The house felt vacant, hollow, and huge after everyone left. The whole Marco family went one by one for their three-week individual summer trips. The master and his wife, Mr and Mrs Marco—in whose household and care I have the honour to serve for the past several years—took a cruise, though I know for other personal reasons than the usual tour. "I'll go wa...
My wife and kids were making the annual pilgrimage to visit the in-laws back in Chicago. Two weeks in mid-July in the sweltering windy city – not my idea of summer vacation. Not even a few nights inside the friendly confines watching the Cubs break the hearts of the city could make up for the torture of spending two weeks with Nanny and Pappy. Lucky for me,...
The horror I feel is indescribable. The words ooze from him like pestilent slugs; dripping from lips that are cracked and broken. Each one is more deadly than the last, telling a story of pain and depravation so deep and so painful that I can hardly bear to hear it. But I must. If it is so hard to hear how much more difficult must it have been to live? I gr...
Standard disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any similarities with any persons living or dead are wholly coincidental... Constructive feedback is good and welcome, bitchy flame mail is not. Feedback to questions received: Our hero Ooxa... "What is up with the pronunciation (spelling)?" The Mandan language has sounds and letters that do not appear in the...
Brothers in Arms a love story by Robert Reams I Preston Dalton, dog tired and filthy, stood in the pouring rain, waiting to die. A quick musket ball to the head might be a merciful eighteenth birthday present. He thought back to his first battle, just thirteen days ago. They had been so pumped up and shiny and gray and confident, eager to drive the Yank...
Tate could feel them staring at him. He looked out across the village square and ignored their mocking grins and gloating eyes. They knew who he was and they knew what he was wanted for and for all that they might hate the city gentry that bled them dry every year with taxes that they couldn't afford it was obvious that there was not one among them that care...
If you ask me now what I was doing there, I couldn’t tell you. I don’t remember much about that day; where I was going, who I needed to see, even which direction I was headed. The only thing that stuck out was a chance sighting on the subway of the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on. He was like a vision from a dream. Tall and slim with delicate, t...
Note on Language: This is a story about two blokes who are from northern England. While I've toned it down a little, there's a lot of linguistic references in this story which might take some explaining, especially in the dialogue. It might help to know that "Nowt" and "Summat" are "nothing" and "something", that "da" and "fatha" both mean "father", that "...
Author's notes: Thanks to all those who have taken the time to send me feedback, both anonymous and public. I love hearing what people think of my work, good or bad. It's so much better than looking at the voting tally and trying to figure out what I did wrong... I have re-written this piece several times over, trying to get the right mix of dark and light...
Chapter II: Gods from the Abyss The first time Huw woke, it was to find a naked man leaning over him. Fine honed instincts drove him to strike out against this stranger, but his limbs had little strength in them. The stranger started away for a moment, then continued at his work, gently pushing Huw back down and continuing to tend to his wounds. Huw fumbled...