"Mind if I light a smoke?" he asked. "Isn't that what you came for in the first place?" she queried back. He chuckled, nervously fidgeting with the pack, checking one last time if anyone he knew was there like a teenager who'd dusted off his dad's stash o...
The bedroom is all set up: candles lit, house deserted, cat on her nightly tour. Looking forward to the great midnightly spectacle, I check the pendulum clock on the wall: Friday, 11.58 pm—the perfect time. All is set up as instructed. I'm sitting on the...
“Fuck, I should have known better,” Ella muttered under her breath, reaching for the bag of breakfast cereals, “than to—Argh!—let a ghost have his way with me.” She slammed the door of the cupboard with determined frustration. “And a desperate incapable v...
I walk over the cool meadow, the dewy blades of grass sliding between my naked toes, the pleasant dampness wetting my soles. You lie in the sun as you always do, patiently waiting for me, gaze fixed to the sky. The grass beside you is soft and warm, the c...
"Kiss me," croaked the frog. Took him in my hands; noticed the prominent crown on his head. How do fairytale princesses keep missing obvious details? Superficial tarts! "Kiss me, fair damsel." He stared at my cleavage. Definitely a dude. Rolled my eyes. "...
“Dude, you gotta see this,” Pat said. “Fresh meat.” I rolled my eyes. There were several ways of coping with being constantly surrounded by death and putrefaction, the perks of working in the morgue-slash-autopsy of the forensics department. Pat just had...
Tremendous fascination can be found in spices—take capsaicin. While leaving most other living species indifferent, it induces sharp, lasting pain in mammal mucus. Owing to these features, it has found widespread use in agronomy against rodent pests or as...
The day was especially quiet—not that much happened in those cubicles anyway but on this particularly bland day when even the clouded sky tried to blend in with the monotonous gray of the city's concrete jungle. The office was so quiet, Julian thought he'...
Robert walked up to the counter. From the dottiness of his steps, it was clear he was uncomfortable walking. The elderly receptionist adjusted her glasses. She too was wearing the sterile pastel mint green scrubs. “St. Andrew's emergency service, how may...
“Thank you and now get the hell into your room. I can't work with you beside me,” Claire scolded her roommate Christopher with just a hint of desperation in her voice. “Come on, you didn't even receive the e-mail with your exam questions yet. Besides, it...
Late Summer; just before Fall equinox. His favorite time of the year. Leaves changing color. Air getting cooler. Dusk falling just as his homeward bicycle ride takes him through the forest. Dusk always appears unusually long during these two weeks. Long s...
Thank you. Xoxo, the text read. Sean cursed at the prospect of having to endure Michael's various caprices longer than necessary and at his inability to say no—more accurately: to say no to the pair of perky breasts Michael's mother, Sharon, used to keep...
The march is in full swing with Charles Parker in the middle, surrounded by a crowd of overjoyed people. Some just walking, some dancing to the jolly music that comes blasting from several mobile boom-boxes, some chanting along. While it's not his type of...
