The world had disappeared. In the brightness, there was no longer light. In the sound, there was deafness, and in the heat, there was nothing to feel.

Had I lost myself?

I wished for the fog back. At least fear was something. I wished for the wall, some…

A wolf I will claim

yet a dog I became

there was no other way to describe

I did all that you said

as your little pet

ignoring my pride

I lavished affection

at your beck and call begging

for your hand upon my furry hide

At the time I confess

that I love…

Realistically it wasn't going to happen. The lighter dark of the road seemed to go on forever, winding through the greater outer dark of the forest around us. More than anything we were hungry, so hungry it made us weak. Hungry, filthy, and unprotected--t…

"The limes? I thought we were going to try this batch with oranges."

"Oh... right. Sorry."

"Focus, Mitt! We can't afford to make mistakes."

He couldn't help but flick a glance up at her, just as she did the same. A silent exchange, completely deniable …

My heart exploded today

With a pain most exquisite

Like acne under digital pressure

>

The room was not large, and the softly beeping machines seemed to dominate it in ways that were all wrong. I fought against the drugs, knowing it would be the same old memories again, but it was useless. Just like all the struggles that had gone before.

…

I don't sleep with the lights off, anymore.

A little over a year ago, I worked as night security at a psychiatric institute. There was one guy who would freak out if the lights were off. On nights when I was on my own doing a walk-around, I would stop by…

I had folded the last messed up t-shirt in the souvenir shop. No one had come in for at least 30 minutes. It was probably safe to take a lunch break. Since this was my cousin's shop, and he was out doing whatever, there was no other person to relieve me. …

A face cruel and beautiful appeared above us in the bright afternoon sky interrupting our picnic. James and I hadn't had a moment to ourselves for months thanks to a sleep stealing tax audit and the one day when we are nestled against each other like two …

I don't know why I bother

I struggle thrash and flounder

I pitch my tent at Deva Station

They're streaming me the information,

And on the darker side of the stream

I glimpse the ones who made the team

The roots of lilies clutch my feet

My kind of girl has…

He didn't say anything. Really, there wasn't much he could say, not then and certainly not now, standing in his doorway bare to the 3 am chill.

He stepped back into the apartment and lead the way to the kitchen, as if his visitor had forgotten, as if it…

"It's only a scratch." She says, and she stumbles. We both know that's not true, since we both are aware of what a head wound can do.

She inspects him, and I know she's trying to find any claw marks or bites that punctured skin. If the mutants came into …

Lurking in the corner of Michelle's basement, the partygoers gathered in groups all around me. My eyes followed him as he mingled.

"I love that dress!" he said to Sara.

"Hey, the pass you made was awesome, bro!" he called to the quarterback.

He chugge…

Aidra played gently with the necklace she was wearing. A beautiful, raspberry-colored gem made up most of the pendant, held in place by ornately woven strands of silver, a small ring connecting it to a thin silver chain. The boy who'd given it to her said…

Everyone told us that tectonic instability had created the Furrows. Volcanic activity eventually emptied the magma chambers under the crust, sealing the earth and leaving deposits of obsidian everywhere. We could recite those facts like multiplication tab…

"Everett!" He was going to be the death of me, but not before he was the death of himself. "Everett, where did you go?"

"Sasha, chill, I'm over here! Come check it out!"

"Keep talking! I can't tell where you are!" I was looking at a wall of boulders, po…

Her laughter broke the silence. Nervously she looked around, probably hoping no one had heard. She shouldn't have worried, it was, after all, the middle of the night, and normally no one would be out at anyway.

Unfortunately I had also decided to take …

"Do you know War of the Worlds?"

I pulled my eyes off the screen parading footage of the rolling convoy and its cargo of spacecraft. Harlan sipped his coffee. Thunder rumbled in the dark beyond the windows, making the fluorescent lights flicker.

"With the…

I ignored the vibrating cell phone in my pocket. My eyes were still locked in helpless battle with the vixen's golden glamour. She had released my hand with the ring only to take my waist and lead me to an open section near the speakers. I didn't register…

Before I had known her

Before I could see

Before we had met

Before there were three

Before she had run

Before she could tell

All had been good

All had seemed swell

and then...

Clearly I saw it

Surely I could see

It covered her face

The way she smiled…

Sylvester was learning to drive his brand new Model T Ford. His brother in law Harwell was in the passenger's seat, playing tutor, as he had already had his T for months and knew how to work it.

"This pedal, here, Sylvie," Harwell pointed, "is called the…

The mark was a sign of sin. Every person was born with it on the back of one hand. Through generations of living, a book was conceived to describe what actions caused the mark to fade, and which caused it to darken.

The holiest became priests who held the…

Story is marked as mature

the church-turing thesis is inescapable.

any system with the right set of properties is, in principle, a computer.

most don't compute anything useful. uncountable decimal-prefix-unknown-illions of accidental turing machines, embodied in the matter and ene…

Running. For years now, it has seemed that all I have been doing is running. Running from my life, my friends, my family, my job. Finally, a time has come when a break seems almost feasible. Slower and slower I ease up on my pace, until I am all but left …