

To the Tree
“To the tree of purple and pink flowers,” I sang this phrase in a dream.
Purpose, I shrugged.
If the tree has flowers and colors.
Then the entire world is in darkness.
I was the only one next to a tree.
But no one is around me,
Not even the crickets,
Not even the leaves rustle.
I look at the clouds moving in.
I think it is going to rain.
Rain? Crap!
I ran forward to reach the house
If I find it, good.
If I do not, lightning will strike soon.
I tried to complete the dream in this story, which left me with a cliffhanger.
Leaves, No Leaves (playwright)
In an outdoor scene, where the leafy succulent plant Leafy sits on a stool. Another plant with beautiful leaves Maple comes and talks with it.
Time:
Present Day
MAPLE
I have many leaves, orange and red. What about yours?
LEAFY
(looks at her leaves)
I have leaves that look the same.
MAPLE
Poor you. I have many, many leaves to have.
LEAFY
Yeah. I have one color that does make any difference.
MAPLE
Are you saying that you are making a difference in colors?
LEAFY
No, I was… Nevermind.
MAPLE
See, you are overthinking one color. I have so many--
(the strong wind blows all her leaves away and MAPLE starts to cry)
LEAFY
Your leaves change to autumn. You get to change.
MAPLE
I do not want to be naked!
LEAFY
Too bad, I am a succulent plant with thick leaves.
(dances)
MAPLE
Shut up!
(LEAFY stops and stays quiet)
What Comes to Flavors?
Green is mint.
Blue is blueberry.
Pink is strawberry.
Yellow is bananas.
Brown is chocolate.
Purple is grapes.
Black is Oreo.
Orange is orange.
White is frosting.
Red is watermelon.
Peach is peach.
Is this a smoothie?
Is this a fruity cake?
Is this a dessert with all flavors?
Or is this in a refrigerator?
Hotel and Hedge Maze
A tall white block stood above the hedges and orchids while the sun rose. There was a pathway straight to the doors that contained golden knobs. An angel statue stood next to the doors looking innocent. A visitor arrived with a suitcase and a bag, and she knocked on the door. She was excited that she could not wait patiently to explore the pretty world inside.
When no one opened the door this morning, Vanilla, a visitor, stared at the angel statue. She thought she saw the wings flutter and said, “This is not fantasy, is it?”
The maid opened the door as Vanilla stood there baffled at the statue. The maid snapped her fingers, “Are you the visitor for the month?”
Vanilla stuttered, “Y-y-yes, ma’am.”
After the maid closed the door, Vanilla moved her belongings into the living room. The angel statue grinned mischievously. While Vanilla sat on the sofa and looked at the picture frames with silhouettes, the maid gave her the cup of tea and biscuits from the kitchen. Vanilla ate those slowly. “It is so sweet.”
Then, the maid led her upstairs to room 50. Vanilla thanked her and opened the door. “Something smelled like cigarettes,” she thought and dropped her things to find the maid, who was on the staircase. The maid said, “I already cleaned the room yesterday.
Vanilla said, “No, the room smells like cigarettes. You need to come and look.”
The maid followed her to the room. They found nothing as the smell was gone. Vanilla was lost in thought when the maid said, “I need to make lunch so you can stay here.”
Vanilla went inside with her belongings and put them on the carpet. She sat on the bed and thought, “How are the cigarettes not here? Is this a fantasy?”
She explored the closet with curiosity. Suddenly, she found the golden box with a lock outside. She grabbed the box and put it on the bed. She looked around for the golden key, which was not there.
So she went into the hallway in search of the key. Before the maid called her, Vanilla looked at the angel statuette, on the pane in the farthest hallway. That one was smiling, so she ran and bumped into the tall, dark angel’s torso. Then, she looked up as the angel grinned.
The maid shouted her name, “Vanilla!”
The visitor snapped in the maid’s embrace. Her mouth dropped open as the maid shook her hard, “Vanilla, it is lunchtime.”
