Originally written for a friend. There’s a crick in my neck, and I think that’s what wakes me—the discomfort having finally reached a point I can’t ignore, both from the difficult angle in which I’d fallen asleep, and the unyielding surface of my desk. Secondary, of course, is the fact that my face was mashed […]
Read MoreShadow Lake
Originally written for Jolene Haley’s Spooky Showcase blog tour in 2017. “It’s just a story, Cam. It’s not like there’s actually a monster in the lake.” Everly hops on one foot, adorably trying to pull her other sneaker on without untying it. “Everyone knows that’s just something the counselors made up years ago to scare […]
Read MorePaladin and Witch
“Witch.” “Paladin.” The two women stared at one another for a while, before the knight finally cracked, her expression sliding into a tired, sideways smile. “It’s good to see you, Gwyn.” The witch, Gwyn, felt her face soften in return. “It’s been a while, Ari.” Ari unbuckled her sword and shield. “It has. I’m sorry. […]
Read MoreTiny Dragons
I was elbow deep in yet another rebuild of my gravitational suspension engine when Kesrie found me. I don’t know how long she’d been watching me work, but it wasn’t unusual to find her smiling at me from the doorway or some other corner of my workroom. I say she found me, but Kesrie always […]
Read MoreLove in a Time of Tea Dragons
There’s something magical about watching Kesrie work. I don’t get the chance very often—usually it’s her watching me, waiting for me to drag myself out of whatever I’m building. Sometimes quite literally. But I wanted tonight to be special, and I’d spent all day checking the time to make sure that today was the one […]
Read MoreJust a Kiss
She woke to a touch, the backs of her fingers caressing her cheek. They hesitated at her jaw line, until there was nothing but her presence. She could sense her there, so close that she didn’t dare open her eyes, even when she moved so close that her lips almost touched hers. Almost. She could […]
Read MoreIllusions of Reality
The shadows drip like black ink from the ceiling, pooling into lightless nothing on the floor. There’s light in the distance, outside the confines of my room. Probably the nurses’ station. Here, there is only silence. Darkness. Darkness, and the things I see in it. Last night I dreamt of chess pieces moving through the […]
Read MoreHell Hath No Fury
Thunder rumbled in the distance, overshadowing the slide and click of metal on metal. The tears that coursed down her face mingled unnoticed with the heavy rain as she made one last check through her gear. It had taken months of work and planning to get her to this point, and Rian was determined. Nothing […]
Read MoreAbsence, Longing, and Memory
The night air was cold in her lungs, a sharp contrast to the day now gone. Almost, she thought, looking around in the half-light, the moon sporadically obscured by the scattered clouds. Almost, in the dark, with the clouds still low after the storm… But no. These were not the mountains of her home, much […]
Read MoreA Hoodie for the Holidays
Originally featured in the Gay Apparel holiday charity anthology. Riley stared out the window, watching her first snowfall in years. She’d forgotten the way it muffled everything, the odd not-quite silence that it wrapped the world in. The way the cold made everything sharper, clearer, even while it blanketed everything. There was nothing quite like […]
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