I’m on a ship. The ship is sinking. I have to get everyone off. There are piles of gold everywhere. An enemy ship approaches in the distance. It’s fierce, filled with cyclops, werewolves, and three-headed carnivorous monsters. The monsters in question like to dine on human flesh of the 32 year-old female variety. I try to put everything in my hands, the gold slips through my fingers. The pirates around me are singing and drinking ale. They’re dancing. They have yellow and gray teeth, or no teeth at all, but they don’t care, as long as their ale mugs are filled and the music is so loud that it pierces through their entire bodies.

I scream “The enemy is nigh! We need to get the treasure out of here! They’ll steal it and we’ll have nothing left. They’re going to eat my brain.”
Everyone continues to sing and dance, oblivious to our impending demise.
I try to lift a chest filled with gold but it’s too heavy, it hurts my arms and my back. The enemy ship is close, I can see it. I can make out the faces of the monsters. I know I will be eaten soon.
“We have to get out of here!” I scream.
No one listens.
I grab an empty satchel and start filling it with emeralds, gold, and rubies. With the satchel in my hand I board the plank. I get a running start and dive head first into the ocean.
I am swimming fast and furious toward the shore. I know the enemy is in the distance, and it’s my chance to avoid my demise. My arms hurt and I paddle as fast as my human body can carry me.
Miraculously I reach the shore. It’s a deserted island. The shore is empty. There is just sand, nothing but sand, but I am free.
© 2012 Sarah Fader Stealing conjures up brain-eating monsters that come to your house and feed on your flesh.