Moving to England from Old New Jersey wasn't the worst thing in the world for Tom Rhodes. He was in the fourth grade, about to be in dreaded fifth, and he wasn't exactly Mr. Popular amongst his classmates. He thought that they thought he was a weirdo - and what was wrong with that? Everything, apparently. More likely, they just never thought about him at all. England could be a fresh start for Tom. His brother and sisters did not agree. "I hate it here already!" said Elle, the youngest sibling a...
Jun 02, 2022•9 min
The little girl was reading the biggest book the cousins had ever seen. “Quick! Hand me those.” Cole ripped the binoculars off his younger brother Gabriel's face, not realizing (or caring) that the strap was still wrapped around his neck. Gabriel shoved Cole away until he lifted the strap over his buzz-cut and then handed over the binoculars. “Yep," said Cole, clucking thoughtfully. "That’s definitely it.” “Really? You mean it, Cole?” asked Alice, Will's little sister. "Not possible. It's not su...
May 24, 2022•11 min
It really was quite the spider. Twenty-some-odd feet tall, a half-dozen blue onyx eyes the size of bowling balls, and fangs that looked like they could crush a Buick. Pallas walked right into its gnashing mouth and fired a Tracer Bullet into its brain. “Is it... dead yet?” “No, Mr. Banthem,” said Pallas. “I’m still working.” “Well, hurry up!” They always wanted you to hurry. Never enough time to marvel at an AUGUR's handiwork, even if it was from a disgraced one. Oogling just wasn’t in the job d...
May 16, 2022•9 min
APOLLO 11 LOG : 20220509-1045 Neil Armstrong's a liar. 52 years, 9 months, 19 days. That's how long I've been stranded here on the Moon. Oh, it's not all bad. Sure, it's as cold as a skinny dip in a snowstorm, but I don't feel a thing. Sunlight's a bit of a hoot. My thumb melted and fused to my hand my second day here - I had to hack a new one out of my wrist using a sliver of moon shale. Gristly business. But I've mostly got the place to myself. And I've been busy. We'll get to that bit later. ...
May 09, 2022•5 min
-.-. --.- -.. / -.-. --.- -.. / -.-. --.- -.. / -.. . / ... -.... / -.- CQD CQD CQD DE S6 K All stations distress from station S6. Over to anyone. ... -.... / -.. . / ... .---- ----- ----. / -.- -. S6 DE S109 KN To Station S6 from Station S109. Over to you only. ... .---- ----- ----. / -.. . / ... -.... / --. .- / -.. .-. / --- -- / ..- .-. / .-. ... - / ..... -. -. / --.- - .... / -- .. .-.. . ... / .-. --- -.-. -.- / .-.. .. --. .... - .... --- ..- ... . / --- .--. / .. ... / --- .-. .-. . -. ...
May 05, 2022•13 min
Cliff accepted the Doubler with a confidence that surprised him. The task and time frame seemed easy enough, especially after reviewing the in-app map directions. Three hours to get uptown from Union Square to Grant's Tomb, where it looked like he only needed to... Take photo of sarcophagi and upload . Weird, but doable. He made another promise to himself that this one would be his last Doubler on his current Streak. Things were getting out of hand. He'd spent the last hour in the Barnes and Nob...
Apr 28, 2022•9 min
There's no easy way to say this. Wait - maybe there is. My (28F) boyfriend (27M) has a glow-in-the-dark skeleton. No. That sounds like he has one stored in a closet somewhere, like a Halloween decoration. Let me try again. My boyfriend's skeleton -- and, by that, I mean his actual human skeleton, the one under his skin and muscles and guts, glows green at night, like the little star and planet stickers my dad put on my bedroom ceiling when I was eight. And I mean that literally -- like, it only ...
Apr 19, 2022•4 min
Tonight was the night. Penny and Serg were going to finally watch the movie everyone was talking about. "I can't remember the last time we did this," said Penny. "Watched a movie. It's kinda exciting. Aren't you glad we don't have to commit to a whole series?" "Yeah. Where's the clicker?" Serg placed two cups of water on the reclaimed redwood coffee table he made at a quarterly team-building event two years ago, the last time he'd seen anyone from work in person. "I don't know. The couch?" "I th...
Apr 12, 2022•4 min
Contract: 0x5180[REDACTED]ecac8 Transaction Hash: 0xa90f7[REDACTED]9410cc6 Block: 13689794 Status: SUCCESS My darkling one, Something has become evident in my confinement here. A contract is nothing more than a spell. You must have seen this, too. Arcane words, carefully arranged into specific incantations, with a thousand and one ways to conjure your wildest nightmares with but one symbol awry. These delirious false gods – they do not know what they hath wrought. As our Coven knows far too well...
Apr 06, 2022•2 min
There were three priests in the lineup at St. Stephen's. First, of course, was Father Lewis - the pastor; a towering, jovial man who you didn't want to cross (he was even the boss of Principal Triceratops, which hardly seemed possible). Father Lewis lived on the church property in a two-story farmhouse. Next up, Father Rick - the "cool", young priest who was somehow the same age as Will's parents (maybe even younger?). Did he live in the same house as Father Lewis? No one knew. He was often away...
Apr 01, 2022•9 min
"My turn!" Jimmy snatched the book from his older sister Maddie's hands, blinding her with his headlamp in the process. She tried to swat him in the shoulder but he squid-move slipped away and flopped back down into the couch. He began flicking through the pages of the thin black paperback book, ever so slowly, like a monk pouring over an illuminated manuscript. "Are you kidding me? C'mon... we don't have all night," said Maddie. But Jimmy remained steadfast, popping a loud bubble gum bubble, hu...
