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 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 …

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 …

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…

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…

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.

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

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

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 …

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’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…

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…

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…

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…

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 …

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…

"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…

“Have you heard the army is coming?” The mouseman began to panic. He grabbed the woven grass hat on his head and squatted down, ready to sprint back to his cart and his family.

“No, have you?”

“I did spy a patrolmouse. He was headed for the perimeter. Had…

"Pokemon cards?"

"Check!"

"Vodka tonic?"

"Check!"

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…

To dream such dreams,

to banish despair with the conjured light of face and form,

drawn perfectly from decades ago--

such is the magic of faerie wings and moon beams.

In that twisting and infinite moment,

perhaps a reflection of what was in another time …

"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 tone sounded for break. I slumped into a chair with my coffee. Sipping it as it cooled, I noticed that I was not joined by any coworkers. Was there a staff meeting?

The door opened. I watched with interest, but it was only the postman.

"This needs a…

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…

Sadie rolled her eyes at the wizard's theatrics, depositing her assault rifle on the table before slumping into a chair. This had been a nice house once, presumably housing a hard-working and respectable family. Now the upper floor had been partially blow…

"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.

…