In the valleys of the Pacific Northwest, where the mountains curl like sleeping giants and the forests hush even the wind, there lies a town mostly hidden from time. Resin Grove. Small, old, and tucked between shadowed trees and winding rivers, it isn’t the kind of place people move to—it’s the kind of place people are from. The town rests in a wide basin wh...
The Pine Grove Mall was a boring little strip mall right off of Route 90. Did solid business, had a decent amount of variety to its stores, but was just otherwise unremarkable in an unremarkable town. In the course of a single day, that would all change. -- Below the mall, a crew was working on the storm drains. It was a hard day of clearing up minor clogs a...
The sun blazed high in the late August sky. It wasn't the hottest day of the summer. The heat was oppressive because it touched that nerve of fatigue at the end of summer, when a person tired of hot weather. It was two o'clock. Paul had finished everything. He had taken his work-out in the cool early morning. He finished mowing the lawn at about eleven. He h...
It was late afternoon before a chagrined Emily finally admitted to herself that she was lost. After all, she was an experienced hiker, and it wasn't like this was her first visit to Acadia. She had set out that morning from the Blackwoods Campground near Otter Creek, on what was supposed to have been easy, two-hour walk to Eagle Lake. But one wrong trail had...
Editor's note: this submission contains scenes of gay male sexual content. * We stood, not speaking, backs to each other, in the showers adjacent to the danger room, under separate sprays of water. After a long silence, Scott spoke. "There's no excuse for the theatrics in there, Logan. You jeopardized the team." "I'm the only reason we survived that rear...
Jason got up once he was sure he and Sylvia's mother were alone in the cabin, showered, dressed, and went downstairs. Karen was at the kitchen table, putting things into the knapsack they'd used the two other times they'd gone to the pool and smiled at him when he walked into the kitchen. "I thought I was going to have to come up and get you," she said. "I...
Connie and I woke to the sounds of chirping birds and a woodpecker drumming on a nearby tree. Sunlight poured in through the open window, illuminating the carnage of a great party the night before. Empty glasses and beer bottles on the shelves and dresser, a spilled glass in a puddle in the corner, and a woman's under garments — Kathy's I'd guess — trampled...
Laura Jean is girl-next-door pretty with an athletic build. She's no beauty queen so when I paid attention to her she was thrilled, even though I am quite a bit older than her, I'm a handsome guy and physically fit and when I asked her how old she thought I was, she guessed no more than 30-35. I am actually 47, so I lied and said I was 35. But even 35 is old...
It was 6:30 p.m. He had a date tonight. In one hour to be precise. He had seen her the past 27 nights, each evening always new and refreshing. And he had never been late. But he had a few minutes to spare, so he leaned forward in his small shower stall and braced his powerful forearms and shoulders against the slick tile, the blistering stream of water sluic...
With every step forward, Daniella's heart pounded harder, her body shaking with unease. For the hundredth time that morning, she checked the map her faculty advisor had given her. The map, which he had said would lead her to a particularly active butterfly breeding ground, was old and worn from years of use. Her advisor was nearing retirement, after all. S...