August / September 100 Word Anonymous Challenge

[mosaix]

This is the thread for the stories.

Theme: Crime & Punishment

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Peter V has come up with the above theme and genre for the August / September 100 anonymous challenge.

I (mosaix) will be accepting entries until midnight on the Sunday fifteenth of September, and voting will continue until midnight on Friday the twentieth of September. Please give your entry a title, otherwise it's quite complicated distinguishing between them when it comes to voting.

Please do not post replies here. PM Your entries to @mosaix (that's me) who has kindly volunteered to run it.

 

[mosaix]

My Watch


“This is my Watch. I can’t have you running rabid through my streets, can I, now? What would The Boss say?”

“It was only a rat!”

“You know what The Boss would say, don’t’cha Miguel.”

“He’d be okay! It was just a rat!”

“He’d say, ‘Lu-Lu? Somebody gotta be punished; will it be you or him?”

“No, please!”

“And Miguel, I never liked ‘ya, anyway.”

“Please, Lu! Please!”

“Gads, Miguel, ya know I hate ta see a grown man cry!”

Bang!

“Get that corpse outta here, Willie. Get one a da rats to clean up the blood.”

“Sure, Lu.”

 

[mosaix]

On Peartree Lane

Miranda glimpsed an orphan shadow one midsummer morning.

Crossing from the dusty shade of the hedgerow outside number 39 to join the darkness beneath the trees on the green, it tottered, shaking, arms outstretched… clearly her grandfather's work, their local mage and misanthrope.

"A thief," he explained from his doorstep. "I cursed him, rendered him visible only by lamplight."

"He lives in darkness?"

"He need only return what he stole, to feel the sun."

"Save me from these fools," she cried.

Taking an umbrella and LED flashlight from her car, she returned towards the green to guide the displaced man...

 

[mosaix]

Evidence

Mundanes who go slumming in Vamp Town are safe. Vamps survive on animal blood these days. We remember the bad times, with crosses and stakes.

The corpse at my feet was an exception. Two small puncture wounds on his throat. Bled to death.

The only witness was a Vamp streetwalker who'd been hiding in the shadows. She was tarted up to attract Mundane customers. Waist-length white hair, scarlet lips and nails, black silk Victorian gown, all phony.

I took her statement and turned the case over to the Mundane cops. It wasn't Vamp business anymore. The killer was suntanned.

 

[mosaix]

Selfie Elfie.

The miscreant was dragged protesting into Chambers by hulking Ogres.

“Fairy Marigold, you were caught revealing yourself to Mortals and thus endangering our secret existence”

“But – but it was only on Facebook, I told my friends it was a selfie taken with an app”

“Nevertheless your true image was revealed, pointed features, rainbow wings and antennae. This Court will therefore impose the maximum punishment”

“Nooo! Please not that!”

“Yes, henceforth your Wi-Fi access is permanently revoked”

 

[mosaix]

The Amazon Capital Punishment App

Alexa,” The Judge addressed his Amazon device. “Have you reached a verdict?”

“The evidence clearly shows the defendant was responsible for the murder of his next door neighbor. The D.N.A. sample alone compels me to find him guilty!”

“And the sentence?”

“Alexa recommends the maximum sentence of death via decapitation.”

“Sounds good to me.” The Judge declared, dropping the gavel. “Court’s adjourned. Execution of sentence will be in 2 weeks. Alexa, order me a machete and some plastic sheets so we don’t get blood on the floor.”

 

[mosaix]

Justice.

A gun laid on a table was a hand gun, and only one man was looking at it. Suddenly the pistol started to to move by itself and the man could do nothing about it. First it ascended to head height, then started to turn its barrel towards the man. Soon it was facing the man, as though it was held in an unseen hand. A shot rang out and the man was then sprawled on his back, a bullet hole in his forehead.


NEXT DAY HEADLINES SERIAL KILLER SHOT BY MAGIC GUN.
NO FURTHER ACTION TAKEN BY POLICE.

 

[mosaix]

Astronaut at Dino City Hall

"Your Honor. For the millionth time, I'm not a mutant from the Forbidden Zone."

"Our scientists, call you, Break Lights. I mean, Bright Eyes. However, you can call yourself, Taylor."

"Just banish me from your concrete jungle. I'll never bother you creatures again. I didn't mean to call you..."

