(Page 1 of 7) A Troll's Life by Tim GradySUMMARY: I'm new here and just wanted to post something. This is a short story written like a children's story about a troll. Basically, it was my own meditation on what it might be like inside the head of someone trolling on the internet.Scard was a simple creature, bridge trolls usually are. And like all bridge trolls, he had a horrible memory. Whether he would forget he was sitting on his bag or that he was wearing his shoes, Scard's life was full of forgetting. One time he sure he forgot how to talk and went around all day muttering in "wa"s and "mmm"s. As I said, trolls are simple creatures.
By the evening of any given day, Scard could barely remember what had happened in the morning. But every morning was the same.
On this particular morning, Scard awoke underneath a bridge, unsure of where he was; for a second, he was sure he was on a train, but then realized with relief it was just the thrum of a river next to him. Then he noticed an odd thing: he couldn't explain it, but he had the most terrible taste in his mouth. Scard scrambled over to the small river there next to him.
"Mmm" growled the troll as he gulped and gulped the water down. And as the goodness of the water impressed him, he noticed the goodness of the river itself, the special way the sunlight twinkled and shone on the river's ripples and currents. Scard looked up at the sun and the clouds, and he smiled at the goodness of it all.
Then Scard scratched his scraggly head as looked about. The bridge seemed kind of familiar, even the river too, but he couldn't fathom why. He muttered about for the next few minutes trying to remember his name; that one always stumped for a bit. Having arrived at the fact that his name was either Scard or Petunia, he sat down satisfied that things were under control.
He looked back down at the river to get one more wonderful drink. The strangest face was looking back at him from the water: all gnarled and scaly, a cross between a twisted, dying tree and a toad. Suddenly, he noticed the face had a head; the head had neck; and so on. Before Scard knew it, he saw two great claws seem to reach up out of the water and clutch him by the head.
"You're a sad little creature, I'm going to devour you!" the monster in the water said to him as licked it chops.
"Leave me alone you horrible monster!" cried Scard.
"No. I'm going to eat you all up!"
"Please, please, I'll give you everything I have...anything!" pleaded Scard as the monster's claws gripped his head tighter.
The monster licked his fangs, and looked from side to side, making sure they were alone, "Well, there is something you can do to spare your miserable life" said the monster.
"Anything! Anything!" promised Scard as a desperate hope to live sparked in his eyes.
"You must feed me three travelers from the bridge above! Do this and I'll spare your horrible life one more day!" said the monster.
Scard was so scared and didn't know what to do. He writhed under the claws of the monster. Scard knew that to agree to the monster's demands was wrong, but also he was terrified of being eaten. The monster squeezed tighter and opened its huge twisted mouth.
"Ok, I'll do it. Three travelers" screamed Scared. The words had came rushing from his mouth before he had time to think.
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