It's so frustrating not knowing why things are the way the are. I'm on a familiar street. I think it's my own but it's hard to tell. It looks and feels like I should know it but there is no sense of recognition. It's night time and the street is dark, alm…

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 …

I've got a monster in me.

A lazy, hungry one. A liar.

He's like the evil Pooh bear sitting on the kitchen counter, always beckoning. His voice is the most insistent at night, when I'm alone, or when I'm already feeling crummy. It whispers clearly, “Come…

Birds, hundreds of them, squawked and chirped in a frenzied cacophony. Bigger ones used their wings to violently bat against their cages. I'd never seen so many in one place, much less in doors. All manner of birds in cages lined the cavernous hallways fo…

I don't know me now but I remember what I used to be. I was one of them, a super. Notice that I didn't say hero, though some people certainly thought of me as one. I was the Operator, named after the switchboard connectors of the first half of the twent…

The first had been a rock from the garden but it hadn't even quivered. The second had been a coin. The only thing it did was give off a noise like a muffled metallic scream. That shook me. For the third I chose a stick. It had twisted and curled, writhing…

The party was for Valerie. She was departing for warmer weather. It made sense. Despite being a programmer and board gamer, she loved to surf.

Me? I was a quintessential nerd and living proof that making a girl laugh, doesn't mean she will be attracted t…

My cell hadn't rang in days. I no longer cared where it was.

I lay looking at a wall four inches from my face trying not to think. The thin covers kept me warm enough and as I stared at the wall, committing my entire being into a single-hued landscape of…

As I returned home, I was stunned to see that my house was full of lights and sound of merriment. The wedding that had called me away scarce had as much excited activity. It had only been eight days or so but even from the road, I could see the house was …

I like her nose.

How many times have I said that to myself? It's not the sort of compliment you can hand out. Compliments from strangers are limited to: hair, dress, and nails. Anything that varies from our unspoken rule will screw up your tenuous connec…

No invitations went out, none that I sent or saw anyway, but as the summer waned, travelers began trickling in. They stopped by with reasons to suit the individual: curiosity, rest, even for a cup of tea. They stopped and then they were gone. Each time my…

It was dark and I was trying unsuccessfully to sleep on the couch. Painting materials were littered across my bedroom with tarps covering the bed and the floor. Muscles ached, sore in unfamiliar ways.

In the dining room, the sliding glass door to the bac…

Story is marked as mature

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…

The house was still half-built, half-destroyed. It had never been completed and for every few hours of work I put into repairing it, it seemed like something new broke, or nature won another victory. Yesterday, a long brick wall that lined the dining hall…

“When we walk, we put one foot in front of the other. Each step forward we take is one that matters. If you are able to advance a yard, a foot, even an inch, then congratulations, you're still alive and doing us proud. Holding the line is good and it has…

“Ghosts are all emotion, all the time. I don't know what keeps their form intact but they might be beings of pure emotion. There isn't a way to really measure them yet. And due to the nature of most deaths, they operate under pain, rage, and sadness. I'm …

The house appeared abandoned. It was spacious, boasting of what looked to be a dozen rooms, but falling apart. Broad windows, glass gray with dust. An iron plate set into the brick walls proclaimed the house as belonging to F. The massive front door was b…

Ear splitting sirens shrieked through the night. My little girl, frightened, shot up out of our bed of pallets. Bright lights flashed in unpredictable series, blinding when they exploded and again after they vanished, swallowed by the ever present dark. E…

"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…

Dinner was terse.

Another Tuesday night, another dinner hosted by my parents. Generally, I looked forward to our Tuesday nights. My parents were both good cooks. I loved both of them, though it took me a long time to grow up and appreciate them.

Financi…

Story is marked as mature

I woke up flat on my belly, a rocky and uneven ground pushing uncomfortably into my stomach. My body was stiff and cold. Just out of reach was a familiar meat cleaver, its handle rising out of a puddle.

The world seemed to be two places, overlapping echo…

Marcos massaged his temple with a thick thumb. "Good party last night."

I offered him some of my Water Plus. "You never know which one will be your last."

He didn't grimace or laugh, just nodded as he accepted my canteen. He knew the stakes. We all did.…

I raised my glass of Southern Comfort to the lone cupcake. "Cheers."

The whiskey was sweet and warm but didn't sit right in my stomach. Groaning, I set the glass back on the stained table, which was sad and bare except for the cupcake and the whiskey.

M…