The cry of a raven wakes me, and I find myself in a bleak forest. By the smell in the air, bare trees and the layer of frost, it must be mid fall. Trying to sit up, a dull ache rushes to behind my eyes and my right shoulder. Managing to roll just before collapsing back to mother earth. A second attempt allows me to stand, and now on uneasy legs I gather my...
It hadn't been the worse day I'd ever had at the hospital but it was close. And now, like a last minute reprieve from the governor, the fresh clean air of the forest was overwhelming my senses. Maybe I should explain. I'm a pediatric nurse, big hospital, well, okay, a medium sized hospital in the Pacific Northwest. Single, in my late thirties and when every...
After aimlessly traveling from city to city, your desire to gain fame and money for performing wizarding acts begins to deplete with each hopeless city. Soon you find yourself opposite a large sign that reads: “You are now entering Magnolia” “Hmmphh... maybe this one...” you sigh under your breath pessimisticly before walking past the sign and into the large...
Chapter 2 First Night I spent the rest of that day sleeping and eating and the maid came and went at regular intervals. I felt no hostility towards this thing that served me but was irritated that it would not speak to me at all. It kept putting a finger to its lips and, at one stage, I really felt that it wanted to speak but couldn't for some reason be it...
A friend was looking for photos of bridges to be used in a book; the proceeds of the sale of that book were to be donated to a charity. The word was sent out that they were still lacking a photo of a footbridge. My first thought was of a crude, rickety bridge made of ropes and boards strung over a deep river canyon. I could picture it in my head, it was ol...
Six months ago, Rhonda had been a thirty-four-year-old waitress in the mess on an Altruvian space station and trading post. Her job paid well, if only on account of the value of the station and its distance from any well-settled territory. Three months ago, she was still working in the mess, but she wore a navy uniform and carried a pistol. The station had b...
The windshield wipers are whipping across the windshield. I have the high beams on, but they are hardly making a difference in this downpour. I am still an hour from home and on the interstate, when my car starts to sputter. The power is failing; I can tell as my lights dim and die. I pull off to the side of the highway and coast to a stop. I wait a minute...
I drank her in as soon as I entered the office. Her black skirt held tight around her hips - pinstripes accentuating her curves and aiming in a tight vee that served as an arrow to the otherwise hidden zipper. The skirt ended high enough on her thighs that she could only have planned to turn heads. Her shoes betrayed the same intension – sandals with a thin,...
I was woken at 6:30 by an irritatingly happy Ian, who seemed amazed that I didn't want to get up after only 2 hours sleep. Apparently, he had decided that we had to keep to some sort of fitness regime while we were on leave. His chattering about a 5 mile run/yomp before breakfast did not appeal, telling him to go fuck himself, I rolled over to go back to sle...
Sandy was walking in the forest for about an hour, it could have been longer or shorter it felt right to her it was warm and a hot summer night. She felt energised and vibrant in the forest the air was moist and damp, the sound was intense may it be bird or insect the orchestra was in full sound adding to the appeal of being in the outdoors. It was approachi...