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One rainy Saturday morning, Connor, a very ordinary, bored-out-of his-mind teenager, was looking for a snack in the pantry when he found a vegan cookbook on the top shelf. The cover featured a colorful montage of salads, soups, and sandwiches...

“We need to talk,” says dad.  “Okay, I’ve got a few minutes. What’s up?” “Have a seat while I get some coffee.” I sit at the dining room table. Dad fills his coffee cup and sits next to me. He...

After his divorce, Keenan thought he would never find love again. He hated being alone. He missed female companionship. Oh, how he longed for a second chance!   Then he met her, and they have been inseparable ever since.  His heart...

The Squeakle family lived in a nest in the abandoned basement of the quaint little cottage of Mrs. Fluffenmutter–an elderly white-haired lady whose eyesight and hearing weren’t quite what they used to be. The Squeakles were a bustling clan of...

You wake on the basement cot.  Why are you here? How long have you been here? The dawn’s early light peaks through the window overhead.  Betsy, the tabby cat, meows close by.  You remember. You came to find her after...

I fumble with the phone and lose my grip on the steering wheel as I send a text message to mom.  Oh no! I jam on the brakes and spin out of control as my car skids off the road...

“Hey man, look at this.” Tomas shoves his phone under my nose. A notification says: “Your package is out for delivery. Jesus is your driver.” “Wow,” I say. “So…Jesus takes the wheel?” Tomas chuckles. “Haha, I didn’t think of that,...

Commander Arelle Zinhara checked the sensors on the dashboard a final time. Oxygen: 21%, Nitrogen: 78%, Trace Gases: 1.0%. All good, she noted, the air sustainable for life, with no need for the breathing unit. She pressed the red button...

“Jimmy, dear, why don’t you take a break for a couple of hours? Let’s try out that new Thai restaurant in town. I hear it’s great. We haven’t gone out in ages.” “I can’t Babe, I’m working on this project,...

Professor Chet Baker looks through the magnifying glass at the worn pages of the ancient manuscript, slowly making out the faded Greek words one by one. As he reads, a story unfolds that transports him back twenty-three hundred years to...

“Hey Jack, I found the map to Captain Kidd’s lost treasure, it’s buried on a tiny Caribbean island. Come with me, man, you’re really good at finding things like this.” “Sounds cool, bro, but I’ve got a family and a...

Teagan sighed as she leaned back in her office chair. She looked at her laptop’s blank screen, cursor blinking, mocking her—daring her to write something. Anything. She wondered why it was so hard to be a writer. Over the last...

The wind shrieked like a pack of hyenas circling their prey. Don looked out the patio door to see an army of white snowflake demons attacking the house. The worst winter snowstorm in a dozen years, they said. They didn’t...

As sure as my name is Ainsley Addison, I suspect I will live and die the life of a lonely man. Even my mother must have known, for my name is Scottish for “alone.” Not that I don’t deserve it,...

Jimmy points to the empty container on the kitchen counter. “Okay, Skippy, ‘fess up!” I look away like I don’t see him. “Skippy?” I hang my head. I’m busted. I say nothing; my guilt is written on my face. Jimmy...

Meteorites are small bits of inanimate rock, streaking through the sky, leaving a trail of brilliant light in their wake. Shooting stars, but no more. They pass through time and space for a moment, leaving their memory etched in the...

It was 11:30 am on the day the spaceship landed in Carol’s back yard. She didn’t know it was a spaceship at first; she thought the noise she heard was from the street sweeper going by as it did every...

The clock on my living room wall is stuck at 3:51 and has been for the last three years. Did it stop in the morning or afternoon? I can’t tell. Month or day? I can’t tell. It’s an analog clock. ...

Wherever she went, heads turned. Men stared and whistled. Women gave her a jealous eye and whispered.  Everyone agreed: she was the most beautiful girl in town. With model-good looks that made men weak in the knees, and women weak...

The minister asks, “do you take this woman…?” His words fade to the background as I look into my bride’s glistening blue eyes. She is so beautiful, so lovely, adorned in her flawless white wedding gown.  “I do,” I answer....

The doorbell rings. It’s here! The new laptop I bought online a few days ago. I am so excited. It’s the latest model, with all the bells and whistles I need, and I got it for a song.  I retrieve...

Nutmeg was the runt of the litter, the smallest squirrel in the largest park in the city called New York. He was too small and too slow to get many acorns before the bigger and faster squirrels did. By the...

I know mommy doesn’t hate me. I know it’s my fault for making her mad. Mommy is mad a lot. I had to leave until she’s not so mad anymore. I brush my hand through my hair and feel the...

Another unbearable, sweltering summer day. I pour a soft drink into my glass and open the freezer door for more ice, only to find there isn’t any. Oh great! It looks like my poor ice maker has stopped working. It...

I can’t be in love. Can I?  But if it’s not love, what is it? This stirring I feel inside.  When he calls my name, my heart flutters. When he laughs, my spirit soars. When I’m near him, I can...

