Hey there fellow Xangans. I require your assistance..

It was half past eight, and the owner of the local jewel shop was just about ready to close up the shop. Two masked men turn the corner and, realizing that the lights were still on decided to make their move.

“This looks like the perfect place” said one

“Look at all those rare jewels” said the other.

“We hit the jackpot; the old man won’t know what hit him”

The two men violently smashed through the glass doors and shot at the display cabinets which shattered into hundreds of pieces, gleaming in the lamplight like the rare jewels they displayed. The alarms blared, resonating against the deserted street corner. One of the men began stuffing the gems and diamonds in a bag while his partner ran toward the old man and put his arm around his neck, but the old man remained unusually calm.

“This was easier than I thought”

“Yeah I don’t even know why I brought a gun”

 But this was no ordinary old man, in a turn of events he grabbed the thief tightly by his wrist and with unconceivable strength, freed himself of his bond.

“Let go of me, old man!” The masked crook demanded

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you to respect your elders?”

The crook reached for his gun with his free hand and pointed the silver pistol at the old man.

“Come now, Robert. I know your mother taught better than this”

“What? How… How do you know my name? Well it doesn’t matter anyway, you’re dead old man!”

His hand was shaking, something was stopping him from pulling the trigger, but it wasn’t will power. The old man glared at him with his piercing gray eyes. Robert tried to turn away, but was stuck in a trance.

“Just shoot him already!” said his partner.

“I… I can’t.

“What? Why not?

“His eyes…”

“This is no time to get romantic, rob” said his partner, jokingly

“No, Rick. His eyes… I can’t move!”

“Then I’ll do it!” The crook pointed his gun at the old man and pulled the trigger, but the old man dodged the bullet with ease. He fixed his eyes on the silver pistol and with his mind, turned it on the crook and pointed it at his head.

“Wh.. What are you, s-some kind of freak?”

“Drop the bag, and get out.”

Rick did as the old man said and ran out.

“I’m outta here!” said Rob in a desperate attempt to free himself of the old man’s grip.

“I’m not done with you yet.”

“What do you want from me?”

“You came to me, remember?”

“Yes b-but.. I just wanted the jewels. We weren’t gonna hurt you. We just needed the money.”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that, Rob?”

“Who are you?”

“Don’t you recognize me?”

“No. Now stop playing games old man and tell me who you are!”

“As you wish” said the old man, with a smile. Once again the thief found himself immobile, with the old man’s piercing eyes locked on his. In an instant, the old man’s life flashed before the young man’s eyes.

“No… No, it can’t be! This… This isn’t possible!”

Sketch #2

Do you believe in gnomes? I know I do. They think I’m crazy, that’s why they locked me up in this place but I know… I know what I saw.. And I know what they did to me

"Really, jimmy? What did you see?"

"What did they do to you?"

"Did they probe you?"

"No. I saw them, they were.. about 6 inches tall, and they wore red caps."

"Oh! You mean like the seven dwarves?"

"No! They’re nothing like that! These creatures were evil. I’ll never forget their piercing gray eyes…THERE! THERE’S ONE!!

"HOLY CRAP YOU’RE RIGHT!!"

“Are you enjoying your time in the nut house, Jimmy?" asked the evil little creature with the piercing gray eyes.

"JIM! You’re mom’s coming!"

“What? The gnome… It’s gone! Where is it? Where’s the gnome?"

“Jim, hun.. How… How are you?” Jim’s mom asked, concerned.

“You have to believe me. Your garden gnomes, they come to life at night! And they kill your flowers… they’re crafty little bastards, and they’re evil! Mom, they tied me up and...”

“Jim.. I got rid of my garden gnomes, I know you’re under a lot of stress and..”

"No. Mom please.. I know what I saw. And they saw it too.."

"What?"

"Tell her guys, tell her what you saw…"

"Jim, Who are you talking to?"

"They’ll tell you!"

