"I am glad to see that you survived!" C:\ said, hugging me warmly.

"Who's this nut?" Acrylic asked, an annoyed edge to his voice.

I ignored him for now. "We lost one."

C:\'s brow furrowed. "Fetus?"

I nodded.

"We tried, boss," noted Hard Drive, quietl…

Threading through the streets, past storefronts that still had power, Lenn kept one hand on his wallet and used the other to hold his poncho's hood closed. The rain had been hammering the city for five unrelenting days and it wasn't scheduled to let up fo…

The girl whimpered in pain as a man made tiny incisions in her arm. Or... what was left of her arm, anyway.

"Sh, it'll be alright soon," the green-haired girl nearby said softly to her, taking a break from what she was doing to stroke the small girl's hea…

Astarlane emerged into her safeguarded mental space instantly, watching in third person as Tenever caught her body in physical space and lowered her to the floor with what she thought was unnecessary gentleness.

She barely avoided jumping when there was …

Sad, I picture myself cutting the sugary crust with my stainless steel fork. When it cracked apart there'd be a sharp sound of metal against porcelain. The crust, dark brown seeping to deep red, is softer, gooey, nearby.

There is a ring of pineapple again…

That's how I became a part of the Cold Hail Battalion (Give 'em Hail!). I was never carried into battle but I was often carried out of one. My dad, the one who accepted me, tried hard to get me transferred to an orphanage or a host family, but there was n…

Two white ears poked out of the sand, followed by a fluffy white head, and then a body popped out. The little white rabbit shook off the sand. It failed to understand why the world had to rain sand, and then suddenly, inexplicably, it would turn on its he…

Another night, another peaceful dinner with gently clinking silverware and soft voices discussing the days events.

"How about you, Aria?"

"Ah, you know, usual boring school."

"Same old?"

"You know it." Oh no. "I'll be back!" Aria took off up the stairs.…

The house on the hill looked like an aged porn star. Enough work had been done to make it superficially attractive but the closer you got, the more you could see the lived in lines of time. Knowing windows watch relentlessly and people who have stared dee…

You press your face against the glass of the door, obviously NOT one that is on fire, and try to see if the fire truck is here.

You can't see much, but evidently, the truck is indeed here.

You realize this when the glass door smashes open suddenly, dest…

It had only been a few months since the invasion. Aliens had killed a lot of humans, others were just missing.

Presumably dead.

Or, with any luck, if such a word was appropriate, they were still alive, but being used for research. No one dared try to imag…

Story is marked as mature

Etril cowered in fear. This was it. She'd known it was coming, but hoped it wouldn't be this soon.

...

No gunshot came.

"Forget it," the alien said.

Etril looked up, hesitantly. "...What?"

"Forget it, I'm not going to shoot you. It's not even worth it." S…

A shameful smile lurks in the corner

of every fold of fat

and widening waistline

gleefully posted by narcissists everywhere

To serve as personal justification

for one more cookie

After browsing for almost twenty minutes, the customer looked ready to leave. Eric put the phone down, and walked over. "Sorry, sir," he said. "Can I help you find anything?"

"I don't think so." The man looked around one last time. "This establishment do…

I sat in front of the television. It had been a long night & a long day full of things in my head that most people probably wouldn't be able to fully understand.

That was ok though. I wouldn't want them to be able to understand what I went through every …

The Priest lifts the lid away from the box and sets it to the side. The smoke inside the box swirls before him like an angry storm but remains in place for the moment. He dips a finger into the smoke, drawing out a long tendril of grey vapor. Then, with h…

"After what?"

"After I kill you."

........................

"Ain't natural, Karl."

"'Course not."

"Fog's 'sposed to burn up in sunlight, not pile up against the edge of a man's property like it's beatin' on a wall."

"Ever'body knows that, Carl."

"Yeah? Well somebody 'parently forgot to tell ol' man Hemp. Ain't n…

The reeds outside swayed, swept by a breeze that I couldn't feel. The candles never wavered so it wasn't just me. The two mountains known locally as the Two Sisters stood high and dark against the star-filled night sky.

“Why do we still wait? It's dark e…

CRACK!

All magic comes with a price, and Taka was regretting the drawback of the particular protective potion she had just imbibed. While it dulled the sting of her opressors' whips, it bound her to the Earth, slowing her movements. Already slower than…

Silvertown ripped the empty magazine out of the Thompson, let it fall and retrieved a spare from the garter on her right leg to make the weapon ready again.

Newkirk rolled to his feet with surprising nimbleness and the two spellcasters exchanged fire on…

He pushed the door open and stepped in without ceremony. There wasn't much to see - a dusty cloak, warm and practical. Nice boots, made well and well worn. The shape of a weapon underneath as his cloak slid back.

But that wasn't what caught my attention.…

The pair continued much as before, though their time spent together grew more intimate and more frequent. Taka tried to split her time evenly between spending time with her family, helping Fakura with the fireworks, and enjoying Keshintai's company, but t…

"How do you know if you like someone?"

The question hung in the seven-hundred mile space between us. Even though it was almost three in the morning, I turned the question over and over in my mind. The first couple of answers were almost trite in their …