Posts from — February 2010

Hot like fire.. so don’t get burned!
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Mae sputtered, “Stay out of grown folks’ business!”

Sugar made a rude sound. “We’re TWINS, Mae Day! That should mean something to you.”

Mae struggled to her feet, waving away the outstretched hand of her sister. She paused in a half crouch, eyes closed, with her brows slowly sinking into a frown of concentration.

Warily, Sugar watched this display, and silently counted the seconds that passed. The feeling of dread was getting stronger, and she wanted to be on the move and completely alert before whatever was going to happen, happened.

“Mae-”

“SHH!” the older woman hissed. “I’m listening.”

“To what?”

“SHH!”

Sugar stared to pace, walking back and forth between the two hallways, peering down each one as she neared it. On her third pass, she froze and cocked her head. Faintly, from the right, there was the sound of clanging, or scraping. Something about that was familiar, yet she could not immediately place it. Perhaps it would be a better idea to go left, and maybe after that they could -

“I can’t remember.”

Sugar jumped at the sudden statement. Confused, she stammered “Huh?”

Mae shook her head and opened her eyes. “I can’t remember.” Using her hand, she pushed herself off the floor and stood. Swaying a bit as she righted herself, she explained “Zo. I can’t remember anything useful. I remember going to the lab, and I remember them pulling her out. Other than that…” She trailed off and shrugged as if it was no big deal.

“Lab? Wait, when was this?”

“Mmm… about 15 years ago, I think. I’m not sure. Everything surrounding it is fuzzy. Maybe..”

“Maybe?” Sugar prompted.

Mae faced her sister. “Maybe Zo inherited my memories of it, like I inherited our mother’s memories about us.”

“This is ridiculous! We’re here to save a kid you don’t even remember having?” Throwing her hands up, Sugar felt both exasperated and disgusted. Forcing herself to remain calm, she ran her fingers through her hair, scratched her neck, smoothed her jacket – anything to keep her hands from wrapping themselves around her sibling’s slender neck.

Mae yawned and stretched. The strain was causing her muscles to tighten, and not in a good way. Not that she would ever tell Sugar, but if this excursion did not end soon, she would be unable to move properly for a week – if not longer. Twisting caused pain. Her chain mail shirt clinked and jingled, as if in sympathy. The sound was loud in the otherwise quiet area.

Quiet?

Mae held herself absolutely still. She caught the sound that Sugar had heard moments before.

Clink. Clang. Clink. Clang.

“What the hell is that?” she whispered to the other woman.

Sugar immediately stopped moving and listened. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I heard it before, while you were ‘thinking’.”

“Was that sarcasm, Missy?”

“Of course it was.”

Mae shot her twin an evil look. Sugar pretended not to notice. She was too busy counting backwards and creating a time line of their lives.

“This may sound like a stupid question, Mae,” Sugar blurted out, “but how old are we?”

Now it was Mae’s turn to pretend not to notice what her sibling was doing.

“I’m talking to you!”

“And I’m ignoring you.”

“But why? This is important!”

“And when you’re ready to know, I will tell you.”

Sugar noticed that the clanging noise was getting closer, but failed to recognize the significance of it. Instead, she was determined to force her sister to answer her questions. It just wasn’t fair that Mae got all the memories.

“Just because you’re the oldest,” she muttered.

“Apparently for a good reason, too!” Mae shot back.

“Dammit, Mae Day, answer me right now! When the hell did you have a kid? How old are we? Just what the fuck is going on?”

“Let’s free Zo first and then -”

“Oh,” said a soft voice. “That is no longer necessary.”

Shoot, talk about a great start to a day. I was compared to Octavia Butler! (That is very humbling, and I am pretty sure that I do not deserve it, but it is wonderful to know that my writing is appreciated.)

Anyway, for those of you just joining me, here is a list of all my short fiction available on the site, with links:

net.work
part 1
part 2
part 3

Somewhere To Belong
complete

HARTbreak
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Prey To Lose
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8

Reckoning
part 1
part 2
part 3

Win To Prey (the continuation of “Prey To Lose”)
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4

Annnnnnd.. That’s it. For now. (Insha’Allah, there will be more VERY soon.)

