Part 1 There was nothing left to live for, Orpheus felt. He stood on the roof of the 37-story high-rise, not near the edge, but knowing that he soon would be.  He looked up to the blue cloudless sky, and then, lowering his gaze and not being able to see the city beyond, walked forward.  [...]

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He sat at the desk, gazing at his computer screen, hoping against hope that his fingers would spring to life at any moment and save him from the interminable waiting that lay before him. There was no way that he was giving up – he was working against a cruel and imminently looming deadline, and [...]

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After surviving a car wreck when he was 14 that killed his parents, Lyle had definitely changed.  Some people may not have noticed it but Ashley certainly did; she and Lyle had been next-door neighbors and best friends since they were five years old. During the accident Lyle’s head smashed against the windshield, which instantly [...]

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What he really had to do was mind his own business. It wasn’t that she was a rude woman, but Eleanor couldn’t stand to be talked down to in a way that made her feel foolish, and at that moment she did. Anyone who knew her well would also know that the look given beneath [...]

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“Weren’t no preacher round these parts when I wuz a girl. Came time fer a body to pass, the Sin Eater would always show up. Ain’t no one ever sent fer ‘im, he jist knew when he wuz needed. Nobody knew much about the Sin Eater. Oh, they knew he lived among ‘em, but no [...]

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“The funny thing about a true story is, most folks won’t believe it. It ain’t told to entertain a body. It’s jist a bunch of facts laid out on the table, in full view of the listener. There’s no walkin’ a person through the plot or subplot. There’s no quaint characters ya can easily relate [...]

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It was after 3 a.m. when I finally hung up the phone after talking with my sister, Mary, in Savannah.   Mother was gone, she’d said, and as true as I knew her words to be, part of me refused to accept or even try to comprehend their meaning. I’d just been to Mary’s house two [...]

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Denton figured he had been driving too fast when Sebastian disappeared from view, so he backed off from the accelerator.  However, after another mile of driving at a sluggish, ludicrous pace, even for this mountain highway, he knew Sebastian had to have pulled off somewhere to the side of the road further back.  This theory [...]

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An epiphany can come in any place, at any time. One came to me while waiting for an oil change at the Jiffy Lube in Redondo Beach. One of those world’s dumbest video shows was on and I watched as a very heavy woman was riding one of those little motor bikes (Moped I think) [...]

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She did this every year, so the call came as no surprise. In fact, I had been expecting it for the last few days. The only surprise was that it took so long. I was sitting with my wife having our coffee after dinner when the phone rang. As I got up to answer, my [...]

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So I’m standing there, shivering on my deck after coming home from work, minding my own business, pulling my keys out of my pocket and thinking about cramming one of ‘em in the lock and turning the little sucker so I can get in where it’s all warm and cozy. Man it’s cold tonight! I [...]

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Long ago, two of the most powerful countries, Terralucius and Alanlit, were in the midst of battle. From morning to sundown, the lands of these two magnificent kingdoms were stained to their roots. As the days passed, neither of them attempting to make peace, another kingdom began settling in, Agraria. This country was much more [...]

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He kidnapped, murdered, set bombs and terrorized nations. She was his captive, one that he did not want to kill. Her death was not something he desired. Instead, it was her heart. He usually got what he was after. One way or another, with or without force, he would have it. But not this time, [...]

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Once upon a time, there was a little girl who liked to play with her baby dolls, in the sunshine, in her playhouse, in her backyard. This was her favorite place to be you see, for not too far away, also in that back yard, was her daddy, with whom she felt safe and protected. [...]

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The sound of my steps follow me like their echo would come from the deepest memories of this city. I watch my vaporing breath vanish in the still atmosphere of these streets, its mocking, solitudinous dance through this silenced night. Deep inhalation of the cold, soothing air seems to do good to me. It awakens [...]

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