Lurking in the corner of Michelle's basement, the partygoers gathered in groups all around me. My eyes followed him as he mingled.

"I love that dress!" he said to Sara.

"Hey, the pass you made was awesome, bro!" he called to the quarterback.

He chugge…

There was no way Lenn could bring himself to stuff the cat into his backpack. Not only would it be uncomfortable, he didn't think it would be safe either. Unzipping his windbreaker, he docked the cat into the the crook of his arm. Then he slowly rezipped …

The ceiling lights cast yellow pools of light, but did little to keep the space from feeling gloomy and deserted. Huge constructions of steel loomed silent and dark in the vast hangar space.

The stillness was interrupted by the opening of a door at the f…

“Goddamned cat, you're like a living jump scare.” Lenn muttered.

The cat meowed plaintively, tail up in the air. Matted fur clung flatly to its body outlining a starved frame.

“Yeah, I don't like this weather much either.”

Cautiously, the cat padded fo…

A little bit of bleakness had settled into her heart and she was fighting herself to shake it off.

Normally, she was a hopeful person. She did most things with a smile. Today, however, a truth had crept into her heart that she had fought for months to ke…

He thumbed the keys upward so that they sprouted beyond his knuckles like metal spikes. Should he retread his steps back into the driving rain and try a different cross street or move through the alley that might house something in it? Straining his sense…

The wind gusted this way and that, sweeping the rain away before slamming it back at Lenn in huge wet slaps. His poncho scudded away from his numb fingers and nearly strangled him until he forced it back under control.

He walked uphill toward the commerc…

Liz' thoughts were interrupted by a flash of fire and a dragon's roar.

Across the small park, a winged beast, its crimson scales glittering in the midmorning sunlight, loomed over a trio of fantastical figures standing knee-deep in the sea of swirling gr…

His shoes and pants were soaked. Cold, they stuck to clung to him like a heavy second skin. As he turned the corner, he stepped down into water that swallowed his shoe up past his ankle before he touched the sidewalk. Somehow it felt colder than his feel …

Someone screamed. Lenn paused for a moment. It was difficult to tell with the whine of the siren and the constant roar of the rain but he thought that whoever had screamed was only a block or two away. The urge to go see what was going on, and to help if …

Threading through the streets, past storefronts that still had power, Lenn kept one hand on his wallet and used the other to hold his poncho's hood closed. The rain had been hammering the city for five unrelenting days and it wasn't scheduled to let up fo…

Disrespectful

Apathetic

Noisy

Tough

Evil

-

Decent

Astute

Notable

Thoughtful

Effective

-

Lazy

Insipid

Zero

Bum

Embarrasing

Timid

Homely

-

Lovely

Interested

Zealous

Bright

Energetic

Tolerant

Humble

In my absences, the wreathes had dried out and disintegrated into sticks, fragments of leaf and broken needles. The rest of the house fared little better. Barely a half a dozen rooms showed some signs of use and half of those were furnished enough to make…

The problem with locator spells is that they can go where humans cannot. Not having form, they can travel through and air and water for far longer than those using them can follow. Spells need to be tethered on a sort of reciprocating line so they see whe…

Around her, the air glowed with imaginary light.

A scintillating galaxy of text, artwork, and signage drifted just above every surface, ethereal and invisible without compatible hardware.

It ran up walls and windows, across sidewalks and streets. The gr…

I found it hard to sleep. Worries chased themselves around my head. What was I doing, leaving alone in the company of a strange man? What if I couldn't make it this time either? What if I am wasting my life? What if it wasn't worth chasing anyway?

Frustr…

Sleep steadily slips from my aching eyelids

desperate for one more hour of escape

of reflection

of processing the pounds of pressure I'm currently cracking

under waters,

rapids, and riptides hidden in the depths of a "simple request for information regard…

Story is marked as mature

Bundled up against the autumn chill, Liz wandered the city streets, alone with her thoughts.

Stopping to let a train of delivery-bots cross the sidewalk, she glanced around, noticing again just how empty the streets and walkways were on a Saturday mornin…

My 15-year-old son hugged me yesterday

My teenage daughter begged me for a bedtime story

My husband and I started sleeping in the same room

-

I've lost my racist grandmother's ashes and my tax reports

the dress that made me look fat

I have no dishes to cl…

"This is my garden, now," explained Sarah, gesturing expansively at the tiny fenced area. "Mommy said so," she continued, pointing back towards the ivy-covered house set back across the pasture, in a stand of trees.

Gus, her equally-young companion, sh…

"But they don't have heads!"

"As I understand it, that's voluntary."

"That's ridiculous."

"I'm telling you, 'Haunted City' is a democracy. Its real name is 'Crossroads Hill', and it's perfectly safe to visit."

"But there's a necromancer overlord, and…

She was waiting for me the next morning, sitting at my table with a bowl of hot porridge and a packed bag. A small bag, I thought. Either she was leaving it all behind, or there was little to leave behind anyway. I rather suspected the latter.

My pastry …

Ken tapped the bottom of his beer bottle against the table. It made the satisfyingly hard knock that only happens when thick glass meets sturdy wood. Stefano leaned back and rested his arm along the top of the red leather booth.

"What's up?"

Ken mumble…

Max paced the room. His encounter with the doctor hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped and he was keyed up and on edge.

Soft moans from outside caused him to slow down and peek past a heavy curtain to the Asylum's grounds. Wind played the trees like harp st…