After the absolute worst day, I found myself waiting for a bus under a shelter in the pouring rain. Out of nowhere, a truck zoomed-by and a wall of water rose up from the street and soaked me from head to toe. I stood there on the verge of tears. It was a perfectly miserable ending to a perfectly miserable day. Above the noise of the traffic and the falling...
Operation Denise began with what had become a fairly common arrangement, Justin leaving his truck at the house and the three of them going to the beach together. As always, they chose an alcove and moved in. The blanket was spread out near the cooler. They removed their outer clothes and folded them, placing then on the cart out of the way. They went swimmin...
I woke up to the clacking of typewriter keys echoing down Theo's castle's stone hallways. I rolled over to my stomach, pushing up from the mattress to stretch my arms and my back. Looking up over my shoulder to the ceiling I saw the painting Theo had above his bed—a small farm house on a grassy hill, the paint thick and textured, the sky dark and grey. I cou...
The sun had set a little over an hour ago as I pulled my car into the apartment complex's parking garage. I worked as a design engineer for Rockwell Aerospace; I had been with the company since completing my engineering degree at Florida State University. I lived by myself; I had always been something of a loner and had just never seemed to find a lady who w...
In a small southern town, there exists an institution known as the Vocational College for Girls. VCG, as it is commonly called, is a detention center for young girls between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. The school is an alternative to prison for girls with minor or first time offences. It was Lisa's first day at VCG. She was a sweet little eighteen-...
The soft breeze that swept barely cool air across the swimming pool and over Leah's white cotton dress, did nothing to cool her in the late August heat of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as she read her textbook. "God, Information Technology for Professionals has to be the most boring book ever written." She thought. ================= Jared, Leah's boyfriend of...
It had been a slow summer. I had a decent job at my father's law firm - a lot more substantive work that what a typical college undergrad could expect - but no matter how much I adore him, it was still working for Daddy. A knee injury at the beginning of vacation further cramped my style, and limited my workouts to the gym in the office building - again usua...
Have you ever noticed that bad things all seem to happen at the same time? My car was having transmission troubles and had been in the shop three times already. They'd better get it fixed this time. Then the landlord terminated my lease and told me I have to be out in 30 days. Try as I might, I could not find another place to live until the first of next mon...
The steady click clack of Stephanie's stiletto boots wasn't the only sound on Palm Street. One could hear the stubborn buzz of long broken street lights still struggling to come on. There were plenty of cars a few blocks up, almost none were brave enough drive this particular stretch of road at night and if you strained a little you could here the Lethe Rive...
The sun was beaming through her window and Mary felt like her head was going to explode, or maybe just crack down the middle. She couldn't decide what was worse, the sunlight, the loud, unidentified clanks, or the fact that she wasn't precisely sure what happened last night. Either way she knew she smelled like smoke and, unfortunately, vomit. She rolled to...