Ghost Marks
With one slender finger, Rachel pushed the crystal king onto its side with a click. It rocked back and forth on its round base on the marble chessboard.Her father’s eyes flitted over the chessboard, tracing lines of power.
“What the hell do you think your doing?â€
“I’m resigning.†[…]
Bequeathed
The key slid smoothly into the lock on the front door and opened with a sharp snick. This surprised Mina, although she was not exactly sure why, but it was the final step in the month long process of taking ownership of the house she had inherited from her great aunt Patty […]
Dark Garden
I’m back at his doorstep. This place I’ve sworn I’ll never return to. Many times.
I feel dirty, ugly, as I ring the bell, and uglier still when he answers the door wearing nothing but a pair of baggy trousers. His feet are bare, his hair disheveled, he hasn’t shaven in a while. He’s not handsome, or well built, or even particularly well hung and, worst of all, he has a laugh that makes me cringe. I do my very best not to make him laugh[…]
Once Bitten
With the seething darkness at my back, the searing white stage lights turned the figures of the band into formless shards. The room felt like the biggest, loudest, most crowded womb in the universe […]
Click
Prey Chruk, Northern Cambodia, 2003
Lying on his belly in the middle of a rice paddy, Carl showed the new trainee, Sovann, how to come at the anti-personnel mine, partially embedded in the muck, at a 30 degree angle and gently touch the knife tip to the side of the box, feeling for give. The young man, sweating as profusely as Carl inside his protective helmet, grinned and copied him. He had a nice steady hand, wasn’t easily spooked or too superstitious. Carl felt a swell of pride for his student[…]
Therapy
It wasn’t possible to mistake her. The woman who pushed through the glass doors and entered the coffee shop looked […]
Grown Up Games
“Did you manage to find some?†Bettina called. She didn’t look backwards upon hearing the door close. She was busy […]
Penny Red
She has penny-red hair, my Tina, and freckles spilling tan confetti over milk-white skin. She is big-boned, thick, meaty, and […]
Pattern Passion
He was a three, I realized with a little shiver. A metal-legged spider scampered up the ladder of my spine […]
Ojects of Pleasure
Yoshida Ginjiro’s craft obsessed him. From the moment he was apprenticed with old Watanabe, the shell of the venerable tortoise […]
The Other Side
Before Lucrezia Borgia died, she made sure to have a priest at the ready. It was her eighth child and […]
Shellshock
Although it was thrilling to be a stranger in a strange land, there was a hollow disassociative feeling that accompanied […]
River Mother
He came to her as he always had done, long before the sun rose, while the frogs and the crickets […]
Not About Flowers
“El numero 17 quiere agua con gas,†shouted Don Ignacio as Leonora walked by. “Ahora.†She hated the way he just […]
Better Left Unsaid
He has that look, you know, that perfect everything-in-the-right place look: the suit, the steel-rimmed glasses, the conservative tie, the […]
Performance
If you’ve read my blog for a while, you will know that I am unnaturally addicted to my online writer’s […]
The Ship’s Figurehead
The call came in at eleven p.m. on a Saturday night, when all hell was breaking loose uptown. A full […]
Visitors From Japan
Sam adjusted the lapels of her fake kimono in front of the mirror in the staff room. It wasn’t really […]
Naga
When he arrived, the hill station was deserted. Sweat and disappointment seeped from his pores and ran in annoying rivulets […]
Motorcycle Hug
At first she thought that it was just a hormone surge. She told herself to ignore the urges; they would […]
And The Meek Shall Inherit
She woke to a brain-scrambling headache. Needles of pain tore through the wet mass of her grey matter like cheese […]
Karaoke Night (Hers)
The sticky carpet on the narrow stairs sucks at the soles of my sandals as I climb up to the […]
Karaoke Night (His)
He climbed the stairs, past the dozing landlady and let himself into the room. Hot and airless, having been shut […]
Inside The Pride
I admit it, I wanted her to pay attention to me, like she did with her *boys*. Someone had actually […]
New Model
Frank glanced at his monitor and pulled over into the exit lane near B24. “The thing you’ve got to remember, […]
The Negotiation
The dark mahogany boardroom table reflected sharp-edged inverted facsimiles of the two individuals who sat opposite each other. The flat […]