"Enfield Three, Sphinx. Report. What is the enemy force composition?"

"Copy, Sphinx. We are under fire from the shipyard defences. Nothing heavy yet, but..."

I tuned them out and went back into the shipyard channels.

"Sayre checking in. I'm moving to F…

Story is marked as mature

Trilla took a step back. What.. what had she just...? Her hands were shaking, her legs were threatening to give out, and she could feel an awful lump in her throat.

The smallish girl with whi-- well, she used to have white hair, now getting stained by b…

The old officer's expression was open. Instead of mockery, I read nothing but pain.

I stepped back, momentarily confused.

"I - I should go."

Poryse nodded quietly and drained the last of his coffee, as if the past ten seconds had been entirely imaginar…

Poryse raised his mug and took a sip.

"Not always, but it's a joy to be here when it is. Oh, excuse me - captain on the bridge!"

I turned at the same time as the officer. Captain Jerem held his gold-topped cane under one arm and leafed through the duty …

The squid-girl resurfaced through the bleak waters. “Quick! Can you swim?”

I affirmed that I could and before I could do anything she had wrapped her cold tentacle fingers around my wrist and pulled me in.

The water was dark and as she guided away from …

The wind blew and gusted to Maya's back, blowing her long black hair into her face as she walked through the icy park that morning. They were like thick tendrils wrapping around her head and, ever annoyingly, kept fluttering around her mouth and her eyes.…

Do we ever recover from blows that we're dealt?

Do we just learn to live with the dent?

Does the sting ever fade from the pain that we've felt;

Does it mingle with each sentiment?

.

When a child's full of life, they have power to spare.

As I grew, a full …

My phone chimed. Text.

Where are u?

"I'm all checked in."

What room?

"314, okay? Stop worrying! See you tomorrow."

I took a shower to wash the road trip grime from me. 12 hours of driving was exhausting. No longer smelling like french fries, I fl…

A red light shines from way above. We are being taken away from home. From our Father.

We are going to be taught. Taught to be real. To talk like Father. To walk like Father. That is what he said.

"You must remember that you are not human. You must…

And when my time comes for a nat'ral death,

Some future era of our shared, shamed land,

I hope and firmly plan that I shall be

Already gone and, I hope, barely missed.

At best, of course, I'd be received by God,

But as it's likely that I'll break His rule…

Saint Patrick, dear, come rally round

This group of loved ones I have found:

The ones who’ve left, the ones embraced,

The ones that cannot be replaced;

The ones that life’s path will reveal.

If they can know the love I feel

For each and ev'ryone therein,

…

I pushed the beaded curtain aside and stepped through the front door. A little naked boy, perhaps six or seven frowned at me as I entered his home and ran through the darkened doorway behind him without saying a word. The floor was made up of interlocking…

The trooper held his burn. I could feel him tapping sideways to keep up with the boarding tunnel continuing to flex, all while the delta-vee kept piling up. My inner ear, confused, suggested that we were flying up out of a well, with the ship below and t…

Today I broke a friendship once again

It lately seems to happen every day

I try so to be kind, but what I say

Hurts lovely people, causing grief and pain

.

How come? It truly goes against the grain

I long to be a nurturer, and pay

Respect, attention--Sadl…

Story is marked as mature

Lorelis woke up with a start. Ugh, not again. That same dream again.

She rubbed her head before getting up out of bed. She went through the usual routine of getting dressed, eating breakfast, and heading off for a day at school.

...

She didn't go to sc…

Nyquist's channel was squawking again.

"Break break break. Enfield One, Sphinx. High priority redirect."

"Enfield is holding the dockside end of the boarding tunnel, awaiting all-clear. Send traffic."

"Boarding tunnel may be about to open to vacuum. Sphi…

We built a clubhouse way back where our two properties meet, sheltered in the woods. It was a our own safe house, a place of love, friendship, and laughter.

Soon after it was built, the thrill of a new getaway began to wear off. We'd named it, made signs…

An 'Investment' feels wasted with no return.

All the time and energy

I put into you

And for what?

I see the words 'appreciation'

'friend'

and then

You aren't there.

I see you laughing with others.

Watching shows

Listening to Music

Sharing memories I'm…

It was brave. It tried to survive. It sang and shouted as though to keep the silence from invading. It frantically searched for a way to stay alive.

But then one February morning, it was chained to a corner and ordered to not utter a sound.

It screamed …

There once was a forest dwelling little baby deer, all alone and frightened in the snowy wood. She was barely able to walk. She was shivering and weak, and all she wanted to do was to lie down and sleep. She hadn't the power to keep going. She had lost he…

Jeffrey was a shiny little fork, part of a full set. For a fork, he was relatively content. His owner, Devynne, used him often for a variety of foods and kept him nice and clean. He even had a boyfriend, a knife, Xavier, with whom he often hooked up for m…

I can picture exactly how it would be.

I'd somehow come face to face with the embodiment of him. I'd run into his embrace. It would last a satisfyingly long time.

After some familial chit chat and idle distractions, probably involving a meal and an acti…

Sloughing off the tide of years, Ixcar came to his senses very slowly. There had been darkness and now there was light. Such light it was, appearing first as a horizontal line that separated one darkness into two. The line widened and grew in intensity un…