Without a magical pumpkin carriage, Cindy knew that the walk to the palace would be long. It would require sensible shoes, boots, most likely.

Closing up the house of her childhood was quick with the help of her mice friends. Years of cleaning it from to…

I stood at the fence around his property. From here I could see inside his two story farmhouse. The dusk meant the lamps inside gave me a clear view of him moving about, lovingly touching his girlfriend as they set the table together and served each other…

To meet our unmet expectations

We will scrape off our old perceptions

to grow shiny new understanding

and expose our ideas to the elemental truths

.

Until they are weathered

and weary

and ready

for the new generation

I used to be a medical technician, until the mass murder. It was a regular Tuesday afternoon, I was having my coffee – two creams – and reading the paper. My job was relatively easy, but my boss always made me strive for more. I snorted into my coffee as …

Grey mist sails past his face, and it is enough to shake him from his reverie. His mind is sluggish, slow, as though he is awakening from a dream. Perhaps he is, but then he has woken into a nightmare.

He looks down at his hands, outstretched before him,…

We pressed our bodies into the wet morning grass. We had spent the night walking around the neighborhood talking about nothing in particular, but now we had fallen in tune with the quiet of the rising sun.

"I adore you," I said, breaking the silence. "Yo…

She turned around and saw the stars. It was a carpet of deep velvet with pinpricks of beautiful light shining above her head. The only sounds were some night birds and the slow ticking of the engine of the car as it cooled down.

This is the place she ca…

Home was so close. Dahlia stumbled down the overgrown path. Lights from nearby houses dripped through the leaves of birch trees and cast eery shadows on the ground, scattered as it was with shards of glass and discarded fast food wrappers. She slurred the…

I still remember her like it was 9 o'clock this morning. She had this new confidence I had never seen before. She knew who she was and what she wanted and I was just happy to be with her, to watch her grow and do the things she wanted.

She was close with…

My eyes looked up from the photograph in my hand. It was of a picnic, the last place we were all together. I was standing in the park, looking at the exact location, a grassy spot beside the pond with the fountain under a tall oak that leaned a bit too fa…

“Don't be so sure of yourself. You killed a man and blew up a building, you did not kill F.A.C.E. Honestly, you did as much as you could have. Impressive work for a pair spies."

Jacqueline felt the familiar punch to the stomach that happened every time s…

I've been gone for far to long

No typing have I done

No stories written, No poems penned

No reading others prose

A year has passed, Life changed for the better

I've moved away from the pain and strife

Back to a place of peaceful rest

Back to the roots o…

"What could be wrong?" she said in a deadpan way that meant she wasn't convinced things were right. "All my needs are met."

"Name them," the voice demanded.

She leaned towards the mirror to apply her face. "A house, food on the table, a car, a family, a…

"What were the specs that didn't work?" asked the purchaser. He turned to gaze out of the high rise window.

"At 2% vectoring and 5% elasticity the data remained firm," my boss began but he was interrupted by the bored purchaser.

"But you found that to b…

I'm heading on a trip soon. I'm trying to be excited about it. I've got Pinterest boards, my suitcase is open and slowly being filled, plane ticket is paid for, nice people waiting for me when I get there... Honestly I should be thrilled!!

But then I get…

It's so frustrating not knowing why things are the way the are. I'm on a familiar street. I think it's my own but it's hard to tell. It looks and feels like I should know it but there is no sense of recognition. It's night time and the street is dark, alm…

The elephants decide to jump

Upon the sofa

bump bump bump

Unfortunate, as I see now

The couch had people

Holy cow!

But never mind, it's time to change

A cheaper one in

My price range

Four hundred dollars more or less

For couch and cousins

What a mess

The …

The kindly earth prepares a home for me

A pleasant home, so soft, with fragrant air!

I nurtured plants and loved my pets, I know

And kept the public lands of litter free--

Perhaps that's why the earth is kind to me.

--

Shall I commune with nature, settlin…

Well hi there.

I was feeling panicked a few days ago, then gathered my strength, then did something brave, and now...

well, the people didn't get the message too clearly, it seems, still sending the same kind of boolsheet

and I don't know what to do about…

You knew each other in school, you were neighbors, but it wasn’t until years later that you become friends. You would meet, make each other laugh, have fun. You needed that in your life; there wasn’t anyone else you could hang out with.

But suddenly he…

The group of three turned the corner slowly, as to not disturb whatever was making the heavy breathing sounds they had heard from down the hall.

"I don't think we woke it..." whispered Lynnia, putting her dagger back in its sheath. "... what is it?"

"Le…

I sat high up on the cliff. The Dragon and his Rider had departed for the day far off over the sea. It was cloudy the air was heavy with moisture. Fog clung to the crags between the sea and my perch above.

That's when it hit me. I'd run deep into the fog…

I took a long drag off my cigarette as we passed a sign saying "insert city" population "insert number."

At this point they all blended together.

I flicked the butt out the window at nothing in particular.

"Nothing in particular" could have been this t…

"I got your message loud and clear."

"What message was that?"

"I keep clinging to the past. I keep thinking about a time when I was what you needed. But I can't move on and join you in the future if I keep looking back."

"I never said any of that."

"N…

The train station and my exit from it was all a blur. Signs, taxis, trucks, people in military uniform, all bustled, honked, and swerved off in a great hurry. With my suitcase handle gripped tightly, my feet wandered, senses overloaded, until I found mys…