The disaster happened. What I feared the most, really occurred. I lost it all, all I wanted to keep, and all the things that scared me the most were right with me to rip me asunder.

And they left me for dead. No, not for dead, but for finished. Nearly r…

We were stopped at the huge dockyards where wooden crates lay waiting to leave on outbound airships. Three men, wearing the royal hawk on their jackets. One respectfully bowed as Cerian lowered the window.

"We're sorry to trouble you, ma'am, but there ha…

My words made me a puppet in your eyes

And though I cannot say as much

The truth is not as such

It comes as no

Surprise

You sorrow for the lie that I believe

Has now misplaced what I made clear

Why I could not stay here

And why I had

To leave

And what y…

There is a kind of self loathing that exists beyond the burn of violent hatred and far from spineless apathy, that rests solidly on what can only be described as having become despicable in my own eyes.

It is one of the worst sensations I have ever experi…

Old walls, sunk deep into the earth, slick with moisture and trimmed in dripping weblike vines, rose well above toward a sky of flat white. Two halls of this kind met, creating a cross of light overhead. The floor was long lost beneath brackish brown wate…

Outside the diner, the dark concrete of the city cast deep shadows in the rain that seemed to cut through, corral, and dull the already wan lights that did nothing to keep the night at bay. I couldn't help but wonder when those black towers would collapse…

I think I've figured it out.

Why I've been so blazé about work. It's not that the students need a break and they've shut down for the rest of the year. It's me. I'm not trying to be a super teacher these last few weeks. Not days, no, weeks.

I'm the o…

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It is night now, and moonlight pours through the one open window in the room. The moon outside is full, the light it casts bright and rich. Almost the moonbeam reaches the table. Almost it reaches the box. The moment he has been waiting for has very nearl…

The fat man moved suddenly, standing up and ducking forward to release her hold while throwing his unfinished noodles over his shoulder. Even as the contents of the bowl splattered against her chest, her hand closed reflexively, no longer on his neck but …

Story is marked as mature

Strong's cat roamed their rented studio office space like he owned the place. Sarah found the matted fur ball curled on top of her desk, arrogant tail thwacking the keyboard of her laptop hard and steady, like a Sousa march.

"What, are you composing the…

Everything seemed to happen at once. Stella lived at two speeds simultaneously. In what felt like it should have taken only a second or two, the moon sprang upon her back and spread out like an effulgent tarpaulin, pressing her skin into the pricking fenc…

Captain's log, ship's day 8482

I, Fleance Conor Norton, hereby assume command of the generation ship Hope. Let the record state that Captain Kettering performed his duties with dignity and honor, and willingly surrendered himself to the recyclers. Ther…

The hidden thing inside the pipe twisted, thrusting deeper, spewing waxy slivers of ice in its wake – a fixed point around which their world revolved.

“It can’t be stopped,” he stated.

“How much further?” asked Srinin.

“A few hundred metres; a few …

He lifted his head, unscrewed the top of the whiskey and took a big swig of it, holding it in his mouth for a moment to savor the taste that only good whiskey can provide before swallowing it in an attempt to make the girl disappear.

"I'm not going anywh…

"You drink too much" she said to him. "Or not enough. I guess it depends on what you are going for."

"I'm going for the 'forgetting my misery'" he said with a sigh.

"What you need to do is write more. Especially if you are drinking. All the great writin…

I don’t know when I stopped

the daily painting of my face

On a Monday?

Maybe a Sunday

or some other day between

-

It could have been deliberate

an attempt to feel more proud

But it's most likely I was exhausted

and my teenage fears just weren’t as loud

-…

“In the event of a gravitational storm, please return to your seat and buckle your restraints as demonstrated by the hologram in front of you. In the case of decompression..”

I tuned out the flight attendant. I'd taken this trip many times recently as bo…

(Temporarily taken down as it is part of a school assignment, I'll put it back later)

Pandemics have wreaked havoc throughout human history. In the 14th century the bubonic plague, or “Black Death”, killed an estimated 30-60% of Europe’s population. Close to one hundred million people died of the disease. According to the Italian poet B…

This is stupid.

It's stupid to get upset, to feel so left out and stood up when you ask me a question, I deliver, I ask one back, and never get a response. It's how you do things.

I can't count the amount of times I've forgiven you for leaving me hangi…

The old men say that singing the fidjeri makes one go blind, but what can I do? I am al naham on a pearl ship and it is my job to sing while stronger men risk their lives diving beneath the surface of the coastal waters. The hours are long and the days …

Months went by,

Since she left the only way of life she's ever known,

Simple life, hard life, workers' life,

City life she now knows.

Spruced up her wardrobe,

With 15 hour works days,

Not much better than before,

But the energy here- it keeps here alive.

…

Her family. Her friends. The reasons she hadn't given up yet. They'd all be hurt if she didn't succeed.

Or worse.

She had to.

She pulled on her magic and focused.

...

She'd done it, sure, but it took her too long to figure it out. She couldn't br…