“You were scared of us?” Mom asked, looking heartbroken. I felt tears welling up, but I couldn’t honestly say no.

QUICK NOTE: I apologize for the rude tone I used in my blog post last night. It was really late, and I was feeling pretty tired, hence why the technical issues I ran into with the site irritated me as much as they did. But I definitely should've been more polite in my wording, and also refrained from using the word "fuck" (in its asterisked form, no less) in the blog's header. And I also apologize for my salty attitude about the previous chapters getting relatively few reads. Going forward, I will try to have a better attitude and take criticism better.

***

Once they'd all gotten out of the Genetics Engineering compound, the companions all piled into their separate cars. Lanie, Conner, and Rachel got into Conner's car while Saige, Olivia, Zack, and Miles all got into Saige's car. Conner followed Saige as she drove off into the night.

Inside Saige's car, Olivia had broken down crying again. Seeing Bailey die right before her eyes had broken something inside of her. She hadn't felt this way since Christina dumped her. "She died," Olivia sobbed. "We came all this way...for nothing."

Circe, Lauren, and Josie escorted the four companions back to the lab room where Bailey and Rachel had had their blood drawn. "Just like I predicted," said Circe. "These girls' friends did indeed come to rescue them."

"Of course, the real question is whether this chick has the right kind of DNA," Lauren said, looking down on Olivia like she was a science experiment gone wrong.

Beachfront
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Good morning, everyone,” Allan- my university lecturer- says as I (and no doubt all of the other students on my course) get my notepad out. “I’ll let you all have a couple of minutes to get set up, then we’ll begin.”

“I’ll talk to you later,” I say, mirroring the sad smile of the long-haired girl on my phone screen.

“Yeah,” Leanne sighs sadly. “I should be getting to work too in the next couple of minutes. Well, not technically ‘getting to’, but you know what I mean, right?”

QUICK NOTE: Shoutout to Uhuru N/Uru for commenting on the last chapter with a tip on how to fix this serial's prelude so it came first in the Organizer page. Thanks so much for helping me out.

***

After getting their blood drawn, Bailey and Rachel were both taken back to the padded room where Rachel had been held before. Circe locked them in the room before going back to start working on their blood samples.

"I can't believe they just did that," said Rachel.

"I know," said Bailey, "But they won't get what they need."

"What?"

The Other Side of Me – Part 24
by Lily Rasputin

“Well?” The furious woman across the table from me said. “I’m waiting.”

I stared at my mother, pain aching in my chest as I was torn between the elated feeling of seeing her again, and the sheer terror that her sternest glare always provoked from deep inside me. Unlike my father, Mom was slow to anger, but when she got mad, she really got mad.

I held up my hands, shaking my head back and forth. “I …”

Her finger came back up again, pointing right at my face.

Kassidy leans back in the worn passenger seat inside the van. She looks over toward Jerry as he drives the van. She glances toward the back of the van and notices the rest of their band drunk or stoned out of their minds.

“Tonight was a total mess, Jerry.” Kassidy couldn’t believe how terrible the group sounded.

“I know, and I wish I had an explanation for what happened, but I don’t.” Jerry was pissed that the band did so badly tonight.

“Bein’ a girl doesn’t mean you need to be a victim.”

Living my life on the edge of what is and is not legal sort of happened without a plan or deliberate action on my part. It just happened and … well it took a car crash to make me take stock of my life.

The Twelve Days of Christmas By Tiffany B. Quinn I wonder what mom is thinking. I am just glad that there is not a male around to see me like this. I can’t help but feel sexy, and that excites me in a completely different way than when Judy seduced me. I am pretty sure that I know what Sam’s reaction would be.

Thursday Jan 5, Day 11

Then she asked me what high school I’d gone to before I dropped out, and apologetically asked me for my deadname so she could ask them for my records, and made an appointment for me to come back the next day for placement tests. I was in!

Highway 405 Los Angeles, California:
Ace couldn’t believe she was on another highspeed chase. This made four in one week, and the way the driver was driving, he would lose control of his car. She needed to put an end to this chase before anyone got hurt.

Josie gripped her car's steering wheel, driving down the highway and following the gray Honda Civic. Josie had stalked the young blonde-haired woman since yesterday and watched as she got together with her other friends today. Now she was following them, albeit discreetly, down the highway to Kentucky.

As she drove, Josie heard her phone ringing. She wasn't going to answer it, but then she saw that the call was from Circe Reyna. So she reluctantly tapped the green button and put it on Speaker. "Hello, my lady."

CHAPTER 51
It was still light, so close to the solstice, as I bundled everything into the Sea King, including the pre-prepared rucksacks. Word was coming back by way of a complicated mobile phone and radio daisy chain, and it did not sound promising. Clive was straight to the point when he gave us the briefing before boarding the helicopter.

“It’s one of those stupid ones. Someone decides to jump Adam and Eve, and their partner stands on the east side to watch. Casualty one misses his step, and we have a probable broken leg. Unfortunately, when he fell, he struck his other half, and she went over the East Face of Central. Looks like she went some way down First Pinnacle. Enfys?”

After two weeks without school for Christmas Break, school was back in session at Eastside High. Unfortunately, Lanie had developed a habit of sleeping in over the break, so she wasn't ready to start waking up early again.

Fortunately, she had her roommate Rachel to help her out. "Lanie," Rachel said. "Lanie, wake up!"

"Mmph."

"Come on, Lanie!" said Rachel. "We've gotta get ready for school!"

"Ugh." Lanie brushed her hair out of her face and looked up at her best friend. "Why do we have to wake up so early?"

A Different Pair of Queens
By Sabrina G. Langton

***

Author's Note: Just a couple of words I came up with while being really nosy at a bar. Sometimes I listen to other conversations instead of being involved with the conversations that I am involved with, ha. I do have a little background about that bar too, that I will put up here inside The Big Closet soon, thanks. I hope YOU like it.

The last year or so had been hard for Saige, but she always found a crumb of comfort when she went to spend time at home. After graduating high school in 2021, Saige had started college at Harvard in Massachusetts with a major in psychology. Just weeks before, Saige had passed her finals with a GPA of 3.1 and then came home for Christmas. Now it was New Year's Day, and she was visiting the University Of Chicago campus where an old friend was attending.

“Hi!” I say with an excited squeak as I open the door and am greeted by the grinning, dark-skinned face of my bandmate. “Virtual hugs and kisses!”

“Virtual hugs and kisses!” Adeola giggles as we both hold our hands up and wiggle our fingers at each other- our latest attempt at a covid-safe greeting. “Is Becca already here?”

“Not yet, I think she’s still getting used to there actually being traffic on the roads of London!” I chuckle, before grinning as Adeola’s fiancé enters our flat carrying an expensive-looking bottle of wine. “Hi Marco! Virtual hugs!”

The Twelve Days of Christmas By Tiffany B. Quinn “Hey Karl,” Jake says as he shakes my hand, “Sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk.” He has been busy taking care of the dozen or so guests all evening. “This transition stuff really sucks. Maybe we should talk about this more at your party on Monday.” “Will do,” I tell him, “I really need to talk about all this with a guy for a change.” I walk out the door to what promises to be an interesting second half of the night.

Sunday Jan 1, Day 7