There are experiences and ideas that we have as children that are vivid and real. Some stick with us for a while before we shed them like dead skin cells. Others live within us dormant; lurking. In my neighborhood, every kid's parents warned us not to go …

There was shouting behind us, and the sound of hooves on cobbles.

Ryle held a hand to the window. Two fingers. Pause. Five fingers. Five fingers.

Two horsemen. Kill them. Ten seconds to shot window.

I knelt down in the coach, loading the rifle with …

The calendar says today is the first day of fall. The pumpkin candle in my office says that leaves will soon turn orange and red. Pumpkins will be carved. Sweaters will be worn. The temperature will drop. The world will become cozy once more.

But as…

The old man wasn't the only person in the van. In the driver's compartment, Trinity Keane switched between police stations. The content was almost entirely banal - robberies, traffic, drug possession, et cetera - but now and then, the interesting happened…

Story is marked as mature

I had to go, I could not take him with me. I left him in his cage.

Something happened. It happened almost too fast to react to it. As I drive down the freeway, I think about him. I left Oscar in the care of a friend, even though I knew my friend was not …

The wind flowed around the street seeking a place safe from the elements, not realizing it was one.

It didn't want to disturb life on the Nepali street in which it currently existed.

It had seen so many things in its vast life. It had existed as long as…

"You're so hard to get a hold of!"

"I've been busy. But I haven't forgotten you."

"When you keep changing your hours at work, people have to adjust their times to call you. I swear your phone was busy for hours! I bet you were swamped with calls once th…

Being adrift in space in a rescue pod is freaking scary. First, you just lost your HOME in space in some disaster, all your stuff, everything that kept you alive. Second, you were floating out there after you ran out of fuel sending a distress signal out …

I wonder if butterflies ever miss their former self

The sturdy roundness of their skin

Their steady progress towards fullfillment

-

I wonder if they mourn that their colorful wings can't be stroked

Or regret the danger of flying

-

I wonder if the progress…

They strolled into the mess hall nonchalantly in dress blacks that had the exact opposite effect of their understated design. The crowd opened up for them, the same thought flashing through the entire room.

The corporation's special forces were the stuff…

The cube was less than two inches square, yet somehow heavy enough to thwart Rachael's best efforts at forcing the door. Persistence unrewarded, she knelt and reached her hand through the gap, the appendage instantly transformed by her damaged synapses in…

The snow blew violently in my face and tried to lift the hood of my coat off my stocking capped head. The dog pulled on his leash and jogged to the nearest tree trunk, forcing his owner, me, to jog behind him. He lifted his leg and marked the base of the …

"Hurry," she breathed, sucking the layer of glimmer and light away from my internal countenance entirely.

Lying on the chalky rug covered in footprints, a boy was seizing in my living room . He was drunk. I wasn't. I didn't even know him.

"In the bag," …

ME: Hey, I heard that Karl Urban, the actor who plays Dr. McCoy in the new Star Trek films, is the twin brother of Kieth Urban, the singer. That's pretty amazing!

NEIL: Oh, for Pete's sake, Joan, you can't believe everything you read! That's just an Urban…

It was only a two-man tent but it was plenty big enough for the girl, her sleeping bag, flashlight, pillow, storybook, and favorite doll. The doll had seen better days, her dress was now off-white, her hair sprouted wildly from the sides of her head leavi…

The place you used to occupy remains. Whether the light shines upon it or the darkness obscures it, the place sits empty.

I spend endless hours staring at it as if I could rewind time. I can still see your figure there, the outline, the form, but my memo…

The night I laid out my heart,

turned my life outside down,

Our relationship had a new start...

Best of friends for so many years,

been through so much together,

at some point, my heart - it interfered.

Patiently - you listened,

as I talked for hours,

I…

I don't understand. I must be going crazy. My heart is pounding so hard, I'm sure everyone in the restaurant can hear it. I have a million questions running through my head.

"How?" is all I can get out.

She smiles at me. A smile that has brightened my l…

I take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and turn around. I am completely unprepared.

She stands there, wrapped in a bath towel that, with her 5'-nothing frame, covers her armpits to knees. Her hair is wrapped in another towel. She smiles, and I quickly …

I stood on the back deck, looking into the trees. In the silence, the outdoor world was alive with bird twitterings, squirrels frolicking, and busy ants when you looked close enough.

"Oh, here you are!" called Everett. "What are you doing out here? The p…

Special Report: Use of Coffee Authorised

Casualties are high in the sixth day of heavy fighting here on the desk. Coalition leaders have confirmed that tactical coffee strikes will be used to halt the advance of procrastination forces that remain a thr…

Anthony fingered the thick woolen blanket that nearly suffocated him with stuffy heat. The fabric was rough, well-worn from use by his grandmother who had passed it down to his mother. Now it was his.

It was foolish to be wrapped in wool during the hotte…

I stretched out, hand reaching languidly for the sun. I wanted to pluck the bright golden ball from the sea of blue and cup it in my hands. Having just woken up, for a moment I was a child again. And in that in-between of dream and wakefulness, reality s…

Beckton applied pressure to the wound through Newkirk's wadded-up coat, leaning in and using both hands. His attempts were met with no success, even after Silvertown joined him.

A noise came from behind, a rhythmic thump of boots against a wooden floor. …