Jorge stretched out his legs until his joints popped. He sighed as he relieved pressure he hadn't consciously felt. It was hard not to fidget on the plastic-y surface of the reclining chair. The rest of the room was antiseptically boring, so sterile it ma…

He can see her there, standing just on the other side of the glass. She's next to him, of course, there but not here. He can reach out with a hand and touch her shoulder. She smiles at him. Warm. Affectionate. But also sad. Because he is not truly there. …

"How do you kill an Empress?"

I steeled the muscles in my face, and let my eyes rest on the man's shoulders. If this turned into a trap, I would make sure to take him with me into the void. Leaning back, I wormed myself into the chair's thick cushions, l…

The diesel motor ran loud. It drowned out the rattling of the nearby chain link fence. The distant cars in the review mirror slid by noiselessly.

And still we waited.

The dry drone of the news complained of the usual terror attacks in other countries: a…

Grims slung his rifle then bent to the body. Blood dribbled from the kid's mouth, but not much. Three shots center mass had assured the kid died quickly.

A little blood, but it was enough. The yips and yowls sounded closer. Death was on the air now, and …

"I am Togua, true leader of Avorhelis, and with this authority I banish Tyris from this city. His selfish acts have caused great devastation to our home. The direct deaths of dozens of citizens, as well as hundreds of injuries and damages are upon his hea…

"You've got to stop yawning like that."

"I can't help it! I'm bored."

"Well, yawn any bigger and I'll be able to see out the other end."

"Ugh! You're gross. Keep your voice down."

"Why?

"Because the last thing I want is for everyone to remember me as the …

The old crone shuffled along the stacks of Building Ashrack, in no hurry to arrive at her destination. She looked at none of the row letterings, having no need for such things. She had been here many times, and she would be here many more times after. Alw…

"Shoot me," she screamed.

He did.

........................

The doorbell chimed.

Confused, Mina rose from her chaise, disturbing her cat, who airily strode off to preen. She wasn't expecting anyone, nor any packages. Frowning to herself, she turned the deadbolt, twisted the knob lock, and slid the chain lock back…

He squirmed and screamed but he wasn't going anywhere. My left arm was securely locked around his upper body. The claws of my left hand had perforated his upper abdomen and were interlocked with his lower ribs. With my right hand, I slowly shredded his sk…

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…

I have erred.

Jeopardised my mission in a way I haven't for so very long. Cleaned it as well as I could, didn't I?

I did.

Yes I did.

No matter - they will find it, with their crime scene specialists and their Luminol and their databases and their traine…

A friendship gone

Forever lost

Indiscretion

Brought the Frost

So much in common

Yet years apart

So many differences

Lies of the heart

Deception takes on

Many forms

Resulting in

Abandoned norms

Out of sight

Not out of mind

Ease of pain

A Difficult fin…

a glowing document, highlighted for my senses alone. as i read, the dense random symbols resolved into readable text.

"TS/SCI/KA: GREEN CASSOWARY

Update: Intercept timing correlation

A dark line¹ presumed to be under enemy control went live today² …

My steps make little noise as I move gingerly between the bushes. As I survey my surroundings, my thoughts wander.

In the village, hunters are respected. We risk our lives to provide food in this hostile land, where killing animals is our only option. Our…

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…

I wanna write on fire.

Not with fire like a sparkler in the night.

Not like some imaginary, magical way of literally writing on a fleeting flame.

Writing with abandon, with freedom, with vigor; that's what I want.

No more tiredness, mental fogginess, …

Nothing.

A vast expanse of unknowable darkness.

I saw it. My feet may have even dangled towards its embrace. Tiny shards, the whole of my heart broken long ago, tumbled easily down the well. Perhaps I should have grasped for them. Perhaps they will …

Story is marked as mature

A wholly imaginary girl appeared at the end of his desk as he typed. His mind immediately jumped to the word "girl" but she was in fact a "woman," by any real definition. He had just always thought of her as youth personified. A late teen for all eternity…

Polishing her well-fingered nails against a strip of garish colored sandpaper above the visor, Ossie tromped her best L'Oeil and went gangbusters, head for leather, on her hurtling passage of Rite. She would need no rite aid today!

Bucksnifter Lentilsgree…

Malika pushed forward with single-minded focus. She would complete her task, with Orthael's help or without it. It mattered not to her which way the work at hand was done.

She passed through the clearing where moments before she had just performed her ba…

"How many died?" The lighter one asked the other.

"Too many, nearly all. How many escaped?" She replied.

"Too few."

One summoned her vine-entwined rod, the other her scythe.

"We should take care of them, shouldn't we?" The lighter one asked.

"They'l…