"Ow," I inhaled.

Tucker winced too, but smiled and kept going. "Not many people come in at 5 AM to get a tattoo all by themselves."

"Not many tattoo artists set appointments for 5 am, either." I snapped, broken winged, but immediately regretted my ret…

Story is marked as mature

We are grommets along the edge of an old drawstring tucker.

You on one far edge and I, the other.

At first, though, we were close, were we not?

Life gathered fold upon fold and we together held in all the murky contents,

the feelings, the memories, the f…

I watched the captain leave and turned to face the bridge windows again. Poryse kept my hands in his view, I noticed.

"Relax, man. There is no danger to the ship from me."

He carefully held his expression neutral.

"If that's true, then you won't mind m…

There were two buttons in front of Higgins. They flashed, as buttons sometimes, but not always, do. One button was a very ominous looking red button. If buttons had faces, it would have a grumpy one. The other button was a very cheerful looking green butt…

"Well..." started Melissa, "the church is on fire, but the inside is still flooded to about waist level."

"Never again" said the monsignor with a heavy sigh.

To which he heard from the church's parking lot, "To be fair... the barbeque was a good idea in…

Sandy, Joan & Kara were growing tired. Also, hungry. They tried to split the last cherry cola flavored Tic-Tac three ways but soon discovered that nail clippers were not suited to such a task & the small breath freshener candy went flying into the depths …

Story is marked as mature

"I have a surprise for you..." Edgar said, trailing off as he rushed around the laboratory pushing buttons and pulling levers, this fulfilling the purposes of those particular object.

Renee gave a dramatic sigh that carried an annoyance that burned with …

Ryle handed the reins to the head butler, nodding, and we rolled off the coach at the next available turning. The evening was well advanced, and it was a simple matter to merge into the deepening shadows.

The Silver Skies was hardly a difficult ship to…

Sadie sat in silence with four others while their up-armored civilian vehicle swerved through the afternoon traffic towards the hostage site. Every piece of equipment gleamed, new and fit-for-purpose - a stark contrast to her military days. In private mil…

John liked coffee shops. They were places to focus, to drown himself in business and caffeine. Except, not this morning.

Laptop open to the annual report, he wondered about the people in their pocket worlds: the three girls--students, a study group; the …

Wonderful Auntie,

Beautiful Jean,

Oh, how I will miss you,

You'll never know what your friendship did mean.

Sleep well, my friend,

Jehovah saw all you did,

In His loving memory,

is where you'll be hid.

Your positive attitude,

Your loving spirit,

Will no…

The cylinders braced along the underside of Millie's forearms weren't heavy exactly, more bulky. For being small. they seemed to get in the way a lot. Whenever she stopped paying attention to them, they bounced off her thighs. Supposedly you could snap yo…

Everything was wrong. I didn't want to be Thomas Tinsley. He looked like a dope. It took effort not to snatch the driver's license back and toss the whole wallet into the woods.

Into the woods.

That thought brought images, feelings, and sounds. Leaves, …

The last of the movers maneuvers the hand truck with the last of the boxes through the front door. I close the door behind him. Through the living room window, I watch as the movers finish loading their truck and drive off. For the first time in a long wh…

The boys from the backstreets walk together, moving in one direction - in sync, living lives in the west.

The girls shop for spices and bangles, supreme in the knowledge that they are the children of destiny.

Over at the pet shop, a kitten explodes atom…

I have what I need. I have what I need.

The mantra was not soothing me. If I had what I needed, then why did I feel so empty and alone?

Just avoid the situation, I counseled myself.

But the truth is, I don't want to. I want to be liked, loved, appr…

Tenever's weapon ran dry first. A ghostly third hand appeared to swap magazines while his real hand hit the bolt release, and he was straight back into semiautomatic fire.

Sadie dropped her weapon on its sling and drew her sabre to deflect a darting thru…

Not many people really think about it, but decisions make the world go round. It's often the small ones, like whether to buy an apple or an orange, or an Android phone or an iPhone. Windows or Mac (or Ubuntu if you like that). Chrome or Firefox.

Sometime…

The question of "us" was solved by the materialisation of a pair of guards from behind CDR Nyquist. They were bulked out by tactical suits in Navy blue, with stripes in Marine green. Both had their visors down and weapons drawn.

"Commander, assault weapo…

ROBERT. He was hardly a scoundrel, as you seem to suppose,

But a man of distinction and charm.

From his pale, curving lips to his aquiline nose,

All his features made pulses run warm.

In his elegant home, in his opulent clothing,

He had sumptuous taste a…

I awoke to soft light in the hallway outside my room. Soft greenness pulsed faintly about chest high, far below where the hallway light was mounted. The ebb and flow of it's intensity gave it a kind of bobbing motion.

There was no sign of the sun outside…

Rock back and forth

Upon the front porch

I find myself here once again

I'm grinding my teeth

This sanctuary

Won't let me keep playing pretend

A cigarette held

As memories meld

The past, present, future are here

And though I have claimed

My faith is reg…

Why is it,

that when you catch someone licking the cheese dust off their fingers,

that is the person

who, only a minute or two ago,

told you to use a napkin.