fuck how many times has my alarm gone off oh my god how did I manage to sleep in for an hour and a half??? I’m already so fucking late UGH ok so shower is definitely not happening today maybe I can grab a banana for breakfast — gotta let the dog out oh my GOD my hair is such a mess ok gonna just turn on the shower head and quickly dunk my head under — GODDAMMIT that’s cold fuck fuck fuck ok towel ...

“Right hand red!”

I had been dreading and dreaming of this moment. There was Taylor, right between me and the red dot. There was no way to avoiding touching them as I drew in a deep breath and reached across the plastic sheet, trying to keep my balance in the scuffle of bodies. And then there I was, hovering above them as they did an awkward back end to reach the colors, their face inches from m...

“And then she woke up, and it was all a dream.” My third grade writing teacher told me that it was lazy to end a story this way, that it kept the characters from having to deal with their actions in the waking world.

If only that were true.

I’ve always had vivid lucid dreams, dreams of flying, escaping evil scientists who wanted to experiment on me, ducking and running through apocalyptic, bombe...

“Hello, I’d like to put this carrot in my snatch.”

The cashier gives me an incredulous look. “Ma’am?”

I blush as I immediately realize how it sounded, “No, no, I meant I’d like to use my purse as a bag instead of the plastic ones please. Clutch — I meant clutch!!”

I pay as quickly as possible and bustle out the door.

All day it’s been like this. At the butcher’s, I said I wanted to put his mea...

A deep indigo velvet envelops the sky, fading to a smoky pink on the southern corners, where Phoenix fires up the sky a hundred miles away, like a never-dying bird. Slicing silver starlight pierces the inky surface of the lake, bright pinpoints bouncing and shattering across ripples and waves from the indecisive wind. Bristly silhouettes dance darkly on the edges of sky, leaning towards one anothe...

The woman across from me was sobbing hysterically, snatching her hand away from me and sobbing harder when I reached out to try to comfort her — I had been on bad dates before, but never one that had ended quite this dramatically.

It had started when she mentioned her cat. “Ah yes,” I had replied, “human’s narcissistic asshole best friend.” Turned out her beloved cat of 17 years had just died the...

1. Swallow your pills. There were exactly 27 pills to keep me happy, healthy, and docile. I took them one by one, each gulp sounding like a concession.

Hidden in the back of the cabinet was my toothbrush. 2. Brush your fangs. I took out my invisibility toothpaste and carefully brushed the tips of my fangs so they wouldn’t be visible to the average human.

Guilt swept over me as I remembered the l...

It’s the warmth of the sun on your skin. That feeling when you jump into the pool and it’s the perfect temperature. The tingles that warm your insides when you cuddle up close to someone you love. It’s biting into fresh banana bread with melted butter, a dog falling asleep on your arm, the euphoria of catching your breath after dancing all night, the smell of rain and great big monsoon drops on yo...

Change is in our bones. Our power grows on the winter solstice, in the new year, when tender buds first taste the sun, when we smell the first decaying breeze of autumn. Sameness, conformity - these are our quiet killers. Put us in a box and we wither, our spirits sapping from fingertips. Death is preferable to the shackles of monotony.

Yet woe be to our captors on a Midsummer’s night, on a child...

Ella is heartbroken. The world is heart breaking. Fae had hoped this job would be different, better. It was supposed to be faer dream job. Sure it didn’t pay much but fae could scrape things together, make things work. Turns out fae couldn’t though. Instead fae was left with heartbreak, sadness, and a hot but quickly fading anger. Life is exhausting.

Ella would try again. But not today....