Short Story

Sunday Rises

Oh my God I wish that incessant phone would stop ringing. I haven’t even gotten outta bed yet. Surprise surprise, what do I see on my caller ID when I pick up the phone? It’s Kasey. She just won’t let me sleep in on this Sunday morning, but dang it I gotta answer or she won’t stop blowing up my phone. So I reluctantly hit the annoying green answer button and give Kasey a hello with a dragging tone. “That hello doesn’t sound like someone who’s out of bed and on their way to church” she says in the most annoyingly lively accent I have ever heard.

SOLIDUS SNAKE: THE DEVIL’S ARMY

Part I: The Making of a Weapon Before he was President George Sears, before Big Shell, before the world learned to fear the name Solidus Snake, he was a boy in a room without windows.

Optimisation

As I sank into the moulded plastic chair beside my solicitor, I barely had time to gather my thoughts before the door opened and two detectives stepped into the interview room.

The tale of sundowner sue pt2

The tale of Sundowner Sue

Bind the Flesh 🐺. Content Warning.

When I look at the werewolf, hanging there chained, smirking as if it's all a big joke I don't get... I want to smack him in his smug, symmetrical face. Bad enough that I had to bring him into my house .

A very messy bed

It was the lowest point of my life. Out on the streets, nowhere to stay, nowhere to go, nothing to my name but a bottle of Stolichnaya I had lifted from the convenience store on the corner. The only thing to keep me warm on a cold night out in the city.

The Trip

Mac spent time with me every day. He was so mindful of me and knew how deeply I was still in love with him, after all our years together. Our affection had endured for many years. We met in college and were inseparable. We went to grad school together and were never apart. Our love was the subject of many conversations. The soulmate bond we shared was something I had always been aware of. He felt it from the first day we met, and he still did. It was hard to explain how it felt. I couldn't even remember whether I found him or he found me. Mac and I were just meant to be together. Nothing else ever seemed to get in the way of that.

WHEN FIRE BECAME CLAY

Hell had grown old around him. Its first fires no longer roared. They listened. They had learned the shape of his silence. They had learned the weight of his footsteps. They had learned that when Lucifer sat upon the black throne and said nothing, whole kingdoms trembled in the memory of Heaven.

With everyone

"Why won't you do something for the New Years party? All the neighbors are doing something." God, my mom just doesn't seem to give up. Why this so important to her is beyond me.

Far North Winter

Snow has fallen continuously for days, and the temperature is in the far extremes that people in the Lower 48 only imagine. Colder than Minnesota and the infamous Chicago wind chills, and colder than I have ever experienced in my entire 29 years living near Denali in Alaska. 12 days straight of heavy snow, dropping about 12 feet, and it’s 36 degrees below zero, and sinking. The two-lane road leading to my cabin is invisible, buried under the deep snow. I used the gas-powered snow blower to keep the porch and door clear of drifts, but the earlier warm-up made me certain the deck was covered in ice beneath the surface. I can’t see out of the windows with the blizzard so heavy, absolutely relentless. I open the door, and a gale spews snow inside; the cold air sucks my breath away.

Divorce Vacation Flying Sandwich

It was my first vacation as a single dad. I knew it wasn't a contest, but if I'm being honest, it felt like one sometimes. My ex-wife had taken our daughters to Europe during the summer. They'd seen castles, museums, cathedrals, and cities older than our entire country. They came back with photographs from places I'd only ever seen in books and documentaries.