He gazed at the sun as sweat rolled down his face, he had been at his task since the sun crested the mountaintop, and now it was close to the tree line. He knew darkness would be here soon, and he was making little progress. He raised his hand again, steadied it, as he had done hundreds of time today, focusing, and then hurling the rock against the black slate, and finally this time it relented. I...

I hope that one day, there’s a way for me to reach her, across seas. I hope that I won’t have to wait for her letter, wondering what has happened in the meantime. Did she find new love? Did our letter get lost in the mail? It’s been some time since I’ve heard from her, and I can’t help but wondering if I should write again. They say that in the future, communication will be immediate, that I will ...

The sun is coming up now. I can feel the subtle yellow glow creeping into my room. It slips in through a small window by the bed (which is untouched) and glides along the stone floors and stops just before the spot where my knees meet the stone. I look up at the newly illuminated room and can’t help buy notice it’s foly. An illusion of comfort behind locked doors and stone walls-as if feather beds...

Wiping the blood from her finger, Maggie cursed the swine who’d invited the design of the corned beef tin. The blasted wee key that always seemed to tear the tin apart left a razor-sharp edge to the metal. She read that the tins were designed so that soldiers during the war could have their corned beef and use what was left of the tin to keep the rest of it fresh.

It was still a novelty having co...

“I’m sorry.” Sasha says.

Her eyes are boring holes into the floor. Her shoulders are tense as if waiting for rejection.

“No. Hey, Sash, can you look at me?” Marcy placed her hand on Sasha’s cheek. The touch was gentle. She wouldn’t force Sasha to look at her if she wasn’t ready.

Sasha’s hand came up to brush the back of Marcy’s and Marcy twisted her palm so that their hands could intertwine. Sa...

I am pretty good at analyzing. I can comb information, piece a story together, and come up with insight the average blue collar wouldn’t. It’s a gift, sort of, I grew up poor and there was nothing to do but read old books lying around. I would read mechanic books about ford trucks from the 50’s, I’d read instruction pamphlets, I would challenge myself to read instruction pamphlets faster then the ...

I eat what she tells me to. I sleep when she tells me to. We leave the only home I’ve ever known for her job. Sorry her career. I’m not some kind of slave. I put on my headphones so as not to have to talk. She says I have an attitude. What about her attitude? Oh no we can’t talk about her problems. That’s disrespectful. I can’t be me, like what I like. No I have to be a mister goody two shoes, nos...

The closet and a hidden entrance. I found it when I was ten years old. I was playing hide and seek with my sisters Katy and Emile. I hide in the dryer box which transport me to the dinosaur age....

Decimus stands beside me, overlooking the grassland beyond the camp. Above us, the sky is black as charcoal and stickered with stars, the inky shadows pooling at the edges of the nearest rust-coloured buildings where they devolve into alleyways.

Occasionally, we bump shoulders, which is about the most interesting thing about the night watch because we’ve been standing here long enough that my cur...

I’m a scientist. It was my destiny. My fathers and mothers made me just for that purpose. They poured their heart and soul into me and spent billions just so I could exist. They spent countless hours checking everything thing over and making sure I was perfect. That is why I’m a scientist. Once they were done building me they sent me off here. It was a long journey, 253 earth days if I remember co...