Cocktail
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

It seemed as if all that Jack needed to do was to get drunk. They had been seeing each other for almost a month. He had been determined that this was a relationship that would work. Perhaps he just tried too hard. That was how she let him down – hard. It hurt more than he could ever have imagined.

Chapter 7

“Firstly,” I said. “I think that one of the new members in the drama class has been telling his boss about the flow of information. They probably used to get snippets from Vlad, without knowing exactly where he got them from. We can use that to lure the unit to somewhere that is away from oversight, where we can just eliminate them. I saw that the Arrivals Board had a flight that had landed from Belarus. It was Aeroflot, so those duffle bags they were carrying could have been heavy weaponry, they looked bulky enough.”

Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

Such a Tomboy
By Sabrina G. Langton

***

Author's Note: 'Oh no, more of these freakin' essays, doesn't she know we want a story? Doesn't she know she's not that freakin' special?'

Ha, I know, and that is what I like about this Closet. I'm sorry, I am going through a phase lately. This is just something that is a-happenin' in my life here on earth. I hope YOU understand.

***

A little morsel I dreamed up this afternoon.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

Ben looked all around him as his body rose upward. There wasn’t any voice he could hear that told him that. He only had the knowledge that something, somewhere said there was beauty, and that he should appreciate it.

“So, so beautiful.”

Ben’s eyes narrowed as he took in his surroundings. He could see nothing but the sky and the clouds. The only thing he felt was the wind that occasionally blew past. His body was entirely suspended in the air, and every second he could feel himself slowly ascend toward something.

“Look.”

In clean clothes and well scrubbed, I met Rocky after class as we once more headed to Sir Grieve's classroom. Once again the older students in the hallway were there making nasty remarks especially about my being a cat girl, openly placing bets on how we'd die, and laughing at how we'd sabotaged ourselves the day before. I just kept looking at the floor, wishing this would all be over.

My class after lunch was Advanced Placement English, with Mr. Vaidya. Vaidya was a quiet, mousy kind of guy who spoke in a thin voice and had an East Indian accent. One of the things we found unintentionally hilarious was when he recited poetry, and today was no exception.

“Today, class, ve vill be studying Dylan Thomas, a Velsh Poet who came to US on four occasions. He is vone of the most important Velsh poets of the 20th Century.”

Raquel looks at her reflection in the full-length mirror mounted on the back of her bedroom door. It finally took her eighteen years to become how she felt inside herself. A smile appears on her cute youthful face.

“Are you ready to go yet, Raquel?” Larry comes walking out of the main bathroom, fully dressed.

“Yeah, I’m ready, sweetie.” Raquel turns around to look at her boyfriend.

The Lleial stared at the black sky, chanting a prayer at the wonder that surrounded them. Floria watched them from her post near the edge of the safe area. She wanted to join them, miracles didn't happen everyday, but she had a job to do.

Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

This was something that was in my mind and I wrote it up as an Easter present for both my readers. Happy Easter.