The Anticipation of a Moment

He sighed, leaning back with a look of thoughtful contemplation, then returned to the manuscript. Another smoked beside the window, reading, brows furrowed. She watched them eagerly, eyes gleaming with anticipation. "Well?" someone said. A moment of silence dawned with the sun, pregnant with effort, skill, and no little amount of divine inspiration. "It's perfect." … Continue reading The Anticipation of a Moment →

An Inconvenient Wall

Aram punched the wall again, mostly out of frustration, but also out of a morbid need to commit to his foolish experiment. Yes, his knuckles were split and raw and his hands were shattered, but he consumed enough painkillers to ignore such inconveniences, and the wall at least splintered with every thousand blows - he … Continue reading An Inconvenient Wall →

Somewhere in Nevada

He flicked his cigarette into the desert and began to light another one with the practiced motion of a salaryman. His assistant was pissing on the cracked earth beside Highway 50 because he insisted on drinking four energy drinks for breakfast. A scraggly kitten approached, meowing. The salaryman frowned, uneasy. Two men and a kitten … Continue reading Somewhere in Nevada →

Two, Alone

She laughed, tossing back the phone, "How depressing!" The writer felt defensive, "That's like, my schtick - a dreary poet who rejects catharsis." "Oh, honey,” she murmured, a finger prodding his cheek, “Rejection implies choice.” Across the room, a grey shorthair yawned with an air of annoyance, wondering why it’s human was talking to himself … Continue reading Two, Alone →

11:22PM

Jittery and anxious, he played over their conversation in his head for the seventy-third time. There was definitely something to it, right? He wasn't overthinking things - this was perfectly normal behavior (for whatever passes for "normal" nowadays, right?). He carefully typed out his thoughts, the haptic feedback turning every word into a heartbeat. SENT … Continue reading 11:22PM →

The Last Dragon

The Traveler flexed her fingers, clenching into tight fists before slowly relaxing. Her fingers felt raw and hot despite the chill cutting through the worn leather of her gloves. The climb up this twisted mountain had already taken the better part of the day, and the frosty path was hardly better than a game trail … Continue reading The Last Dragon →

Cutting Ties

It’s an awful life cycle, Love, Strangers meet, like the only two people waking a dark, hollow world. Exulting in companionship, soft laughter does it’s work to tie their bodies closer together in conspiratorial intent, forming a fledgling friendship that shimmers into faint illumination, growing brighter brighter. That friendship which burns so brightly, white-hot in … Continue reading Cutting Ties →

The Fox and the Maiden’s Daughter

There used to be stories about the silver foxes that lived in the forests near the Deep. The oldest of these folktales claim that they were once fairies, spirits who lived in the world between our own and the land of gods, and served as messengers, envoys, and heralds of fortune. Perhaps it is because … Continue reading The Fox and the Maiden’s Daughter →

A Warrior Retired

Father was very old when I was still very young. Although older than the withered village elder, he was still stout and made up of hard angles as though chiseled by stone - but like stone, he was often inert. And so it fell to my eldest siblings to stir him from his bed, to … Continue reading A Warrior Retired →

Case no.11088, Evidence: Documents

Document A, A6 paper, resembling a leaflet: Congratulations on becoming eligible for the rank of Illuminate! This is a momentous occasion for not only you, but for all members of the Order of Luminaries, as you have made yet another step towards the inner circle of knowledge, and continue to move away from the darkness … Continue reading Case no.11088, Evidence: Documents →