One Seventy Nine
These few words could be the last we ever speak. You’ll want to find a cop’s uniform. Try the park or the stadium, anywhere that the fighting got bad. Carry it…
Elizabeth Gallenberg
57 stories written on Ficly, 2010–2012, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0. Their page on ficly.com
Containing In It All Sweetness
He hadn’t ventured into her garden since the funeral. Now, stepping off the screen porch, he realized how much it had changed. The familiar warm smell of…
The Gravity of What Has Gone (14)
Naomi rescued me. “Did you owe someone money?” “No!” Mr. Hansen snarled. “Fine. Go ahead. Help these kid-snatching extortionists so you don’t have to talk…
The Gravity of What Has Gone (13)
The Hansens refused my increasingly frantic meeting requests until Naomi got on the phone. “His child is missing,” she said, as I paced and tried to remember…
A Loaf of Bread and Thou
Dating a goddess is nothing like how you think it would be. And Robert even figured that’s how it would be. He still got it wrong. “Look at that crap,” she…
Lockjaw
Officer Li patrolled downtown, slick as chocolate, sharp as gasoline, and I rode high on her hip, the best in the new nonlethal technology. The shiners skunked…
County Road B
They make it to the field without Hannah getting lost, not even once, and as far as Meg’s concerned that’s a success already. The girls can never decide who…
All Dressed Up to Go Away
I’d have bet cash money Sarah Pickard wouldn’t be back for the funeral, but there she was, still carrying her suitcase, plopped down in the front pew. It was a…
Love Finds a Way
Even though it’s almost dark, we don’t rush back to camp. I’m so sick of running. Jim slips on a patch slick with February refreeze, and I catch his arm. He…
Where Mortal Thoughts Remain
Clouds scudded overhead, reflecting pink sunset light, as June-scented breeze filled McGlover Park. Jethro shivered, reminded too much of Faerie. Memories…
And Cinnamon Stars at Night
There’s a drought of magic in the city of Evedad. And that’s a problem for seventeen-year-old Lajara, because her apprenticeship with a sorcerer and local gang…
Chopper Babe Gets Up
rrrrrrr She was burning. rrrrrrrrrr Marisa flapped her hands weakly, trying to put out the flames, and hit only ice-encrusted dirt. How could snow be so…
Balancing Act
It wasn’t even worth waking up sober anymore. Life was a balance sheet and she was drowning in red ink. First the corrupted deck mods—that was when they…
Summer is Only a Season
“Did you have a nice day?” she asked as Robin came through the front door. “Yes.” He hung up his dour grey trench coat, shook off the dour grey umbrella she’d…
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
She spreads her hands, palms up, in a gesture of frustration. “Why?” She holds up one slender finger. “Because you’re violent.” She holds up a second. “You’re…
Ta-da
“It’s nice enough for a hobby,” said her mother, “but you’ll never make a living at it.”
Samsara
Of course Ava leaves the monastery when the nation’s generals come for her. Staying would mean practicing attachment, something the 18th reincarnation of Avalo…
Midterm
There are two problems with Magia 463: Advanced Advanced Advanced Curse Magick. The first is that it’s impossible to say the official course title, which is in…
Objet des Rêves (4)
I close my eyes as the wallet thuds into my cupped palms. The leather, warm from being inside Chuck’s coat, feels disturbingly like skin. I only have a split…
Objet des Rêves (3)
One of the men is still inside his pickup truck, slumped forward against the steering wheel, seatbelt straining against his skinny chest. Congealed blood has…