Vanilla said, “I saw something… that looks like an angel… with large wings… and a smile… that… makes me feel uncomfortable.”
“First, you have to eat lunch. Then, we talk about it.”
In the living room, Vanilla did not eat lunch. She instead hears a story than to explores the hotel. Her thoughts were saying, “Who is that angel? Is that real? Is that a fantasy-like creature? Am I the crazy one here?”
The maid sits beside her at the table and says, “The angel is not what you see. It is a boy dressed in a long robe and has large feathered wings. He was there to impress visitors with his smile.”
Vanilla said, “So is a boy trying to impress me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What he wants to do next?”
“It is unpredictable.”
“What about the statue on the porch?”
“That one… This hotel has many statues, small and large. The boy can bring it to life with his mind and tricks that you see smiles, but it is all just imagination.”
“Creepy.”
“You can go to your room, and I will call you for dinner.”
In room 50, the visitor lay on the bed thinking nothing but wishing the hotel not to give her the creeps. The smile of an angel is the wickedest one. She did not know why she, was brought here. Her parents were out of town for the month that she assumed was the best vacation for them. Vanilla never experienced lonely times on vacation. The hotel experience is the first.
Then, her eyes snapped open to the shadow at the end of the bed. She moved to the side and was on the floor. She stood as the shadow disappeared. “That one is different. It cannot be the angel statue,” she muttered.
She went to the bathroom to wash her face and hands. The angel statuette was in the bathtub. She heard the faucet turning. Eventually, she looked at the tub with shock. Dark angel was smiling at her with his hands on the tub. She turned off the sink and exited the bathroom to dry with the towel. She said, “That is not happening.”
She turned her head to see the angel in the long towel. “Did you just shower?” she asked while her face was red.
He approached her with his hand out to her face. She moved to the bed. He was at the edge of the bed and smiled. She said, “Do not hit me, please.”
Unfortunately, the maid was here holding her shoulders tightly, “Vanilla, it is dinnertime.”
“What did I just see?” Vanilla said.
The maid left first. The visitor sat on the bed. Then, the towel fell to be soft and warm. She stood and went out of the room. As the door closed behind her, the angel statuette on the window pane smiled again.
Vanilla sat on the chair with her stomach growling. The foods on the table were delicious and savory. She grabbed the drumstick and added the barbecue sauce on top; finally, she ate it slowly. The maid dropped off the suspicious cake at the center of the table. Vanilla asked, “What is that? A birthday cake?”
“No, it is for us.”
“That cake is big and round with lots of frosting and…” she found the pair of wings on a candle symbolizing the dark angel.
The maid explained, “He is joining us now for dinner.”
Vanilla dropped the bone onto the plate, and she stood. Before she could leave, the man appeared in a tuxedo and smiled at her wishing her to stay. Vanilla felt suspense in the air. Will I move or sit down as if nothing happens to me? She sat down on the chair with her head down. My life is going to end soon or in a month. Finally, she sighed deeply.
What made her feel uncomfortable, he sat across from her. He was looking at her with indifference. Still looking down at the plate, Vanilla cannot think of an escape. The maid said, “Welcome, Sir Max.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
His eyes glued on Vanilla, who did not move at all. He asked, “What is your name?”
Vanilla looked up and said, “Vanilla. Vanilla Mart.”
“What a beautiful name.”
“Uh, thanks.”
All three at the table sang a birthday song to the angel. She thought that the dark angel’s birthday was today. The maid cut the cake into slices and gave one to Sir Max, Vanilla, and herself. Vanilla stared at the candle with angel wings on the cake.
Suddenly, she took out the candle from the cake. She found the key to the golden box, which stayed in the room. Sir Max said, “The key has chosen you, Vanilla.”
She looked at him in shock, “Chosen one? You mean the box?”
“You can open it later.”
Everyone ate their slices except Vanilla, who stared at the key for any clue. She asked, “Where is the dark angel? You know that his birthday is today?”
