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Continue reading groundhog = true
Tag Archives: Standalone
Cold Hearts
“Where is he?” Doris said in a shout that echoed through the waiting area. People bot sick and waiting turned and what they saw were two people, parents presumably, followed by a third, a girl of no more than seventeen, hair dyed black, and anger in her eyes. It was the same anger that her mother Doris had. Mad at the world but scared too. The father, Richard, was in a daze. He looked at the surprised receptionist with no emotion, no anything, like a dust mote just floating by.
Continue reading Cold HeartsDo Not Wonder
Do not wonder where the top of the rainbow is, and do not wonder where it leads to either. It’s all hogwash. Did you know the cytostream makes up the dream so that we cannot see what it’s doing to us? Fucked up. That’s what it all is. Fucked up beyond all recognition. No not recognition, but belief. You will not believe any of it. You will not be able to until you kill your dreams. Until you learn to keep your eyes open.
Continue reading Do Not WonderBlooming into
Jacob was never nice to me. He never needed to be. He was strong, and cute, and funny, and cool. He was the guy that all the other guys wanted to be like. All of them, except me. I see him and I just want him to notice me. To say my name. To say, “Hey Wade.” That’s all I need. Continue reading Blooming into
To Rock the Cradle
Dr. Aaron Fluer was fresh off a plane and a surprisingly short briefing. He sized up his patient and the room that contained her. She had tossed brown hair that floated above a weak brow. A smirk contorted half of her face as her green eyes frolicked around the room. There wasn’t much for her to look at besides Aaron. The stark room was a deep black just as the halls outside were. Still she took little notice of him. Continue reading To Rock the Cradle
If I Had My Own Spaceship, I
If I had my own spaceship, I would travel the stars. I would be the first to name each one. Name them something beautiful. Something that captures their essence. Their terrible destruction. Their creation. Their color. Their hue. I would look at all of their little ones, and I would name them too. Maybe, just maybe, I would find one of blue. Continue reading If I Had My Own Spaceship, I
To the Beat of the Maker
My feet marched to the beat. Step forward, step forward, into the nothing. Over the hill. To meet my maker. If I could not see him today, then maybe tomorrow. Through the trees, through the grass, through the jungle, through the rivers and lakes and streams. I am joined by many as our march continues. Steady beat. Steady beat. Continue reading To the Beat of the Maker
Please Bring Milk
Here I stand at the end of all things, a dead-end alleyway where all of our souls reside. Jack is my name, and if any piece of this makes sense to you, then you should run. Run now, and run fast. Never listen to a Shrib addict. Never. I hope you are not still listening. Continue reading Please Bring Milk
Odd Creatures
The clear night sky was freckled with a few hundred dots of light. It was a new July moon in the Midwest, and the air hung still and dry. On a night like this, an odd creature crawls out from hiding. Do not judge these creatures, for they are drawn to these nights. Continue reading Odd Creatures
The Moons of Jupiter
An alarm reverberated through empty metal halls. It sounded past terminals that flickered on giving the empty-chair room an unsettling glow. It buzzed between frost covered tanks which responded with small metallic clicks. Finally, it landed in Jack’s ear, awakening him. Continue reading The Moons of Jupiter
The Network
We get on the ground. We are all here. Looking up the many legs of a vengeful god wondering when our turn will come. Continue reading The Network
The Closest Enemy
I was born, and then eventually, I died. Wait, that’s not right. Continue reading The Closest Enemy
Thirteen Years
Light danced across the picture lined hallway as the stained glass door was opened for a brief moment before being set back in place. In that brief moment, Nancy had come in with her arms filled with groceries and a small tight smile on her porcelain face. Her young figure flowed into the kitchen and set to work. Continue reading Thirteen Years
The Ending to Follow
You wake up one day and things may not be as they were. Your lamp is no longer a lamp, your bed not a bed. These things still exist and yet somehow they don’t. Let me make one thing clear, we did not sign up for this. Continue reading The Ending to Follow
Nowhere Highway
Howard walked in and sat down. The belt moved. They knew he was there, the chip in his neck told them so. Seventeen bolts, eighteen washers, two cotter pins, grease, a torque body assembly, a digital signature, and six minutes. The line moved again and he repeated the steps. He called the belt the highway to nowhere. He had never been to the other end of it, just as he had never been to the beginning of it. Sometimes what he worked on changed, or the instructions were new or different, it didn’t matter. The crimson red clock counted down and he kept working. In nine years the line had never stopped, in nine years he had never interacted with another co-worker. It was all insulated and it had been made so very carefully. Continue reading Nowhere Highway
It Burns Just the Same
Fire races through thick beige carpet still streaked from vacuuming. It dances up the sides of a white couch leaping from cushion to cushion. The coffee table burns with its lone candle centerpiece. The wax boils and spits splattering the carpet with red shortly before it is consumed and blackened. Chairs on either side of the coffee table had been turned ever so slightly to create an inviting atmosphere. They matched the couch when it was still white, now they match it in black. Continue reading It Burns Just the Same