The Knight of Mars

Sing O muse, of adventure.
Tell the story of the knight, who bravely defended the planet of Mars.
From the dangers of our universe.

Once upon a time,
When boys thought they were men because they could fight,
When the grass was as green as the sky is blue,
And the mountains were covered in snow,
A knight did not protect the Earth, like several years ago.
Instead he guarded Mars,
The planet that the humans chose,
When all of earth ran dry.

He fought with kings and lords of space,
Protected the human race,
From various dangers in the Milky Way.
A sword was not his weapon of choice,
He instead preferred his words.
He used them to negotiate great treaties in defense of his people.

He sailed in space, upon his ship,
Made if scraps of metal left on Earth.
It told the tale of his ancestors,
Who sailed into space as well.
Instead of landing on Mars,
They took a wrong turn and wound up on the moon.
His ship may have been scraps,
But the engineer who crafted it so well
Made it seem as if it was new.

On this particular day,
He hopped into his ship,
Ready to sail to Jupiter.
In the moment he was preparing his ship,
The gods heard his fate from the heavens.
They knew that this brave soldier
Was to die a rather gruesome death,
On the freezing barren windy lands,
Of the planet they call Saturn.

His wife and family begged him not to leave,
For the goddess of prophecy came to them
And told them of the knight's fate.
But, because his business was to protect the ones that he loved dear,
He had to leave to keep them safe.

He gave out kisses and lingering hugs,
But that did not stop the dread his family had.
Either way he had to go, and tell the king of Jupiter
Why his attack on tiny helpless Pluto
Was not something he should do.
The moons of Mars came into view,
As he boarded his lightening ship.
The crowd counted down from ten,
And he blasted into the open sky.

As swift as his ship would allow,
He traveled farther and farther
Into the scariest depths of space.
The god of the meteors spotted him at once
And started hurtling meteors upon his gorgeous ship.

The knight tried to veer his mighty ship away.
He did not succeed of course,
For that was not fate's way.
Into Saturn he crashed.
But the goddess of sailing protected him whole,
And attached a parachute onto his ship.

The gods were mad at her,
But she did not care.
She said she was just doing the job she was given,
And huffily she walked away.
The gods just shrugged and turned to Saturn,
To watch what was about to happen.

The people of Saturn
Greeted him kindly,
And agreed to give him gas,
So that his ship could propel deeper into space,
Real quickly and real fast.
They knew the job he had to do,
To protect the universe from war.

The farmer whose house he landed on
Did not really care,
As fast as the knight descended,
The rage of the farmer ascended
Because he had no place to sleep.

He developed his plan to kill this man,
Who ruined his precious land.
He did not have much,
So to lose it all was to lose his mind.

The knight turned his head,
The farmer steadied his knife,
And stabbed the man who was to save the universe.

He ran away gleefully,
But his glee did not last long.
For the next day,
The king of Jupiter issued his decree.
The truth was revealed by the end of May,
The war that took 300 centuries had only just begun.

This was written for my English class sophomore year.
I wrote it a tad bit like a children's story, because eventually I would love this published.

The Conundrum

      

Gabriel clenched his teeth feeling the porcelain slide. He took a deep breath, relaxed his jaw. "You have two choices," he said, "you can leave on your feet or on a gurney."

God, What had he gotten himself into? Before his dealings with the mob, Gabriel was a fine guy. No drama, no... Killing. He was a cop. A simple man who only wanted what was best for his family. But here he was, holding the gun to the head of a man who had done nothing to him personally. Not that the Boss cared. The Boss simply cared that the money was repaid, because if not? It would be his head feeling the cold steel of the gun. The idea was simply too much for Gabriel to process in the moment, and he began shaking uncontrollably. He looked to the floor and saw the man on his knees, crying.

He hit the man upside the head and questioned him again "What will it be?", He roared in a still shaking voice. The man begged and pleaded that he had no money. Through his broken sobs, he tried to explain that he was doing all that he could to get it. But Gabriel knew what this meant. It meant he had to kill a man who was only in the same place as himself. This man only wanted better for his family, and now his family would be left without someone to provide for them. Gabriel's mind wandered off to thinking about his own wife, and two little girls. Gabriel knew how bad the thought of having to leave them behind with nothing felt. So, He reached down and grabbed the man by his throat, pulling him to his feet.

The man tried to fight and break free from the painful grip that Gabriel had him in, but no matter how hard he tried, Gabriel's iron grip got stronger. He brought the fighting man closer to his face, and whispered in his ear "When I fire the gun, I will release you. Run." Gabriel shot a single round in the air, and released the man. He took of at lightening speed, and disappeared. Gabriel let out a long sigh. He knew he was in deep trouble, that he could never escape.






Author's Note: This idea was taken from an article with ideas about short stories. So if anyone does read this, don't accuse me of plagiarism. Thank you!