“I’ll be Chuck E, you can be Mickey” said Evan, the loud crack of a 12oz can following his comment. “You can be Minnie, the cops would get a good laugh at least”. Darrel quipped back without hesitation.

The recliner cried out for help as Evan briefly leaned back even further before getting up to do his best Minnie Mouse routine. “Heyo folks get your hiney’s down on the ground or you’ll make like...

Thrusters eased their force as the ship approached the surface of Varion-3. Captain June cast her gaze down upon the desolate surface which was littered with dark brown stones and sand kicking up around the landing site, an old air traffic facility.

A voice came from across the glass-walked room. “The landing ramp has been deployed ma’am, you can now head for the exit if you would like.” She mut...

White-turned-gray towers of crumbling concrete were dwarfed by green and brown columns of life. The city remained a city, but it’s inhabitants were no longer lawyers and doctors and retail workers. Those jobs and the people that worked them died ages ago. They were strangled to death by their arrogance, and their monuments are now choked by the vines of their assertion over the land....

“So, who’s going to die today?” asked Death, leaning back into his vintage Eames chair. The room was cool and bright, light from the bright summery day was beaming into the office from over the skyscrapers. He (if you could call him that) was dressed in a light gray suit, sporting a black tie and shoes. His feet took their time ascending the desk and found their place on the corner, propped one at...

The sun was roaring directly overhead, and even a blind man would know it. This day was a scorcher, and the girls had planned to spend it in the pool. Just after 9 I told Natalie that I’d needed to spend some time at the office, and her eyes burned into me hotter than the sun. It was a Saturday, a family day, but she knew that this deal was huge.

Microsoft was building a new Tampa office and lik...

Like always, the jury was selected at random. Those who were deemed unfit through a file review and a series of questions were removed from the pool until only 12 of us remained. The trial had gone on for weeks, and there was no end in sight. It was one for the Civics books that would be printed for years to come.

The defense was good, great even. I could tell by the reactions of my fellow juror...

Danny strode in like he owned the place, and his worn plaid flannel and jeans did not match his demeanor. He leaned against the booth and made a few selections, one arm above his head keeping his balance. The other hand intermittently stroking a beard of patchy white while trying to make a decision.

June was working the table where voters sign in, and had watched a few hundred people do this ver...

I never know which fork goes where on the table. I empathize with them, clumsy people always putting you where you don’t belong. I feel that way now. As I sit across the table from Jeremey Hoyt, from my chemistry lab. He’s cute, in a non-traditional way. That’s what my mom said when I showed her his profile. I think she’s just not used to man-buns being a thing these days. Especially in Texas.

T...

This story will unfold in backwards order. The author will publish words that they deliberated over but ultimately accepted because what word choice could be better than their own? The words that come from books, and teaching moments, and experiences with outhers. The carelessness and haste that they were initially written with, just trying to reach some arbitrary word count goal. The product of a...

The waves crashed against the cliff slapping up the side of the rock with a certain suddeness. Like there had been no action all day, and in this moment the tide was impossibly high. The dopamine had trickled like a little mountain stream before today. Now the stream of happiness and fear and excitement that poured out of seeing her across the room was all too much. That mighty big concrete dam ho...