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Sarachel was freezing as the mountain-pass wind and rain tried to strip her of her cloak. She had already ripped it when she had tripped off the cliff edge and slid half-way back down. She cursed the birds that had led her here. She thought back to how birds had guided her in her life. Her best guess was that birds were how the great creator spoke to her. Most of the time birds, showing up at pivotal moments, had just made her life harder. Was the creator simply a sadist? Tha

Zayn Mohammed folded up his prayer mat and tucked it between his bed and sidetable. He saw his laptop and froze. He bit his lip as scowled. Extra prayer never seemed to neuter these dirty impulses. He turned and slowly closed the window through which he could see the spire of the mosque. The echoing evening prayers had ended 30 minutes ago. He tucked his slippers underneath the bed and climbed under the covers. He looked back at the laptop and chewed on his lips. An hour and

"Are you Louis?" "Yessir. Avery?" "That's me," I said as I climbed into the back seat of the old gold Accord. I closed the door behind me and situated my suitcase on the old stained tan fabric beside me. But he still didn’t go, just holding the steering wheel with his head turned just far enough to see me in his periphery. I said, "Uh... we can go. Just catching a flight." He nodded and affirmed, "Mm hm." But we still didn't move. Louis looked to be a 20-something year old fe

Steven Kelley finished reading his report to the nation at the press conference. "It's not ideal but if we do nothing. . ." He shifted and looked in vain for allies in the audience, "Well, we know the hospitalization rate has doubled each month since patient 0." He took a deep breath. "I will now take questions." "Sir!" a sharp male voice shot at him. "My source says the drug testing was not a full double blind study, and peer reviewers had concerns." Steven took a long drink

One day Parlo pulled up a chair across from the antique-framed 10 foot wide, and equally tall mirror built into the royal entrance hall. He tapped his cane down on the tiles, sending a heavy metallic echo into the windowed cupola poking up from the second floor ceiling. The short, balding, round-bellied 68 year old wearing a soil-stained vest and suspendered shorts was visibly uncomfortable in this building of immaculate luxury. He crossed his legs, put his empty pipe in his

Coleridge breathed heavily as he walked through the hall of the hospital. He lowered his head as he walked past the window to his dad's room and was barely able to lift his gaze to meet his father's eyes as he went in. "Hey dad." "Coleridge. My boy. Dying has the hidden benefit of getting to see you every day." "Oh, uh," He glanced up and was surprised to remember how his dad was always happy to see him. "I would have come to see ya more... you know..." His answer trailed off

Arnold had become what he told himself he would never be: one of those scroogey old IT gatekeepers. He worked at FedEx in Data Analytics, and he was well known around the office for ending most of his conversations by throwing up his hands and barking "I'll say it again: garbage in, garbage out.' He knew how to out-deliver Amazon if the workers would just give him quality data. Despite his increasingly angry requests, the delivery drivers kept taking crappy photos, letting th