Acidalia XX
By Amanda D.

Wednesday Sept 24th 5am EDT:

Jordon:

The Colonel sat on the same rusted metal chair they’d tied him to however many days ago it was that he was “detained” by people claiming to be with the FBI. Same chair, same dank basement smelling concrete room same single light above him same no windows. The only thing that seemed to change was the number of cuts and bruises on his body. Through the fog and haze of pain, hunger and thirst he thought back over his time here.

Destiny's Serendipity

Episode Thirteen: The Girl from Beyond

A Thriller - Romance - Transgender Serial

By Jo Dora Webster

~~~~~~~~

I watched the expressions dance over her face, realising how much the ‘O’ and ‘W’ words meant to her, poor girl.

“I’m in Salfords, as Jules probably told you, so train will work well if you’re in Horley. There’s a bus stop as well. Where are you based?”

“Top end of Lumley Road”

“Ah. Several buses go past there”

He reeled off some suggestions, all of which I was aware of, although my own choice was usually the number twenty. I was a little puzzled by his knowledge, as he was a driver, like most estate bloody agents, but I assumed it was all part of the toolkit for potential sales.

“Where to, then?”

Chapter Thirty-four.

The rest of the day I was in mild shock. I robotically carried out my duties in my maid's uniform. Sir told me to have an early night. He told me that I should remove all of my hair before going to bed. He reminded me that, as I was now Sarah, I should sleep in her room and use her clothes. I just said "Yes Sir".

I found several tubes of Veet and a pack of pink lady razors and got to work. I had always wondered what it would feel like to be hairless when I wore my wife's clothes. The material was so soft, but you don't feel it with a coating of hair.

Friday morning came the way it usually did, far too late in the week. I managed a bus trip without added audio, and after assembly shepherded a flock of teenagers as they laid out the tables ready for our start at ten thirty.

I was still shaken by the scene with Jules, and the vast depths of her fear. I couldn’t quite see it as she did, because I was someone that fitted the lived reality of trans women rather than the usual fictional stereotype of ‘small, pretty’. I couldn’t feel all of her fear because she was in a place I had never been permitted to enter. No pain, no gain, and as I had never gained, I had avoided at least some of the pain.

Sod that. She had been smiling when she had left my place that evening; just stand by her, ready to catch her if she fell and pray that she wouldn’t.

Destiny's Serendipity

Episode Nine: The Unique Lifeforce

A Thriller - Romance - Transgender Serial

By Jo Dora Webster

~~~~~~~~

[Monday morning]

“Thanks for seeing me at such short notice, Dana,” Melissa said as she sat down in her office.

I wished with all my heart that I had been able to help him more, when he was younger. When it might have made a difference. But the past, as I knew only too well, could not be repaired.

It could only be transcended.

Things were going well in Dublin, but I now needed to move to London. From there I could apply at the Embassy for a passport with greater leeway as to who could countersign the paperwork. We told Sameed that we would be quitting at the end of the week and he was most disconsolate. He persuaded us to do one more week and we were happy to oblige him. He also gave us a reference in Arabic in the event that we wanted to look for work in any of the Lebanese restaurants or Arabic-themed clubs there.

Murder
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Have you heard it said that a friend is somebody who will help you move house, but a best friend is somebody who will help you move a body? That is the kind of friend my brother Dan was to Byron Marker. And I was as close to Dan as a sister could be, which was how I got to be included in their plan.

Alco’s Self Storage:
“Man, I am so sore from moving all those heavy boxes and that piano.” Rustie looks at Ivy as he sweeps up the last of the trash in the second locker.

Rustie didn’t know that when someone bought a storage locker, they had to throw away all the trash in the locker as well. It was a good thing the storage unit manager had a wheel barrel they could use to haul all the trash to the dumpster.