A Short Story

    Two young men sat across from each other, hunched, watching as a blaze of parchment and grass wither and writhe between them. Although their eyes were fixed on the erratic inferno, their minds ran back with memories of

Ava got to work. The sheets came off the windows, leaving feeble, sheer, white curtains hanging from them. Light burst through the room. She opened the windows so fresh air flooded the room, catching the feather light curtains, blowing around her and suspending her in fresh serenity. A strong familiar scent came in from outside. She inhaled it until it was gone as quickly as it came, opening her eyes in bliss.

"Yawn" Joe yawns while rolling his eyes. "This is fucking boring why are we doing this?" Joe whispers to Pete; Pete shrugs.

Freeing myself from his embrace, I asked, "What if I say I don’t want to work for you?" He laughed and muttered, "Then you don’t. I remember how often you asked me to release you from your contract. I thought I should honor your wishes. C’mon. Let eat."

Ethan wasn't worried, either, and he always started off weeks with a laser focus which generally waned by Thursday or so, although he picked it up late in the day on Friday with the weekend coming on. That was, of course, assuming he didn't have to work a weekend or go out of town to meet a client; lately, they'd clamped down on overtime or on anyone aside from upper management flying out of town on company dime. In general, if you had to leave your desk to meet a client, it was either a really big deal, or they were close enough in town to be managed face to face.

I woke up early, as is in my routine as a royal guard. I quickly made my way to my mirror to comb my hair. Parting it one-third to one side and the other two-thirds to the other. I smiled in pride at my master piece of hair.

No one in town would argue that Ceres (the best farmer) in Olympia was not the “Goddess” of Agriculture. Her fruits were the gems of the Earth and her grains were fit for kings. However, her daughter knew her mother as the Goddess of being too overprotective. Yet, Stephanie loved her mom and her mom loved her. That didn’t stop Stephaine however from being annoyed at her mother.

Among other public buildings in a certain town this building was the one at the end of the gravel road and through the dark creepy forest where little dare to go down , which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning the screams you can hear from a half a mile away, or the blood stains all over the walls the shattered windows that make a faint whistle when the wind blows , and to which I will assign no fictitious name and the clown they call Pennywise this creature that rarely comes out of the shadows, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse ; and in this workhouse was born a devil child and the one who is in charge; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat,

I trotted past some occupied tables, and saw a good spot to sit next to a window. There were a total of eight windows in the dining room, and a table was placed in front of each window. I recognized the man sitting in front of me because I worked with him in my Medical Careers class this year. Johnny Smith and his girlfriend strolled in and sat down a few tables to my right. The old athletic director from Mora was with his wife across the restaurant. Sitting at a circular table that was directly in the middle of the restaurant were six older people, three men and three women. The men were sitting together on the left side of the table, and the women were together on the right. I could hear them talking about politics. One of the women

Lincoln found a convenient wall to lean against for a few moments. He had to plan his next move. This was a typical process for a trained agent. He focussed on the main objectives he was sent there for in the first place. Find where this group is operating from. Find who runs it and where they were getting their weapon supplies from. Also how they were being funded. Once done, the AST and the other agencies can step in and eliminate them all. If his spy drone works and the local intel is correct, the first two objectives are almost met. So Lincoln’s current objective was to make sure his drone was working. Once that was confirmed, then get to the Government Headquarters where he first was met and contact the AST. The main problem with that

slightly open, holding their cups of tea with both hands, like children mirroring one another.

A solitary figure crossed the royal prison courtyard, his strides as purposeful as the reasons for visiting the penitentiary during the stale midnight hours. His slinky, weasel like features instantly became the source of ridicule from the quartet of guards standing at the entrance gate. The combination of their whispered insults and contemptuous laughter as the lanky man approached, were not well concealed. Without a doubt their lack of discretion was purposefully intentional and, obviously, the insults were blatantly meant to be overheard. All four guards remained at ease, unbothered and unwilling to come to attention even as the stranger stood directly in front of them and waited for some sort of response. The visitor surveyed the

'Y'are very snug in here,' piped old Mr. Woodifield, and peered out of the great, green-leather armchair by his friend the boss's desk as a baby peers out of its pram. His talk was over; it was time for him to be off. But he did not want to go. Since he had retired, since his ... stroke, the wife and the girls kept him boxed up in the house every day of the week except Tuesday. On Tuesday he was dressed and brushed and allowed to cut back to the City for the day. Though what he did there the wife and girls couldn't imagine. Made a nuisance of himself to his friends, they supposed....Well, perhaps so. All the same, we cling to our last pleasures as the tree clings to its last leaves. So there sat old Woodifield, smoking a cigar and staring

About an hour later, Phillip and his parents sat down together to watch one of the cinema record files that was stored on his notepad computer. The house’s mainframe computer had linked the tiny device’s hard drive up to its server so the record could be played on the home’s master television viewing screen.

Great news! Your niece will be home soon. That's wonderful news. There's no us, Cosmo.