We called them Blackbirds, after the queens of speed from another age. Beautiful machines, though you have to become slightly detached from the numbers to fly them. At the cruise phase, they fly at 0.9C - ninety percent of the speed of light.

Incompreh…

Has your mind ever been so loud in thoughts, that when something makes you stop thinking.. you realize how deadly silent the air around you actually was? That's how I felt today.

Silence

I never realized how busy my mind was- whether in lists of to-dos,…

I burn my old poetry.

My shame is hotter than the fire.

I think:

You cannot cut down a tree and leave the earth empty.

You cannot cut down a tree and not plant a new seed.

You wake to the shivers of dreaming, cold sweats and stifling, suffocating, scratching sheets.

Torn into reality like paper.

It leaks through the holes like static, influences and misdirects, reality as uncomfortable as the humidity soaking through st…

A child. Barely out of diapers. He stands stock still on the busy sidewalk as hundreds of grown-ups walk quickly past him.

The child stoops, plucking a key from a crack in the sidewalk, even though the crack isn't nearly large enough to accommodate such …

I waited in line for at least ten minutes to get my coffee that morning. I knew I'd be late to class, but it was worth it. As I got to the counter, I spewed out my lengthy order.

"Venti salted caramel mocha latte with soy milk and an extra shot of espres…

The rippling shockwaves and blinding detonations battering at their senses were in turn briefly overcome by the new and incredible din of piston engines starting up somewhere above. Mornington riffled through his knowledge of the Navy's carriers: this had…

Abandoning my sandwich yet again, I dialed 911. "Sir? Are you okay?" I emerged from behind the counter as the operator picked up. "911, what's your emergency?"

"I need an ambulance at Rotten Tomato's souvenir shop on Presley."

"What is the nature of the…

I've lost myself again.

This is not how I pictured my life would be.

These moments when I am supposed to be in control are careening out of my grasp. It's not a wild ride, either. It's like a slow plummet. You can see exactly how it will happen and the…

Ass-whupped? Me? You should've seen Tiffany!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Liz Redmont needed a new start.

She decided this, while staring down the donut-shaped puddle at the bottom of her coffee mug.

It had been less than two weeks, since Emily had broken her heart. A week since she'd moved out, leaving Liz behind in an apar…

The Classy Lady parks itself in a synchronous orbit above the asteroid Berger-Behregen before waking and decanting the crew. The ship locates and contacts the telemetry beacon planted in the surface of the rock while the members of the crew shake off th…

Jimmy set his lunch down on the break table and plopped down in a chair, heaving a huge sigh.

"Man, what a day," he said, picking up his sandwich and taking a bite.

"Uh..." Frank said, looking at Jimmy then glancing quickly away to catch Seth's eye, sha…

Despite the stench of unwashed reptile, I could smell the newcomer. He paused at the sound of my footsteps as I approached.

"Cara? I'm here to take you home."

My hero I thought sarcastically.

"I have a new home now," I answered. I could sense him rel…

They found him on the doorstep of a cold and gray human establishment and thought that no, this child did not belong in such a place. This child was not human. He was like them, with energy quivering just below the surface.

They took him away, blanket …

There was a still silence. Orthael exhaled with a still patience, keeping Varenniel's presence with the same careful grip he used with Judgement: firm yet loose, secure without being crushing. It was exhilarating, to wield power that was beyond men.

Eno…

"That makes three..." An exhausted smile on my face as the chalk screeches another tally mark onto the chalkboard.

This superhero work takes so much more out of you than I realized it would.

My restoration chamber is beginning to look more and more like…

Richard stood at the stern of the ship, looking longingly back toward England. He had really hoped to extend his tour of the continent but the untimely death of his father dictated otherwise. His memories of the rough eastward crossing a scant month earli…

"I hope this is worth it."

I finished the last rune on the page and looked up at Katy. Like the other Necromancy undergrads she wore traditional-looking heavy black dress robes. Unlike the pasty-faced teenagers of her year, though, she made it look good…

The name given to the ship of Gwen and Bass is The Sound of Silence. In drawing the picture, I took inspiration from the Simon and Garfunkel song, and from the story of Sleepless Domain

The Inner Barrier is from the night that Alchemical met the ele…

I’m waiting for the G-train heading to Church Ave. I’m smirking and laughing to myself and clutching my bag in my right hand, the day’s value existing in self-discovery and comic books.

He took the G-train heading towards Court Sq. I watched it disappear…

"Pokemon cards?"

"Check!"

"Vodka tonic?"

"Check!"

"Do you understand?"

I needed them to understand, all of them. This was my life, my reality, the real me with my real feelings. Vulnerability made my eyes red and wet and clogged my nose and throat. There was nothing more to be said.

They said nothing.

…

The opening was busy but dull for Felicity. Her sisters passively told her she was in the way and eventually, instead of trying to help, she sat on the curb outside the shop. Sultana plopped down next to her on the scorched sidewalk.

"Heya. They knock ya …

I clung to the IDEA of him for so long, that when it seemed my dream was coming true, it really wasn’t. He was finally here where I could see and hear, and yet things weren’t exactly the way I wanted it to be. I could not touch him.

At first, I was happ…