"Creatures?! Concrete Jungle?! Send this mutant back to the Forbidden Zone!"

A velociraptor wearing a butterfly winged outfit, daintily, tapped Taylor on his head with her magic wand.

#

Taylor, beheld a revelation, "Wha...? I'm on future Earth!"

"Hello. I'm Nova."

"A woman! I'm beginning to like this place."

"Great. A nerd."

 

[mosaix]

Grime and Purgishment​

Ubiquitous Pollution: earth, air, water… even fire smolders sluggishly.

It's not just the supernatural suffering. Sticklebacks lament alongside limnads, sylphids fall with counted sparrows, all kingdoms suffer extinctions.

Gasmasked lapdogs peer through filthy goggles, awaiting their owners' return, but sterile food pouches fill bowls as untouched as coughing children's plates, poison-flavoured.

Insipid sunlight bathes the grimy Earth - even the scent of rot is muted, unicellular protest at the situation.

Envenomed clouds in improbable shades of brown and yellow drop lethal rain on wilting vegetation, malicious decomposing Djinni, decaying remnants of unstable weather gods.

Vomiting toxins, disincarnating.

 

[mosaix]

Court Record: Case 12063, the Honorable Karen Jean Richards presiding​

Judge: Case #12063 The state of Massachusetts vs. James S. Faun. Mr. Prosecutor what are the charges?

Prosecutor: Public drunkenness, lascivious behavior, and public nudity.

Judge: Mr. Faun do you have an attorney?

Mr. Faun: No, your honor.

Judge: Do you wish to be your own attorney?

Mr. Faun: Yes, your honor.

Judge: Very well.

{an hour later}

Mr. Faun testifying: …. all I was doing was this. (Pulls out a wooden pipe and plays)

Judge: In my chambers immediately!

{30 min. later}

Judge: (Looking disheveled) The case against James Satyr Faun is dismissed with prejudice.

 

[mosaix]

Reparation

I hurried home through the dark streets, reaching my door with a few minutes to spare. Everyone had to be indoors by midnight. After that, it was their time.

The Faeries came when our dying earth had cried out for help. The planet summoned its champions, and we lost the battle. In exchange for our lives, a curfew was the least of the penalties that humans had to pay.

Inside my apartment, all was quiet. Outside, a scream pierced the silence. The clatter of hooves and a trumpeting horn signaled the beginning of The Hunt.

Someone had broken the rules.

 

[mosaix]

Following the Romanian Tradition

I gazed at the tower block. Vampire central. Gonna have to tread carefully. I entered, my snout detecting the smell of hatred and fear.

"What's your kind doing here?"

My hackles rose.

"It's OK, he's invited." A young woman stepped from the shadows.

"We need your particular skills, inspector. There's been a most heinous crime. Will you sniff out the culprit?"

"And when I find this perpetrator?"

"They'll be treated... humanely."

* * *

It was possibly my easiest case, but later the meaning behind her words hit me.
"Humanely." As in: "Put down humanely."

And all because they'd been cooking with garlic.

 

[mosaix]

"Punishment, capital!"

The convicts were led through the rowdy crowd; it hailed curses, feces and rotten fruit. Stumbling they went up the scaffold’s steps.
With skilled ease the announcer called out over the din.
“For their crimes... their teeth have been extracted.” The crowd cheered.
“For resistance at arrest... they’ve been whipped.”
“For the damage caused... their families are detained until re-compensation is done.”
The executioner appeared and the racket doubled.
“For being vampires... they will be hanged...”
Nooses were placed.
“SILENCE! ...by the neck…“
Ropes were checked.
“…until… SILEEEEENCE!”
The trapdoor fell, bodies fell, swung and squirmed,
“...HELL FREEZES OVER!”

 

[mosaix]

And You Thought Prison Was Bad…

“This modification to the spell will allow you to read any person’s thoughts.”

“Pin numbers? Passwords?”

“The original spell was never intended for things like that. More to find if your betrothed really loved you.”

“Yeah. But pin numbers! Passwords! She does by the way."

---

“Peter Periwinkle, you have been found guilty by the wizard’s court of larceny by magic. Normally a period of incarceration would be our decision. But we have, instead, reinstated the original spell such that now you can only pick up the thoughts of the person who was once your betrothed.”

---

“James, darling, come closer.”

“Noooooo!”