Old walls, sunk deep into the earth, slick with moisture and trimmed in dripping weblike vines, rose well above toward a sky of flat white. Two halls of this kind met, creating a cross of light overhead. The floor was long lost beneath brackish brown wate…

Boots first, Hable inched down toward the hatch, keeping his legs wrapped in a firm grip around the rope. It was bright again now that they had cleared the shade of the midrock. He ignored the rapidly growing view of Ambiter as they began to pick up desce…

His heart stopped. Both Ambiter and Decceter were emblazoned at a crazy angle upon his mind in the second of totally unobstructed view his eyes were given. The sky, deep blue and littered with clouds above both lands, felt like a yawning abyss.

Then every…

"Haul up!" Hable ordered. The man at the column obeyed instantly.

"What in gods name are you doing?" Pol's voice screamed through the line. "We'll miss!"

There was no time to explain. At the nose of the box, Pol would only see their trajectory alter, but …

I wanted to say yes

to the invitation to dinner

to the offer of company

to the slanted smile in your eyebrows

.

I wanted to say yes

to your desire for my body

the hunger in your eyes

and the scorching seduction of your skin

.

but I keep saying no

I keep c…

He resists the voices, even as they wrap around him. He fights but is soon overwhelmed. There are simply too many of them. He feels them clawing at his mind, dragging at his psyche, pulling him down into unknown depths -- and suddenly he is very afraid.

…

Ring "Hello."

"Hey, what's up?"

"Glad you called. sigh Nothing much."

"You sound like something is up."

pause

"I wanna say I'm sorry if I was too overbearing."

"Overbearing?"

"If anything I texted or emailed left room for misinterpretation. S…

He dips his finger into the smoke, and it clings to his flesh like tar, even as tatters billow up and swirl around his hand. He lifts his hand to his face once more, inhaling the smoke in one long stream. He leans back, head tilted upward, euphoria making…

The cabin really began to shake. Several of the crew shouted in alarm. Hable slacked his jaw to keep his teeth from rattling.

"What-"

Pol's voice drowned beneath an immediate snapping that ripped through the air like a saw. Several concussive sounds burst…

I think I've figured it out.

Why I've been so blazé about work. It's not that the students need a break and they've shut down for the rest of the year. It's me. I'm not trying to be a super teacher these last few weeks. Not days, no, weeks.

I'm the o…

"You're so hard to get a hold of!"

"I've been busy. But I haven't forgotten you."

"When you keep changing your hours at work, people have to adjust their times to call you. I swear your phone was busy for hours! I bet you were swamped with calls once th…

She mourned him. Not even the real him. She mourned the loss of the fantasy she'd made of him.

In her dreams he said all the right things, had all the right moves, shared the same jokes, had the cutest smile and softest touch. She happily stayed in bed …

He licks his lips in anticipation, ignoring the searing pain of his torn tongue and the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. Carefully he reaches forward with both hands and takes hold of the box, gripping the top four corners between his thumbs and foref…

Often, Penny wished she could go back in time. Quite often.

She felt like her life had become a bit of a mess.

She hadn't left the apartment in a few weeks. She hadn't showered in a month. Most of the time she found that she just laid in bed and stared …

I talked to my boyfriend about my feelings of jealousy for my best friend's relationship.

"I get that you are protective of him. You've been really close for a long time."

"We were close, then we got together. It's all I know. It's a pattern, one that …

He wastes no time. Already the moonlight has crept across the box, and if he misses this opportunity, it will be weeks before another presents itself.

He slips his tongue between his teeth -- and bites down, hard, severing the flesh. He takes the torn ti…

It is night now, and moonlight pours through the one open window in the room. The moon outside is full, the light it casts bright and rich. Almost the moonbeam reaches the table. Almost it reaches the box. The moment he has been waiting for has very nearl…

The box rests on a small, round table, perfectly centered on its rough surface. The man who purchased it stands across the room, leaning with one shoulder against the wall, staring at the box without really seeing it, lost in contemplation. Before him lie…

I changed in the years of my exile, and though no one in the streets recognized me beneath the beard and rough clothes, I had found my home with little effort. Heavy leather gloves with large stitching were the only reason I made it inside the gates. Ever…

I'm spiraling. Spiraling down.

I don't know what is at the bottom and I don't care.

I relax into the current trying to hold me up. I close my eyes and feel weightless as long as I ignore the sting of rushing air on my skin and the strain of fabric pull…

Marcy was dark. Not just dark, but a shade of black that was blacker than any shade of black that you could possibly dream up. She played bass guitar too. Well. Which was part of her charm. Part of the immense and dark charm that she had. She exuded it on…

Tonight will be the last night that the village of Los Santos sits by and lets the devil of the forest take anymore of our livestock.

We banded together against the creature.

What creature? We didn't know. Something was out there though. Something vicio…

The ooze reached the overall max limit for the container.

It could no longer be contained and I didn't know what to do next.

This could be a disaster in the making or a great scientific discovery or neither or both at the same time.

It was the luck of …

The leaves reminded me of fall and fall reminded me of those homecoming football games.

Not just the football games, which don't get me wrong, I loved, but playing in the marching band was an amazing bout of camaraderie among all the instrument playing m…

You ever get that feeling when you are talking to some one and you know that your fly is down but you but you also know you aren't wearing pants?

That was a common theme in my dreams as of late. That feeling of knowing, but also knowing something further…