 Welcome to Microterrorz. Scary stories for kids. Where it's always the spooky season. Full of chills. Thrills. And spine-tingling spooks. Microterrorz are family-friendly frights for those ages 8 and up. And while our stories are for younger years, we are still talking about things that go bump in the night. And some children may not be able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended. Now for tonight's Microterrorz. Yard Shark by Scott Donnelly. Lorraine was trapped. Never in a million years had she thought she would lay eyes on...uh...she didn't even know what it was. Well, she knew what it was, but it just couldn't have been. Her mind must have been playing tricks on her. She'd seen enough Shark Week specials to recognize the unmistakable sight of a dorsal fin slicing the surface of the ocean and cutting its way through as it stalked its prey. But Lorraine had just seen a dorsal fin in her own backyard. She and her brother Gary had been playing on the wooden playground their parents had put up years ago, when Gary decided to stop playing and run inside for a glass of iced tea. It was a hot day, and Lorraine would have been lying if she said she didn't want one too, but she was determined to wait until they were done playing. Once Gary was inside and out of sight, Lorraine's attention was immediately drawn to the far corner of their fenced-in yard. The white privacy fence that blocked out the neighbors acted as a backdrop to the bewildering sight. Something disturbed the dirt by the apple tree, splicing through and stabbing upward, dirt clumps crumbling down all around it. There was no doubt about it. It was a dorsal fin. And then cut across the yard in her direction like a hot knife through butter. At the top of the slide at the time, Lorraine adjusted in place, getting better footing and trying to focus all of her attention on the fin. She rubbed her eyes, but when she looked up again, it was still there, carving a thin path through the backyard. Unreal, she said to herself, I must be dreaming. Lorraine watched the fin continue to cruise through the grass until, by the moldy sandbox, it sank down into the earth and disappeared out of sight. After a moment of unnerving tension, Lorraine stood up, casting a long shadow across her backyard and scoured the grass for the fin. There was nothing, not a single sign of it, other than the thin trench it had already gashed during its line of travel. The back door of the house opened and Gary stepped out onto the deck, sipping his glass of golden iced tea. This is the best tea I've ever had! Gary refreshingly announced with a sigh, are you going to get some, sis? Lorraine put her finger up to her lips, urging Gary to stay quiet. What? He fired back at her. Shh! Lorraine hushed. You can't tell me what to do. Gary complained, taking a step toward the edge of the deck. Gary, stop! Lorraine called out to her brother. Make me! he yelled. Lorraine growled, frustrated with her brother. You're in danger. I know you are, but what am I? Gary clapped back. Gary, you turd. There's a shark in the yard. A shark? Gary laughed. Now I know you're full of it. He stepped off the deck and into the grass, stomping his feet around like he was trying to summon an ancient rangelorm. The only scary thing out here is your fa- But Gary's insult was stopped short. The yard shark broke through the dirt and grass, sending plumes of rock and soil flying into the air. The ground shifted and cracked. Gary lost his balance, dropped his iced tea and fell sideways into the shark's mouth. It clamped its jaws shut and swallowed Gary whole. Lorraine screamed for her brother as the yard shark dove back under the ground and out of sight. Lorraine was breathing fast and heavy. She needed to get help. She needed to get to safety. Then the slide she was on was hit from underneath. It jolted, making Lorraine slip and fall. She grabbed onto the railing at the top and dangled off the side of the platform, screaming. The yard shark crashed into the base of the slide again, this time with enough force to knock it over. It tipped, its fragile metal structure creaking and squealing, and then completely toppled over. It slammed into the ground, launching Lorraine into a rough, hard tumble through the grass. She stood up with scraped knees and dirty clothes. The shark burst up once again from the earth, barely giving Lorraine a moment to breathe. Its teeth were bared and its unnatural presence was just as confusing as it was bone-chilling. She found herself staring into its dark chasm of a mouth, where Gary had vanished into, and what was even more haunting was that she could still hear him inside. His voice was small and echoed, Lorraine! He called out, Lorraine, run! Get out of here! Wake up! Wake up! The yard shark lunged for Lorraine. She closed her eyes as the shark chomped its jaws down all around her. When she opened her eyes, she was in her own bed. She was panting. Her sheets soaked in sweat. Gary dropped down from the top bunk, giving her another scare. She screamed, and he laughed, as little brothers do. Not funny, Lorraine said, catching her breath. Was it a bad one? He asked. Lorraine was finally able to relax. She buried her face in her hands. Yes, she sighed. And bizarre! Well, if a dream isn't bizarre, then does it really count as a dream? Gary pondered. What was it about this time? We lived in a home, but on land, Lorraine began. Gary squinted. On land? That's weird. Have you been reading fantasy fiction again? Lorraine didn't respond. She just kept recalling her nightmare. There was a shark that kept coming up from the grass. It wasn't like any shark I'd ever seen, she said. It was huge, ferocious, and relentless. Like it was a predator on top of the food chain or something. It swallowed you whole, she said, pointing to Gary. Gary laughed. He turned around and faced the aquarium built into the wall of their bedroom. Within it, thirteen sharks swam about. Great whites, hammerheads, megalodons, all of them no longer than six or seven inches in length, the average size of a shark. She didn't mean it, guys! Gary called over to their baker's dozen of pet sharks in a playful, sorrowful tone. No one thinks you're huge and relentless. Lorraine stood up and punched Gary in the arm. Eww! he squealed. You should have stayed eaten! She mumbled as she walked out of her room and onto the back dock of their houseboat. The boat, which housed her and Gary, their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and thirteen pet sharks, swayed back and forth on a vast ocean of pink water. In the orange sky, the purple moon sank over the horizon and the twin red suns rose, bringing warm light to another day. Off the side of the houseboat, the water rippled and a large seabird poked its head and beak out of the water. It cawed and then emerged from the ocean, soaring up into the sky where floating plots of uncharted land hovered just below the clouds. More creatures stirred in the pink waters around the boat. The aquatic bugs, the size of fully grown adults, slithered just beneath the waves. A school of long-finned hairy mammals swam and tanned them. Something dark and shadowy lurked deeper down out of sight, but emitting a haunting bellow that carried through the currents. This was the world Lorraine knew. This was normal for her. It wasn't some dreamland where sharks were large and lurked beneath solid ground. That was just a silly dream. But Lorraine was plagued with bizarre dreams. She had been since birth. It was a disease, a rare sickness. Some dreams were good, some were bad, some were happy, some were nightmarish visions that bothered her for days after. Some dreams made her realize what she loved, and some made her question everything she knew. But by knowing this, this strange dream sickness she was cursed with, she also always wondered which ones were actually dreams and which ones were real. For all she knew, she'd just woken from a dream into another dream. She may have been in a cycle like that for some time. There was no way for her to know for sure. She studied the ocean that surrounded her, its pink waves slapping the side of the boat. She looked at the aquatic bugs, the seabird flying to the unknown regions in the sky. Then she looked at Gary, who now stood at her side. None of this looked familiar to her anymore. None of it seemed right. And if she remembered correctly, Gary, the little brother that she loved more than anything, had been eaten by a yard shark years ago. Where we will also have spooky games you can print out and play, like wicked word searches, mysterious mazes, and more. Microterrorist.com is also where you can find us on your favorite social media, and even send in your own scary story for us to tell. Plus, you'll learn more about our author, Scott Donnelly, who has other horrors for both young and old. I hope you'll join me again soon for Microterrorist Scary Stories for Kids.