Suspects entered the building at 10:19. We arrived twelve minutes later...

"It's locked!", said Matt Quyen as he gingerly tried the office doors.

"Move away from the glass," said the team leader, "We're going to smash it." The squad backed up as the cap…

Unregistered college graduates drink through a discussion on the possibility of fewer student loans

-

Overworked parents scoff at the idea of paternity leave and cheaper child care

-

A dusty ballot woolgathers at the bottom of stack of medical bills

-

Why…

Heading to Starbucks for some writing, I turned on to Fernando Valley Road. It was one of those four lane roads where the city speed limit is upped to fifty. Across the median, I saw an old man on foot. Behind him a blue van sat defeated on the shoulder. …

Roll, Roll, ROLL down the hill

'how far along are we?' Asked a small voice in his cart.

'about a mile.' The farmer answers.

Oh no! a road block!

'Just where do you think you're going in such a hurry,' Says the guard.

'Escaping the city! The army is coming…

If only, if only, the broken mom cries

You chose to look up and not text while you drive

My shattered bones ache, but my heart always screams

My time with my daughter now locked in my dreams

-

Beware the invincible, foolish, and young

Their mistakes are s…

It feels like hatching.

Closing my eyes and letting the words flow from my fingers like they once did is terrifying, but some part of me is starving and certain that the alternative means death. My creativity is at stake.

I'm answering the call of a 9-…

King Cynric looked down on the three men kneeling before him. "Arran, former head of my father's guard." Arran looked up, his expression showing open contempt for the man before him.

"You and your co-conspirators are guilty of the murder of my father, yo…

Story is marked as mature

HOW FITTING TO BLEED HERE

TO COME HERE IN DRUNKEN STUPOR

ONLY THE FINEST OF INK TO

NARRATE THIS PATHETIC STORY

~

So this is my story? Fine then. It starts here.

A young man sits cross-legged with elbows on his knees, hunched over a tiny lined book…

He knew it was coming for some time, but was not expecting the email when it arrived in the inbox the previous night. Once he found out, he let the idea sink in for a day, then fully faced it in conversation with his older brother, who is cautiously hopef…

I am so mad right now. So freaking flipping wawbsqeeaqs-ing MAD. Laughably mad. Like, I want to scream-and-punch-something mad.

And the best part is I can't tell anyone. How the heck is that even remotely fair? And I really want to curse cuz I'm so mad. …

Younger me was a stronger me, I think. There is a determination, I have always suspected, to convince oneself that the passage of time has given at least as much as it has taken away - youth for wisdom, for example. Naivete for experience, perhaps.

But i…

There were things we worshiped before the new gods. Things of the dirt. Things of the dark. Things that moved and swarmed and crawled in the spaces beneath our feet. We feared them, even as they ignored us. To them, we were the worms. And less than worm…

Cerian was silent while the coach spun silently towards the dock structures. She was pale and expressionless, and watched me carefully as I wiped off the knife.

"So this is who you are, now."

I sensed the many layers to this not-quite-statement, and hes…

Story is marked as mature

My high school art room seems a bit different. I'm not sure if it's just me or if the kilns aren't in the proper place.

I've got something in front of me that I'm supposed to eat. It sort of looks like a thing of Dunkaroos where you dip something into so…

"What's this ring about?" he rounded on me with accusation, hurt, and anger in his eyes.

"This is a promise ring."

"Promise!? You took VOWS to be my wife!"

Patiently, and without fear, I patted to the cushion next to me. He sat, but his hands shook. "List…

He came in with a haunted look in his eyes. A fine suit hung from his frame, slightly threadbare but still lending an air of battered elegance. His gaze caught on the shelves full of jars, clinking gently against each other despite the utter absence of an…

I can't stop feeling her face.

Not seeing, feeling. We were so close so often that the shape of her face against mine took on more meaning. The impression derails me during work hours, plagues me at night.

Today I couldn't handle that memory, so I picked …

Remember that mask?

Maybe you started wearing it for protection.

You wanted to fit in.

You were afraid that people wouldn't accept you.

You wouldn't accept you.

.

At first you only wear it when you have to,

Like armor before heading off to battle.

A short…

The door bell rang. Again. God damned kids, he thought. Nothing better to do than disturb descent people and beg for candy.

He stomped to the door, and, just before opening it, put on his most pleasant face. The one he usually reserved for suckers...…

Story is marked as mature

The sea and sky have been entwined all day,

Both a pale granite grey.

A flat calm - clouds in the ripples and ripples in the clouds.

Now it's dark, and the distant ship lights look like stars.

Whispering, whispering, always whispering. Inseparable pair, sharing secrets, tales, complaints. They don't want me to hear. Why? Is it about me?

I shouldn't try to listen. I shouldn't let it bother me. I can do things how I want, disregard, disregard th…

Do you honestly think you know

Where all your "secrets" go?

Have you realized this silence

Is just for show?

Now hear my prediction

Don't be surprised when

Your icicle words

Swing back like swords

The whispers are behind your back

Voices on the attack

G…