As the light of dawn started to peek through the bedroom window, the man started to stir. He groggily rolled onto his side, and his heart swelled with love for his wife who slept beside him. With his forefinger, he gently caressed her eyebrow. _“She’s so beautiful,” _he thought to himself.

That was when her eyes fluttered open, and she gave him a loving smile. “Good morning, honey.”

“Good morni...

_“What did you do?”_

__

__

Unspoken, the silence carries my question.

Vision blurred, I gaze at the lifeless body

I hold—that of my lover, husband, and friend.

“What did you do?”

It comes in a vicious whisper as I glare

At the man who holds a bloodied knife—a thief.

Yet, it was more than just my silver he stole.

He stole my heart, my life, my everything.

Clenching a knife of my own, I lunge for...

Debra Foster walked solemnly into the war zone. At least, it felt like a war zone. In reality, she was walking into a kitchen that had trash strewn everywhere. “Sasha!”

“Yes, Mom?” came a faint voice from upstairs.

“Did you forget to separate the meat from the trash bin again?” There was a pause then the sound of pounding feet racing down the stairs. Sasha stared wide-eyed at the carnage. She gr...

I’ve read stories about other worlds, worlds where the sun dips behind the horizon leaving nothing but darkness. They call this darkness “night.” At “night,” the sky looks different. It is filled with tiny lights called “stars,” and, if our planet had one, we would be able to see our moon’s reflection.

My world is called _Gemini Lumina, _the land of the twin suns. We have two suns that are both e...

It was dinner time with her college friend group. Elaine glanced across the table at the sweet young man sitting across from her. Paul was her best friend, and though she often wished they could be something more, she hid her feelings for the sake of her friend Ella. Ella had confided in her several days before that she liked Paul. _“And that’s fine,”_ she thought to herself. _“All I really want i...

The little boy was curled up under his covers in fear. He could hear his father’s shouting and cursing as he beat his mother. Tears began to flow down his cheeks. He wished it would stop, wished it would end, but he was too weak to protect his mother.

Suddenly, he felt a slight tug on his left sock. He wriggled around and turned on the light to find a very confused green creature holding hood soc...

I had never felt comfortable around Anna. Something about her just seemed—off. Now that she and my father had returned from their honeymoon, they were officially married. They pushed me to accept her as my new mother, but I still refused to call her anything but Anna. I found it odd that even though they were married, Anna still slept separately—in her own room—which was always locked. When I sugg...

The little strawberry maiden—

She was so sweet and was so fair.

With a smile, she walked across

The village, selling her juicy wares

Until the day the robots came.

They had no heart, you see.

They trampled all the maidens’ patches

And left the village in misery....

What happened to the forest after man came? It is clear that the predators have dwindled away, but where have they gone? Well, magic has a way of protecting the world’s most valuable creatures. Literally, there is a portal in the hollow of the oldest tree in the deepest part of the forest. This portal leads to another world—my world—and this is my story.

Everything changed for me on my twelfth bi...

“Hey, Dave,” Esther greeted me as I walked through the door, “we received more donations over the weekend. Do you mind looking through them?”

“Sure, not a problem.” I walked to the back of the Second Chance Thrift Shop and was stunned by the mountain of clothing that stood before me. “Well,” I said to no one, “I’d better get started.”

I sorted the clothes into two categories: discards (which go ...