Piles of sparkly litter are all that remain of the gifts that are never good enough

The bittersweet scents of home saturate overdone hair and deliberately ugly sweaters

Sugar substitutes for joy as we cheat and plan to widen our waistlines

-

Clenched tee…

Story is marked as mature

Pulsing with the knowledge of our bodies

and power of majesties coursing around every corner,

fragrant and blue-green-red and warm resided in us all.

I can't help but imagine

some vampyric figure picking his teeth

with capillary tubes,

the very same ones …

A storm is approaching

it’s on the horizon

so cover your eyes now

and consume your poison

The harsh winds are blowing

the clouds are rolling in

the good Lord turns his back

as you commit your sins

Run from your problems

run so far away

it makes …

No amount of wishing would give us the time we wanted: we turned, at last, onto an avenue that was as familiar as my favourite book. I could have closed my eyes and counted the paces to her apartment block, even in the soft patter of rain.

She paused at …

One of the nameless faces in the endless sea of nobodies caught my eye.

Must be nice, I subvocalised. Neural implants in my speech centre picked up the message and squeezed it through a short-range encrypted radio burst.

What, being one of them? cam…

A storm is coming. Hear the cold wind blow

What else approaches me with ill intent?

A fear is growing in me, fast, although

I cannot understand the fury's bent.

The fright builds quickly, but my mind is slow

To grasp its meaning, fighting through a h…

No more the bleary wake to chimes, the racing heart, the fight for time

No more the early morning smile, the secret kiss, the frozen tile

No more the bitter triumph felt at closing of all business dealt

No more the daylight tryst or walk, or waiting for a…

She had first seen him in the ruins in Berlin, trailing Sadie's point man. His power, dimmed in the course of day, still cast hard shadows outside her position. She dropped down silently behind him in an explosion of magic, the ordinary stillness of the w…

The floor leveled out and opened up into a cavernous space. We held our lanterns aloft, as high above our heads as we could manage, but even so there was not enough light to chase away the inky blackness. In the shadows around us we could hear things movi…

We spotted dozens of other traps as we progressed, avoiding each with ease. They were not well hidden, seeming to be laid more as an annoyance than as to be any genuine threat. And yet we took no chances. We treated each one as potentially lethal, until f…

Story is marked as mature

I think it was the protractor that first caught my attention. Not many of my team of friends in the Roleplayers' Club are that engrossed in nostalgia for where they come from, as it's so much better here. And those who do keep souvenirs with them usuall…

A

Apple

(Sounds like) Orangutan

Monkey

Apes?

Jeff Corwin

Celebrities

Cooking stars

Chopped

Guillotine

Execution

French Revolution

Armies

Three musketeers

Movie

Disney

Mickey

Goofy

Pluto

Planet

Dwarf planet

Cognizant planet

Bullied planet

Unstable planet

D…

I knew no matter how I dressed I would find a way to regret it, so I chose comfort, since that was the one thing which would be in short supply.

And right I was, after a quiet greeting, from the moment I was admitted into the foyer and we walked along the…

Nellis Air Station was our first stop, the closest site to Yucca Mountain with the facilities to handle our transport plane and the little half-squadron of robotic deathbirds that had followed us.

Now we were cruising over the Las Vegas suburbs, stuffed …

There are times like this when I feel you've drifted so far away that I don't know you anymore. The disconnect is so complete that I can't guess what you are doing right now. Your schedule and mine no longer sync up, our timelines are separated, and histo…

I watch the paramedics work. They’re trying so hard. I can’t see who they’re working on, but they’re determined.

I try to recall what happened. Everything flashes by in a blur. The party. Taking the keys from Tom. Driving him home.

We started arguing. I…

Lenn poured soup into the thermos lid that doubled as a cup. “I guess we'll start with broth first. All the good stuff is staying at the bottom.”

Liv wrapped both hands around the proffered cup and sipped. Lenn took to the other side of the bed causing i…

At the restaurant, I sat across from him, fidgeting with my straw wrapper. What was I supposed to say to him? Up until five minutes before, I had never even seen him in person. He was just a name in my phone contacts, a person I'd texted a few times ea…

"Is it correct that those present are only: Lieutenant Georgia Whitmore and Chief Petty Officer Boris Nenashev?"

I tapped "yes" on the onscreen prompt.

A synthetic voice began reading along as further text appeared.

"Voice interface authorized. Lt. Whi…

I stared at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep. The bench/cot…thing I was lying on was built of brushed steel and the padding was torn up. The holding cell wasn't much better—the front wall was constructed entirely out of reinforced glass, and the sterile, off…

I reach. I fumble. My fingers renew their acquaintance with that smooth black stone of yesteryear. I remember the knit cap, with Donald Duck on it, and gasp in wonder. How have you been, old friend, old chronicle, old heart? The rhetorical echoes send…

“My names Lennart Larsson. I'm looking for the occupant of 163 C.”

“Goddamnit, Lenny.” A disgusted voice said.

Lenn's gut twisted. The voice belonged to Liv's brother, Ruger. What was he doing here? He didn't even live in Japan. Still, he rallied gamely…

Three-hundred twenty-three mind-numbing steps later, he had crossed the second street, and followed the labyrinthine path through the body of Liv's apartment complex. There must have been stoppages here because the water flowed slower and he didn't have t…