Gabriel conceived the perfect plan. He bought the old building for a song, took care of all the renovations, then opened it up to rental to “Acrobats, Magicians, and Performers Occult. Animals welcome...

When the saucers arrived, everyone assumed it was invasion. Countries each responded in their own way, some threatening, some attempting offering friendship, but the strange space creatures with their...

The nights are long and the city is filled with feelings of desperation. It takes little these days to push a person over the edge from upstanding citizen to furious criminal, and it’s the latter grou...

Every Monday morning I sat through Shy’s latest brag about Saturday’s adventures, and to be honest I always thought he was making it up. A rave in a glen that was only accessible by hot air balloon? ...

A sound reached Derek’s ear, a tapping on his consciousness, pulling him from his torpid state. It was unfamiliar at first, foreign in this environment of wind and feral beasts, but then realization r...

Joy felt very silly, but it was a party. So what if she stood out? Honestly, she didn’t understand why more people weren’t dressed up in lights or loud clothing, or anything else that would make them ...

It was a dog walker that found the body. Isn’t that always the way? You can picture the scene, can’t you. She gets up, jokingly tells the yipping mongrel to have patience while she dresses, then out t...

It took him a week longer than it should have due to sudden snow storms, high winds, and a bout of, well, you shouldn’t always eat the dented cans of meat. But finally, he was where he needed to be. H...

The gate had been in need of repair for almost a year and she had kept putting it off. But then last night happened. The noises had ripped her from sleep, sent her frantically looking for the source o...

The sign was Herbert’s idea of a joke, a nod to how much gossip flowed through the kitchen. He was as bad as Harriet, so don’t go thinking he was being cruel. The two liked a chinwag. But then the kid...

“Wow, what a view!” “Right? That’s what I thought. What we thought. People need this, to gaze across the endlessness, to bask in infinity, and find focus in the possibilities.” “It did well for a whil...

Voices nearby woke him with a start, and it was a full minute of feeling the gentle rock from a passing boat before he remembered he was in a city, not moored on a remote bend where the towpath had fe...

When they were children and the world was full of possibilities, they formed the World Explorers Club, spending their weekends exploring the forest that stood between their neighborhooods. Their missi...

Horacio couldn’t tell you how long it has been since he woke to find the world frozen. It’s hard to reckon time when it’s no longer moving. The first few “days” were the hardest. Panic set in immediat...

In those moments in the early morning, when the area isn’t flooded with the cacophony of shouts punctuating the ball striking palm or rim, asphalt or backboard, Walter likes to come, stand in the midd...

“Look at the sky,” said Noc. She walked down the path without hesitation. “Forget that, look up ahead. Two lighthouses? Will this maze ever make sense?” Sim trudged along behind. “Maybe this is where ...

Andrew couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched and it unsettled him. He was used to being the one with his eye on things, always looking for the right angle, the perfect lighting. It was ...

“Gramma, what does garrulous mean?” Essie asked knowing full well what the response would be. Her grandmother glanced up from her crossword, lips pursed in contemplation. Then, like a superhero, she p...

“I don’t understand,” said Sim. “A minute ago we were in a hallway and now, somehow—“ “Your problem is you’re thinking about everything incorrectly,” said Noc. “You keep seeing blockades when you shou...

Tomen stops, draws a deep breath, looks up. Towering office complexes drag him into formicine perspective, his fellow pedestrians now trapped in their “Everything not forbidden is compulsory” lifestyl...

“So, this is the line?” She looked back and forth, imagining the invisible barrier a thin strand of thread winding through the undergrowth. He raised his hand, placed it against the impossible wall. H...

Shelly stopped, summoning silence from her surroundings now that the percussive crunch of her boots stopped playing soloist in the hibernal orchestra. She listened, ears tuned to hear the slightest so...

She roamed the entirety of the United States in her decked-out little love bug, taking jobs whenever she needed money - diners, thrift shops, farms, wherever she could get paid for a few weeks hard gr...

“She’s just down here,” said the nurse, leading him down the path. George knew the facility, but he was a rule follower so he didn’t fuss. Amber was on a chair on the hillside, the sun highlighting a ...

“Hello, can I help you with something?” Helen approached the hiker warily but with the confidence that stated clearly that his was her land. “I’m, um, I’m just wondering if I’ve found the right place,...

