Breaking Down
Breaking Down Finally, my heart rate started to slow back down. In the cab of my semi-truck, I wondered if I’d run something over, picked up a slow puncture someplace, or something else. Ultimately, though, how my tyre had blown out didn’t...
Subtlety
_ **Subtlety** _ "Right." I burst into the front room. "I'm just gonna go ahead and do this." My housemates gawked at me from our couch. "Do what?" asked Dylan, the lanky stoat in the seat closest. "Watch." "Dude," groaned the mouse beside him,...
Escaping the Storm: Part 3
**_Escaping the Storm: Part 3_** A brisk walk through further into the city centre carried Erik to a nearby department store just minutes before closing. He'd had no intention of heading here upon leaving work, but with a family of Polcians now in...
Shallow Goals
_ **Shallow Goals** _ "Got you, Cloud!" I almost choked on a mouthful of chlorinated water, yelling out so fast after climbing back to the surface. "You're it!" "No way!" my brother cried above all the splashing and yapping in the pool around us....
Wrecked
_ **Wrecked** _ I wanted to die. Lucky as I might've been not to have done so already. Here in the dark, up in the hills in the middle of only gods knew where, I sat staring past the cracks in my windscreen. Better that than at the petrified polecat...
The Substitute (AaO Universe)
_ **The Substitute** _ Y'know, I'd spent so much of the past year or so trying to prepare myself for university. Sure, two years of finishing school might've given me a taste for what classes and studying might be like, but not everything else that...
Perspective
_ **Perspective** _ "Purpose of your visit?" I'd been standing silent in line so long that I'd almost forgotten how to talk. Jet lag had my head all kinds of mashed up, too. No matter. The ultra-formal, no-nonsense crow glaring at me from behind her...
On Defence
_ **On Defence** _ "You look good," I told Sam, smiling at him through our bathroom mirror. "I hope you're not planning on picking anyone up tonight." "Why would I?" my little 'panda replied from atop the counter, standing at his smaller version,...
Escaping the Storm: Part 5
Part 5 As strange as it might have sounded, Erik found his first Wednesday of work required far more getting used to than he'd expected. Sure, it involved stacking those same shelves in that same busy supermarket, but the little things came together...
Against All Odds: Part 18 - ...and Stark Realities
**_Part 18: ...and Stark Realities_** _(Alexei)_ Alexei glanced over towards the pavement on the other side of the road, a sickening sense of dread starting in his stomach once he found the call's source. "No... not this scum again." The gang...
Boiling Point
_ **Boiling Point** _ My walk from the station was more like a swim, the swampy summer morning air even more overwhelming and oppressive than the metro journey that'd got me there. A journey made up of three trains, two transfers, and nearly an entire...
Writer's Block
_ **Writer's Block** _ "None of this works!" I launched my pen clear across the desk. The pad I used to jot down ideas followed it right after. These blank pages glaring back just pissed me off even more. It'd been forever and a day since I'd managed...