_I used to think hiking cleared my mind. That is, until I saw the man on all fours in the forest._

Continue the story from here. ...

_1st Hour - 6th Hour _

My mother screams as the news anchor we’ve watched my whole life tells us that an asteroid will hit the earth in 24 hours. My dad sits at the table with his head in his hands. I put down the book I’m reading and start writing. No plan, just writing.

When my mother finally sits down, she calls her friends. I can hear them screaming through the phone. She starts screaming a...

“Is today the big day, daddy?”

Dale looked down at his six-year old daughter and nodded. “It is, sweetie. Our special day.”

She jumped up and down in excitement and began running in circles until she crashed into her brother.

“Hey, Carla! Stop that!” Robbie shouted, clenching his fists.

“There’ll be plenty of time for that later,” Dale said, handing Robbie a hammer. “Hold that tight, and b...

The sun descends upon the horizon, swallowing itself into an ocean of waters. Before it disappears completely, I hear it say, “Until tomorrow, my beloved.” The waters whisper back with sea-spray and salt, reminding me of the smell of tears.

I turn to leave from the lake. A sudden gust of wind kicks up dirt before me, and I close my eyes. “It’s time for us to play, sweet one,” the air whispers to...

The concept was new: I sit at a table and talk to somebody who wasn’t from my world. There’d be others nearby doing the same thing. A host would ding a bell, and whomever I was talking with would move to somebody else. If I felt like I’d like to visit their world one day, if I could see myself with them long-term, I would write their name on a piece of paper, and if they liked me, too, we could ca...

The dog crawled towards me on all fours. But then it stood, and had the face of a man.

Continue the story from here. ...

“What are you doing after your break?” The older man ashed his cigarette from the arm of his wheelchair.

The nurse shook her head as she knelt by his side. “Robert, I’ve told you before. You shouldn’t be smoking.” I watched as her eyes followed the ashes as the wind blew them into the nearby foliage: red, pink, and blue little flowers that seemed to be healthy no matter the season. Now, it was a...

The mirror shows me, me:

Skin, hair, teeth

All three of which I no

Longer recognize after

So many years of:

Play, tears, and circumstances

That made me, me

Sadnesses and joys merge

With a twinkle of hope

Within my beating, child-heart

My arms may be rougher than

They were when I would sit

Beneath the oaks with lovers

My eyes may be clouded,

So unlike how they were

When I would admire...

The first thing I notice when I open my eyes is that my clan is not with me. The second, the smell of smoke and rubble, as if every rock I’ve ever seen pushed against each other to produce flames. I sneeze. I see blood. Then, I lift myself onto legs I no longer recognize and feel the bones trembling beneath me. My eyes dart from side to side: nobody else is here. Besides the crackling of the flame...

_Four_

He reaches his hand into the sphere before him, twirling his fingers as if he were strumming up and down a guitar. Some would find the initial discomfort strange, but he still enjoys how it feels. The initial plunge into the psyche feels like reaching his hand into a bin of rice and beans and slime and mud all at once. Then, his hand is lodged, his soul is cold from toes to spine, and the ...