Every night, for reasons inexplicable to anyone who observed, the seventh car on the North Line remained empty, passengers unconsciously avoiding the open doors and moving to the next car forward or b...

“And that’s your Uncle Mark on top of Mount Everest. Isn’t he so brave?” Gladys stroked the picture as though touching it could bring her son there. Her uncle, in shorts and a rain coat, standing on t...

For as long as he could remember, Archie had seen the colors surrounding people matching their moods. Red glows showed anger, blue was sadness, and yellow showed the sunshiny happiness that he longed ...

Land! Oh, thank the heavens, it was actually land! Wesley shouted with glee, is tired limbs burning with the effort of staying alive, reaching that beautiful sand. Solid ground! Jake still wasn’t tal...

The shrink told Carl what he suffered from was called ‘agoraphobia,” which people often mislabeled as ‘fear of open spaces,” but it went deeper than that. It was the fear of being in places where you ...

The errant words danced in his head, longing for release, to claim solidity and take permanent shape, their purpose defined. Once they reached the level of cacophonous screams he had no choice, indiff...

They said the bombs were dropping, so Parker sprung into action, retreated to his bunker and braced himself for the end of the world. The first thing he did was recheck the food supply, satisfying him...

Days lost in the desert, burned by the heat of the day, frozen by the chill of the night, all hope lost of discovery, of recovery, Walter shuffled on. His shoes were so full of sand they may as well n...

Chuck laughed as Steve went from person to person, shaking hands and asking for votes. Chuck had called out “Mayor Wannabe,” and the rules were unbending. Steve had to interact with every person to sa...

Dip started the wall, stacking her empty cans up neatly after a night out decorating. Nuzz ceremonially laid his on top, and a tradition was born. Every time a can was emptied it went on the stack. It...

Used to be, this was where all the control was centered. This little room with those three computers that were top of the line at the time. Frank built this special room for them and sorted out how t...

They built the bridge to connect their two houses, back when the kids were dating, after Jesh’s spill into the water late that one night. Both fathers decided to save their children from potential hor...

He stood at the window in his ghoul costume and watched the street begin to fill with children, running to and fro, racing past his house. Then the older kids came out. Then the dares began. That’s wh...

The raven comes to the village on the same day each year, its sleek black feathers a harsh contrast against the colorful backdrop. It was decided long ago that its coming heralded the thinning of the ...

His grandmother never let him play in the mirror hall. He wanted to walk through making faces, changing as each new piece of glass came into view, but she told him in wasn’t safe. Now she was gone, an...

Derek doesn’t care if people are looking. Some decisions shouldn’t be made alone. The puddle makes the perfect gateway. “If I take them up on their offer, there’s a lot of risk,” he says to his Other....

They teased her for not having a power. “This is a camp for Supers, Margo. What are you even doing here if you’re not special like the rest of us?” This from a kid whose only gift is being able to mak...

The internet adored Harlow. What began as a simple vlog became an addiction for most, even more so for Harlow himself. People tuned into his channel at all hours of the day to listen to his thoughts o...

As Trina tiptoed across the floor, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. A man was standing in the doorway, looking sheepish. “Are you Madame Adamina?” he asked softly. She calmed her raci...

“Hello, honey, can you hear me? No, the conference is going well. Yeah, they’re feeding us very good. Far better than expected. Oh, I only had one drink last night. You know me. And I—well, yes, as a ...

“So this all used to be ice?” asked Tommy, his eyes wide with imagining. “Well, snow mostly,” answered his uncle, Dennis. “These gondolas used to take people to the top, and then they would slide down...

The captured humans grew restless after a few months, and it became clear to Overseer Garflok that something needed to be done immediately. “Perhaps more of the laughing gas could be pumped in?” sugge...

Kendra had been so nervous about meeting Jack’s nieces that she had barely slept. These kids were his world, and they adored him, so of course she felt like she had to have their approval. It didn’t g...

“Before we arrive, let me warn you. It’s not the most conventional of buildings,” said Sheila from the driver’s seat of her minivan. “The owner is a bit strange and has, well, interesting ideas about ...

What was we doing up here? He’s only just met these people. “I know it will look terrifying, but it slopes at the bottom, so it’s really just a big slide,” Cal had said. What this looks like is a long...