Inka's Curse Part 10: Home

/

…get me started on what’s become of the forest. She just wants the forest for herself.”

“You’re wrong about her. Queen Ellen is a genuine hero. She’s our savior. Things have never been as peaceful as they are now.”

Herman isn’t as bad as I thought. He’s intriguing and so is Lilo. I need to pay them a visit after I return from my daunting journey.

I don’t have time for this, though. I’ll have to interrupt their endless back and forth argument. “Excuse me,” I said grimly. “I really have to go…

By Cristina Collazo

Read More

Inka's Curse Part 9: Mixed Opinion

/

…armor’s got on an impressive curse on it. It can make you invincible to almost anything, but it will also drain your life force. It’s not just magically, but the material is something completely different than anything I have ever seen.”

“Can you get rid of it?” I hope I’ve finally found someone that can actually help me out.

“No kid. You’ll need to go to the kingdom for that. Queen Ellen might be able to get rid of it.”

My forehead puckered. “My lifeforce. What exactly does that mean?”

“Your life is endangered. The longer you wear that thing the…

By Cristina Collazo

Read More

Soccer Moms Do It With Style

/

A girls night out, interrupted

---

…will never forget the look on his face as my husband, Ted, stared at me from the other side of a smudged plate of plexiglass. It was a mix of comical bewilderment and admiration. I wiped the tears from my mascara smeared eyes, picked up the phone, and started at the beginning.

It was Soccer Club Night. No, I didn’t play soccer, I was part of a group of women who fit the “Soccer Mom” profile to a tee. Dedicated mothers, members of the PTA, and tenaciously driven to raise the perfect family. We…

By Tracey Koehler

Read More

Universal Woman

/

A Parable on Suffering

————

…strolled around his garden in the cool of morning. Hearing a beautiful songbird nearby, he reached for her, and she lovingly responded. He caught and caged her.

Over time, she grew weary in her cage, using her lovely voice only to shriek about her circumstances. He mocked her weight gain and spent excessive amounts of time with other songbirds, instead of her. Not having the strength to bear another moment of mental torture, she fell to the bottom of the cage, begging for death to set her…

By L L Cartin

Read More

Inka's Curse Part 8: Rumor Has It

/

…been searching for you,” she says earnestly. She doesn’t move from any closer.

She stands still and attentively waits on my response, but she doesn’t launch another arrow.

“You’ve got the wrong person,” I say as I frantically struggle lifting myself out of the snow and grab the snake’s remains. While I extend my numb leg, I don’t look up at her. She’s too frightening to look at.

“At least hear me out. Please?” I don’t know what to do. She’s probably looking at me like I’m a snack. There’s no way I can trust her. It’s already dark, and…

By Cristina Collazo

Read More

Blind Greed

/

…placed a cup of tea on the table in the far corner of the super supermarket’s food court. She removed her sweater before sitting down. As one who was sensitive to invisible energies, there was never a perfect time to shop in public places, only a prayer that nothing too malevolent would attack her.

True to routine, she slowly sipped her warm, herbal drink while conducting a psychic scan of the interior building and its customers, a practice that typically takes thirty minutes, even more when the store is exceptionally crowded. There was nothing out of the ordinary that caught...

By L L Cartin

Read More

Barely a Breeze

/

…finger tips touch the walls of my cage and I whisper, “Madness is like gripping a railing on a spiraling staircase knowing it doesn’t have a platform on either end”.

“Baby, what do you mean by that?” My husband startles me while pushing past the door to my side.

A voice whispers, “Distract him” and so I do.

“Oh my love, you’re back! I was just playing with words. You know me.” I embrace him and he’s distracted.

“Look what you’ve done with this room, it’s beautiful” he exclaims…. “Your nurse is so kind to you and look at all…

By Taylor Amber Rose

Read More

Towering Expectations

/

This is the opening chapter of the first book 'Towering Expectations' in the trilogy, The Ville Rose Series. All three books are available on Amazon.

----

1999

15 Rue d’Embarthe, Toulouse

He was still in bed. It was four o’clock in the afternoon and he was still in bed.

…opened the door to their bedroom in the flat on the third floor of the house in Rue d’Embarthe and frowned. Normally, it would have amused her and she’d have climbed in next to him and they’d have made love. Instead, today, she was irritated by his laziness.

“Have you been in…

By Gillie Bowen

By Gillie Bowen

Read More

Inka's Curse Part 7: The Trip Home

/

…cold harsh air wipes my face. The overgrown trees are surrounded in a blanket of dazzling snow. The snow crunches underneath my feet as I walk cautiously. Sweat builds up behind my neck as I cautiously look around.

I underwent a tedious, weary trip to arrive at the Wellspring area of the glorious forest. The radiant sun was about to disappear below the horizon. I was close to my intended destination but I won’t be reaching it before the dreadful night as I planned.

I was exhausted after traveling persistently through the harsh weather. As I move sluggishly without a…

By Cristina Collazo

Read More

Not A Secret Vice

/

Gluttony on a national level is not the answer to global thinking.

—————

…you're saying the forecast is bad.”

The four degrees Celsius kind, my lad.

“Really? Fossil fuels and factory farming?”

Overconsumption, overcombustion; it's quite alarming.

“Hmmph. What’s the worst we're looking at?”

Common sense runs thin, we all run too fat.

“Any chance we can avert?”

Hah. Headlong to a world of hurt.

“Guess no sense paying down debt.”

Nope: at least ice was nice, while it lasted.

“How much will we lose?”

The coasts and south, be singing underwater blues.

“What about the rest?”

Northern heartland will have…

By David M. Hoenig

Read More