“Get back here this instant, Elizabeth!” I ignore my mother as I run, not even looking back, hiking the layers of petticoat up as I run. I’d already loosened my corset and slipped on my leather boots, so running wasn’t as difficult. But I’d forgotten how cumbersome it was to run in a dress.

“Elizabeth!” Mother screamed. This time I did look back. I saw her looking around for goodness knows who. P...

“Last flight of the day.” Elise whispered to herself. She took a quick look at the clock. Midnight. Her stomach growled. “You’re almost there.” She thought. “Soon you can go home and order some Takeout.” She pulled at the white ascot tied around her neck. These stupid ascots, she thought. Whose idea was it to put her in an outfit this uncomfortable?

She looked at the screen to see that the plane ...

Lena left the orphanage at nightfall. She stepped stealthily over the piles of children on the floor, sleeping five or six to a mattress. She kissed my cheek gently before she left, though at the time I’d thought it was but a mere dream. Part of me didn’t want to believe she was really gone. How could she leave without me?

I looked down at my bowl of porridge. I didn’t dare eat so much as a spoo...

“We’re through, Louis.” Those were the last words Shayna had said to them before walking away. That was more than three months ago.

Sorrow wondered why it was so easy for Shayna. After almost two years in a happy relationship, how could she walk away so easily? He wished he could see the emotes inside of her mind. Maybe they would know how to fix this.

Sorrow was at the front almost constantly. ...

Annabelle left her bar shift late that night. She walked back to her apartment at a brisk pace, her tidy ponytail swinging from side to side. She would have asked Matt to walk her home, but he hadn’t answered any of her calls. He was probably still mad at her for the other night.

She really didn’t think he was being serious when he said that he was being followed by a muscular bald man with slee...

Chrysanthemum Rose’s parents were gone. They were perfectly present when she left for school that day, but when came home, they were nowhere to be found. She first looked in the garage, where her mother’s make-shift painting studio resided, but all of the brushes and canvases were untouched. Then she walked up the stairs to peer into her fathers office. She was never quite sure what he did for wor...