I was in room two-eighteen when I first noticed the pain. The girls were sitting in their circle on wooden chairs, spaced about a foot apart. Kayleigh was complaining about some formal event that she’d been dragged to. The other girls were nodding in agreement amongst the discarded classroom filled with old crusty books, stacks of parchment, and the scent of old paper permeating the air. That was when I screamed; not a loud scream, more of a squeak maybe.

CHAPTER 41
Our route wriggled and danced across the map, from Toulouse to Lastours, Carcassonne to Peyrepertuse, and then Beziers. Each held one or more castles, each held a story, and it was some time before I realised how much each place held for Alys. I had a hint of what was going on when we had passed Lastours, a spectacular chain of towers along a ridge, and continued uphill to a small hut with a tourist info place inside, where Alys had raved over some butterfly or other, as well as any number of short-toed eagles, lizards, plants, slime moulds, whatever.

The Imp ran at the strange human, it's mind filled with blood lust and glee at the impending kill. The human was sick and injured, barely able to hold its blade. Its claws would gut the prey, then it could find the unarmed humans, the weak and young. It would play with them for hours, listening to them scream, tasting their flesh, feeling their life leave their bodies.

Ever think of something that made you blush all the way down to your navel?

It was Halloween night. The Halloween of two thousand and fourteen. I was eight years old at the time. I was a pale, sickly little boy with long, raven hair. I weighed just under eighty pounds and was a shrimp when compared to the other boys my age. I was also astmatic and prone to coughing fits that lasted for several minutes. That Halloween still comes back to haunt me from time to time. 

2 Years Ago

38 Years Before the Fall of Hybra

Changing Roles
By Julie Dawn Cole
Chapter 21

When Devin first went to his electrolysis session, he was told that his facial hair would take about a week to start growing back. He had already known that it would take far more than one session to remove all his facial hair, but he was still pretty stoked to have a whole week clear of it.

Looking at his face in the mirror, it was apparent that that week was over.

It was subtle, but he could see and feel some fuzz on his chin. He tried to shave all that he could off, but his attempts still left a light shadow marking the bottom half of his face.

Janegirl Camp
Chapter 8
Copyright 2022 by Heather Rose Brown

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I flopped into a chair at the last empty table in activity room four. My shaking knees thanked me, but my butt complained about the hard, plastic seat it landed in. I took a quick look at the kids sitting nearby. So far, nobody seemed to be staring at my sorta-girlish-but-not-really clothes.

Chapter 4

Sammy got his phone out and made his call.

“Inspector, we have a positive identification of James Norman as Jamie Murphy, brother of Jock Macready.” He listened for a few moments and then hung up.

“The Inspector says to thank you for that. We have James Norman on our radar as an associate of one of the Angels’ Chapters. I think that he may have a group of thieves who steal the goods and then the items are sent elsewhere for sale in pubs, or even on the internet.”

“That will be a good one, boss,” commented Arty.

Birds chirped overhead and a soft wind creeped through the gazebo as Sheena ran her finger about the rim of her teacup. She studied the piping hot liquid within for just a moment before dropping a white sugar cube, watching it plop and create a ripple, then returned her attention to her parents seated across from her. Martin was dressed in unusually pleasant attire; a green vest atop a white collarless shirt buttoned to the top. Mother, as per usual wore a high-necked green gown with puffed sleeves, her own teacup held in front of her with both hands.