“I thought—“

“It’s not you, I promise; I’m just looking for something more. Something exciting.”

“I’m ‘exciting!’”

“Yeah, sort of, I guess. Science is cool. And bugs are important and stuff, but, you know?”

Scotty Chrysalis was watching another potential romance start the process of decomposition. He hated it had become the norm. So many women had run him through the same speech. But Laurel wa...

"Why not?"

"Because, child, it is forbidden."

"Why is it forbidden?" Millie looked up at the elder. He was patient and could see in her countenance she was not being defiant, merely curious, as the young always are.

"It is forbidden because it is forbidden; that is all you need to know for now, child. Stay clear of Gau-Do, little one. Nothing good can come from it."

Millie stood in th...

"Seriously, if I have to come in there again, so help me."

Claire looked at her mom, pleading, "You said you want me to be a good girl. I'm trying to be good."

"If you're trying to be a good girl, why aren't you in bed? You have school in the morning."

Frustrated, Claire slumped off the sofa, trying her best to look angry, forlorn, and annoyed simultaneously, an attempt thwarted by her pigtails...

The surrounding darkness became dense. It wouldn’t be long before the shadows overtook him completely.

“You want I should turn on a lamp or something? Dark in here.”

“What the hell?”

“Hi. You summoned me?”

“Um… yes? I mean, I think, uh, I’m pretty sure I followed the instructions correctly, or, well, I’m sort of new to all this.”

“Cool, cool, cool. You like to keep it dark in here, huh? I li...

His brother was dead. He was certain of this now. He had known for some time, really, but had thus far refused to to accept it.

It was the cold that killed him.

The cold was total. Numbing. Destructive in its persistence. He had a good thirty pounds on Robert. It had been the subject of jokes on land, but now seemed to be the difference between life and death.

The sea had calmed after days ...

Flat

Tree cover

No widow-makers

Midway between high and low

Protection from wind and cold

Shelter

The earth provides

Pine branch wickiup

Stick-dug wall of protective

Earth

Around the base

Insulation

Mossy squares form wind-block walls

Blood

I’ve cut myself

Pine sap antiseptic

Moss bandage

Blood-drop nutrients returned to soil

Iron-scented sweetsweet pine and fern and decay

Dirt under my nails

C...

"Working hard or hardly working?"

"What?"

He looked at the young barista a moment before opting out of a second try. "Nothing. I'll have my usual."

"..."

"A vanilla breve, please." He smoothed his hair down a bit while she wrote the order on a dry-erase tablet velcro-stickered to the counter. She tapped a few prompts on the iPad register and swiveled it around for him. "Busy today," he tried. ...

“Seriously, if I have to come in there again, so help me...”

Claire looked up at her mom, pleadingly, “You said you to be a good girl. I’m trying to be good.”

“If you’re trying to be a good girl than why aren’t you in bed? You have school in the morning.”

Frustrated, Claire slumped off the sofa. She tryed her best to look angry and forlorn and annoyed all at the same time. A countenance thwarte...

Winter was early, but that was no excuse: I was weeks behind, no matter what the lunar cycles said. Mother would worry; Father would smirk. In my defense, my distraction came from a good place: My mind was constantly seeking, searching; I simply got sidetracked.

No sense in worrying now, I thought. Time to catch up.

First thing to do was to build a shelter. Materials were normally plentiful, but...

“What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve believed?”

What an odd question for a job interview. There were so many things; how to narrow it down to The Most? “Hmm. Give me a second,” I said, stalling for time.

I’d been to a number of job interviews since losing my entry-level spot at Gartech. In the nine months I was there, I had barely started learning the practical, real-world applications of m...