Sophie had a wide grin on her face as she stood among her colleagues, all of whom were wearing the same blue uniform as her. The uniform, especially the corset, was just as uncomfortable as it had been the first time Sophie had worn it 15 months earlier, but she had long since stopped caring about that. She had long since stopped feeling like an outsider in the uniform, as though she, as a genetic male, didn’t belong in the group of beautiful professional women.

Leslie couldn’t believe how fast her new in-laws were able to get a crew out to their new yacht. She and Casey filed ownership papers for the yacht and registered it in their family name. She bends back over and continued to translate some writing from Sanskrit to English.

Casey helped her with some of the translation, but the rest she had done. She falls backward on the floor in the Master bedroom on the yacht.
She stares up at the ceiling “finally, I’m done with the translation.”

Stage 9: Where the Monkey Meets the Man

I sat in one corner of the kitchen with Skully and Ayle in the corners on the far side of the living room.

The couch was turned on its side.
The book shelf was destroyed—and a lot of my books were shredded.
The DVD player had played its last disc.

I would also need to buy a new TV.

-------------
Chapter 21
-------------

Pixeletta crossed the rooftop, and blew warm air into her gloved hands, rubbing them together. It was night time in mid-December, and it was only going to get colder in the next couple months.

The League had split into two pairs and a trio, because of safety and efficiency in numbers. For this reason, Mortar Mage accompanied Pixeletta while she took a look at the view from the top of the building.

They were on a skyscraper.

“Her conversation was curiously, completely literal. All figures of speech, metaphors and use of idiom went completely over her head, and she never used any. I know she only read non-fiction and not much of that deeming most non-fiction to be implausible. She described newspapers as lies and fantasy and didn’t read them. I never saw her reading any of the magazines in the waiting room here. I know she’d never been to the cinema nor a stage production, and perhaps most curious of all that she said she had hated listening to stories as a girl. That was the only time she ever referred to her life as a child.”

This tale was inspired by a comment made by ‘Outsider’. Thank you, Dave.

Rivers and Brooks 32 (Final Chapter)

Raven opens her eyes and yawn. It takes her eyes a while to focus as she looks at the dresser that was across from her. She also felt something soft, pressed against her back. She realizes she wasn’t in her bedroom, but in Clair’s and in her bed.

They had come back to Clair’s place yesterday, after spending several hours at the park. Clair had made them dinner, while they listened to her collection of classical music. One thing leads to another and the next thing she knew, she and Clair were in the bedroom removing each other’s clothes.

CHAPTER 26
Life went on. It sounds trite, but I came to realise that my decision to choose continuing to breathe had been made when I went out of a window in Runcorn; what followed was simply fine detail. It didn’t make the process of living any easier, but the days or hours I managed to get things into some sort of perspective kept me on some sort of even keel. In the end, I simply had to look at the two people who had rescued me for validation.

-------------
Chapter 20
-------------

“Hi, you’ve reached the office of Doctor Terrell. Sorry we cannot come to the phone right now. My people have their moments, but even they have their limits. If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 9-1-1. If you are calling about an appointment, my hours are Monday through—“

The message cut off suddenly. A man with a slight lisp answered:

“Doctor Terrell’s office!”

Judy said, “Oh hi, you’re open on a Sunday?”

Only thirty-five thousand people on a whole world! George hadn’t thought it through, but one thing was crystal clear to his intelligent, albeit informally educated, mind, there had to be plenty of opportunities for him to pursue his passion, and he doubted any would even care. No keepers, wrathful farmers or water bailiffs to be avoided here. Maybe he could have a shotgun.

Aisha pets her cat Felix as he laid at the corner of her desktop at home. He was stretched out near her keyboard as she worked on the game code she had been hired to do. She already had sixty hours working on the game.

“So, what do you think Felix. Do you think we’ll get this game finished on time?” She reaches over and pets her tabby color Maine coon cat.

-------------
Chapter 18
-------------

The three men and one woman were taken into police custody within Talos Hospital, where their identities were uncovered. They were the group responsible, years ago, for blackmailing a number of celebrity daughters into making underage sex videos, and then threatening to release those if the celebrities didn’t send money to offshore accounts to be picked up.

It took a combined effort of heroes and numerous agencies to cut those funds and try to keep the videos from getting out.

Early in July, men started dying from what we were telt was a virus and there was no cure or immunisation. Men died, boys died, baby boys died, even baby boys in the womb were still born. It was happening all over the country. Then we heard it was all over Europe too, and within a fortnight there wasn’t anywhere on the globe unaffected.

Dear Diary,

This is my first entry. I'm not realy sure how to get this started so imma just dive in.

My name is Helen Rodriguez. Not Ellen. Not El. If you call me Lenny i swear now that you know i will find you and throw you in front of a literal rogue bus going 200mph (322kph) and watch you liquefy... Sorry. I get a little heated when people are being assholes. Yah know? Now that i think about it I'm doing a fabulous job considering i live in a bible belt.

Yoomarrianna heard her screams and ran to the barn to see his wife struggling on the ground as a stranger was attempting to rip her clothes off. He picked up the nearest tool to hand, a spade he used for chopping fodder beet which was as sharp as a razor on all three edges after his morning’s work sharpening tools, and hit the man with it’s edge in the middle of his back. Llyllabette’s struggles pushed the screaming man off her and Yoomarrianna hit him again with the spade.

-------------
Chapter 16
-------------

“These medium range earphones are great, Mortar. Good work.”

“Ah, it’s no problem at all. It’s the least that I can do. Is everyone in place?”

“All set. Are the girls not patrolling tonight?”

“We’re both at the festival enjoying ourselves, sweeties.”

“Aw, is little Pixeletta dressed up in a cute and embarrassing outfit? I want to see.”

“I happen to have a camera, and I’m posted nearby.”

“You guys do know I can hear you too, right?” Judy whispered hoarsely.

Webster’s dictionary defines Speed as the fallowing: the rate of change of position along a straight line with respect to time over a set distance. In other words, the quicker you can get from one place to another. The question is what would you do, when your family has spent the last two generations in search of ways to accomplish this goal faster and faster. Would do you do when the family business is the search for more Speed. For Robert ‘Robby’ McGuire the answer is easy. You grab your sister and strap on a pair of Formula One racecars then go for broke.

Aisha goes down memory lane in her old house where it all began decades ago. She discusses her history and how she got here, then began making plans with her leader Berna on how to settle some old scores
She ends the chapter purging all of the memories

Title track: Time Machine By Joe Satriani

flashback

CHAPTER 25
It didn’t happen that year, though, and not for several more. I was still too terrified of the place, too worried that someone might shout “Boy in a dress! Billy Wells in a dress!”, so we left it and left it until I thought Mam and Dad had forgotten.

I never did. How on Earth could I?

For a moment I wasn't sure what was happening to me. It felt like I was dreaming a bizarre dream. A dream where I am the main person but also just a bystander. It was simply a paradox. Impossible. But the drama was unfolding in front of my eyes.

Students and teachers came running to the hallway so that they could figure out where the noises were coming from. Sammy and her friends arrived first. They looked confused and shocked when they saw a boy who was wearing a football jersey lying in front of the lockers, screaming in pain and holding his bloody face.