She was one of those monster people Ruta had heard of. She'd never actually seen one. She prepared an arrow and let it fly, but the small girl easily dodged.

Ruta shot several more arrows, but the girl dodged them, too. "Just let me hit you, you stupid th…

I sat hunched over my glass of whiskey. It was a double. It had to be. No other amount would do.

She was out of my life. I wished her well, but I couldn't help but worry for her, a person I felt so deeply for.

I mourned her as if she were dead.

I lifte…

I lay down for bed and turn out the lamp, but I still can't sleep. It's the light behind my eyes that keeps me awake. The room may be pitch black, I may cover my eyes, squeeze them shut as tight as I can. It doesn't matter. There's still that light behind…

He gently shook his canteen and judged that the water might last until perhaps sundown. If he didn't find a creek soon, tonight would be dry and tomorrow would be more difficult than usual. He took a small sip of tepid water, then closed the canteen tight…

Story is marked as mature

The professor drew deeply on his cigarette: the tip burned brightly in the semi-darkness. He seemed to be lost in thought for long moments, but eventually gave something between a long exhale and a weary sigh. Smoke obscured the space between them before …

Some love a challenge; others choose

To wield a tool that's quick to use.

But as for me, I want a prompt,

Some sylvan glade where no one's romped

Before--a snowy field to mark up

And love the night, then give the dark up.

I shun the the less-resistant r…

I ran through the tunnels, following the sounds of your laughter as they bounced off the walls around me. The shape of the tunnels played tricks on my ears -- every time I thought I was close to catching you, I turned a corner to find you were no longer t…

It wouldn't stay on.

I tried several different sized of bandage but no matter what, after moments, it would detach on one side and I wouldn't be able to get it to stick again.

It taunted me. I couldn't help but pay attention to the nuisance either becau…

I raised my glass of Southern Comfort to the lone cupcake. "Cheers."

The whiskey was sweet and warm but didn't sit right in my stomach. Groaning, I set the glass back on the stained table, which was sad and bare except for the cupcake and the whiskey.

M…

It was a beautiful night. The power was out on our block, so I had a gorgeous view of the Milky Way. Our Husky, Demetria, decided that the middle of the yard would be a wonderful place to howl at the moon. I expected that our neighbour, ever the one to lo…

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 …

If there is a God above

If there’s a being filled with love

If there’s a master of my fate

If there’s a devil fueled with hate

If there’s a battle raging on

'Twixt angels and demons, eons long

If there’s a heaven and a hell

If there’s a coming judgement k…

Malika did not bow her head. So far as she was concerned, faith had failed her. Her eyes had been on the holy man, his vestments - tattered as they were - and on the implements of his office. And so she saw the candle of Varenniel puff out of its own ac…

After lasagna and a nice night with my boyfriend, I had a chat with my best friend. He spared me the details of his recent weekend getaway. All of his sentences began with 'I' instead of 'we'. I found that interesting. He'd mention her name, but it was in…

Nine-year-old Timothy Lane sits on the edge of his bed trying not to look at his closet. The room is dark, but that yawning portal is darker and more terrifying to Timothy than anything else. He twists his hands in his lap, trying to find the courage to w…

I'll get to the point yea, right away

I'm having trouble handling my life today

I've been ridiculed, mocked, and I've been clocked

And I have no defense, my senses locked

I've been disrespected, my pride is all infected

The world in online life reflected

…

Story is marked as mature

I just had an image for a series of co-written stories, just for the experience and the cameraderie: one person writes an opening story; another person writes a sequel to it. Then either a new writer or the first one writes a PREquel to the 2nd writer's s…

The wind played in her hair and whistled through the grass. The cool water lapped gently at her feet, a welcome reprieve after walking all the way here. The sun shone down on her, wrapping all in its warm embrace.

Faintly in the distance, she could hear …

She promised she'd meet me here. It was our favorite place in all the world and it had the benefit of being a place that no one would think to look for us: a small cafe named "Kis Nyúl" in the remote town of Zics, Hungary. Nothing about our separate and s…

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 …

Dr Geld did what he could for them in his primitive surgery - little more than a crack in the rock, furnished with the few bits of medikit salvaged from the lander. Another sand storm - elemental, yet not impersonal. Only a fool could now maintain that th…

Grims surveyed the horizon moving only his eyes. He held a long butted rifle against his shoulder, barrel hot enough to warm the air near his neck. Nothing moved. The jamperscamps and mooncats had vanished at the sound of the first shot. In the ruddiness …

Mother screamed as an angry cantaloupe chased her through the produce section of Walter’s Grocery Store. A few feet away, a horde of vine ripened tomatoes gnawed at the ankle of a little, old lady, while a head of kale viciously assaulted a dread locked …