Just one more choice and destiny is yours. The universe whispered like she might hear.

When Kimber emerged from the employee lounge she was wearing her apron stocked with straws, stirrers and napkins. She got too many looks with her hair down, but bett…

Sadie nodded at Gulmar, but her instincts were still fired. She turned - and threw herself backwards to avoid being hit by the wide sweep of a massive sickle-like weapon that she identified as a khopesh as she landed and rolled to avoid being trampled.

A…

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…

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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…

Behind the counter, a serious faced Jin watched them while he used his apron to wipe his hands. She needed to finish her business here before he called a street team to investigate. She didn't want to tangle with them. The violent thugs thinly disguised a…

The Old Man, holding his gaze on the computer screen, raised his hand and curled his finger. Come.

Vargas didn't need to be told twice, but he hesitated nonetheless. Is this a trap? he wondered.

He steeled his nerves and brought forth the briefcase. "…

Last year I wrote an essay on edible fish; during a performance of an Elizabethan play this evening, I suddenly got the news that I had won a huge award for my Cod piece!

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-…

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Story is marked as mature

Marcos massaged his temple with a thick thumb. "Good party last night."

I offered him some of my Water Plus. "You never know which one will be your last."

He didn't grimace or laugh, just nodded as he accepted my canteen. He knew the stakes. We all did.…

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 …

Power hummed through Rahmi's veins. Each pull of the thread brought a fresh surge of energy that threatened to break her concentration.

This time, she told herself. This time, she would not fail. This time, she swore it, and she would swear it again and a…

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…

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…

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…

I'm spiraling. Spiraling down.

I don't know what is at the bottom and I don't care.

I relax into the current trying to hold me up. I close my eyes and feel weightless as long as I ignore the sting of rushing air on my skin and the strain of fabric pull…

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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. …

The child sits at the base of the tree, silently weeping. Her arms are crossed over her upraised knees, her face buried in her arms. Tears fall from her cheeks, staining her pants and the soil on which she sits. A few even land on the tree roots.

A gentl…

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…

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