The wind whistles through the trees, a haunting melody the forest had sung since the beginning. Above me, owls hooted, their low calls echoing back and forth in the dead forest.
The path I followed was tricky at best, deadly at worst. Small, winding, at times completely disappearing into brush only to reemerge some hundred yards away, it was a tedious and frustrating journey.
The guard prodded ...
Their hair, bouncing softly from side to side as they laugh. A tinkling, breathy laugh, so different from my own bray. Everyone looks at her, rapt, as if a ray of sunshine itself shone amongst them.
She’s unaware of the attention - her own focus is on the person telling a mediocre story of college days long since passed. Another gift of hers; when you speak, she makes you feel as if she’s never h...
A bell tinkles overhead as she flung the door open, blissfully escaping the deluge at last. The rain continued to beat against the tall windows, as if to curse her for escaping its clutches.
The room smelled warmly of roasted beans and the faint smell of old paperback novels, due to the large bookshelves taking up much of the back wall.
Carefully, she divulged herself of her rain jacket and um...
My fingers anxiously drum against my thigh, eyes scanning the horizon for her, back and forth, back and forth. The waiter comes back for a third time, this time not so subtly hinting that it’s time for me to order. To appease him, I ask for a salad.
“What kind?”
“Any kind. I don’t care.”
I barely notice him walking away in a huff, still searching the crowds. I do notice the shake in my hands ...
Her eyes light when she sees a child babbling. When the sun hits her face, she can’t help but to tilt her chin up. One kind word from her, a comforting brush of a hand on your arm, changes the trajectory of your day.
She is sunshine and soothing. She is new and familiar and fresh and comforting.
In a world of harsh edges and hurt, she is an oasis....
“We’re in this together, but I’m not sure I can trust you,” he confessed under his breath.
Sword held high over his head, Jurad crept forward, me following closely behind, dagger in hand.
“Is now really the time to discuss semantics?” I hissed. “You need me, and I need you. We need to help each other to get out of here. Case closed.”
We both froze at a sound from the far end of the cavernous ...
His fingers traced down my body, from sternum to navel leaving a travel of goosebumps in their wake. “I really do need to leave.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, wanting this moment to remain, to stretch on forever as it was. He laughed, tilting my chin upwards for a soft kiss before he finally disentangled his limbs from my own and stood. For a moment, I simply drank in the sight of him; long, blonde cu...
Clouds roil over the horizon, sweeping in with alarming speed. Suddenly, I notice the darkness - all the daylight seemed to have fled the oncoming storm as well. The air is tense, charged; the whole world seems to be holding its breath, waiting for the storm to break over us.
Small droplets begin to tumble to the earth, teasing what was coming. Within minutes, the clouds had opened in earnest, t...
“Have you seen the new guy yet?” Madison slumps against the locker next to mine, fake swooning. “He had me clutching my pearls in Biology.” She sighs deeply, holding a perfectly manicured hand to her brow.
I snort, letting my own locker door fall shut, backpack now slung perfectly over my shoulder. “What happened to Marcus? Last week you were convinced you were going to marry him.”
“I’d hit Ma...
The invitation was a heavy, gilded cardstock, cheerfully reflecting the twinkling lights strung above the driveway as I strolled up to the door.
“Check, Donovan,” I mutter, barely moving my mouth, feigning an interest in the ornate architecture of the Gilded Age mansion before me.
“All clear, Scout,” the voice in my ear came through clearly, the minute microphone working perfectly. “Move to th...