I can hear the music coming from the other room as I feel the warm humidity of the city in the summer. The party is raging and people are dancing. Out on the fire escape I pass my cigarette to my friend, exhaling the smoke. I lean on the railing, tilting my head back with my eyes closed, and take a deep breath. My friend passes back over the cigarette and I open my eyes to take another drag. It bu...

Yells echo all around me. Swords clash in the air, the clang ringing through the ravine. The armor I wear weight heavily on my shoulders, pulling them down. Men charge at each other not noticing me, not worrying about a little girl. They don’t realize I’m the one they all hear tales about, the knight who swoops in on a steed ending the battle before they even notice me. If they knew they would att...

Rain pattered on the concrete. Shoes pounded on the sidewalk splattering water on the purely white sneakers. Wailing behind were the terrible cry of the alarms from the police station down the block. Voices yelled off in the distance yelling for her to turn around. Anna tightened the strings of her hood, pulled her hair further under her boyfriend's jacket, and rushed into an alley. Tears streake...

What have you done. Seyi, my older sister’s words echo in me. I don’t have to look at her face to know the horror that lies on it. As the blood drips from the tip of the knife, landing on its victim, my father. So much happened in a flash. Just a minute ago, I was lying on my bed, clapping my hands to chase the mosquitos away while my youngest sister, Ife played with her wooden toys.

It was.. is a...

I struck out just in time to fend out the slice meant for my eye. I pushed back against his sword. He snarled at me as he pushed harder, intending to do more than just leave me blind.

I grimaced as I put all my strength to pushing him back while swiping my leg against his. He went with a tumble, his sword clattering out of his hand. I took the opportunity to bring mine down upon his neck. His vo...

“In medias… Reserved it for—What? The plural of what? What did I say… Oh, is it just ‘media.’ Fine, pedant… Anyway, I locked us in for… yeah, for the blitz. Yeah. With the me-dee-uh. All the medias,” she said, putting a wink in her voice. “I’m messing with you. Anyway, get back to work… yeah, later.”

She hung up, slipping her phone into her jacket pocket as she walked toward the reception desk. ...

My ears are ringing. My skin feels like it’s on fire and I can’t open my eyes. ‘What’s happening…’ I think, vaguely aware of the pulsing of my heart. Suddenly my ears pop and I can hear it. The screaming. My eyes shoot open and all I can do is gasp as I try and breathe in the thick, burning air. I only see white, and for a second I think I’m dead. Then I blink, and my vision returns. I shove mysel...

In the midst of this army, Kenion had never felt so alone. The companions he’d met over the last few months of summer he knew were fleeting. As fall came to a close, this company would scatter like the leaves. Kenion had to stop the analogy there, the leaves were dead and their death was never lamented. He expected nothing different for himself.

The dying embers of the campfire popped and he becam...

Gemma shivered. Violently she threw her body side to side. Her fingers splayed across the stone hearth and she collapsed in a tangled heap on the black walnut floor. Gemma peeked at her client, Mr. Gibbs, through her eyelashes. Mr. Gibbs was slumped in his armchair, hands covering her face. His lanky frame shook with emotion.

Gemma triumphed. She had slid from multilevel marketing to lonely heart...

I don’t register the fist flooding my vision until it is too late.

The fatal hit is groundbreaking, rendering my vision a pixilated canvas of white.

At first the pain doesn’t even register, all I can focus on is recovering from the force of the knuckles kneading into my jaw.

When the pain does finally set in (and trust me, it comes like a full speed truck), I clutch my face and stumble back a ...