It Wasn't a Mistake by Tiffany B. Quinn How bad can things get? In his darkest hour, Jerry finds out that his life has been one big character test... And he passed! This chapter fills in a lot of background regarding the reason for the darkness in Jerry's life.

Chapter Two: Life’s Burdens

Part 3
Tracy

If Ronnie thinks I’m staying here in the car, she’s crazy! I wait until she’s gone inside and then I jump out and run to the diner and go in right behind her.

What are you doing? Asks Ronnie as I come up next to her. Well shit Ronnie for you being the smart NSA agent that you claim to be, I thought leaving me alone in the car if this was a trap was a bad idea ya know. They could have kidnaped me and you wouldn’t have known. I said with the sarcasm dripping off my words.

We Never Break A Promise
By
Warm Hearted
Proofed and Edited by Catherine Linda Michel

Synopsis: This is the introduction story for a new universe. All the normal copyright stuff applies.

Eric Jones was an orphan that grew up friendless and unloved in the foster system . Eric was always a misfit in school and he wanted a new start. But Eric did not know how new it would be.

Originally posted on Classic BC on Thursday, December 12, 2002

Who will Erika be on her next anniversary...

The Anniversary

By Doug Beaton (Aardvark)

Erika:
My name is Erika Menendez. I am a lean athletic woman of 21, just over 5'3" with a medium brown complexion, black eyes, and long, shiny black hair that I almost always throw over my shoulders. My high cheekbones and the slight hook in my nose are from my Mexican Indian heritage.

A Moment at the Mirror

The young man looked in the mirror and sighed.

He had hoped to see a girl there, but instead he saw a sad boy in his mother’s clothes.

He’d been dressing up whenever he had the chance for a while now, and he still didn’t understand why. What was it about women’s clothes, a woman’s life that attracted him so?

The fact that he didn’t know the answer to that embarrassed him, frustrated him and drained him.

CHAPTER 50
Susie wasn’t too late back, which suited all of us, especially as I had been forced to threaten Valerie to go home rather than sit up awaiting the prodigal daughter. I had taken myself to bed, but I couldn’t sleep till I heard the key in the lock, a clatter of heeled shoes on the doorstep and, of all things, a giggle. The next morning, there was a knock at my bedroom door and in came my girl with a tray of tea and a couple of rounds of toast and jam.

“What brought this on?”

“Nowt, really, just felt like it”

Our multi-generational ship, the UAE Epoch, has been cruising through space for four hundred years now. I suppose it's fitting that I take on the role of captain on our quadricentennial year. I am the first gender-fluid captain of our ship, after all. We've come a long way since our ancestors in the United Astral Exploration unit first left shore so many generations ago. Back then, there was a lot of fighting. It was hard for our forebearers to blend so many different cultures together on one tiny vessel. People fought over religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation.

“Aiiiieeee!” I shriek as I’m suddenly startled by several loud bangs, and my vision is dazzled by multiple flashes of light. For a moment I’m so dazed I almost forget where I am, before my vision and hearing return to normal and I stare, slack-jawed at the scene in front of me.

“Happy birthday!” Jamie squeaks, giving me a tight hug before leading me into the crowded main room of Charlotte’s house, where I’m greeted by yet more hugs, more bangs from party poppers (which cover my hair in streamers) and more flashes from the partygoers’ phones.