30 Second Story #1: "Holler and The Scarecrow"

Holler rubbed his hand gently across the back of his skull. Like a sponge taking on water, he could already feel his brain expanding. His fingers came back dripping wet. The Scarecrow stood in the doorway, carrying what Holler thought was a burlap sack.

"Time to go Holler."

The Scarecrow's voice was as wretched as his face.

"Where we goin'?" Holler answered him.

"The place where everything begins."

Holler tried to spit the blood in his mouth at the Scarecrow's feet, but it didn't make it further than his own shirt. The Scarecrow threw the bag at Holler's feet.

"Take off your clothes and put them in there."

Gasping for breath, Holler replied, "The hell I will."

The Scarecrow sighed and Holler found himself naked, folded over the Scarecrow's shoulder like a sack of feed.

"Almost there," The Scarecrow said matter of factly.

They trudged up the moonlit hill, Monkey Paw mushrooms and dandelions crunching under the Scarecrows boots. At the top of the hill, The Scarecrow set Holler down just outside a stray moonbeam. Holler groaned when he contacted the ground.

"Just made it, in the nick of time," The Scarecrow commented to himself.

The moonbeam came alive when the first drop of blood from Holler's head spilled into the earth. The light jumped and sizzled. Within seconds Holler was bathed in silver light. He howled at the Scarecrow, but he was already half way down the hill. He whistled a meandering tune as he made his way to the next villager on his list.