Story is marked as mature

He pushed the door open and stepped in without ceremony. There wasn't much to see - a dusty cloak, warm and practical. Nice boots, made well and well worn. The shape of a weapon underneath as his cloak slid back.

But that wasn't what caught my attention.…

There wasn't much chatter to interrupt, nor people to stare, when I brushed the door open. This far out on the trail, there weren't many people left who could afford a night's stay.

I chose a quiet corner and waited for the barmaid to come over. Her eyes…

The RD does not make menu plans,

She will not take your carbs away.

She cannot make you lose weight,

For that, only you have a say.

No, there is no magic pill,

Not for shedding pounds.

It's all about the diet and exercise,

As awful as that sounds.

The…

The day, like the night, was cold and dark. After breakfast, I took two mugs of steaming coffee out to the bridge and shared one with the officer on bridge watch. Thick cloud gathered threateningly in the skies above us, and the barometer was still fallin…

We talked every night. We wrote letters. The distance never diminished our love for each other. We had it all figured out.

I flew out to see you on Valentine's day. You baked me a cake for my birthday. We had Thanksgiving dinner with your family. …

Despite the term safety, safety glass still stings when shards of it hit you. I wished I had my duster to protect me, but it was in a crate labeled with my name and new inmate number. Before the last bits had rained down on the floor, a familiar voice boo…

I stared at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep. The bench/cot…thing I was lying on was built of brushed steel and the padding was torn up. The holding cell wasn't much better—the front wall was constructed entirely out of reinforced glass, and the sterile, off…

The lilacs blow along the banks

Not far from barrels, tubs, and tanks

They wave so gently in the breeze

And thrive beneath the wasted trees

Where honeybees so seldom buzz

And dinosaurs remain, because

In vanished aeons they got stuck

In pools of noxious, …

Well the new pickles of the litter got along great with me, we played tag and price and code and dead and then we all bundled up in our garters and gilt and glit and flit and kilt and were in the bin of shipping in a nonce.

The dear improprietor of me got…

Dear Dairy,

Today was an awesome day! !

You know that carton of pickles in the back of our fridge, the one on the roof? Well I was gnawing on the wrapper this morning when I finally broke through the plastic frieze packaging and got a mouthful of brine. …

The blank page stares at me. I have to write something. Anything! I promised myself that I would do it. Maybe someday the things I write will be coherent again. For now, they're just something to make sure I hold myself to my promise to write again.

…

It's one of those mornings--an anything-is-better-than-pretending-to-sleep-while-I-actually-just-worry sort of morning.

It's the third morning of its kind this week. I'll be into work two hours early. Again.

I've flipped through the radio stations, a…

But no, I’ll stumble on, on trembling legs,

In hopes this seething street leads me to rest,

And drink this cup of potion to the dregs–

For sustenance or death–whatever’s best.

-

Oh, do I trudge on my, or God’s, volition?

There’s little in this that I w…

The end I seek, I cannot see from here

I do not know exactly what I’ll find

Or even if I can suppress my fear

To persevere through storms within my mind

-

I started this progression far too late,

Had spent most of my energy before

I realized my sat, unste…

The calendar says today is the first day of fall. The pumpkin candle in my office says that leaves will soon turn orange and red. Pumpkins will be carved. Sweaters will be worn. The temperature will drop. The world will become cozy once more.

But as…

Adulthood is a series of ups and downs, or so I've been told. But what I wasn't told is how difficult the transition into this new stage of life can be. Dealing with the pressures of a full time job, a full graduate school schedule, and a sick parent ha…

Lia is, in a word, adorable.

A short wood elf girl, falling just short of 5', posessesed of a slight stature, her hair a deep red, interspersed with feathers of brown and white. Her face is soft, but scarred, and her purple-green eyes, filled with wonder…

I like her nose.

How many times have I said that to myself? It's not the sort of compliment you can hand out. Compliments from strangers are limited to: hair, dress, and nails. Anything that varies from our unspoken rule will screw up your tenuous connec…

I clenched my fingers around the chain link fence, using the thin metal to keep me standing. The wind rattled it rat-tattat-tat. Sluggish dark water moved through the canal below me. Looking through the forest of skyscrapers, I caught a glimpse of the s…

Title: The Spear Not Shaken

.

I know your voice; your words are passing Sweet.

They cloy the throat and summon hordes of Flies

The courtiers consider you a Treat;

They cannot tell veracity from Lies.

-

Oh, Laura! I'd not interrupt your Cours…

...

The cars soon sensed their venerable cable

Was slipping in its grip, as sky turned pitch.

-

The wind began to shriek, the cars to pitch.

The rain prepared to rip them from their height

And from their apathetic, beaten cable

Which shone, revealed, by f…

From peak to lodge, too tightly stretched the cable;

It glinted in the dying light of fall-

Fresh sunset. The lone worker doused the light;

As stars appeared, wind moaned in its deep pitch,

With breath of ice. And in that lofty height,

The string of cars …

Chains, heavy ones from the sound of it, rattled in the basement, undercut by heavy snuffling. I didn't want to go down there but it was the one place we hadn't checked. My imagination conjured horrible beasts and wicked demons in that awful place.

Behin…

I hope that I can find a proper manner

To make new friends and treat them as they’d choose,

So they feel safe and cheerful ‘neath my banner

And not be overwhelmed, creeped out, bemused.

-

I know there’s something wrong, but no one tells

Just where I erred…