"Where's the treasure they promised...?" He murmurs to himself, more confused than anything. His face is pale, heartbeat thundering in his ears as he digs through the chest with a desperation of a man starved. There's no gold inside, no gold at all. No jewels, or pretty baubles - not even an old, rusted coin or two.

There's only red.

More red than he's ever seen in one place.

There's so much r...

The moment I saw what the chest contained, I wished I’d never opened it. . .but it was too late now.

My hands shake as I stare inside it.

“Damon,” I whispered, “How?”

I pick up the strip of pictures. I trace my finger across Damon’s face.

Tears make there way down my cheek, denting the dark earth beneath me.

I choked out a sob, “Damon,” I cry, “Damon are you. . . Alive?”

I close my eyes letting ...

“I’m coming for you,” she laughed……

I wake up, gazing into the darkness of my dorm room.

The cold sweat dripping off of me like a cold rain.

She gave me sleep paralysis, like a ton a bricks sitting on my body I struggled to breathe.

“I won,” I thought to myself. I’ll never open another stupid chest in my life.

No more dares to go into the attic alone either. I chuckled.

A girlish chuckle came fr...

“The moment he saw what the chest contained, he wished he had never opened it… but it was too late now.”

His booties stuck to the viscous mess on the floor. The air was noxious with all of the typical odors you might expect in such a situation. But what was before him was anything but typical. A greenish-gray mass lay steaming and hot under the glare of the sterile light and it wriggled. Nothing ...

“I miss you.”

“I know.”

She was flustered. “‘I know?’ That’s all you have to say? ‘I know?’”

No change to his countenance, no sign of contrition, empathy. Simply, “What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to say something that let’s me know that I matter to you, that this relationship matters to you.”

“I…” He hesitated, looking at anything but her eyes. “I can’t.”

She got up from the table...

Wolves Hollow? That’s an odd name for a street. Is a hollow like some kind of name for a road, something fancy, Blues thought. Vito had found this AirBnB in one of the classy inner ring burbs. Drumming the solo to Rush’s Tom Sawyer on his steering wheel, Blues sat in his rusty 1999 Chevy Caviler waiting for FedEx. He looked at the nice stone house. There were two stories with big windows and shutt...

It was a bright sunny afternoon and Tariq strolled through the garden in his light crisp shirt and linens looking dapper as usual. He whistled absentmindedly, and where was his mind you may wonder? It was lost in Parvati’s beautiful tresses. She lived right next to his beautiful mansion, just a few steps away. Just a few steps away but at a worlds distance. She had her eyes on him too, he could te...

Thinking back to earlier that day, the moment I saw what the chest contained I wished I’d never opened it.. but it was too late now, I wish I wouldn’t have went up to that attic, been so damn curious and now I’m stuck in a situation I can’t figure out, the moment those officers banged down that door I knew they would think I did it but I still shouldn’t have ran. I could’ve cleared my name at that...

*This story is actually the 10 sentence writing prompt using a word from a book (I chose fleeting), because I don't have premium access I'm writing it here.

In spite of the city’s attempt at choking out the skyline with ever growing building complexes, the sky was clear and bright that morning. Hurrying home, she hummed the same tune that was blasting out of a nearby SUV and rushed across streets...

His favorite aunt loved antiques. All that dusty old crap given up by people who had had enough sense to get rid of it seemed to bring her immeasurable joy… He almost pitied her. But, “one man’s trash”, right? So he thought, this year, he’d put a little more effort than usual into choosing a birthday gift for her. Every year since he started making his own money, it’d been either a gift card, or o...