"Who…will tell me?"

"They’ll tell you! I’m not crazy.. They’ll tell you!!"

"Jim… There’s no one here, sweetie."

Jim looked around him and realized Eric and Alice were gone. “What? They were just here.” He thought to himself. "What’s going on.. Is this really all in my head? Did I make this whole thing up? No. It can’t be... That gnome! He must be messing with my mind!"

The doctor walks in and heads towards jimmy’s mother

“The results are in. I think it’d be best if you leave Mrs. Patterson.”

“What’s wrong with him, doctor? Please tell me.”

“It appears your son is suffering from schizophrenia. It won’t be long before he begins hallucinating again, I better give him some sedatives to calm him down.” The doctor calls in a nurse to administer the sedatives, but something just wasn’t quite right about her.

“Will he get better? I mean, it’s only temporary, right? Oh, please tell me he’ll get better soon.”

The doctor put his hand on her arm and said gently, “I’m afraid not, schizophrenia is degenerative. His symptoms will only worsen over time.”

With tears swelling up in her eyes, Mrs. Patterson sighed and bid farewell to her son, then turned away and walked out the door.

“Mom... Mom! Where are you going? No. Wait! You have to believe me!”

“She’s gone jimmy…” The doctor said, while still having his back turned toward him “Besides..” he continued as he slowly spun his head 180 degrees till his piercing gray eyes were fixed on jimmy’s “I think you have more important things to worry about…”

I'm dating my best friend of three years. We've been dating for almost four months now. When we were friends, we were very open with eachother, about everything. He talked to me about his past relationships, I did the same, we talked about potential prom dates when we were seniors and juniors in high school; pretty girls, cute guys, etc... As time went by, we began developing feelings for eachother, but I did my best to hide this, as I didn't want it to ruin our friendship. After high school, I began going to college and he took off to marine bootcamp and was gone for three months, during which time I realized how much I actually missed spending time with him and how much I cared for him. He came home in october, for two weeks. Showed up at my door with a bouquet of red roses and asked me to be his girlfriend. I was a bit worried about the fact that he'd be leaving for more training again in just a few weeks, but said yes nevertheless.

Yay, fairytale ending right? (or beginning, I should say)

As we grew closer, I realized that little things began to bother me. I mean, we were both able to sit and watch tv together, and talk about how handsome tom welling is and how we would both "do him," if we were given the chance, the same with female celebrities (Jennifer Aniston). But it bothered me when he complimented someone in person, someone we actually knew, and called them "cute" or "pretty" or told them they looked nice, in front of me.

For example, I took him to a church event with me around christmas time, and when he was greeting my sister's friends, he apparently felt the need to compliment them. "Wow you look nice today abi" he would say.. or he'd turn to me and say "see, I told you candy was cute." In front of her so that she would hear him. And when we sat down at our table, I made a comment about it. "I guess we just checkout every girl in sight right?" I asked sarcastically. (I was annoyed!) And he said he just did it to "be polite.." but that didnt change the fact that it bothered me. "It's different when you say it to their face" I said. "That's more than just being polite, I'm going to go be polite to that guy over there and see how you like it." He laughed and said "ok so were allowed to say we'd do celebrities on tv but can't even call someone we know pretty? That makes alot of sense." Then, just as he said that, Candy came to sit at our table "what's up guys?" she asked. "She wants to get back at me for calling you pretty, is that really so wrong?" He said.

That didn't help his case at all.

He constantly does things like these, and sees nothing wrong with it. I guess you could say it makes me jealous... But why? It's not that I see any of these girls as a potential threat. It just bothers me.. I thought it was just common sense not to talk about other girls/guys when you're with your SO. I don't go around thinking or saying things like "well that guy over there is handsome. I should go compliment him" when I'm with him. The same way, I feel he should only have eyes for me, is this a girl thing?  Or am I being ridiculous and irrational? Is it REALLY too much to ask for?