She could feel it clawing at her as she sat in the room, nudging her, trying to pull her back.
The fantasy was becoming ever more difficult to escape from. The fantasy of her life years from now, successful job, a partner who was her equal and who she could love for the rest of her life, the promise of children, the happy ending that she had always desired.
It was consuming all her waking moments.
The hope that she held in her heart that she would survive this and everything would turn out well.
She hadn't needed to escape...
It was raining. It seems like it was always raining these days. What with the movements of this air flow pattern and that air flow pattern, Chicago had been caught in the middle of a vortex. And all the moisture and condensation of the Earth seemed to dump here.
So, I waded through the puddles and small rivers forming in the streets. Cars were uncomfortably close to being a little too deep in trenches of the alleyways.
I crossed this street and that road. On my way to meet a friend, someone that I use to know. Back when the...
That damn tree was going to fall on him, he just knew it.
What use was the open sky, the billowing waves of blue, or the sunlight streaking through the clouds to illuminate his path along the sandy shore, when as soon as he walked beneath that leaning palm, it would crash upon him like the hammer of fate.
Perhaps he would stay where he was. The water was cool, the breeze refreshing. If he traced his steps back, he might rediscover that berry bush and fill his belly with its sweet fruit.
But what was life without a little...
You had me at ox bow lake, knee deep in dark water. "It's not so bad, right?" you said.
"It's no Jersey Shore," I said, "But I guess it's not that bad."
You crouched so that you were neck deep in dark water. "You gotta get your whole body in."
Then, a gunshot. I spun around quick and covered my breasts with my forearm. I heard you laughing behind me.
"City girls. Can't take em nowhere." You leaned back and did a halfhearted backstroke. "Just a hunter probably." I sunk in a little more. "Come on," you said. "Come swim."...
Twist.
Once more and the lid would be open and the witch familiar could return to it's home until it was needed again. Sallie, looked around the kitchen and wondered where the animal was hiding, time was of the essence as she'd already started the slow incantation to transform her pet into an inanimate object.
The cat had disappeared and was not heeding her special call. This was bad news. The townsfolk were already suspicious and girls were dying needlessly, suspected of witchcraft whilst she had managed to keep safe.
The cat had been used for a spell against the...
The Delicate Chance
No one ever dared to push her too hard. She was robbed of all her real potential because everyone was so afraid she might break.
She had always had hopes and dreams like everyone else, but they stayed inside of her....
Was she really so fragile? Mickey dared to think otherwise. He spoke with Rachel often once she convinced him of how miserable her life was. He decided he coulnd't let her waste away any longer.
They never went anywhere--except in dreams....But their dreams had them soaring all over the world. Time was no obstacle, as they...
Halloween. He was dressed up and four years old. He was four years old and his father let go of his hand to talk to a pretty woman dressed as a dove with big boobs.
The big rice-farming hat, an umbrella over the sword bearing four year old, bobbed down the street. The street met a pair of tracks and the small samurai, feeling adventurous, ran to see what was making them rumble.
The lights began flashing and a horn honked and the boys father took his eyes out of a dove's swelling cleavage just in time to watch his...
It was the moment she'd been waiting for her whole life - she just hadn't known it.
She hadn't known she'd wanted to disappear until she could.
On the one side of her was the crashed train, the people screaming, the police trying to keep control, ambulances - so much chaos and pain. Explanations and stories.
And on the other...just sky.
It wasn't as if she had anything she needed to escape from, but that was the point. There was nothing in her life that meant that much to her. She was trapped by her own monotony. Changing her life...
Toughest son of a bitch this side of the Mississippi, can't nobody get a poker anywhere near 'im. Ain't too many tried tell ya the truth. Couple brave cowboys gave it a go, one of 'im got pretty close but Trafter kicked the pole out of his hand at the last second. Smartest bull I ever encountered. Needin' ta get a brand on him as we're fixing to let 'im loose for the first time in two years. Ain't too much that look like 'im but we like to be sure round here. You sure you up for it? Watcher...
trivia
just trivia, repeated over and over: those same words
same facts, same figures
traced by countless lips, countless tongues saying,
"did you know?"
and i did not know
did not know
this or that
i did not know you when it mattered most
but that it is trivia now
trivial
in the bright, burning
blinding
light of all that has happened
in the light
of you
of this trivia, this fact, this figure i will tell you now
this thing you will not hear, and not know, not now
(how i wish i could hear you say, "what?" in...