‘There couldn’t be a more perfect place,’ Charlotte thought, looking out over the vast ocean. The dull gray water seemed to stretch on forever, steadily darkening until it reached the distant horizon. There was nothing to see but water. No ships, no islands, not even a lone seagull searching for its next meal. Standing on her perch on the lighthouse’s catwalk, she was truly alone. Out here, it was...

Shannon looked up from her phone, eyes slowly adjusting to the dark room. It felt like someone was staring at her from the gloom. She scanned the room, examining each piece of furniture with a critical eye. Everything was in the same place it had been an hour ago when she came to bed. Her husband, Adam, was still asleep under the covers, breathing slowly and steadily. He knew better than to stare ...

“Thanks Alberto!” Dani called out to the receding canoe. Alberto raised a hand in return and continued paddling back to the private island Dani and Jenn, her wife, had rented for their honeymoon. Dani turned towards Jenn and beamed. “Isn’t this great?”

Jenn responded with a trepidatious smile. This island was indeed lovely. The tiny beach was hemmed by lush, emerald green vegetation and brilliant...

“NO!” I screamed as the two men dragged me down the empty hall. “HELP!” My voice echoed back at me off of the bleak, utilitarian tiles decorating this section of the compound. I scrambled, bare feet slipping on the polished concrete, searching for any traction to help my futile resistance.

“Shut up,” one of the orderlies said, slapping me across the face with the back of his hand. His colleague s...

“Michael?” Sean asked once the line connected. “The results came in. Did you see them?” Sean waited anxiously for a response.

“Yeah, I saw it,” Michael finally responded after a pause that felt eternally long. Sean’s heart leapt. Everything was falling into place. A trusted doctor was on retainer, the surgical suite was ready to go at a moment’s notice, and now he had found a donor. Katie was go...

“Cheers to finally being free,” I said, raising my glass towards Susie. From her seat on the opposite side of the table, she raised her glass in response. We clinked our cups together and each took a sip of the warm, dark liquid within. The rich coffee was a perfect addition to the bright Italian morning.

“May the asshole rot in hell,” Susie replied. I booked our trip to Florence the same day sh...

‘That was too close,’ Simon thought as he threw the last shovelful of dirt on the shallow grave. ‘If that cop had been just a little quicker…’ It didn’t serve to dwell on what might have been. What mattered was that he had survived the encounter. He knocked the dirt from his shoes and walked back to his idling car.

The cop’s service weapon, badge, and wedding ring sat on the passenger seat where...

My grandfather was an archeologist, so I grew up hearing all sorts of stories about hidden treasure. He had even shown me some Inca gold he found while excavating ruins in Peru. The stories fascinated me, and when he brought out that small, shiny medallion, emblazoned with the sun, I was transported back in time. I could see the villagers, trading coins for goods. The rulers, creating and enforcin...

Kholat Syakhl, USSR, 1959.

“We need to make camp!” Zina shouted over the howling wind. Rustem had collapsed behind her. Snow swirled around them, quickly filling their tracks and obscuring most of the rest of the team. She could see Nikolai and the Yuris tied to each other ahead; the rest of the crew was lost in white.

“We’ll have to camp here instead of the tree line,” Igor instructed as he an...

“Hey, how’s it going?”

Trevor asked the question as I entered the living room of our shared apartment. He was sitting in his favorite spot on the couch, cup of coffee steaming on the low table in front of him, phone in his hand. An endless stream of pictures floated upwards as he slid his thumb over the screen in a continuous loop. I had answered this question hundreds of times before; it should...