the lights to that place beautiful and annoying at the same time. Who would have know florescent lights could look so good and still bother the hell out of you?

“This is the place,” was what Alex had said as he paid the cabby after we got out. “Ready for a good night fellas?”

I grinned. “Are the lights always this bad?”

Kevin laughed. “Don’t worry about them, once we’re inside it’ll be different.”

“Yeah, then I have to deal with strobe lights and loud music. I’m impressed that there isn’t even a loud thumping sound from out here.”

Alex led us into the club and man it was loud. The sound of techno and the noise of loud conversations pounded and buzzed in my ears. It was Kevin and Alex’s ideal party location, but I wasn’t thrilled, at least not yet. I searched around for a good spot to sit and found one at a bar on the other side of the club. We all went there. It was there we started drinking.

Alex ordered the first round of drinks for us. “Here’s to a successful life in crime fighting, getting a graduate’s, and ruling the capitalist world,” was his toast to us when the drinks arrived.

Kevin leaned over towards me and pointed to a pretty auburn-haired woman at the other side of the bar. “Ever since we’ve gotten here that babe’s had her eye on you. Why don’t you go talk to her and then bring her over here to join us?”

I shook my head. “Nah, she’s probably looking at you or Alex. There’s no way someone as good looking as her would be interested in a guy like me.”

Kevin put his hand on my shoulder. “Dude, she’s not looking at me and definitely not ugly over here.” Alex punched his shoulder for that. “Don’t be a downer on yourself, you’re a better looking guy than you think, and you’re pretty damn smart.”

Alex then had an idea. “You know what? Lets get a couple more drinks in ya before you go talk with the lovely lady. That’ll loosen you up.”

I certainly caved under that peer pressure and eventually did talk with her. I don’t remember her name, and something tells me she had something to do with Alex’s murder. Maybe she saw what happened and remembers. I still don’t remember anything after that.

I got up from my sofa and walked into the bathroom to splash my face with some cool water when I heard a loud pounding at the door. My heart skipped a beat.

Paul Davis’ Story

That speech I pulled left me with so much energy I carried the rest of the show with little issue. Jake was clearly thankful that I pulled myself together. After the show was finished the Boss gave me a pat on the back and a “Good job, son”, then I left for home. Nothing could have prepared me for the next day at work.

This next day started off like a normal one, except for one call:

“This is Vincent DeMoore, from… Minnesota,” I announced quite surprised at contact from a silent state.

“Hello, Paul, thank you for having me.” His calm voice sent a chill up my spine. “Hello, public of the United States of America, I am the leader of the Knights of Discord. Many of you may be wondering why I am doing what I am doing, and many others have suffered a great loss because of my organizations actions.”

Jake interjected. “So you admit responsibility to the deaths of the soldiers in Minneapolis?”

The chilling calm voice said. “Yes. The losses are regretful and I am sorry for all of the losses incurred, but they are not uncalled for.” His voice then began to ascend to a more passionate tone. “Those soldiers sacrificed their lives for a cause, our cause. The government isn’t working and the corruption within it is rotting away at everything. If these terrible policies do not change you all will suffer for it, and not because of us. We are no terrorists, we do not want to kill anyone, but what we do we do because we must.”

I glared. “Why must you do this? Why not use political means to change the government? That’s what democracy is for isn’t it?”

“Democracy is… broken. Broken by the very people that are in power now. What they do in those seats is only so they can keep sitting there, they don’t ‘serve the people’ they serve themselves, and those in power will do anything to stay there. I must do this because I tried to no avail to use political means and after five years of trying and trying I have had enough. Congress, the White House, the Pentagon, even the military. All of it must be torn down and rebuilt from the bottom up. Once a sturdy foundation is built then things will begin to improve.”

I couldn’t believe it. “But why? What is your motive, it must be something more than just changing the government?”

I could hear his smile. “Good questions, always asking the right ones. You want the answer? It is justice. I am Justice. Justice for the people who have been wronged by the government. Justice for the people that have been failed by the government. The government won’t fix itself because it has become lazy and arrogant, but the people will rise up and tear it down. All for the sake of justice. You think we only have Minnesota and pieces of our neighboring states? Think again our reach extends everywhere, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. If the government won’t serve the people, the people will serve themselves. Goodbye.”

I looked at Jake as Vincent hung up his phone. “He certainly doesn’t lack for passion.”

Jake nodded. “Yeah. Or sanity.”

Paul Davis’ Story

The lines were ringing off the hook. Every one of our listeners demanded more, had insights, or just wanted to hear their own voices. We didn’t have any more, and the insights were getting repetitive: “I support the Knights”, “What they’re doing is wrong”, and so forth. I’m not even going to talk about that third group. Jake and I tried to appease the masses, but the shock of the Sargent’s death had hit us hard. Eventually, we stopped the show and began to play music. I then took the scenic route home.