Sir Max grunted, “He passed not too ago.”
The maid added, “Not to worry about it, Vanilla.”
The visitor went upstairs to reach the room. She entered and found the box on the bed. She plugged the key into the lock to turn it, but the box moved by the smoke. She smelled the cigarettes in the air.
“Dark angel,” she called him. “Are you on drugs?”
“Give me the key!” he demanded.
“The key has chosen me,” she said.
“Now or never!”
So she submitted the candle with angel wings to his hand. He smiled, “Looks are deceiving. The box is not what you see as a lucky box.”
“You mean the Pandora’s box? I am Pandora, the curious lady trying to open the box and unleash--” Her hands are on the box.
“Give me the box.”
She handed him the box with disappointment. “Why?” she asked.
“You will unleash all the evils and sufferings into the world you live in. Evils are from Adam and Eve’s first sin. I am just warning you.”
Vanilla sat on the bed thinking hard while the dark angel rushed to fly away into the night. He would drop this box into the unforeseen hedge, where he died not too long ago. He thought this would heal his heart from damage. Before he can do that, he must hide the box and key from the maid. If the maid found him carrying those things, she would be furious and call for help. He would be dead for good.
The maid knocked on the door interrupting Vanilla from her thoughts. When the visitor opened the door, the maid said, “You need to shower and sleep.”
“The candle and box are gone.”
The maid asked, “Who takes them?”
Vanilla shrugged. “No idea.”
The maid slammed the door in her face. Vanilla thought, “The maid is not nice. What is her problem? Did she want the box so badly than me? I need to follow her.”
Vanilla found the hotel doors open, so she ran outside, and the maid in the hedge maze, who was looking for the items in the darkness. Vanilla gasped that the angel statue was on the porch quietly with a candle and box in his hands. He was smiling.
He said, “Thanks for your help.”
Vanilla blushed, “I-I did not. I shrug because the consequences are cruel to the world.”
“Lead the maid to the vines, where her daughter slipped and fell to her death.”
“In the hedge maze?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Sir Max was already behind Vanilla. He heard the last words and touched Vanilla by surprise. Then, the angel statue vanished before he got caught. Sir Max demanded, “I heard you and my son are working together, wanting the maid to die.”
Vanilla reassured him, “We are not doing that. We are-- err, um, she needs sleep.”
“Ladies need sleep. You look tired, ma’am,” he looked at the maid, who was in dirty clothes. Her face was sad and tired. She walked past the visitors to the room and showered.
Sir Max and Vanilla were in the living room, communicating quietly. Sir Max warned her not to bring death to the maid because she befriended him since his son passed away. Vanilla wanted to know more about a thing or two between him and the maid. He insisted, “Tomorrow over breakfast.”
“Aww, okay.”
Vanilla showered and slept in the bed with a Minion plushie from the bag. She slept soundlessly with it while the smoke came into her room. It was the dark angel and the two items. He smiled at her and slept with her throughout the night.
The maid knocked on the door and opened it. Then, she found the usual hair next to Vanilla’s head. She came to remove the blanket, a dark angel woke up, and finally, he vanished with the items before she took them. That made Vanilla open her eyes and find the maid looking angry at the empty side of the bed. Vanilla asked, but the maid stormed out of the room.
At the dining table, Sir Max welcomed the maid and talked about the story to Vanilla, who listened carefully. The maid screamed and threw the plates on the floor. She did not say a single word. Sir Max said, “She is not sleeping well, I guess.”
“Right,” Vanilla agreed.
The maid pointed her finger at Vanilla, saying, “I saw her sleep with your son, Sir Max.”
“I did not see him. It was empty on my right side,” Vanilla said.
“Then, that is your imagination? Huh? You are one crazy lady here. I will kill you.”
Before the maid chokes the visitor, Sir Max puts himself between these two females. He said, “Just calm down, ma’am.”
“I am not a ma’am. Just call me Lucy.”