Yes, this is filler, and serves absolutely no purpose other than to demonstrate how weird.. I mean, open-minded.. I am. Countdown of my last.fm’s last 60 songs (not including repeats).

Drum roll, please.

1. Dead or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
2. Leela James – When You Love Somebody
3. Roy Hargrove – A Day In Vienna
4. Prince – Purple Rain
5. Motorhead – Overkill
6. Lina – Don’t Say Nothin’
7. Herbie Hancock – Sly
8. Floetry – Imagination
9. Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
10. Alice Cooper- Poison
11. Lenny Kravitz – Again
12. Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids – White Knuckles
13. Theory of a Deadman – Not Meant To Be
14. Garbage – Androgyny
15. Daniella Cotton – Devil In Disguise
16. A Perfect Circle – Pet
17. Angie Stone – Wish I Didn’t Miss You
18. Method Man & Redman – Cereal Killer
19. Melissa Etheridge – Come To My Window
20. Dionne Farris – Laughing & Crying
21. Emily King – Moon
22. Bob Marley – Burnin’ and Lootin’
23. The Veronicas – Leave Me Alone
24. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising
25. Macy Gray – Okay
26. The Cliks – Oh Yeah
27. Gladys Knight & The Pips – Every Beat Of My Heart
28. Amel Larrieux – Down
29. Buju Banton – Not An Easy Road
30. Celtic Cross – Darshannon
31. Ledisi – We Are One
32. Billie Holiday – Blue Moon
33. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama
34. The Velvet Underground – Rock & Roll
35. The Slack Republic – Wait For Me
36. Audioslave – Cochise
37. Velvet Revolver – Fall To Pieces
38. The Isley Brothers- Footsteps in the Dark
39. Marilyn Manson – Tourniquet
40. Ginuwine – So Anxious
41. The Deadfly Ensemble – Black-Capped Chaplains
42. Los Trabantos – Wuj
43. Beat Circus – The Gem Saloon
44. Gogol Bordello – Copycat
45. The Cliks – Eyes In The Back Of My Head
46. Joss Stone – Right To Be Wrong
47. Les Nubians f. Talib Kweli – Temperature Rising
48. Habib Koite & Bamada – Kanawa
49. Smash Mouth – All Star
50. Katherine McPhee – Neglected
51. 24-7 Spyz – Grandma Dynamite
52. Teena Marie – Out On a Limb
53. Papa Roach – Broken Home
54. Dixie Chicks – Not Ready To Make Nice
55. Meredith Brooks – Bitch
56. Jennifer Hudson – You Pulled Me Through
57. Me’Shell NdegeOcello – Lilliquoi Moon
58. Soundgarden – Outshined
59. Linkin Park – Given Up
60. Sheryl Crow – If It Makes You Happy

So what do YOU think?

I am sure you are wondering why there has been silence from my end. Well…

• My uncle died
• My 6 year old is on winter break
• My parents are coming to visit
• Ran into a small.. financial.. problem

These, plus the usual weird dreams, episodes of blocked creativity, lack of sleep, etc etc. “Win To Prey” will return soon, insha’Allah, and I’m working on new poems.

See you soon!

~Sumayyah~

Something’s brewing, y’all!

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With a growing feeling of dread, Sugar smashed her forehead into the nose of the guard in front of her, breaking it, and rendering him unconscious. She released her grip, allowing his body to fall. He landed on the pile of defeated men and women that accumulated as she and her sister fought their way to Zo.

The first wave of armed guards arrived just after Sugar and Mae spotted Zo waving at them from the confines of what appeared to be a small cell. There were ten of them, all holding electroshock extendo-batons, carrying shields, and wearing riot gear. Mae ripped through all ten of the shields with her flaming staff effortlessly. Sugar, for her part, swung her fists and feet like a mad woman, cracking helmets and eye shields, leaving no doubt that hand to hand combat was to her advantage.

Right on the heels of the first wave came the second, larger, more specialized force. Sugar and Mae had only advanced an insignificant amount of yards deeper into the building before they were ambushed again. Mae, sensing movement to her right, wasted no time in transforming her staff into a sword and slashing at the moving shadow. That shadow turned out to be a small woman, dressed entirely in black and wielding what seemed to Sugar to be a double headed axe.

