Claire I hesitated to open the door, as if the door were protecting me from the outside instead of keeping me there. I was another forgotten girl. Sometimes the damsel must save herself, I thought. The first step was like daring myself to stick my foot in smoldering lava, but […]
Luke The “XXX” blinked in fluorescent magnificence against the obsidian sky. It was a red beacon of hope for the sex-starved, downtrodden, and desperate men who needed to escape into an X-rated fantasy. The Dollhouse was partially hidden from Route 15 by the trees and might have been disregarded […]
Claire I had never felt so hollow. I was furious at myself for not fighting back, for just allowing them to enslave me to this world that smelled of latex and rose petals. After Michael, a handful of clients came to see Nikki. Most of them the business types, balding […]
Detective Townsend Molly was late. We had agreed to meet, 7:00 AM, at the Adams Library on campus. I sat at a small rectangular table on the second level that overlooked the front half of the first floor. From where I was sitting, I could see anyone coming up […]
Michael I’m in love, I thought to myself as I shut the oak door behind me. The older guy who met me at the gate when I arrived, was lounging on a brown leather armchair in the sitting room, leering at the door as it shut, and then looked at […]
Luke Nancy walked out of the store just before 7:00 PM. I had been sitting in my truck for fifteen minutes, tucked between the east side of the building and the dumpsters, contemplating going back into the store that I had, according to an anonymous witness, robbed earlier that morning. This […]
Claire Good things will soon come into your life. That is what the single sliver of prophetic white paper read after I removed it from among the crushed bits of cookie. That was my fortune when I ordered take-out the day before I was abducted. I was curled up on […]
Detective Townsend “Am I seriously going to jail for this?” the doe-eyed twenty-something asked as she sat in the plastic chair biting her lip and picking at her amethyst colored nails. She was yet another Covington University student picked up by a uniform for simple possession of Schedule VI after […]
Luke Hollinger Park was colder than it had been the day before. The bleakness of the day washed over the place, giving it a Chernobyl-like feel, devoid of life except for the flow of the river. My eyes pored over the photograph, imagining how the last twenty-four hours would’ve been if […]
Michael When I hit the frigid water, the air fled from my lungs and I kicked in a panic to reach the surface. I thrashed my arms searching for the nearest rock to climb on while the sun taunted me from above. My hands found the jagged edge of a […]
Claire When the van came to a stop, Bert grabbed my shoulders and slid me over to the side doors. He untied the rag that covered my mouth as the doors opened, letting in the smell of fresh pines and the chill of the morning air. Gramps took hold of my […]
Luke The light poured down on me, almost blinding, as it reflected off the white windowless walls. I sat there, hands cuffed behind my back, cut off from the outside world. The only thing I could do was watch the uniforms pass by the narrow window in the door. The room was cramped, […]
Claire The one they called Bert stood above me as I struggled on the cold floor of the van while I took in the bleak air. I could taste the gas and steel in the air through the damp tattered rag they tied around my mouth. Plastic bit into my wrists with each bump and […]
LUKE “I’m fine,” I said to my father as I placed the photograph into the inside pocket of my suit jacket. “Mr. Parrish said you almost ran over a lady when you pulled out of the parking lot yesterday. I’m worried about you. I-” my father started until I interrupted him. I looked at my […]
LUKE After the first time my life fell apart, I eventually started over, told myself that things would get better, and began to hope again. I moved on. I wasn’t looking for a second chance; I didn’t think I deserved one. In a small town people look at you differently. Sometimes the stares were filled […]
The same thing is to be understood of all bodies, revolved in any orbits. They all endeavour to recede from the centres of their orbits, and were it not for the opposition of a contrary force which restrains them to and detains them in their orbits, which I therefore call Centripetal, would […]
Law II: The alteration of motion is ever proportional to the motive force impress’d; and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impress’d. -Lord Isaac Newton, PBUH Sam and Emma walked into Switch before dark. Sam was tired, but he couldn’t wait to […]
Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after, But a lifetime burning in every moment And not the lifetime of one man only But of old stones […]
Law I: Every body persists in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed. -Lord Isaac Newton, PBUH Adams stood with Norris in the cockpit. A light wind drove the Endeavour inland. […]
Not unlike the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our rocky, sunset wall lower’d A mighty sentinel armed, with claim To the imprisoned lightning, a hooded Keeper of Secrets. From his tower Flew death; his sharp eyes commanded The air-bridged harbor that […]
If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been due more to patient attention, than to any other talent -Lord Isaac Newton, PBUH Sam finished his watch and climbed down to his hammock. With Jack gone, the Endeavour was even more short-handed than ever. It left little […]
You drove me into the sea. The powerful waves passed over me. The currents surrounded me. -Jonah 2:3, New Academy Translation Sam sat high in the Endeavour’s crow’s nest, staring off into the distance. The sun was high in the sky. When the ratlines began to shake, he leaned over […]
No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess. -Lord Isaac Newton, PBUH Sam examined the book carefully in his hands. It was handwritten in a green bound ledger of some kind. The tight penmanship was broken up with drawings and diagrams. “I have to ask,” said the Professor, […]
…whether that cause be some central body (such as is the magnet in the centre of the magnetic force or the earth in the centre of the gravitating force), or anything else that does not yet appear. -Lord Isaac Newton, PBUH The Professor and the old lady escorted Sam and Adams […]