“Lucy, calm down,” Sir Max reassured her.
“Not until I kill the girl and--”
The maid fell on her belly and was silent. The dark angel has knocked her out with the golden box. He looked at her with harsh treatment and said, “You are the troublemaker, Lucy. You should mind your business the way your daughter is supposed to be in the first place!”
“Son, you should have gone!” Sir Max shouted.
“I came to finish my job.”
Before Vanilla asks, the maid stands and grabs the candle key. She is using it to stab the angel’s torso. She was angry for pushing her down to the floor. He turned into smoke, so the box vanished. The maid ran around the hotel until she was tired.
Sir Max said, “He should have gone before the maid tried to kill him.”
“I want to ask him, but he runs away from Lucy.”
“This has to stop completely.”
For an entire month at the hotel, Lucy, a maid, was restless and destroyed many things inside each room, including the rooms downstairs and the kitchen. All she wanted to do was to catch the dark angel and get the box to unlock to release her daughter, the evil one.
Vanilla grabbed her belongings from room 50. She was already outside looking at the sad hotel. Sir Max came with a cell phone talking to the police. The car parked at the edge of a maze and two police people, who reached the building to find the maniac.
Sir Max approached her and said, “This is for her good.”
“What about the dark angel? I have not seen him in a while,” she said.
“I hope my son is okay.”
What she noticed was the dark angel holding the box with his face. He has decided to crush it with his pair of dark wings. She ran towards him, but the wings covered him completely. She heard the box crushed open as Sir Max explained, “That is his job.”
“To destroy the box forever so there will be no more troubles in the world,” she said.
The police came with the maid in handcuffs. They were already in the car. The maid said nothing to both Vanilla and Sir Max. She already loses the battle for her daughter. Then, the vehicle has driven off away.
The wings around the angel disappeared. Vanilla touched his shoulder, so he turned around as a human boy. She asked, “Are you okay, dark angel?”
“I am no longer a dark angel. I am a human boy.”
“So, what is your name?” she smiled.
“Michael Max.” He stood to embrace Vanilla. “Thank you, Vanilla.”
She blushed once more while the candle with angel wings burned in the kitchen fire and exploded the hotel to pieces. The big smoke released heavy cigarettes. Sir Max shouted at the children to move away from the fire. Trio was at the edge of the maze looking at the stunning fire until nightfall.
“At last, that is the end of their crazy lives,” Michael said with a smile.
Time Experiences
The world I was in
Through the skies.
Sunrise, sunset.
Moonrise, moonset.
Time is going.
Earth is spinning.
Plants are growing,
Blooming and decaying.
Nonstop.
It never whines.
It never complains.
It never says otherwise.
It creates a cycle of predictions.
Sometimes, the cycle breaks
Like cells growing repeatedly
Without a checkpoint.
This group will falter
And the next will repeat
Until there is no more.
Meanings: short phrases to make sense around individuals and places. It matters personally or socially. It matters which level is a cellular level and the world level.
Presenting at the University Classes in Freshman Year in Fall 2018
Before it was my turn to present, I went to the restroom as my face was wet with tears. I was scared of something that will happen to me so was the outcome. The thoughts went in a loop repeating themselves. It took a few minutes to recover from it. I felt a bit okay after washing my face with water and wiping it with a paper towel. In the classroom, I was at the front talking about a project based on the writing that I have done. While I speaking, I felt my heart pumping faster and I started to look only at the computer most of the time reading the slides and ignoring the audience’s presence. I read slowly to control the blood pressure in my veins. The English professor wrote stuff on the grading sheet, she did it per student. After the presentation, I sat down and she said, “You did good.”
However, what she said did not matter in the final grade. She gave a bad grade like I present something to the class, but it was worth nothing to her. I assumed I needed a partner, but that partner was lazy and did not contribute. I already told him many times when he appeared in the English class that he will do it, but no. I already mention this to the English professor and this is not the first group ever to experience this incident, it happened to another group of three.