She landed hard on the guard, clutching her side. A red puddle formed beneath her and spread rapidly. There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone present watched the woman bleed onto the floor. Sugar and Mae shared a glance, and immediately turned and placed their backs against each.

“No time like the present,” Mae announced.

Sugar fought hard, though admittedly, she forced herself to hold back. Even though she knew that someone had to answer for the life of havoc that she and her sister lived, she did not believe in killing people who were just doing their jobs. Mae, on the other, fought as if she could return the lost years to her age, if she could only rid the world of those who robbed her.

Now, cocking her head to one side, Sugar listened for the patter of feet that would signal a fresh influx of reinforcements. Other than the sound of her own ragged breathing, and the grunts and hissing coming from the direction of Mae’s final battle, she heard nothing.

That was odd.

Forcing herself to breathe through her nose, she started to tally up the body count.

“Let’s see,” she murmured, “I’ve got 12, no, 13 injured and unconscious, while Mae has-” She glanced over at her sister’s arena and groaned. With a heavy sigh, she added, “And Mae has 15 dead.”

“Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing!” Mae shouted as she pulled a flaming dagger from the neck of a still twitching man. “At least I used my weapons. You strapped on all that stuff and haven’t bothered to take them out.”

Sugar’s hands flew to her stash of concealed weaponry, checking to make sure they were all accounted for. She huffed, half in relief that they were undisturbed, and half in anger at her sister for having to point them out.

“I haven’t needed them. Yet. I just think that we should avoid blind slaughter! And you still have no idea where she is, do you?”

“I know we’re getting closer.”

“Yeah? Well now what?”

“What do you mean?”

Sugar turned her body away from her twin and pointed at the corridor in front of her. “This thing branches out. Do we go left, or right?”

Mae considered the choices. “Which way did these jokers come from?”

“Right, I guess. Why?”

“Then that’s where we’ll go.”

“Fine.” Sugar sighed again. She started forward, and then stopped. “Mae?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you really okay to continue this?”

“I feel pretty good, actually. Stronger, but-”

“But?”

Mae opened her mouth to answer, but instead of words, a stream of thin, orange-ish fluid erupted from between her lips. She fell forward, coughing and sputtering. Her glowing dagger lost its form and wound itself around her wrist. With both hands now freed, she pressed her right hand into her abdomen and clutched her throat with her left.

“MAE!” Sugar shouted, and moved to sprint to her twin’s side, but Mae shook her head vigorously.

“Stay. Away,” she rasped. Once more she vomited; her body shuddered as she expelled the last of whatever was left in her stomach. Breathing hard, she released her neck, and used the back of her hand to scrub her face, wiping away sweat and tears.

“Mae?”

“Don’t suppose you’ve got water or a smoke hiding in that suit of yours, huh?”

“Goddess!” Sugar muttered. To the older woman, she said “You scared the crap out of me!” She raised a trembling hand and pressed it against her face, covering her eyes. The strange feeling she first felt when the fighting started was getting worse.

Something terrible was on the way.

Without uncovering her face, she deep breath and said, as casually as possible, “Oh, by the way, Mae, I’m been meaning to ask you something.”

“Hmm?”

“We’ve been together, pretty much non-stop, since we were born. We’ve been hunting together damn near 20 years. We lived in the same house until 5 years ago.”

“So?”

“So tell me, when the hell did you have a kid?”

To my wonderful husband,Tasherre . Always remember that I love you.

———————————–

love song
for my husband, Tasherre

when i stand and deliver
these lines of prepared speech
my words seem hollow and filled
with promises
i know i can not keep
fatalism is no way to live
but i keep on finding ways to die
what’s this river of tears
flowing down my face
what’s this hammering
on the shell of my heart
is this love
it’s so painful
but i want it to stay
thin threads of fate have tied us together
escape is not an option for me
impossible to see
my reflection in the mirror
without seeing your face too
mystical incantations draw me closer
my flaws have all been embraced
i now know that i
could never deny you
all my words are inadequate
what’s this river of tears
flowing down my face
when i think of you
leaving me behind
is this a magic spell
you cast over me
is this love
it’s so painful
but i want it to stay
but i want you to stay