I didn’t get any work done that day, nor did I sleep well that night. The following day was better, but by Saturday evening, I realized that I’d had no visitors, and I began to worry. I’d expected someone to come and try to talk me out of exposing Ella’s...
“What?” I could barely believe my ears. Bob's revelation stunned me; he was not only complicit in hiding Ella's secrets, but he had convinced our neighbors, too? Bob nodded. “Not all of them. Some of them had already decided to… well, to do nothing, I sup...
I stood in front of the office building for almost an hour before he came out. Once, I had wronged him and ruined his life. Now, another had done likewise to me, in the same manner, and almost exactly twelve years apart. I don’t believe in karma, but a pr...
I hated working nights. I'm not sure why I let Jules talk me into it. Sure, the money was better for working 6 pm to 6 am, but money aside, I really didn't enjoy staying up all night. "Hey, Jessi, will you please make sure Nick actually reads this note?"...
As I watched Troy and Alex, panic gripped me like a tight hand around my throat, making it hard for me to breathe. I couldn't utter a sound, and my mind was reeling when I slid off the stool and started toward them. "Josh, wait!" Holly called after me, bu...
Weeks passed, and Troy and I continued to spend plenty of time together. We would often meet for dinner after I got off work and before he started a shift at the bar. On the rare occasions when our work schedules permitted us to do more, we would sometime...
Up until now, I hadn't felt ready for fatherhood. At only eighteen, it had been a daunting prospect to step up to the task of caring for another, and selfishly, I've enjoyed being answerable to no one but myself for all this time. Yet, as I stare down at...
Riddick stood in front of a large window, looking down on the tarmac in the bustling airport terminal of the Dallas International Airport gazing out at the panoramic view of the scene below. His eyes sparkled with childlike fascination as he watched the i...
It was a letter that upended my world. Not one of the “Dear John” variety; that would have been less painful. Nor was it a “We Regret To Inform,” but the sense of loss, while not as acute, was even more all-encompassing. No, it wasn’t a letter of the pape...
Anne After dinner, we gathered back in the living area. Virginia had music playing at a pleasant volume. I was taking in the amazing view while Virginia, Tera, and Lance got involved in a conversation ten feet away. I couldn’t make out what they were sayi...
We arrived home around midnight and I followed my lovely wife into the shower. I washed her spent body, dried her off, and settled her in bed. I had a lot on my mind and really wanted time to process it all, but that would have to wait. Right now, Liz nee...
“Well, well, well. Lookie what we have here, will you?” Kenzie was ready to captivate in a pair of dangerously short denim cutoffs that were rolled up even higher and a pink tank top with the telltale sign of a bikini strap tied around her neck. Overhead,...
“I fucking hate bowling!” Lexi roared in frustration as she got her second gutterball in a row. “Why did we even come here?? This place sucks!!” Four or five people were staring at us by the time Lexi grumpily took her seat. Milo got up to throw his ball,...
There are things you know but just can’t explain. You just feel what’s right. Even if it’s not what you “should” do, you know you have to do it, and it was in that moment, probably right before she would have gone to voicemail, that I hit ‘answer’ and bro...
When Y’Dryth’s gravity finally lets go of us entirely and we’re slingshotted back into empty space, the last of the shaking abates. Neither Bane nor Rune answers my questions about our attackers/pursuers – no surprise there – but from the small line of bl...
