Re-evaluating Strangers
I couldn’t help but groan. Standing up had not been a good idea. Everything hurt. “Do you know that guy?” the girl asked. An icy spike shot up my spine. Panic…
Chilling Words (4)
There’s only so much make-work a guy can do while waiting for a van to return. With it done, all that’s left is for you to sit there with your fellow drivers…
Chilling Words (3)
Another shift. I tended to view the van with a certain sense of trepidation lately. It seemed larger and more daunting each time I approached it. I looked at…
Awkward... Raffle
“Our last item tonight... Almond moisteriser, Almond lip balm and Almond Dry shampoo!” I stared at the item that the host was holding up while his helper…
Awkward... Automatic Doors
What a day. Lengthy classes full of grilling work and now I have fifteen minutes before the next class to grab something to eat. I rush down the slope towards…
Chilling Words (1)
“I’ll just keep ordering shopping until I find you!” The words from last night rang in my head as I got back into my van and drove off. It was just a random…
Visitation: an end
Nami could only blink and wring her hands. She picked over her words carefully, not wanting to offend. “Does it...doesn’t it come from the gods themselves, the…
Visitation: an answer
“Are you testing me?” Nami asked. “To see if I will act piously?” Ina smiled. She looked different than when she first arrived, Nami realised; her eyes were…
Visitation: a question
Nami found her heart beating harder as she watched her guest. It was something about the way she moved, or the strange flash of gold in her eyes which only…
Visitation: a guest
A woman with weathered skin and grey in her hair opened the door. Her name was Nami. She looked out and saw a dusty, worn woman, younger than herself. She…
Visitation: a knock
Ina had walked all day and into the night, and though by now she was dusty and worn, not a single door had opened to her. The darkened plains were endless, and…
On Patrol: Welcoming the Dawn
Stifling a yawn with the back of my hand, I placed my palm against the glass as if to welcome the sun and almost recoiled at the frigid surface. Instead, I…
Notes on a Chest Wound
I awoke to the dull throbbing of crystalline nanofibers weaving themselves through the hole in my chest. It hurt to move my head, but I looked down and watched…
From the Library of Failure (Branch 2, Part 10)
Jenny recoiled from the woman and in a flash of violet light, everything changed. There was a momentary sense of astonishment and hurt that Jenny knew came…
From the Library of Failure (Branch 1, Part 10)
The open terrace of the transport bay was reassuringly familiar. White fluted columns regularly interrupted the rippling bronze of the walls. Wide, flat steps…
From the Library of Failure (Branch 2, Part 9)
Closing her eyes, she gripped her stuffed tiger, Mamoru, tight. Curling inward, she nuzzled her face against the remnants of his fur, and inhaled. There was…
From the Library of Failure (Branch 1, Part 9)
The conversation with N lingered in Gwen’s mind. It was there as she practiced the breathing and spine excercises that were so essential to the shequan…
From the Library of Failure (Branch 2, Part 8)
She couldn’t come up with any answers that satisfied her and settled in to do her homework. Tonight though, reading was a frustrating lesson in futility…
From the Library of Failure (Branch 1, Part 8)
N stood up and stretched like a cat. “That being said, if it worries you, then my advice is to practice more.” She walked around the desk in a hip swaying…
From the Library of Failure (Branch 2, Part 7)
Why would anyone break her bank, glue it back together, and then leave drop it on the floor? Jenny shook her head. It boggled the mind. She decided her mom was…