Story cube 3 - bumble bee, person dancing, a burst

On his way to collect nectar from the flowers, Bumble always liked to stop in the garden and watch the humans. They were strange creatures, with only two legs and two feelers, standing upright whenever they walked. The rest of the hive warned Bumble about the humans, but his curiosity always drowned out their voices in his mind. How bad could they be really? They couldn’t even fly.

There was the Man, the Woman and the Smaller One. Bumble didn’t know if it was male or female. There was nothing to set it apart either way. It spent all of its time making loud noises or sleeping.

Today, they were all outside. The Man was spraying water from a strange long, green thing all over the garden. The Woman was holding something in her feelers, staring at it non-stop, only pausing to flick something over then resume staring at it. Bumble had no idea what that was. The Smaller One was sitting in the grass, pulling it up and dropping it on its head. It made a loud gurgling sound each time that made Bumble feel happy. He didn’t know what the sound was, nor why it made him so happy, but he wanted to hear more.

He decided to get closer. Bumble usually kept his distance from the humans. He was unsure how they would react to him and obviously the warnings from the hive had had some effect on him. Today was just too much though. He had to know more.

As he got closer, he saw the Smaller One look up at him. It reached its pudgy feelers towards him. Its face didn’t seem evil. In fact, it looked like it was friendly, so Bumble landed on top of its feeler. There was no fur on the Smaller One’s feeler. It was just covered in a warm, fleshy substance that was kind of sticky. The Smaller One was bringing its feeler closer to its open mouth.

Suddenly, Bumble heard a high pitch noise come from the direction of the Woman. Then there was a waft of air that rushed past him, causing him to take to the air in shock. What was going on? The Woman was now holding the Smaller One, who was making that loud noise again. Its face was all screwed up and going red. Where was the Man?

Just as Bumble turned round to look for the Man, he felt another waft of air. This time he was pushed sideways. The Man was waving his feelers around. He looked ridiculous. Bumble had heard that humans sometimes moved like this when there were harmonious sounds playing, but he couldn’t hear any now. Bumble moved in and out of the Man’s flailing feelers, but eventually one hit him.

Bumble felt a smack and his vision flashed white before him. He felt himself soar through the air, but was powerless to stop it. He landed in a flowerbed with a bump. He lay there for a while, gathering up his strength, lying still in case the Man came looking for him. He didn’t want to be found.

He had no idea how long he lay there, but after a while he could no longer hear the humans. They must have left the garden, so Bumble got up slowly and flew to the top of one of the flowers. After a quick glance around to make sure he was really safe, Bumble shot off back in the direction of the hive.

He would never stop to watch the humans again.

Story Cube 2 - person playing with dolls, walking stick, person jumping off a ledge

Christie sat on the floor of her grandparent’s living room, playing with some dolls that had been left out for her. She didn’t really like dolls, but they were the only toys left over from when her mother was young, so they were brought out every time she came to visit.

What Christie really liked was stories.

She got that from her grandfather, who was currently sat in his usual spot in the big armchair, in front of the fire, reading a newspaper. Propped up against the wall beside him stood his gnarly old cane. Christie stared at it a while, then turned to her grandfather.

“Grandpa, why do you walk with a cane?” she asked him. He lowered his newspaper slightly, and looked over his glasses at her, with a hint of a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye. Christie knew the look well; it was story time.

“Well, you see sweetheart, I wasn’t always the doddery old man you know me to be. I was once an adventurer. I travelled all over the world looking for new and exciting journeys to take that would lead me where I least expected them to.”

Christie listened intently. Grandpa always told the best stories, and she could tell that today was going to be no exception.

“I was a young man, sailing across the sea as part of the crew on a small ship transporting a grand jewel back to England – the Wimueko. This jewel was priceless, so of course we had to guard it with our lives.
“All was going well until one fateful day. We had been suffering from a lack of wind, so had been rowing all morning. Rowing a ship, even a small one, is very hard work, so as you can imagine we had to stop for a rest. It was at this moment, when our guard was down, that we were suddenly ambushed by pirates! We rushed to arm ourselves, but the pirates were too quick. They had us surrounded. We were only a small crew, so they tied us to the mast of the ship. Then the captain arrived.

