spinning yarns from heartstrings
Two hundred years, he’d served loyally, a faithful playmate to the Miyuzaki children as they grew, a confidant worthy of their prepubescent daydreams and, later, their adolescent fears about a world too large and cruel to keep them innocent. He never allowed himself to favor one more than the others, but Saeko was different. From the […]
Six months, he searched for it: the wish sword. Dull of blade, but sharp with power, whosoever found it was granted the power of a single wish to change their life. All throughout the lonely quest, he thought about what he might do with that wish when he found it. He could have riches, prestige, power […]
She said the answers would come when the time was right, told me to watch the waves for my salvation. She said, “When at last you learn your lesson, Amelia, the key to your freedom will wash ashore.” A hundred years I waited, and finally it had come: permission to shed my isolation and mark my […]
I already know what’s out there. I remember the wind in the grass, the whispers of the chaff, the subtlety of the waves lapping at the shore. He wants me to see what’s out there so I miss it, so I ache for the freedom he’s taken away, but he doesn’t know what’s in here. […]
“Hmm?” Rough as sand, his deep voice cut through the silence, but she didn’t startle. Instead she asked again, “Will it always be like this?” He wanted to lie to her. Yes—that was the word she wanted to hear, the promise he should make, even though it would be impossible to keep—it will always be […]
Hungry Troll wait. Crouch low and comfy, Troll wait for feet sound—clippity-clippity-clippity. Troll guard bridge. Prince say so. Give Troll shiny hat too small for Troll head. Bring Troll big club called dragon bone and say then to Troll, “This Troll job. Troll watch bridge and no let pass unless pay.” Troll know what not […]
There was something in her hair. A bug, or a piece of string tickling against her scalp. Harlene’s arms flailed, hands immediately combing through the deconstructed strands of what was once a tight French twist. The tickling thing brushed across the tops of her knuckles, and she ducked down, a high-pitched shriek tearing through her […]
She is perfect. Sharp and unyielding, she rushes through water like air. Striking at the right moment, withdrawing in a graceful arc before her enemy can lunge forward, she whirls. A dancer pirouetting in a flash of steel that trails red ribbons in its wake, enemies fall at her feet like crumpled supplicants, blood blooming […]
David stared at the crustless toast, a half-melted pat of real butter slowly leaking into the crispy fibers of the bread as it slid across the surface so slowly only a stop-motion camera could have caught the movement. He loved butter. He’d bought it a week earlier, and had yet to use it, probably because […]
“Hey, do you think we could talk for a minute?” She huffed the bangs off her forehead, a display of rainbow color rising upward before settling back in over pale, golden brows. “I’m on my way out.” “I know, honey, but this will just take a minute.” The things he had to tell her would […]