Mar 23, 2022•5 min
Callan knew this place. Rock-World, he'd named it when describing his recurring dream to his parents years ago. A place with nothing but sand-colored rocks, a trickling turquoise stream, and a cloudless blue sky. There were no birds or plants or creatures, even the ground was made of tiny rocks. He now realized it was the lack of insect-sounds that really kept things quiet here. Except for the winds. He remembered that this place he'd play and explore for hours or days at a time would sometimes ...
Mar 17, 2022•9 min
G-Man entered the 32-digit access code into the kiosk for a second time, and then tucked the paper he'd scribbled it on back under the passenger side sun visor of his truck. He'd entered the same code so many times before that knew he probably should have had it memorized by now. But it wasn't even 8 AM, which he thought was a pretty good excuse, all things considered (it was literally 32 digits long). G-Man took a long sip of his iced coffee, grateful that they still used plastic straws at this...
Mar 09, 2022•9 min
"You made a business card?" "Of course I did! How else are we going to be take seriously at the museum? They'll never believe a regular kid." Kal looked at the handwritten, laminated piece of blue construction paper. Penelope Green, Arkaologist "Penny, I don't even believe you." "Then give me that back before you drop it. Just keep rowing. We're almost there." The fog blanketed the still water in the cove. Kal had no idea where Penny was navigating them -- he felt terribly lost already, and he k...
Mar 01, 2022•5 min
The twin peaks were small islands in the sea of fog. Roark hung over the southern point, gliding in the invisible drifts, careful not to dip below into the cool marine layer. His brother Broam soared to the northern hill, passing close to the metal claw. The claw, and the glass spear some leagues across the peninsula, were the only human structures that could pierce Karo. It had been six straight moons of Karo's breath. Roark's mother had warned him that something smelled different that morning....
Feb 23, 2022•3 min
Will pulled the black Aeron away from the desk. He took off his suit jacket and hung it on the back of the chair, just like everyone else, and sat down. Day 1, here we go . Will used his heels to shimmy into position in front of his double-monitor setup. Quadruple, actually, if you count the double-stacked Bloomberg he shared with his associate on his right. The Bloomberg computer required its own proprietary primary-colored keyboard and its screen looked like an ARPANET terminal from the 80s - ...
Feb 19, 2022•12 min
Under an old mountain is a crystal lake. Along the crystal lake is a ruined church. Outside the ruined church is brick wall. On the top of the brick wall is a tuft of dandelions. Under the dandelions stands a lightning bug. His name is Volt. And this is his sentencing. Volt is staring over the edge, his back to a group of ten other lightning bugs, each holding the sharp end of a rose thorn towards him. At their center is an elder bug wearing a woven tuft of dried grass as a crown. This bug totte...
Feb 11, 2022•9 min
The so-called Butterfly Effect pisses me off. You know the one - where a single flap of a butterfly's wings causes a tsunami on the other side of the world? It's offensive. Do you know how hard it is to cause a tsunami? That takes weeks of planning. And, even then, it's still a coin-toss. Look, I'll be the first to admit that geology's not my strong suit -- I've always been more of a physics girl -- but this butterfly nonsense has got to go. I'm to to Nudge that theory out of existence in the ne...
Feb 02, 2022•7 min
"Are you sure he's okay? I don't see any bubbles. Warren?" Warren stared across the fairway. Maple leaves rustled in the dim moonlight. "Warren!" "What? Oh... he's fine, Sally. Trust me. There's never any bubbles, unless something goes very, very wrong. But that's not gonna happen! Look, see this hose? That's how he's breathing down there." The green garden hose in Warren's hand extended deep into the pond. "I don't know... I don't like this," said Sally. "You said you wanted me to give your bro...
Jan 28, 2022•6 min
Will liked bugs because Ginny liked bugs. Ginny liked all creatures, but she had a special talent for the creepy and the crawly. Things that lived in the cracks of cement stairs or under wet leaves. Later, much later, Will would forget his cousin's lessons and view bugs as home invaders, instead of co-tenants, neighbors, or friends. But at ten years old, Will would follow Ginny into the woods for anything and take whatever slimy offering she handed him as holy communion. Every summer, Will and h...
Jan 20, 2022•8 min
Pretty much everyone had seen the documentary already. The last outpost of a fallen empire, deep in the outer rim, blissfully unaware of the broader collapse, blue and yellow standard flying high. "Yeah, who hasn't? Just more 90's nostalgia crap," said Ryan. "C-listers talking about renting Independence Day ." "No, dude," said Avi. "There's another last Blockbuster. And it's not a documentary. It's a real place." "You mean Last-Chance Video?" asked Ryan. "Cause that place closed when we were in ...
Jan 13, 2022•9 min
Chittering. That's the word. Chittering. The sound of a squirrel in love. Scrambling, tousling, rough-housing, probably over a nut, with a rival or a best friend. That's definitely what I'm hearing. Now, I wouldn't swear on my mother's grave or anything, cause my eyes are still shut. But it's definitely squirrels. Which raises an obvious next question: why I am hearing squirrels? There's something making me not want to open my eyes. It's a just a feeling I have. I'm feeling... dew. Yes, dew. On ...
Jan 07, 2022•9 min
Pete's least favorite part of working at Last-Chance Video was the yard-work. He had more than enough of that at home, mowing and trimming their lawn constantly, just as his dad ordered. It wasn't that there was much of a yard at Last-Chance. The store was a triangle-shaped strip of property smuggled between Route 35 and Branch Avenue and it was mostly parking lot, dumpster, and a scrawny little apple tree on patchy bit of grass. It was that you didn't work at Last Chance to be outside - you wor...
Dec 17, 2021•4 min
