I was teaching English in Malaysia when the black spot first appeared overhead. It seemed small, barely larger than a fifty sen coin but without any real context it was hard to tell how much higher over the trees it was. Was it small and close or huge and…

The medic paused for the span of several breaths, staring into the distance while he thought.

"The chances of survival if I operate now are not high. We should take every chance we can to get him to a situation better suited for surgery."

Beckton flipp…

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

I nodded.

I did my best. I did my worst.

Somehow, these two were one.

"I'd never wish to hurt you, Dear,"

I call, and aim my gun.

.

Oh, can I even learn from this?

Or will it still recur?

I try to analyze my sins--

They scatter, melt, and blur.

.

Perhaps self-love …

Today my nails are red; so are my shorts,

And, as I shaved my arms at CCH,

That colour flowed again. And, glad to see

My blood come dripping down, I slashed again.

Oh, fire-engine red looked fair to me--

.

But then I thought back, and I bit my tongue,

Rec…

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…

"L-- Lori said--"

Layla sighed. "She was wrong. There is at least one known survior. I can only help if you will allow me to, though, Miss Richards."

"Don't think I really--"

"Believe that? You've seen me kill a monster in a single strike and yet you d…

It was his need that broke me. I knew what it was like to be in a position where there was no other options than to ask for help even if I didn't take it. For him to be here now, asking me for help, it spoke of powerful desperation. In it, I could see a…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

"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…

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…

"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…

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…

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…

Of course it was illegal. Crash never made any plan that involved honesty, the rules, or fairness. He was out to win and he'd lie, cheat and break a hundred rules to get there.

So why was I tailing him at breakneck speeds, drifting corners, tires squeali…

They considered me old-fashioned, I knew. Quaint. Nostaligic, even. But how could I ever feel safe knowing the only barrier between me and death was a manipulated quirk of physics?

It simply wasn't possible. So I did the slow, methodical rituals of armou…

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…