Within that same year, I have a group presentation in the Univ class. The class was relaxing and the professor was nice to everyone. When it comes to the presentation on the day of, one classmate did not show up, but the other insisted to do now so everyone would get a grade and not the one absent a lot. When we presented as a group, I felt less nervous and has been guided to talk in front of a class without my back to them. I received a phone that has a mini version of slides. While the audience has to see the presenters' faces to understand what has been presented on the monitor. The grade I received was probably an A, better than the English class.
Without notice to the eye, it depends on the professors and his/her likes on the students and gives support. No support, probably, my presentation is worth nothing. without a member of the group. With support, the group presentation is worth a success.
Summer’s Remix
Scene: JSTU, The Beatles, The Flaming Lips, and Storybots comes to the stage and sing their lines.
Time:
Present Day
JSTU: Summer’s Back
Must Win
Hide and Seek
THE BEATLES: I’m So Tired
THE FLAMING LIPS: Sleeping on the Roof
STORYBOTS: I’m So Hot
Backrooms (1990s)
Backrooms originated from an Internet creepypasta in the 1990s. The Backrooms were basically a place of yellow rooms and corridors with liminal spaces. It was filled with silence, some rooms have light, and some were in darkness.
During a walk simulation, the player would see some random objects like a blue sofa, a kitchen counter, and a vehicle crash into a wall and leave a streak of oil trail. Even the player said from time to time, “Hello, anyone is there?”
After a long walk, the player may feel the jump scares if the mold or humanoid monster showed up in a room. The player escaped to another room and ended up in a dead end so the player died.
Kane Pixel was the creator of the short film “Found Footage” in 2019. He directed those videos to make the place photorealistic. The walking pace was slow and quiet in one of the videos. Later, the player discovered more areas of the Backrooms at their own pace, and then, jump scares happened almost to the end. People in the comments section found this better than Hollywood or Netflix movies for horror and thriller.
Read more if you are interested.
https://www.dualshockers.com/backrooms-urban-legend-deserves-horror-game/
My Interpretation About the Ouija Board
In the past, I do not want to use the Ouija board. People found this fun to talk with their deceased relatives or friends. But for me, it was fearful so I do not use it.
Recently, recently I found an art student who liked spirits, death, and Anthropology. She made an Ouija board by using letterpress on a wooden board and print some planchettes on paper. She even printed the golden telltale heart on black butcher papers and the prints were oval and framed. In addition, she printed large tapestries for life-size coffins, red for banners, and white over the pedestals for a ritualized installation at the TAMIU Gallery in 2022. I received the free thaumatrope that looked like a lollipop but in the design of one eye and tears. When flipped, you see the eye crying or mourning.
Right now, I felt the board could be powerful, but very risky. I read some things on Quora about not using this board for summoning demons. The rules were to respect the spirit, hold the coin so the spirit does not fly around or escape, ask questions without emotions, etc. If these rules are not followed, then there would be consequences just like the movies that you see before dealing with the board and entities.
A Can of Salt (playwright)
Scene: There are two women Anna and Elsa in a frozen lake. They are talking about how to prevent the snow. Anna has a can of salt.
Time:
Present Day.
ANNA
I do not like to sneeze and get cold from your superpowers. I want it to be gone from here.
ELSA
But my superpowers are part of me. I cannot get rid of them.
ANNA
I can show you how.
(brings out the can of salt)
ELSA
What do you do with the salt?
ANNA
It is easy. Just put your hands out. Then, I can put the salt over your hands so you do not have to use powers.
ELSA
What are the symptoms?
ANNA
No cold for me.
ELSA
What about my hands?
ANNA
(pours some salt into her ELSA’s hands, which had no effect)
Oh, no!
ELSA
My powers do not like salt and you can put the can away, away from me.
ANNA
(shrugs)
Fine.
(throws the can and the can hits the Snow Giant, which roars in the distance)