Halfway through the company's ‘voluntary’ 5k that everyone who wanted to have a job on Monday had shown up to, Meera’s body was ready to revolt. “We need to exercise!” gasped her lungs, “Regularly! Not

​"Fear is the mind-killer." Shoshana was sure she had read that somewhere, but she couldn’t quite remember where, especially not under these conditions. She was quietly freaking out, so from

Charles sat silently watching the only woman he would ever love say, “I do” to another man. Nobody saw him leave and he didn't say farewell. Some said he took his life that night. Others said he joined

If a mantis shrimp showed up to Zara’s home one day and looked around, it would almost certainly find every color it was capable of experiencing and then some. A bit like if a drunk unicorn had thrown

The scholarship covered everything. Room. Board. Tuition. Extras. It seemed almost too good to be true. Actually, Lara was beginning to think it all seemed way too good to be true. Her grades were not

As a Great Dane of especially great stature, The General was very careful when interacting with canines who were…not similarly gifted. Pistachio, the chihuahua, was one such creature. But even with his

Ms. Cumberbatch had been a teacher for a very long time. She remembered back when students used to write notes on actual paper and pass them to each other. And when the only way to submit homework you

One million dollars. It was the largest tip anyone at the diner had ever received, just lying there. Cash. Marge wondered in vain what had caused the nice old man to leave it for her and what he had done

Cory avoided the simulators…not like the plague, everyone and their grandmother had gotten that. No, the way he avoided them was more like how his brother avoided responsibility or his ex avoided rehab:

Theodora had been dead for hundreds of years and spent the bulk of her afterlife haunting the same disturbing looking doll. It was neither a glamorous existence nor an especially unique one. The other

Rent was due and Randy was running low on things he could sell. He'd tried furniture, jewelry, all the marketable bodily fluids…now it looked like it might be time to sell his organs from least to most

The problem was the law. Far too many laws were written with the assumption that the highest positions of power would only ever be held by relatively sane adults. You just can't leave issues like that

Monkey Pants was lost. It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last that Naila had left him in the middle of some place or other to do whatever it is that two year olds do. He was used to it. At

In the middle of her trapeze act, Ariel began to think about aspects of her career she normally would have pushed way down somewhere in her mind. Here she was, hands outstretched to her giggly outgoing

She was used to the guys being rendered speechless by her beauty. They would gasp, sigh and gaze longingly or beg for the honor of giving her anything she wanted. Except one. His eyes held nothing but

The illusion unraveled in tiny pieces each day. Was her hair always that brown? Did she always have that birthmark? Was there always a half bathroom under the stairs…? There were forums that talked about

“I am alive!” “I am alive!” Cried the ghost On the ferry ride But it was clear That the air Smelled of rot and fear And the water Ran red With the blood Of the dead “No!” “I am alive!” She cried and cried

If the blade had been sharp, it would have slid in when she struck. Instead it bounced off him, barely even leaving a scratch. As an attempted murderer she stood a better chance of one day rejoining society