Ceramic Hearts

It shines resplendent in the soft glow of the Christmas lights. Delicate filigrees traced in gold brushstrokes sweep across the creamy ceramic surface.
“You stole my heart a long time ago,” he whispers in my ear. “I want you to have this forever, to remind you.”
I turn the heart-shaped globe over in my shaking hands. Twenty [...]

Clear the Mind, Part 2: Conclusion

Can bugs get cysts? What about cancer? I suddenly wonder. I consider checking cicada bodies for unusual growths. There’s a flashlight in the car, and I have time. It’s Friday, and I don’t have commitments tomorrow.
Curiosity gets me. The Mag-Lite is snug between the driver’s seat and door. Feeling slightly ridiculous, I ignore the “Park [...]

Clear the Mind, Part 1

The cicadas are deafening. I don’t mind. They drive fear away. Surrounded by a thick stand of trees that leads into the forest preserve, I embrace the cacophony.
Shady oaks shield me from murderous sunshine. Pale skin is safe here. Liberal doses of insect repellent will protect me from West Nile Virus, Rocky Mountain Spotted [...]

Time and Circumstance, Part 3: Conclusion

“Mrs. Gordon?”
It was Happy Dale’s manager. Richard Rhodes stood at the door to her room. She tried to ignore him, but he was like a mosquito in his buzzing persistence.
“Mrs. Gordon, I need to know what happened in the lunch room today.”
The living reminder of the best and worst days of her life was what [...]

Time and Circumstance, Part 2

Angela loathed the lunch room. It was anything but lively. Some of the homes where she used to volunteer had daily chatter. Not so in the Happy Dale Happy Senior Residential Home. Community gatherings of any sort were grim. HDHSRH had a high mortality rate due to the makeup of its population.
It was the place [...]

Time and Circumstance, Part 1

Angela stared at the ceiling. Dead bugs dotted the light fixture above her bed. A spider busily scampered along the glass lip. She had never tolerated it of any lamp in her home. When she grew frail, she had hired a girl to clean the house for her.
“Mrs. Gordon?”
A chipper nurse entered the room. Angela [...]

Hero’s Heart, Part 3

Kevin caught up to Mindy at home. For all his super speed, her magic was faster. He found her in her basement retreat. She worked over a table of esoteric items, gathering this and that to mix with the other.
“Sorry I couldn’t wait,” she said when he arrived. “I don’t have much time before this [...]

Hero’s Heart, Part 2

All the known Artifacts were held in a series of warded catacombs. Among their other duties, the Lords and Ladies of magical society were charged with guarding Artifacts from unscrupulous magicians.
Captain Awe and Sorceress Min arrived in the Scottish Highlands to request access to the Globe, an Artifact passed down through several hundred generations of [...]

Hero’s Heart, Part 1

“You can come after me, or you can save a few citizens of your beloved Metro City,” The Mage crowed. “What’s your pleasure, hero?”
The Mage had stranded more than twenty people upside down on a roller coaster, where he’d set a magical acid drip to corrode the steel track. Captain Awe flew to [...]