Francis Holcomb, known as Fran, carefully walked into his sick mother’s bedroom carrying a bowl of steaming soup broth. She had been extremely ill for several months, and was now terminal. Twelve-year-old Fran had taken care of her mostly single-handedly to the best of his ability, but the outlook was very bleak.

“Fran, honey, I don’t think I can get it down,” she said, weakly.

“Pleeeease, mom? I don’t want you to die,” said Fran.

“Honesty! That’s one hell of a dirty trick, Jessica!”

No one knew how it started. It just did. The nanites were probably designed to fight cancer or restart dying cells. They certainly did that. The upshot was that most of the world seemed to be infected by a real-life zombie plague.

“This is the boys’ side of the gym,” she commented...

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.

Chapter 3

The meal was magnificent. If this was what being famous was all about, I would have to keep track of my weight. The waiters were attentive, and the wine was enough to take the edge off my worries about later. Joan told me that dessert would be after the show, to allow me to make space for it. We went out to the car, and I picked up the guitar case, then we went to freshen up.

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.

Master Grieve glared at Rocks For Brains and I, and despite only being able to see his eyes, it looked like his helmet was scowling at us.

The Pinky Confessions 3

There is a debate about transgender children. Should a Child be allowed to change gender? Some parents even allow their children to be drag kids! Should we allow this so the child is happy? Or is this just a form of child abuse?
You may know me as Pinky and read a lot about me. This is my story in my words.
A story of who I was, who I wanted to be, who others wanted me to be and who people thought I was

For the next few days, Rachel kept going to school and working with Jesse as her lab partner. It felt weird, since she knew him so well and he didn't know her (or so he thought), but their interactions were mostly good. There was one incident where Rachel felt like she'd slightly annoyed Jesse, but he seemed to have gotten over it by the end of class.

The next week, however, things were different. When Rachel got to her Science class, the teacher Mrs. McLain had an announcement. "Okay, everyone," she said, "Today's the first day of our Sex Ed unit. And you know what that means."