It was there I began to truly shut down. Jenna had made me tea for when I got there, but I didn’t drink it. I just went to my bed in a haze and laid there with my thoughts jumbling around. Never had I ever experienced a death on my show. “First for everything,” I heard myself say. I didn’t want to admit it, but everything I thought the Knights wouldn’t do, they did, and all of my predictions and thoughts had been wrong in the worst way. I felt guilty for my denial. I began to wonder, how many families lost someone today? My heart ached.

“You want to talk?” Jenna had been standing at the doorway while I thought.

“I don’t know what’s to talk about,” I rolled to face her and almost fell off the bed. “You listen to my show, right? That just about says it all. People died and I feel horrible about it.”

She rolled me onto my back and straddled me. “It’s not your fault, you know. Feeling guilty about their deaths won’t bring them back, and it won’t help you either.”

I closed my eyes. “I know. There must be something I can do though,  something.”

After I opened my eyes, I saw Jenna’s beautiful smile. “You can: keep going on with the show. You can help people by informing them on what’s going on and giving them a vent to share their thoughts and knowledge. If you can, you give them something to hope for.”

“Something to hope for.”

She nodded. “Yes.” She then leaned over me and whispered into my ear. “I have another reason for you to keep doing your show: I’m pregnant.”

I blinked. “You’re? I’m, I’m going to be a father?”

That beautiful smile, I broke into tears of joy. This was something we had been trying for years, and finally, I was going to be a father.

She kissed me and I returned the favor with a passion. For a while we just held each other, kissing, exploring each other’s bodies, loving, saying sweet nothings. The rest of the world was forgotten in that blissful moment, and I was happy. Because of an unfortunate accident she had as a child, the doctors had told us that having a child was more than likely impossible, but now we accomplished a miracle. Tomorrow, I would announce to the world that I am going to be a father.

The next few days were peaceful, and aside from the celebration of my wife’s pregnancy, nothing else happened. Then the casualty report arrived.

“Hello, listeners, this is Paul Davis of 102.9 WWLK speaking, and we have finally gotten what seems to be the casualty report of the apparent bombings that happened in Minneapolis.”

Jake pipped up. “That’s right folks. Initial reports say that more than three hundred soldiers were killed in the bombings that happened there including the death of Sargent Victoria Weis.”

“I would like to give up a moment of silence for the families that lost their loved ones that day.”

That minute was agonizingly slow, but it went by and I emotionally sent my regards to all the families that suffered because of the Knight’s of Discord attacks. I knew what it was like to lose someone close to you; my brother died in a car accident when I was twelve. Being young and stupid, I blamed myself for his death, but eventually we all pulled through. Now here I was, the old scars resurfaced into my life for the first time in a decade.

After the minute was up, Jake started up again in a muted voice. “There are about a hundred more troops missing, and after the first day of the explosions the commander-in-chief of that excursion called for a retreat back to the border to prevent further losses.”

I wasn’t going to let this put me down anymore. “This was a terrible loss, but we still can survive this. We live in an ever changing world, and new obstacles rise up against us. This is no different. I know some of you listeners support what the Knights of Discord are doing, but there are also those of you that are afraid of what might happen. Fear is OK, but you shouldn’t let it rule your lives. We have people that we’re responsible for, loved ones we have to take care of, and even if the Knights of Discord get what they want and change how the government is ordered, so be it, but we will continue living. Continue caring about our loved ones. Continue on as a country. Hope is still there, and in the midst of this chaos there is order, we just have to make it for ourselves if no one else will do it.”

Paul Davis’ Story

The next few days were a blur as nothing new came out of the Knights of Discord discussion even though that was all we were talking about. Until one day at work.

“So it seems the military is finally being called into Minnesota and Wisconsin to bring some order to the place,” Jake announced as soon as we were on the air.

I smirked. “Well, it’s about time the government decided to take action and shut this down. Have we got anything else on this yet, Jake?”

Jake shook his head. “No, but I’m curious what the locals in the area think of what’s going on. With troops coming in there must be some unrest, and what happens if the Knights decide to take action directly against them? And what if the Knights cause more damage than you think they could do?”

“That would be a shame, wouldn’t it? I don’t think that will happen. In fact now that the government has taken some action maybe these activists will turn tail and run.”

Jake gave a wolfish grin. “I don’t know, these people have a cause and people that truly believe in that cause will fight for it to the death. We’ve seen it in other countries, and it’s even happened here a couple times. You know in a couple things called the Revolution and the Civil War.”

Alright, I couldn’t argue with that logic. Jake had some pretty good points. “Yeah, with that logic I suppose there’ll be some fighting.”

