"So, my intrepid friend. I think I'm quite ready for another adventure. Care to follow me once more down the rabbit hole?" Phoebe asked her friend across the table. She watched over the rim of her glass as Casey downed her fourth ale of the night.

Casey …

"Popcorn!" she announced, hurdling over the back of the couch, microwave bag securing the salty, buttery snack from spillage. She landed next to me.

"Ready?"

"If you insist," she sighed and pulled open the top of the bag.

"Star Wars is a classic and yo…

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…

An adolescent boy, nude but for a spotlessly white loincloth. Great feathered wings sprout from his shoulder blades, so perfectly clean and glorious that anyone who saw them would be instantly blinded. But of course there are none who can.

He stands in t…

Mary had a little lamb

Its heart was black as coal.

And everywhere that Mary went,

It swallowed children's souls.

It followed her to school one day,

At which it ate its fill.

The teacher cried as children died.

It savoured every kill.

A bell rang in the distance, and Malika rose from her cot, plucking Morduth up from where it lay beside her. She knew the sound of that bell because she had heard it regularly most of her life. This was not quite like the bell in her village, though. The …

Hurrying to the bathroom, I felt like I was going to burst. I prayed that no one was in it and reached for the handle. It was open. I locked it and rushed to the toilet, dropping my pants as I did so.

I had to bending down to raise the seat up. My face…

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 …

Story is marked as mature

The two fighters were clumsy. They didn't know that before but they knew it now. Winning a fight was something they'd both taken for granted. With size and power on their side, they hadn't bothered to learn finesse. Mastering a fighting style took time an…

They had taken the light. All lights everywhere were gone. First the stars winked out one by one. Then the Sun grew dark before vanishing. Without the Sun there was no moon. It was probably still out there in that deep darkness but we couldn't see it.

We…

Astarlane stood lazily, as if the sudden appearance of an elf from the aristocratic line of the Firsts was of little consequence.

"Why is he here?"

Sadie fixed her with a stare.

"Desperate times, desperate measures. We can't get through fast enough or …

He wastes no time. Already the moonlight has crept across the box, and if he misses this opportunity, it will be weeks before another presents itself.

He slips his tongue between his teeth -- and bites down, hard, severing the flesh. He takes the torn ti…

I lay in the bed craving sleep. Even though I’d gone to bed at midnight, I’d woken up dozens of times, turning over and over, back and forth, continually searching for comfort that teased me. I felt groggy and gross. My body felt heavy as stone. I wanted …

Story is marked as mature

I keep only one mirror in the house and I'm not entirely sure why. I should have destroyed it when I destroyed all the others. It's an antique hand mirror that's been in the family for four or five generations at least. Perhaps I value that link to my pas…

'Why are we here?'

'I dunno'

................................

Sadie watched Tenever trudge upstairs, spreading a collection of maps and notebooks across the dining table. Astarlane's grindstone faded into the background while she carried out the convoluted process of making a best guess at the next day's route.

Haz…

You reach the landing for the second floor. The fire is building up higher. If you stay here, it'll surely reach you soon. But you're not a fool!

You go into the hallway just outside the landing.

Aery Bergun was a soaring construction braced against two sides of a narrow canyon. An arch constructed out of huge lumber spars spanned and supported the width of the Aery, which looked more and more precarious as the Silver Skies made its approach.

I…

Coffee collects on the tongue. Fingers press the tired eyes; their hand slides over the nose and onto the cheek. Digits extend over one eye, the other eye opens.

Attempting to Establish Connection to Remote System

A swallow. Status grids; motionless, …

Story is marked as mature

The light cleared, and Malika was momentarily blind. Then, she looked to Orthael, uncomprehending, only to see the wizened old man looking confused and unsettled. His sword had been extinguished completely, and he stood as one who had just been betrayed.

…

She had a flicker of sadness as her ship pulled away from Lorentz Station.

She didn't pay it much mind though as the adventure ahead was far greater than anything she could have imagined: A posting on the USS Elena Pitjeva. It was the first Orion class s…

You don't run from police, not even drones. They also do a comprehensive body scan, so I had no choice but to stash the chip with Acrylic's memory. Faking tying my shoe, I furiously dug a little hole with the key and buried both in the sandy soil beside t…