Slim
_ **Slim** _ These makroudhs were tiny. Like, mind-blowingly. Six diamond-shaped pastries sat arranged on a square plate; the centrepiece of the hand-sized tray I was carrying across the restaurant. I wondered, how in the world Dad managed to bake...
Blind Date
_ **Blind Date** _ A wave of noise and a blast of heat crashed into me the moment those automatic doors slid open. I ducked my head to dip inside and escape the gloomy, late-November cold, allowing this new 'VRcade' place I'd been invited to fully...
Getaway: Parts 4 & 5
_ **Part 4** _ My first night in Polcia culminated in the weirdest bout of sleep I'd ever had. I lost count of how many times I woke to varying degrees of darkness, wondering what strange room I'd found myself in, and why I could hear Sasha snoring...
Gameface: Part 2
_ **Part 2** _ Sunday morning. Gameday. Biting cold, with blue skies. The heavy rain we'd had since Thursday had finally moved on, but not without leaving a calling card by way of drenched, muddy parkland. Even the gravel paths were more slick than...
Breaking a Leg
Breaking a Leg Another loss of communication with the mainland. Another break in our research work we could ill-afford. The thirty minutes I’d taken for lunch in the weather station’s somewhat dated, totally packed-out canteen had extended into a...
Gameface: Part 3
_ **Part 3** _ We broke. Everything that needed to be said, had been. Fifteen of us went our own ways, jogging into our starting positions. The five waiting in reserve joined Coach and Tomas on the bench, Damian included. Our referee for the day, a...
The Climb
_ **The Climb** _ I'd overpacked my grocery bags. I knew that from the moment I had to lug all four of them out of the store. The decision to do an extra-large after-work shop, thereby granting myself a day off from that part of my weekly routine,...
Breaking Away
Breaking Away I couldn't wait to get out the other side of this security checkpoint. that my high school history class had been pushed into and squeezed on through. The whole thing was a crowded, stuffy, blurry mess of bag checks and metal...
Getaway: Part 10
_ **Part 10** _ We followed her out of the cold and into the light. A kitchen sat in darkness at the opposite end of the narrow hallway, past the bare wooden staircase. The smell of boiled vegetables struck my nose. Below, my shoes met resistance from...
Getaway: Part 6
_ **Part 6** _ Sunday evening wound up being the perfect time for our first trip out for dinner. Compared to our first pass of Ibarra's earlier that day... it still wasn't quiet, for sure, but it'd got way less busy. From what I'd seen of Arlone so...
Getaway: Part 7
_ **Part 7** _ Walking through the lobby, it soon looked like there'd be a whole lot more to do here than just check out an observation deck. I sure appreciated that in light of the twenty ducat entry charge thrusted upon us! Down on the ground...
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...