we all die in pain

we all die in pain. the last few seconds are hard, when you can just barely hear the heartbeat monitor through the rushing in your ears, you can taste blood, and the vision of whatever place you're seeing in your head fades to black. the pain is...

Almost Everything

The knock still echoed through her tiny apartment. It was much too late for callers.

Opening the door, Tara looked at Ian—harder this time than last. Something happened in the last week, she could tell. He didn't move the same way. He wasn't armed...

at the races

Matthew laughed, the forced mirth echoing around the inside of his head, kicking around his shaggy brown hair. He dodged his date's gaze, glancing around at the fences, the turf, and the finely primped socialites. Her hand in his left, and the betting...

Weilu's Journal - Outside Selgaunt

In the weeks since I abandoned the service of the Tanthul family, I have found a certain beauty in the world around me. The people of this little country are ever helpful and welcoming, without malice or subterfuge.

In other words, completely alien...

self-myth.

i'm tanning. i don't recall tanning before, but here i am. i distinctly remember being the same color year-round. though remembering something that happened and it actually happening are two different things.

we all have established self-myths. it...

character writing - ral winstead

(playing with voice. this is the old, tired, country grandad voice.—ben)

Tell ya what you do, stranger—if'n you want to see what this war did to the land and the folks hereabouts, head down Cosdon way 'bout a day and a half—you'll get to parcel of...

Almost Everything

Ian tapped gently on the door, hesitant. He didn't expect, and maybe didn't want her to be home. But he heard the soft footsteps approach, and the locks release. Then she was standing in the doorway.

She looked tired and disheveled, but was still...

letter to merlin

Dearest Merlin,

Thank you for staying with us as long as you did. I am so happy to have known you, and you brought such joy and happiness to my life. I owe you so much, and I could never repay you for the things you have given me. You were such a...

character writing - mark mccastlin

Samples from the journals of Marcus Ryan McCastlin, aka Mark Ryan.

jan 15.

every year i think it'll be different. i'll get better. i'll get left alone. and about this time every year, at least the years i can remember, i realize it won't get any...

character writing - joshua matthews

"Everything has been broken upon the stone, cracked apart, laid open. The middle runs out over the sides, and nothing is hidden."–from 'The Lost Mythic' by Joshua Matthews.

"All too often one sets themselves in a static state, where they define their...