Daisy slathered the hot toast with butter, then squeezed on a gooey glob of honey from the bear-shaped bottle. “Mmmm…” she moaned, as she relished the sweet, buttery goodness. She recalled reading an article once about how a bee produces...

My hands drip crimson as I put the knife in the sink. What a mess. I scrub hard with soap and water, but to my dismay, my hands are stained. A dead giveaway to the act I committed.  I need...

The morning air was heavy with the acrid smell of ash and despair. Mara gazed at the sky, bleak, gray, and hopeless, and remembered times past when the sun shone bright with promise. The ruins of the city drifted in...

Write what you know, they say. Write every day, they say. I think about “what I know” and today it doesn’t seem like much. I’ve lived a rather ordinary life, and I feel I have little to write about sometimes....

Bobby graduated from high school in 1969, the very famous year that many called “The Year of Love.” He married his childhood sweetheart Claire one month later, and within a year, their little family numbered three. Then came another child,...

Savoring her morning latte, Amy sits in her favorite patio chair and admires the vibrant colors of her backyard flower garden. In weeks to come, she will recall this moment fondly, as she unpacks boxes in her new house and...

“Mommy, why are they sending us away?” I squeeze Zirka’s hand and fake a smile the best I can. “Because they say we have to leave, honey.” “But why, Mommy? What did we do wrong?” Her puzzled expression tells me...

He watched a video of Gino Vannelli in concert singing “Living Inside Myself,” a long-forgotten song of years past. He liked the song back then, but today it resonated even more. Emotions rose from deep within as Gino sang the...

I’m startled awake as I hear a noise in my dark bedroom, dimly lit only by a nightlight in the far corner. The digital clock on my nightstand reads 3:43 am. It’s quiet. What woke me up? What did I...

I wake up this morning and check my phone on the nightstand. It’s 10:34 a.m., I really slept late today. Sure glad I have the day off. I get out of bed and stumble to the floor. Whoa! Why am...

I sit at my cluttered desk, surrounded by pencils, empty soda cans, and half-eaten bags of chips. I open my phone’s email app and read the message from my online course art instructor.  Hi Class, Last reminder to provide ten...

I slowly open my eyes. Ghoulish, dark shapes with twisted limbs and spiny leaves dot the vast expanse to the distant mountains. Joshua trees, I think.  Who am I? How did I get here? I have no clue. I also...

Saint Peter greets Pope Frances at the Pearly Gates with a warm embrace. “Welcome to heaven,” says Peter. “We weren’t expecting you quite so soon.”  A choir of white-robed angels with harps strike up the heavenly anthem reserved for the...

Chop. Chop. Chop. Ouch, that hurts! I look down at my trunk to see men standing at the base. One man is swinging a large ax at me. Chop. Chop. Chop.  With each bite of the ax, I feel the...

After two hours of digging in the blistering tropical sun, my shovel hit something hard and shuddered with a dull thunk. I carefully removed dirt, gradually revealing an ancient-looking wooden chest, fastened with a large rusted lock. After years of...

Tony watched the evening news, amused as the Secretary of Education referred to “A1” instead of “AI” in a discussion about technology in schools. He rolled his eyes at her gaff. Suddenly, he craved a juicy steak smothered in A.1....

I hoist the bulging bags of recycling with each hand, and head for the front door, the clinking sounds of glass and metal filling the air. “What a racket,” says my roommate Matt, lazily sprawled out on the sofa watching...

I hold her hand, barely able to see her closed eyes in the dim light as she sleeps, so peaceful and still. I marvel at her sight; she is every bit as beautiful now as the day she said “I...

I put on my jacket, gloves, and baseball cap and headed out the door. Today I’m starting my new job, and it’s going to be a little chilly outside. Better button up.  A five-minute drive later, I arrived and parked...

“Run!” I followed our leader’s command and ran as fast as I could, my grandfather’s old 12-gauge shotgun in hand. Away from the advancing alien robot army, towards the safety of the concrete barricades about 100 yards ahead. It looked...

The left turn signal light flashed in sync with the rhythmic tick, tick, tick. I looked over my shoulder to the left, then stepped on the gas to merge onto the Northbound State Highway 99 towards Lodi, leaving Stockton in...

I see the orange ball crest the distant city skyline, and I look at my dashboard clock. Crap, I’m going to be late.  I’m caught in the morning traffic rush, but there’s nothing rush about it–it’s moving at a glacial...

Last night was cold, but not so cold that we couldn’t go outside and enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime show. We watched in awe as millions of tiny shooting stars showered us with a dazzling display of light. The Earth was passing...

I’m being watched. I feel eyes on me, studying my every move. I look around my little apartment again. Searching for a bug, a hidden camera, a microphone. Anything. I find nothing. Am I going crazy? They say computers spy...

The alarm buzzed, shattering my sleep. 6 a.m. already? I groaned, rolled out of bed, and headed to the bathroom. Something caught the corner of my eye. I saw my shadow dart away from me and head for the open...