Zane Peters watched the news with growing anxiety. The Beast below was getting agitated again. That had been happening more and more.

There was a sense of pressure like that of an oncoming headache. He could feel that thick writhing coldness pushing, alm…

Me: "I get it, you need a home base, someone who adores you for who you are, and to feel secure. You want more than a place to crash when you're not working. However the Locus of Control has shifted. You are letting them have everything and not making dec…

“Please. Go away.” Her voice was irritated.

“Nah, girl. I can't leave a sweet thing like you here all alone. There are wolves around, you know what I mean?” His voice was smooth, insistent, and sure.

I didn't know who he was but I knew her. She had been…

The yellow moon suspended here

Above my head

Creates a glare & quite a blare

To shred my ear

-Irregular, unwelcome year,

Why must you barge

Into my straining life to spread

Alarm & fear?

-I cow'r and shiver as I wait;

The scimitar

Of sharp'ning moon grins…

I'm on the outside looking in. I see you inside, laughing, joy written on your face. The door is locked, but sometimes I can hear what you say inside.

This time, I'm not distraught. I'm not frantically beating on the walls to be let in. I'm not crying oc…

Lloyd skated across an unnaturally still sky, the kind that looked and felt like twilight but you knew if you checked it would be nine pm or three am. Behind him followed a woman that wore many faces. He recognized some of them briefly, but knew that she …

"Before we go on," Haley bit her bottom lip, took a deep breath and continued, "this is me."

Nothing happened at first. She just stood there her thin arms curling around her nakedness. Then her form began distort, melting in shimmering waves of purple an…

Stuck.

A blinking cursor mocked me from a blank screen. This writing thing wasn't going well. I wasn't ready to give up but the joy that once energized me was gone, replaced by a bitter numbness and a persistent sense of failure.

Motion at the door drew…

Well, I was very anxious today, all day, ever since about this time last night, which is 10:30 PM. I have a lot to talk about; one thing at a time, I guess.

I was brave today, after spending most of the day scared and blaming myself for a Grievous Life C…

When my sister was explaining the futility of my expectations

Her favorite line was, "You keep trying to use logic and reason to explain the world."

-

The echoes of my angry thoughts spun between my ear drums

"How dare you hurt me?!"

"How dare someone hur…

Two people had gone down in the attack by that white dog-like thing which had driven the five of us deeper into the caves.

The wild barking had ceased and we used the reprieve to catch our breath. Slinging my backpack around and I reached in to get a bot…

You know what? Don't speak to me. I'll only manipulate you and poison you with my words. My hurts fester and are infectious. They spew from me in fits of rage.

I can't let you in. What's lurking inside of me is the ugliest monster you've ever seen. It's …

I watched as you moved into a shotgun house with one bedroom and a yard only big enough for a shed. You were too busy to find a place on your own, anyway.

But I saw the truth.

In a tiny house, no one can stay the night. No one can stay unannounced. N…

The Future beckons, claws held wide.

I stumble forward, terrified.

The line etched in the granite floor's

A precipice; a fool ignores

Such limits to one's path but once:

"THE END" to Stories of a Dunce.

The Yearly Creature's gaze holds mine

I shamble ne…

Story is marked as mature

“Are you ready yet?”

Mark's voice sounded thin and petulant through the door. Irritated, Gemma closed her eyes and shook her head. No she wasn't ready. Every beauty technique had failed her. The dress she had bought for this vacation was all wrong.The bl…

This is stupid.

It's stupid to get upset, to feel so left out and stood up when you ask me a question, I deliver, I ask one back, and never get a response. It's how you do things.

I can't count the amount of times I've forgiven you for leaving me hangi…

I wonder if butterflies ever miss their former self

The sturdy roundness of their skin

Their steady progress towards fullfillment

-

I wonder if they mourn that their colorful wings can't be stroked

Or regret the danger of flying

-

I wonder if the progress…

"Your mother teach you any magic, boy?" Thomas scowled again, and Eric thought, He sure does get that from his mother.

"Some. What do you need."

Eric look at the grounds they were on. Just big enough for what he needed. "I need a summoning circle." He…

"So, how do you know she was lying to you?"

Eric sighed. "Because that's all she does!" He yelled.

Thomas looked at him. "That's an exaggeration, but what about this particular time makes you so sure?"

Eric took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.…

I am a dead man walking. That's not a metaphor, not a promise of a future event the way you usually think of it. I really am dead -- and have been for some time now.

I walk the streets of this city. I pass by people on the sidewalk, and they instinctivel…

Eric strode out the front door, determined to put this whole messy business behind him. Thomas wasn't about to make that easy.

"What the hell was that for?!" Thomas yelled.

Eric stopped, turning on Thomas with a suddenness that gave the movement more …

She wore a smile, and not much else. "Glad to see your dress code is still... relaxed," Eric said. "You look good. 20 years has changed you. For the better."

Elena's smile widened. "Why, thank you, Eric. I didn't expect compli..."

"Especially," he inter…

He felt the barrel of the shotgun against the back of his head. He never even heard the old man approach.

"Boy, you have 30 seconds to explain why you're in my house," Eric growled.

Thomas cleared his throat. "I'm your son."

The pressure on the back of…

She looks at the clock. "Is that the time, already?"

I see what she means. "4:58." I turn to her. "So, I guess we need to find dinner. Do you know any Korean?"

"I know 15 languages." She seems quite proud of herself. I don't blame her. "It seems I'm not…