Forbidden freshness cools beneath the boards

Unwilling hornets sting the burst balloon

And gnaw the captured heirs with sated swords,


Projected slowly into sprightly tune.

It's just as if he'd never left the stage,

The flaccid vaccination of the ill--

W…

Twigs cracked under my plated feet as I backed into a clearing in the dense forest. There were eyes out there, and arrows that struck with an unnatural accuracy, and claws that dented and buckled armour with the force of their strike.

I kept backing up, …

I sat alone on the beach, skipping stones into the inky black water. The sun had long since gone, leaving the stars alone to try to light the night. A cold breeze blew, forcing me to shiver for warmth.

If anyone was here, they would've advised I go insid…

They couldn't pay me to love you more.

In my bedside drawer, beneath condoms, and candy bar wrappers, I keep a box for you, beneath empty pill bottles with barely legible labels.

A locked box.

Metal and hard and cold to touch, I brush my fingers acro…

We traveled like that for some time. Talking. Sharing. Laughing. It was always a joy to travel with you, and it was no less so this time.

And as we walked, we noticed the ground beneath our feet begin to slant ever so slightly downward.

The thing about…

In mathematics, a point of inflection is a point on a curve where the concavity of the curve changes, a momentary point where the slope of the curve is equal to the slope of its tangent at that point. Points of inflection mark the transitions between upwa…

Kendreth Leary, manager of the targeted bank, had never trusted Tory or Constantine, even when they were a newly shacked up couple of fifteen months old. Something always seemed odd about the two of them. Maybe it was the flinty scruff on Con's chin, or t…

She lay on her new planet. How wonderful it was to have her own planet, as she'd always deserved. Really, she had an entire solar system all her own, but it was just a tiny corner of the infinite universe.

One day, she wanted to have more. But this was en…

"- Come in, I've lost your signal. I say again, -"

I stopped when my partner put a hand on my shoulder.

"You're scaring the civilians."

I let go of the transmit button with some reluctance, suddenly aware that wide-eye stares were following my pacing o…

"C'mon man, I need you on this!"

KG had been pleading for 20 minutes. I could feel myself drowning in his desperation.

"This is crazy, KG. How many hits you think we can score from robbing a goddamn convenience store??"

"Enough, man. Enough for now. We …

A moment passed, for Matt Quyen, where he was uncertain if he had gone from standing to lying on his chest, about a story lower, with a few broken ribs and ringing in his ears, in one unbroken sequence, or if he had lain there for minutes or hours. His ve…

I do believe the time for hope has passed

Desire she may to hear its lost refrain

Our friendship like the clouds is overcast

Abandoned love can only end in rain

Consider now the change that time revealed

No outcome of our battle left to chance

Deep wounds…

I turned to Prunella, hand covering the mouthpiece, and whispered, "Should I?"

I hung up the phone, tears on my cheeks. Sniffling to get control of them, I knew who I had to call next.

"Miss Ann? This is Marie, Elizabeth's sister."

"Do you want me to get her for you?"

"No, Miss Ann, she's going to need some time off. I'm coming t…

"I want answers, and I want them NOW "

"I'm sorry, I... I just..."

"You WHAT!?" "WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK NOW?!" he sighs, "Look, you're an amazing detective and all, but i can't deal with this now. the press is pressuring me for answers, and they won'…

"Detective, are you sure this is even worthwhile? It's just your average run and gun,"

"Believe me, he had a motive. What it is, I do not know. yet."

"How can you be sure? after all, we have no clues, only a dead body and lots of blood."

"I... I don't …

I followed him, and caught the first constable around the corner with a raised hand.

"Martese Royal Armed Forces, sir, please stop there. There has been an incident. Please instruct your men to form a perimeter here; officials from the His Majesty's Cour…

I walked through your ear drum

Headed straight for your Parietal Lobe

Deliciously discordant echoes bouncing

Through the hallways of your soul

.

I strolled into your Frontal Lobe

Music wafting in louder from

Somewhere beneath your bleeding heart

I glance…

They picked up the pace, moving through light brush and loose groups of trees. Astarlane opened.

"What are we looking to escape?"

The elf did not look around, maintaining their new pace without effort.

"The obscurant products in the air are a precursor…

After the meal, Sadie cleaned her rifle, Tenever patched up his tactical vest and Astarlane ran a grindstone over her sword. Few words were spoken, each preferring to leave the others in a companionable silence.

Astarlane remembered the smiles and laught…

I spun around in lazy, mostly elliptical, circles. Enough time had passed--years, decades?--that I couldn't remember being caught. Orbiting her was an honor, a duty, a pleasure, a pain. It was all I knew. I kept watch because I didn't have a choice. I was…

A flight of fancy.

I was walking listlessly one day and passed someone's private boat in their driveway. The boat was covered by a tarpaulin, light blue. I've seen cars, motorbikes, and even buildings covered with cloth, too, at times. For their protectio…

Depressing the dull brass handle with a thumb, it gives a satisfying click and the heavy red door pushes inward toward me. I step with bare feet onto the cold floor, staring right and left at all the white pillars, then the diamond tiles. I run a hand alo…

I dropped a handful of silver for a reasonably nondescript pheasant from a market stall. With our collars up and eyes averted, we blended in easily with the twilight crowd. I was a hunter going home tired and hungry, and we were given barely a glance.

Cu…

It wasn't long before I recognised the gentle tread of my sister making her way down the hall. I smiled at that, even as she opened the door and rushed into an embrace.

"Oh, it's good to see you, Illy."

"You too. Cerian, this is Ryle. We met at Four Pea…