I finished brushing my teeth and yelled goodnight to my mom. I shut my bedroom door and turned off the light. Climbing in under the covers, I smiled. Reaching inside my pillowcase, I felt the soft flannel of my boyfriend's shirt.

My mom stuck her head in…

We marched with triumphant certainty to the chain linked fence's gate. Mark went first, stepping on to the latch and sliding up and over before dropping down to the other side.

“See, it's easy.”

My eyes fell on the No Trespassing sign and all of a sudde…

Jacqueline made a sour face. “You mean to keep an eye on me. I hate having someone watching over my shoulder.”

“We're both in the industry, spying is what we do.” Emily replied.

“I'd rather be the spy-er than the spy-ee.”

Emily cocked an eye at her phr…

The awkward heaviness of the sword, made his swing go wide. The flying creature closed the distance between them, diving at Ian's face. Up close all Ian could see were the violent movements of wet membranous wings and chawing mouths. He threw up his left …

She explained how this pre-natal nurse had come to see her everyday in the hospital, since she refused to leave the babe and insisted on a private room. He was handsome and did everything he could to appease her. He wasn't supposed to keep helping the bab…

The houses here were like high rise apartments lining the steep walls of the caldera. The buildings in the bowl were community buildings. I took my friend to the hospital, on the trail of his wife and the baby she risked it all for.

His name was Charlie.…

They gathered around me, wide-eyed.

"I told you that once you enter, you cannot come back out, right?"

They nodded.

"It's true. Unless you are a Seeker. I've been inside. I helped build Operations. I put people in place and I set up the rules. But I re…

I was left with a choice. I could go back and use my skills to get the rest of the family safely to the caldera to find out if they were worthy of entry, or I could give up and enter the caldera myself. Operations dealt with 'leaders' who couldn't do the …

I had no choice but to bring her. We hiked over hill and valley, across ravines that grew deeper as sides grew steeper. We had to stop and rest more often as we neared the mountain.

"We go up that waterfall." I pointed.

"We go UP a waterfall?!" She thou…

He looked careworn, faded. His face was slack, his posture slouchy. He didn't say much after I answered his questions. He missed his wife. Even though they had argued and she left impulsively.

"She didn't leave you," I tried.

"She wanted that baby more …

My job was to escort the right people into the caldera. If I came across the wrong sort, well.

As a 'leader', I carried a radio for contact from Operations inside. I got a distress call. Midwife needed, several miles away. Leaving the hometown crew, I hi…

Story is marked as mature

One of the merchants produces the sigil, wrapped in cloth, from an inner pocket of his robe, and sets it in the Priest's waiting hand. The box follows immediately. Wisps of smoky vapor puff upward from the Priest's fingertips as they do so, but the mercha…

His heart stopped. Both Ambiter and Decceter were emblazoned at a crazy angle upon his mind in the second of totally unobstructed view his eyes were given. The sky, deep blue and littered with clouds above both lands, felt like a yawning abyss.

Then every…

"Haul up!" Hable ordered. The man at the column obeyed instantly.

"What in gods name are you doing?" Pol's voice screamed through the line. "We'll miss!"

There was no time to explain. At the nose of the box, Pol would only see their trajectory alter, but …

Scout woke up and rubbed her eyes. It was Saturday which, as any kid knows, is the best day. She kicked her blanket off, sat up, legs dangling just barely above the floor and stretched her limbs. A yawn escaped.

Then she remembered. This wasn't just any …

The rain poured hard. The thunder boomed and the lightening flashed.

It was all very violent seeming.

The small chipmunk cowered in her little nest.

She had hoped the rain would let up and the thunder and lightening would cease, but at some point she k…

The ooze reached the overall max limit for the container.

It could no longer be contained and I didn't know what to do next.

This could be a disaster in the making or a great scientific discovery or neither or both at the same time.

It was the luck of …

Two more yards until freedom, two more yards and this past year would be worth all the pain and humiliation.

I could feel the burn in my knees as I stood up. It wasn't anything that I hadn't felt before but this time I knew that the amount of give my kne…

The bucket's heavier than you thought. You fall off the stone bridge into the water, banging yourself up. However, now you're wet and still moderately uninjured. Maybe the water will keep you a bit safer. You resist the urge to snicker at your mishap as y…

You move over to the faucet on the wall, casting about for the little key-like tool that would allow you to start the water flowing. But try as you might, it's not around, evidently; probably the janitor keeps it on her person.

However, you gaze at the ko…

Fear is a man, which made things a lot more complicated.

Deuce was only half sure that he could beat the Lance Rigaud on the quick draw and he knew they were dead even on the ability to hit the intended target.

The guns of the era were not the most accu…

Fiona always wore socks that went half way up her legs. I remembered that about her.

It was a common theme to her look and as the fashion of stockings progressed so did she.

Sometimes it looked like galaxies climbing up her calves and I adored it for re…

In furious glee, the madman bursts into the room

His beard is dripping ice; his breaths form tiny clouds

His staring eyes dart round the room and soon he'll see

My huddled form, my empty hands; he'll hear the sounds

Of moaning dread that steal from my …

"But, Bearers are supposed to be heroes," she stammers, that note of confusion returning to her voice. "We don't fight each other. We fight monsters. We fight evil. We push back the darkness wherever we find it. That is our purpose and our calling. …