「ザキさん、こんなクソ寒い夜中になんの用ですか」 空気も凍るような寒さの夜、理由も告げずに俺を稽古場へ呼び出した小劇団の先輩、崎山に不満を隠さず声を掛けた。そこは、稽古場というより廃倉庫といったほうがしっくりくるボロ屋で、風が吹かないだけ外よりマシという状況だった。貧乏劇団ゆえ暖房器具など置いてすらない。 「おう、すまねぇな、森田。ちょっと見せたいもんがあってな」 「金貸してくれってのは無しですよ」 「そんなんじゃねぇよ。芝居の話だ、芝居の」 崎山はもう四十も半ば、芽の出ない役者だ。売れない理由は、今時となっては珍しい「飲む」「打つ」「買う」と三拍子を見事に揃えた素行の悪さが、業界中に知れ渡っているせいだった。どこぞの脚本家の奥さんに横恋慕して旦那に殺されかけただの、賭場で負けて裸で電車に乗って留置所に入れられ...
//Author's Note: Huge thanks to my good friends KatieTay and SkullTitti for their help in translations and tone! This story could not have been possible without their patience and assistance!// "Huh," Wren said, repeating herself and breaking the long silence. The picture of her, attached to the bottom of the wanted notification, was an old one. Her hair ha...
//Author's Note: Huge thanks to my good friends KatieTay and SkullTitti for their help in translations and tone! This story could not have been possible without their patience and assistance! All characters are 18 or older.// "Here we go," Wren whispered, as the timer counted down and the Daedalus dropped out of t-space. The disorientation passed quickly,...
One Night in Xanadu A Princess of the Xiongnu and the Old Way © 2019 Chloe Tzang. All rights reserved. The author asserts a moral right to be identified as the author of this story. This story or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotat...
Before we start, these are the characters. Jake (you): The only male member of the family. 18 years old. Kathy: Step-mom. Darla's wife. 52 years old. Darla: Step-mom. Kathy's wife. 50 years old. Edith: Step-aunt. Kathy's sister. 50 years old. Ellen: Step-aunt. Kathy's sister. 48 years old. Regina: Step-aunt. Kathy's sister. 46 years old. Mia: Step-aunt....
In a land far away and long. long ago there in a small village close by the great wood there lived a girl called Elaine. She lived with her step mother who was surprisingly, and against all the odds in a fairy tale, not wicked. Elaine, and many of the local woodcutters did notice however that her step mother had a wicked grin and equally wicked curves whic...
A twist on one of Grimm's Fairy Tales. Her mother was dying. Cinderella didn't need anyone to tell her that. The sad faces and averted eyes of the visitors that poured through their home told her that. The extra gentle touch of her father's hand on her shoulder told her that. And the pale, withered husk of her once lively mother told her that. She held her...
Once upon a time, in a tiny kingdom nestled between tall European mountains lived a widowed gentleman with his daughter Cinderella. Despite his grief over the loss of his loved one, the gentlemen was worried that his daughter needed the care of a mother, so he remarried a women with two of her own daughters, named Anastasia and Drizella. However, the gentle...
We were three back then, when we first happened upon the cavity between the stones. It was I and my two friends, Belle and Step, or Stephen as his parents called him. We were 18 and it was a beautiful summer evening when Step found it. "I've never seen this before," he said. "Have you?" Belle and I shock our heads in confusion. This wasn't our first time...
Alex let herself slowly wake, stretching her arms overhead and her back lifting from the mattress. She then curled herself into her smooth sheets under the warmth of the bedspread. Her dark hair trailed long and it tickled her back for a moment as she shifted. She let her mind wander to last night and her unknown companion. Remembering his eyes gazing into...