Kassie quickly came into the studio and gave me a sheet of paper. It was a military report written by the commander-in-chief of the operation into Minnesota. It discussed the reason why no one got any communications from anyone in the state.

I moved my chair closer to the mic and quietly said. “OK folks, I’ve got some news on why the police force in Minnesota stopped communications with their neighbors. There aren’t any police left there apparently. After entering Minneapolis, the main force of troops sent to investigate found the city entirely vacated.”

“Weird, don’t you think Paul?” Jake injected.

“Yes, weird indeed. Forces began to explore the city, and found nobody and even supermarkets and food shops were emptied of supplies. Walmart buildings in the area were similarly empty. No sign of a struggle or anything.”

“Think they were in on it?” Jake’s tone reflected his snarky sarcastic attitude.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I hope we find out soon enough. We have a call from a soldier in the area. Sargent Victoria Weis, what have you to say about the vanished population and resources in Minneapolis right now?”

“I’m not sure, something feels off. An entire city of people doesn’t just vanish overnight. I have a feeling that some real s— is about to go down soon, and I really don’t want that to happen. We have orders to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, but I’m not sure what suspicious is anymore, because this whole deal is suspicious.”

“What can you say about the raided department stores and market places?” Jake asked.

“That just takes the cake. I mean, there was no sign of a struggle or anything. The video feeds were all turned off before the stores were empty, so we have no idea what happened. The biggest question I have about that is where does one move all of that food and supplies? Hold on a sec, something’s going on. We found a civilian, I’ll be right back.”

I heard the Sargent put the receiver down and there was some noise and yelling. Then an explosion and then static took over the speakers on our end and I fell out of my set with a yelp. Jake just sat there for a while and stared at the speakers for a few seconds before he disconnected the line. The silence following afterwards hurt. Without doubt, my beliefs again were proven wrong, and the Knights of Discord did exactly what I thought they wouldn’t do. I could only imagine what was going on at the other end of the line, and my gut told me that Sargent Weis was dead along with whatever troops were at her location. Then there was that civilian. Was he a part of the Knights of Discord; what part did he have in the explosion that took out our connection? I suppose we’ll never know about that.

Jake was the first to regain his composure, sort of. “Well, uh, we just lost our connection with the Sargent. Um, I hope everything is good on her end, whatever happened over there didn’t sound pleasant, but we can hope something good came out of this.”

I got back in my seat. “I’m not so sure what there is to say about what just happened. I’m pretty sure I heard an explosion before the static, generally explosions aren’t good things, Jake.”

Jake coughed. “No, no, explosions generally aren’t good.”

“And now for a commercial break.”

The Yahoo Contributor Network

Some of you probably have heard of the Yahoo Contributor Network, others maybe not.  I’m going to tell you about it either way.

The Yahoo Contributor Network is yet another site in 8 that I checked out in order to make money. There are three things you can do in order to make money through this network. First, you can type up articles based on a variety of topics, sometimes there’ll be assignments on a tab called the “Assignment Desk” which give you topics based off of a questionnaire you can fill out in your profile. An example of an assignment is “Write a Poem for Cinco de Mayo”.

The second thing you can do to make money is to post a video, I have not yet tried this way, or even the slideshow option, but that is what is available.

Now these guys have some standards. You can’t just type up an article and get it published. There’s a two week wait period (usually less) for one of the website managers to review your article before it gets sent to the public for viewing. They have a link on the site describing in detail their expectations for articles and other contributions.

Now for a fun fact about the Contributor Network: awards. There are several types of awards, some of which you immediately get paid for and others increase how much you get paid for when an article preforms well. There is “Clout” starting at I guess we’ll call it rank 1 and ending at rank 10. With higher “Clout” you get paid more per thousand views. Yes, they’re running a Performance Payment (PPM) style of payment meaning for every thousand views you get $1.50 and then work your way up to $2.00. That might seem small and make it seem impossible to make anything off of it, but the money does add up and the more articles that get posted the better.

There’s the “Yahoo! Contributor Award” which awards good contributors. The “Rising Star” which is given away every month to contributors that are getting better views. There’s the “Hot 100″ and “Hot 500″ award which are given to the top viewed articles on a monthly basis. The “Top 100″ and “Top 1000″ which are the same as the “Hot 100″ but on a yearly basis. The “Page View Millionaire” is given to those that get… wait for it… 1000000 views! There’s the “Yahoo! Staff”… only given to Yahoo! Staff members of course. Finally there’s the “Best of Associated Content/People’s Media Awards” to give recognition to the best articles.

I enjoy the use of Yahoo! Contributor Network, and while I haven’t made anything off of it I still have time to work around with it and maybe get something out of it. Maybe you can get something from it?