The rain and wind abruptly stopped, but the sky still had the gray swirls of storms

in the distance. Dave knew this feeling all too well. The calm before the storm. He
only had a limited amount of time before all Hell broke loose, but he stopped to
admire the calmness. Maybe it would be different this time, he thought, with the
knowledge deep within that it wouldn't.
It really didn't matter what they did to him. He's already made up his mind.
Whatever came his way, he was prepared for the consequences. He knew in his heart
that the sacrifice he made was done with love and not hate no matter how others
decided to spin it.
The alarm went off and Jake rose awake. Rising early had become a daily ritual, one
that he could not fully explain. From the outside, it was a wonder that he was able
to get up so early each morning for someone who had absolutely no plans to be
productive during the entire day.
She closed her eyes and then opened them again. What she was seeing just didn't
make sense. She shook her head seeing if that would help. It didn't. Although it
seemed beyond reality, there was no denying she was witnessing a large formation of
alien spaceships filling the sky.
According to the caption on the bronze marker placed by the Multnomah Chapter of
the Daughters of the American Revolution on May 12, 1939, “College Hall (is) the
oldest building in continuous use for Educational purposes west of the Rocky
Mountains. Here were educated men and women who have won recognition throughout the
world in all the learned professions.”
If you can imagine a furry humanoid seven feet tall, with the face of an
intelligent gorilla and the braincase of a man, you'll have a rough idea of what
they looked like -- except for their teeth. The canines would have fitted better in
the face of a tiger, and showed at the corners of their wide, thin-lipped mouths,
giving them an expression of ferocity.
It was their first date and she had been looking forward to it the entire week. She
had her eyes on him for months, and it had taken a convoluted scheme with several
friends to make it happen, but he'd finally taken the hint and asked her out. After
all the time and effort she'd invested into it, she never thought that it would be
anything but wonderful. It goes without saying that things didn't work out quite as
she expected.
The day had begun on a bright note. The sun finally peeked through the rain for the
first time in a week, and the birds were sinf=ging in its warmth. There was no way
to anticipate what was about to happen. It was a worst-case scenario and there was
no way out of it.
It went through such rapid contortions that the little bear was forced to change
his hold on it so many times he became confused in the darkness, and could not, for
the life of him, tell whether he held the sheep right side up, or upside down. But
that point was decided for him a moment later by the animal itself, who, with a
sudden twist, jabbed its horns so hard into his lowest ribs that he gave a grunt of
anger and disgust.
They rushed out the door, grabbing anything and everything they could think of they
might need. There was no time to double-check to make sure they weren't leaving
something important behind. Everything was thrown into the car and they sped off.
Thirty minutes later they were safe and that was when it dawned on them that they
had forgotten the most important thing of all.