Captain Adriana Milosovic felt the deck tremble beneath her feet. It was subtle, barely even there at all, and yet it was enough that her senses came to high alert. She glanced around the bridge at her crew, but they were all engaged in their own tasks. N…

The Priest lifts the lid away from the box and sets it to the side. The smoke inside the box swirls before him like an angry storm but remains in place for the moment. He dips a finger into the smoke, drawing out a long tendril of grey vapor. Then, with h…

The reeds outside swayed, swept by a breeze that I couldn't feel. The candles never wavered so it wasn't just me. The two mountains known locally as the Two Sisters stood high and dark against the star-filled night sky.

“Why do we still wait? It's dark e…

The elevator stopped. Between floors. The doors remained firmly shut. Gregor groaned. He pushed the help button, but nothing happened.

"Are you here for the convention?" asked a smiling man in a lime green chef's uniform.

"No," growled Gregor.

"Seems w…

"Umm, there's no shoes allowed in here." The girl said, stretching long over her legs.

I'd been in the same room at least two dozen times and no one had ever complained until now but I just nodded and said, "No problem."

As I started peeling off the hee…

Katharine Espin Tarnath III let the door slam and dropped her bag to head upstairs. She slipped off the heavy black ceremonial robes - how anyone was supposed to wear these in the heat of summer, she didn't know - and pulled a long T-shirt over her head i…

“Your dad doesn't want you hanging around here.” Me, I added silently.

A woman leaned over a white rail, pointing at choppy waves and shouted Shark.

Margot placed her palms on my kitchen counter and danced back and forth. “Yeah, I know. I don't see wh…

After lunch we had recess. As we exited the doors, most excitedly bolting for the best kickball and the honor of choosing their teams, a small group of boys hung back behind me. I was walking, not running.

The yard teacher had stepped into the middle of …

Every time I thought about her I wanted to fight her. Just a snapshot of her gorgeous eyes made me want to pluck them out. How perfectly white would her teeth be knocked out on the floor?

In sick fascination I tracked her movements. I was a huntress and …

I saw them, all of them.

I knew them.

I thought they knew me.

They were backing away. At about 2 meters, they turned their backs.

All of them.

They did not speak.

I asked them questions.

Why are you not hearing me?

What is going on?

They stepped farthe…

It was only a two-man tent but it was plenty big enough for the girl, her sleeping bag, flashlight, pillow, storybook, and favorite doll. The doll had seen better days, her dress was now off-white, her hair sprouted wildly from the sides of her head leavi…

I finished brushing my teeth and yelled goodnight to my mom. I shut my bedroom door and turned off the light. Climbing in under the covers, I smiled. Reaching inside my pillowcase, I felt the soft flannel of my boyfriend's shirt.

My mom stuck her head in…

The hut was stifling. Sweat dripped down my back. Still the natives paraded their woes before me like peasants before a King. At least I was in the shade and still alive. The cannibals on this island eat anything that is not useful, or more useful as food…

(Blame the rum). God damn, I dreamed that I swallowed a pin. And the point took my throat and my voice all at once. And I lay in my bed as my own brother hammered out my brains. And the blood made the walls the sweet colour of Autumn, and abuse, and ali…

The alleyway was narrow and stank like shit.

Nat wasn't looking forward to meeting Seth. The animosity between them had grown lately. Perhaps her curiosity was to blame. Perhaps she asked too many questions. But he had always encouraged inquisitiveness. …

I was wishing for October today:

Summer heat in the crooks of my arms;

On my cheeks and my neck,

And the weight of long evenings heavy

In my hammering head.

I longed for the cool of the Autumn time,

For the turning leaves and their crispness

Beneath my b…

"How do you know if you like someone?"

The question hung in the seven-hundred mile space between us. Even though it was almost three in the morning, I turned the question over and over in my mind. The first couple of answers were almost trite in their …

I feel it building again. It begins as a whisper, a fleeting vision, a smell. I begin to think fondly of the ocean, a fun city, or a winding road through a gorgeous forest.

Then comes the envisioning of taking photographs, documenting the adventure fore…

"Popcorn!" she announced, hurdling over the back of the couch, microwave bag securing the salty, buttery snack from spillage. She landed next to me.

"Ready?"

"If you insist," she sighed and pulled open the top of the bag.

"Star Wars is a classic and yo…

Mom left for work. Sienna rode her bike to band practice. Me alone, left to read my book, do the dishes, then call on the neighbor boy to play.

Ha. Any other day, I'd be happy to boss Jeremy around in a game of pretend until he got bored and started hit…

We marched with triumphant certainty to the chain linked fence's gate. Mark went first, stepping on to the latch and sliding up and over before dropping down to the other side.

“See, it's easy.”

My eyes fell on the No Trespassing sign and all of a sudde…

He can see her there, standing just on the other side of the glass. She's next to him, of course, there but not here. He can reach out with a hand and touch her shoulder. She smiles at him. Warm. Affectionate. But also sad. Because he is not truly there. …

The wind gusted across the dusty peak, nearly blowing Zachariah off his feet. He pulled his weathered duster closer around him, pulled his hat down further over his eyes in an attempt to keep debris out of his eyes.

The townsmen had said the climb would …

"You can't!"

I lost touch of the page, stumbled as though from a great fall. The assorted people in the room stared at me as though I appeared out of thin air. Picking myself up, I met their eyes, pleading, "You can't go by any name you've had through you…

I had cut through Liddell Park on my way to my girlfriend's flat. It wasn't the first time I'd tried to save time this way. Above the rounded tops of the trees, the summer sky was filled with wispy clouds like a cotton ball being stretched thin across the…