The first thing he ever experienced in this world was the careful ways of her touch.

“I felt her hands upon my spine. Stretching and strengthening it until it was mine. A caress as she smoothed the skin of my arm. I had one on the right, and with a gentle squeeze, a second had been placed on the left.” He gestured to his now functioning left arm as he spoke.

“My heart had been shaped with lov...

With a tight grip on the railing and his gear flipped over his shoulder, the Rookie takes a few cautious steps forward. It’s only been a few weeks, yet he’s already found a rhythm to his days. Surprised even by the subtle pleasures he finds in this extreme place. Beneath his footing, he feels the pattern of the metal grates that is his pathway forward. Bareings now sorted, he carries on confidentl...

She adjusts awkwardly, trying to find a comfortable position on the hard rock beneath her. _This is it! _She thinks, and she’s sure of it. This interview will be the one that breaks this case wide open. She’s done her research; all evidence points here. But there’s a lump in her throat, and she can’t quite get herself to start. _Calm yourself. _

“Ready when you are.” Seth’s voice comes...

Whispering a silent prayer to the gods, you squeeze the talisman you travelled so far to find, and you feel it crack within your fist. A wave of shadows surrounds you. Engulfing your light.

They sense your anger and follow your gaze to the town beyond. They reach out and touch you so they can hear the screams from your past. Feel the pain imposed by those who dwell below. They mingle with your i...

Sand shifts beneath my feet.

I stumble down, embracing defeat.

So cold, painful chills. This is how it feels to be out in these bone-dry hills.

Thump, thump, thump. Heat, Heart, Helo?

I collapse to the ground. Sand moves all around. The sky falls down. Its stagnant heat beats, beats, beats against the ground. I hear it speak-up. I mumble at it to Shut… up…

Thump, thump, thump. Heat, Heart, He...

“Fuck curfew!” You notice a group of boys huddled along the side of a convenience store. Perhaps high school age you think. The shorter one in the middle is going off about curfew as the others watch him finishing off his work with sidelong “C”. He’s painted along the stores brick wall, depicting of one of them shooting themselves. Bits of metal spraying out the other side with the word “Justice” ...