They'll hear

The pounding heart inside

My chest

Always beating

Never rest

And my breathing

Hoarse and gasping

Terror rasping

From my throat

Fire burning

In my face

From what she wrote

They'll see it flare

They'll see it there

And I, betrayed

Can't hide a…

"The bargain is this," I began. "A truce. An end to this petty war that began with my ancestors, that has led to so much death."

"NEVER!" the god roared, cutting me off. "WE WILL HAVE OUR VENG--"

I held up my blade again and said nothing. The god's mout…

For the first time in a long time, I feel like myself. Of course, this does have its pros and cons.

On the pro side, I'm actually social. I can actually engage people in conversation. Conversations that I honestly care about. And about anything! Music, h…

I want to stop feeling.

As much as I have become aware that humans are not machines, that there is an element to our existence that exceeds simple mechanical repetition, I have never more wanted to embrace the cold hard unfeeling metal and soulless drive …

Story is marked as mature

He could feel her tenuous caress across his skin, cool and teasing. He turned slowly but never saw her except perhaps as a brief flicker of motion in his peripheral vision. In the diffuse and dim light, shapes at the limits of his vision often turned out …

When he turned 100, the town wanted to honor his war effort and asked him what he wanted. “I want to see my Betty again” was his reply. With an outpouring of love, the statue of the woman in her young wartime years was built, just as he remembered her. Un…

"And how will you do that?"

"It is a particular truth about secrets, Astarlane -"

"Please stop calling me that."

"- Astarlane, is that when you stop and look in just the right place, they betray themselves."

He stopped, and looked around. Just like th…

He licks his lips in anticipation, ignoring the searing pain of his torn tongue and the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. Carefully he reaches forward with both hands and takes hold of the box, gripping the top four corners between his thumbs and foref…

All was dark in his field of vision, but he could not open his eyes. This creature was akin to Medusa and would turn him to goo if he looked at her. Something flared outside his eyelids, creating a red glow to his left. He smelled the sulfur of a struck m…

No one intends to get addicted. At least that's what they say. The manufacturer says that it is an unintended consequence over which they have no control. They encourage prospective gamers to “play the game responsibly”. They even include the phone nu…

October 14

Day five that Brent has woken up ravenous and exhausted. Officially it's day five. It's been at least five days since I noticed a pattern and decided to track it's course. I'm not surprised that he's exhausted. He told me about his dreams and …

The box rests on a small, round table, perfectly centered on its rough surface. The man who purchased it stands across the room, leaning with one shoulder against the wall, staring at the box without really seeing it, lost in contemplation. Before him lie…

Northern Territory, January 1933

Hot lazy arvo here in outpost 606. The Dust Cloud looming on the horizion. It hasn't moved since our arrival. It might move at any second but. That's why we're here.

The men are running out of patience and grog. I wond…

Orthael had seen more than enough of the Dead for one lifetime by the time he had left the paladins for the quiet contemplation of a vicarage. It had been a blessing and joy to focus his mind anew on the sacred duties of sermon and visitation.

For a mom…

She came to him in a dream, like she always did. She was assigned to him and the dream state was the quickest avenue of communication between realms. She didn't usually have any sort of proper message for him, she was just there to, essentially, comfort h…

She was startled to notice they weren't icicles but tears. The Ice Queen didn't understand this emotion of "sadness." She'd certainly heard of it before, but she was quite certain she had never experienced it. Everyone said her heart was as cold as ice, b…

He aligned the glyphs in his head in a manner that he thought made sense. He drew them out onto a piece of paper and realized that they didn't.

He had been having trouble deciphering this language for months. Being the head of linguistics for the univers…

I felt around the sides of my neck. She was right. The skin there was sore, tender to the touch. My suspicion of her seemed justified and came flooding back. I was choked recently and she finds me, leash in hand? I don't know if it was guilt or what that …

It was the smell of geraniums that called it to mind again after all these years. My kid had picked a handful for me. I got a whiff of them and the years peeled back.

I had to water the garden, and I loved the geraniums best. I sang to them, I read them…

Thing is, this piece I'm writing, bares my entire soul. It involves you and me and all that we love and hold dear. It's told from my perspective, one that I think you need to hear.

But if I let you read it, I am crucifying myself. The sacrifice it entai…

It's been raining for two days straight, and I'm afraid to go out. I've seen what those torrents do to people who venture outside. Cascades of water sweep down the street, and the rain itself is dangerous as hell. I have cabin fever. We all do. But those …

"She'll call." My girlfriend patted my shoulder comfortingly.

"No, she won't. She's stubborn like that; Taurus and all." I stared down at the blank screen of my cell phone.

"Well if she doesn't, forget her."

"Forget her!? She was the only person who di…

Without confidence, I judged that it was my second day on the stair, and I was running low on food and water. Many of my supplies were sinking somewhere down in the valley mires. I shuddered at the memory of my escape.

When the twilit grey dulled, I rest…

After the Shadowed Valley, at the foothills of Mount Piru, I first saw the Ten Thousand Stares.

That is the literal translation. It is in fact a staircase, older than memory. Starkly simple yet curiously elegant grey slabs of stone, with matching baniste…