Although the night was clear and cloud free, the streets were dark. A summer wind brought a refreshing coolness off the ocean and I stopped my midnight wanderings to lean against a building, letting the air wash over me. It was sweeter than expected, almo…

Stuck.

A blinking cursor mocked me from a blank screen. This writing thing wasn't going well. I wasn't ready to give up but the joy that once energized me was gone, replaced by a bitter numbness and a persistent sense of failure.

Motion at the door drew…

Not quite white

or gray

or blue

.

The moon is a muse

Mainstay

Voodoo

.

A means to an end

risque

preview

.

Beating hearts, abuse

love sway

untrue

.

The moon, impassive

midway

withdrew

.

Left lovers lost

cold day

tears few

.

Returned to mock

hearsay

statue

…

Story is marked as mature

He reluctantly tapped at the keyboard with his fingers. They had taught him in school how to type properly, but he wasn't sure if he was executing it the way his teachers in 6th grade had intended. It did, however, get the job done.

He didn't want to del…

"Why don't you write about me?" she exclaimed as if it were that easy.

It wasn't. She was the personification of the proverbial "one that got away" and his heart still ached for her even after all the years that had passed since that night in the park on…

He lifted his head, unscrewed the top of the whiskey and took a big swig of it, holding it in his mouth for a moment to savor the taste that only good whiskey can provide before swallowing it in an attempt to make the girl disappear.

"I'm not going anywh…

To Detective Hawk, the more she examined the scene, the more she felt the whole thing was an accident, an illusion. The ink was spilled, not spilling from her body. She lay slumped, not in a defensive pose. There were no glasses of drink, no tubes for gas…

"Annabelle, please, help. I need something, anything, from you right now."

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Muses get writer's block too, you know."

"I don't think I've ever in the history of the world heard that. It kinda defeats the purpose of your existe…

Detective Hawk reached a gloved hand to the light switch. In the moment before the room was bathed in light, she braced herself for a scene of unknowable atrocity. It was not difficult to kill a muse, they are quite delicate, but at times the results can …