"Is he dead? He looks dead." "No, I just checked, he's still alive." Avery felt something hard nudge his side, right in his ribs. He grimaced, and tried to force his eyes open but couldn't. His entire body was wracked with pain. He couldn't move. His head was aching with such piercing pain; it felt as though it had been split open. 'Maybe I'm dying.' He...
I had been stocking a closet at work of paper products, when I tweaked an old back injury bending down to open the last box of paper towels. I stood up, and winced—feeling something pull in my lower back. I began rubbing my lower back in circles. A few seconds later, I heard the jingle of keys. The door opened, and I saw Dale—a new employee—take a step in...
It was after noon before Avery woke. He had gone to bed nude and sometime during the night managed to kick the blankets off so that he lay on the bed exposed, and a bit chilly. He jumped as the room was suddenly bathed in the soft glow of the lamp that was sitting on his desk near a window, that had long ago been covered with thick, black drapes. "Brian?" H...
Rick was surprised when he woke to see his clothes lying on the nightstand beside his bed. They had been laundered and neatly folded then placed there while he was sleeping. He sat up, yawned, and then slowly began to dress himself. As soon as he stepped out of the room and into the hall he headed for the bathroom but paused as he approached the door. He cou...
Avery checked his phone again. It had been two days since he'd texted Brian and still there was no answer. Avery began to think that maybe Brian was too hurt or angry to text him back. Then again, maybe he was just too busy to be bothered with him at all. Avery knew that he was going to break it off with him, he'd already decided that, he just didn't want to...
Avery and Rick arrived back at the apartment around ten that night. They were both pretty tired, but also excited. Their first date had gone perfectly, even despite Avery being nervous in the beginning. They decided to go to TJ's steak house and buffet. It was a favorite of Avery's but a place that he rarely had the chance to go to. It wasn't overly expensiv...
"There are only two weeks left until the battle of the bands. We need to know if you're up for this or not because if we're going to pull out, now is the time to do it." Cole was seated at the bar, his guitar case at his feet. Avery sat at one of the tables next to Rick with the others gathered around them. Boomer was leaning on the bar and like the others h...
"This is fucking bullshit!" Mikey wadded up the newspaper and threw it across the room. "They shouldn't even have been allowed to enter. Having Cole Rhoads as part of the band is a fucking joke. This is supposed to be for amateur bands, not seasoned musicians." "Dude, take a chill pill." Kassidy Lane, the pirate from the Halloween party, was stretched out a...
Avery stepped up to the microphone and looked out over the sea of faces that were staring back up at him. He was nervous, to say the least. Never in his life had he sang to such a large crowd of people. But despite his nervousness, he wasn't scared. If anything, he was more exhilarated than he'd ever been before. He'd worked so hard for this moment. The hou...
Mikey looked out the window and frowned. He was starting to become slightly annoyed at this point. "Someone here?" His father asked from the other side of the room. The old man was sitting in an arm chair, the television tuned in to one of those reality fishing shows. He was wearing his work pants and a dingy white undershirt that barely covered his beer gu...