Dan

We all have dreams in our heads that are never coming true, so, what are we to do? What about forming relationships? Maybe binge on shopping? Drugs? Booze? Sex? Scapegoats. These won’t work; these will only remind us of how our dreams are too far from grasp, only to serve as blame for why we never achieved what is concealed in our skulls. Nostalgia and a gamble for a better tomorrow will haunt us. Well, here’s to scapegoats.

Hugo

In a house of windows I was sitting on the john and got a call from her. I started sweating.
"I called because you want to call me, but you don't." she said, "I got a new job."
"So, what do you do?" I shouldn't be talking to her.
"Look outside, at the sky."
I looked out and saw the sky, I heard her typing. Photos of flowers projected onto the sky, I knew
she was going to show photos of herself next. I hung up.

Bob

How could he survive in 19th century France?
Time-travel was known to be expensive, but safe. Friends had toasted his trip to long-ago Paris.
Now, after nearly 3 months, his time tag had stopped transmitting. He had no money and even less hope of returning to his own century. The truth implied insanity.
Weak and malnourished, he wondered if he could still write his own name.
Suddenly a smile came to Jules Verne.

Harry

The bane or beauty of adult Bible classes is that no one gets expelled. The student without sense or filter may hold forth as freely as the most learned and thoughtful scholar in the class. Storm-clouds of intolerance and revulsion darken the study hall when the blather flows. The Creator may take a smoking break at such times but pity the unfortunate clergy and other class participants not blessed with that option.

Bruce

"It doesn't have to be like this," he said as he gave her back the key.
She cocked her head a bit; her black-rimmed glasses had begun to fog
and she crossed her arms.
"You're a writer, and that's
the best you can come up with?"
She slammed the door on him.
After he put the wreath back,
his hand rested on the door,
just opposite her hand. Until
he heard the deadbolt turn home
and the floor squeak on the other side.

laura

Anders started the fire because he believed he could extinguish the flames before they reached his ancestral log cabin. Anders was not a pyromaniac, he just hated spending all his vacation raking leaves and removing deer ticks. Anders was also a casual environmentalist who had read in his Minnesota Observer that brush fires made springtime trilliums twice as plentiful and lady slippers a brighter shade of pink.

Jonah

Kneeling in shadowy corners, crouching beneath immense structures, and hiding in small spaces are the places my soul resides during the slumbering hours. Possibly this is in relation to a trepidation I often feel during daily activities. More so, this sense of fear reflects less on my ability to be with the rest of the population, but rather explains a dread that I may soon completely disappear and exist no longer.

Stacey

"What is the ultimate superpower?" His 11 year old DC/Marvel-loving self peeked out from behind his 37 year old eyes. Women know nothing about superheroes. Half humoring me, half authoritatively, he declared, "transmutation, no wait, time travel definitely trumps all other powers." Not even close. If I tell him about my secret, he might try to have me committed. "Do you think The Second Coming could be...a woman?"

Mitch

"Enter thru the back window at the top of the fire escape and don't close it behind you" she fired back over her shoulder. Then she was gone around the corner. As he climbed thru he knew why. He'd have to escape quickly. As he grabbed the sleepy child it's Rosemary's Baby's eyes fixated on him. He dropped the baby but it was too late. He couldn't let go. The warm flow between his legs was involuntary.

norman

F. corridors could not contain the gurgling bubbling mud rush more so i blurt i out i love hurts you wonder if you were polluted then she showers you with confetti as if you were born into a marriage a returning hero from a nuclear glow as you know you are radiant as she is in as much danger as you are positive eventually you'll degrade to more basic elements she should never have to handle yet she's not afraid

norman

E. you have become me in the maze and so i as you look from above to see what you could never see for yourself down how you come to find her as only you could from where you are not my position anymore where i am so removed i have perspective i cannot share for fear of spoiling the ignorance you share adds to all our findings the earth an experiment of divided minds

norman

D. where is tomorrow ever again a replaced mushroom for a healthy cerebrum sparky these cortex corridors full of electric pathways to rewire connections between what works and net loads of a working node a lofty thought for just one in cluster bugging glow worms of the earth what shall i do with finding time passed away chipmunk

norman

C. i echo in the hallow like a cricket where to hear me like i was indigenous to importance i listen to the returning voice where are you where are you to find nothing gained by nothing lost what a loss is all about to complement an emptiness with the hope of something else where are you my little chipmunk finding me looking for you having my eyes by surprise go dark or explode bright behind my insect brain

norman

B. where had time gone with this chipmunk vanished nuts how are these squirrels scampering away deliberately stealing the seed I suppose I should learn they are given to receive one day a tree from poop yet where has time gone with chipmunk the rascal has changed my form thinking man to antenna beast what am i to receive tickets to the season's waltz the winter ball emerald spring champagne summer again autumn fling

norman

A. before fluorescent could fade i ran in prints giant chipmunk prints getting smaller and smaller i came to a tree cave not far from where i was i was smaller than I'd ever become as if the vanishing horizon was drawn from cartoon prescriptions i'd not taken since experiencing agoraphobia my girlfriend preying me open yet here i was going in feeling big yet standing small grasshopper science

Clarence

Facing you, she fires the pearl-handled revolver. You mouth, "It's really over." The fatal blow, reckoning, resolution. Ten years a second to find an answer. The slug patiently flows towards you with deadly embrace. Heat sears flesh as it enters chest and heads for heart. A final beat, legs crumble, a settling to the wet grass below. Searching her eyes, she blurs to colored lights. Before darkness you whisper, 'I still love you'. She's left you. Getting up, reborn to a new life, you start over.

Patrick

My wife shouldn’t have told me about her secret that day in the ER. She knew me better. Hair trigger.
“Don’t get mad if it comes out,” she said. No details.
Cheating, I figured. After she died, I went over her e-mails and cell calls and nailed it. Had to be Harry.
Widower. Pretends we’re pals. Offers to cut my lawn with his rider mower sometimes.
Time to return the favor. Be right over, Harry.
Just need to get my Glock.

norman

tiki torches blazing she drank from her hands from the fountain in her garden green with trestle vine florets long tongue plants she went among tiny purples to summon up herbs she butter into the wounds of sizzling fish grilled in frilled onion rings she cried to have adorn her hands as garlic oiled her skin smoke floated into her transparent dress of linen lace and let her out to let me in

norman

fun table salt pepper bread butter platter leopard napkins wait leopard oh napkins folded legs what folded legs oh napkin spoon yes i remember doing that knife folk glass monkey where does it go here candles cards who are these invites players josie buttons she never shuts up lets see curtains open bar should I vacuum flowers oh yes darling crystal what are you wearing animal prints indeed a zoo

Susan

He sits on my lap. My chin rests on his head and I can smell his little boy hair..dirt and sweat and cookie crumbs..it is lovely. A friend at school was mean to him today. Are monsters real? When he grows up he will be a racecar driver and a dad but isn't sure who he will marry yet. Do you know I am 5 years old? Do you know I am 66 years old? He is very quiet. You won't die soon will you?