“Captain Ferdinand was the most feared pirate in them days. I recognised him at once by the scar across his nose, and the fact that he had different coloured eyes. One was a watery blue, but the other was a deep, dark black. There was evil in that eye.”

Christie shuffled closer to her grandfather’s feet. “What did you do Grandpa?”

“I did what any brave adventurer would do with something under his protection.” He leaned over his knees, close to Christie’s face, and whispered dramatically, “I challenged him to a duel!”

Leaning back in his chair so that he could gesture wildly with his arms, he continued with his story.

“There was just the two of us, circling each other, cutlasses in hand. All the other pirates gathered round to cheer on their captain, waiting for bloodshed. My blood. The fight began and we slashed at each other, high and low, jabbing and slicing, parrying and blocking. Just as one of us got the upper hand, the other would push back and level the playing field. It was a tremendous battle.

“Eventually, I got Captain Ferdinand cornered and pinned to the floor. The battle was won, and I was the champion. I stood over him and told him to leave and never come back! The pirates began leaving our ship, the captain following last. We thought we were safe, but at the last moment, the dirty rotten pirate turned and sliced at my leg, then left laughing on his ship.

The cut went deep, and became infected on the way home, but luckily the wind was on our side and we made a swift journey back. My leg was treated, but I have walked with a limp ever since.”

At this point, Christie’s grandmother poked her head through the door, announcing that dinner was ready. Christie jumped up and grabbed the cane for her grandfather then watched as he lumbered his way into the kitchen. As much as she loved hearing her grandfather’s stories, Christie also had a thirst to know the truth. Walking over to her grandmother, she whispered to her so that her grandfather didn’t hear, “what really happened to his leg Grandma?”

Christie’s grandmother looked over at her husband, then back to her granddaughter.

“Well,” she whispered back. “When he was a boy, he thought he could fly, so he tried to jump off the roof.”

Story Cube 1 - hag, man in a portal, birdcage

I wake up, sweating, heart pounding. Thank god for these cool metal bars I can press my face against. What actually happened? I was dreaming, yeah dreaming, that was it. But what about? I’m breathing too hard to think clearly. I need to calm down. Calm down…

Calm…

There was a woman; I think it was a woman anyway. She was… like a… a hag. Yeah, a hag, but her face was covered by a heavy hood. What was she doing? I can’t quite remember. Why is it you instantly forget a dream when you wake up? She was in a gloomy room, a kitchen I think, although not a standard one. No ovens or fridges, just… a cauldron of some kind? It seemed normal at the time. She was mumbling something too, but I couldn’t make out the words. No, I can’t think what they were. She was moving round the cauldron. She knocked a birdcage that was hanging from the ceiling and left it swinging while she collected strange items from the shelves in the room. Colourful bottles, full of thick viscous liquid; odd plants I had never seen before, dried and curled like talons; and rabbit feet? Something small and furry anyway. Each one produced a new puff of smoke and different smell as it was added to the concoction being created in the cauldron.

So where was I in all of this? Certainly not helping, so what then? I must have been in the room, I was watching. But I didn’t move, no… I couldn’t move. I was tied up in the corner of the room, on the floor. I remember because I had to look up to see what she was doing, even though she was hunched over, almost in half. She never looked my way. Not once, until…

What happened? She stared at me. I can’t remember her face, just her eyes. They weren’t human. They felt like they were piercing my soul. Then I saw nothing. Only a swirling vortex of colours - red, blue, purple, black - spinning round me faster and faster. I felt myself lift from the ground, seeming to compress as I flew higher and higher. I didn’t feel right in my own body. Everything felt… smaller. How could that be? How…

I’m not in my bed.

I’m not… I’m not in my bed. Where…?

Cool metal bars…

I’m in the birdcage.