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 …

Yellow flakes spiraled down from above to settle on the city like the ash of some great holocaust. The yellowness that filled the air wasn't the pure color of a sunflower but rather a corrupted yellow like rancid butter. Near the ground, the dancing motes…

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…

Walking by the general store, Juana Sanchez caught sight of her reflection in a barrel of rain water and stopped. She couldn't resist taking a better look after the day she'd had. The bullring had been especially brutal today despite the autumn weather. W…

"Do it. Bring me along. We'll give him a hell of a special night."

I nodded.

There is a dark stain on my family that has been passed down through at least ten generations. It seems to affect men and women equally but no more than one in any given generation though we all seem to carry it. I can trace our weakness through four gene…

Speed is not a problem for most people. For them, it's a very simple thing: displacement over time, a measure of movement. For me and a handful of others, it's a slippery thing. Those last few percentage points before we kiss the one inviolable barrier in…

Alone in a vast desert, atop a nameless stone tower, a single hooded figure watched the sky. Deep with the tower's belly a siren-like wail erupted. Closer and closer it grew, accompanied by slamming doors, rising as it ascended each floor until finally Ja…

When the knock that everyone dreads came, it sounded hard and insistent against the frail wood of our apartment door. Fumbling noises came from the room that my mom and sister shared before the lights flickered on, banishing the comforting ambiguity of th…

"What happened to them?"

Beckton shrugged.

"It's not known. They disappeared, as they were meant to, in what was then the northern reaches of Roman Britannia," he paused for a moment, "Although the way that Hadrian's Veil came into being at this time su…

As I walked around the mall in my hometown tonight, I noticed teenagers in formal dress everywhere I looked. It must be homecoming night, I thought to myself.

~

I remember my school dances in terms of emotions.

The anticipation I felt as I spent ha…

They came at night, as cowards always do.

The raid followed the typical pattern. The Advance Guard set a containment field around our house in case we took the fool notion to run. The Delegate knocked on our door and informed us that we were to be rel…

Lascia ch’io pianga

I'm like a beast- other to myself

mia crude sorte

a gendered thing

e che sospiri

and maybe one last breath...

la libertà.

La libertà…

can I be an apple boy

but a cranberry girl?? Citrus

dripping sour

in my words, t…

I dressed as a vampire that Halloween, wearing plastic fangs that ripped at my gums and white grease paint on my face. My little sister dressed as an M&M and had to walk at a slow jog to keep up with me. My parents told me that I had to take her. I wan…

I hope, through all of this, that I have learned

Some lessons to apply to later life,

So I may save fond friends from future strife,

And loathe myself a little less. I turned

My eyes upon myself, at point of knife,

From others' viewpoint: hard. It changed…

I pricked my finger for the third time and cursed myself for signing up for autonomy class. It sounded perfect for a nerdy guy who didn't know anything beyond his books. Want to learn life skills? Try Autonomy. Learn how to change a tire, patch your own c…

"Oh you thought our world was the dark reflection of yours?" The man laughed. "That's quite the reversal. Your world is so terrible that we exile the worst of our criminals to your world."

That stopped my accusations flat. "What?"

"Any being that cannot…

I drove 3 hours to find your boat pushing barges up the mighty Mississippi. You were not supposed to be on your phone, but you coordinated with me your location so I could stand on the bridge and wave.

The moment you passed, I smiled and waved like a mad…

Ryan and I cruised down the interstate at 2AM, laughing and talking about inconsequential things, radio blaring some long forgotten rock song. I turned to speak, but never had the chance, as blackness enveloped us.

…

I raised my head from where it was r…

Mornington found a syrette from his bag. He pressed lightly and drew a single shining bead of its contents; a light tap from his wand turned it into a dense white foam several times the size of the droplet that it had come from. Pushing the needle in unde…

Far away. In another room, in another place.

On a map table surrounded by officers and staff, a painted wooden figure that looked remarkably like Silvertown - down to the sparkle of her dress - took on a sudden lifelikeness. It waved for attention, spok…