So Larry was without girlfriend. While I had not expected him to be single for long (what a change from the beginning of the year!) I had NOT expected Bob (the baseball captain) to be the next one to ring the bell and ask for Larry.

Jan had put me firmly on the spot with her offer to make more stocks.

“We could do it all ourselves.”

I spent the next morning with my parents. We didn't do anything in particular, just had breakfast together and mooched about the house. The introduction of Tabitha was an obvious elephant in the room, but it didn't feel like there was any dreaded anticipation attached to her homecoming. More just a biding of time until it was to happen.

It reached 11.45am, and I said I'd better be heading off. No need to say where or why.

"Ok, darling", my mum said. "We'll see you when you get back home."

My dad, head buried in the morning newspaper, raised his hand to bid me adieu.

I had expected Larry to get into trouble at the studio with his lilac tights. Just shows how clueless I am. The teacher loved that Larry wore lighter color tights. That allowed him to see better how Larry’s leg muscles worked. Black really isn’t a good color to wear in class but tell that to teen boys who already are body conscious. And, of course, the girls in his class loved it even more now that they got a better look at his quite nice legs. Good thing for Larry that he already had a girlfriend. Otherwise he’d have been under siege.

Mom's rationalization didn't sit well with me.
I didn't relish the idea of being the lesser of two evils.
The lesser evil is still evil.

Chapter 3

I slept late on Saturday morning, waking up with the knowledge that I had lived to see another day, and wondered how many more I would see if I stuffed up with this case.

Allan had lectured us on surveillance and things that you would teach to rookie spies. I knew he must have been in the service and wondered how he knew James Harding. Perhaps I would find out tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning.

After flubbing a powerful incantation, meant to give newly coronated Demon Queens the wisdom of their ancestors, Devilla Satanne awakens to memories of her past life as Jacob Divington, a human from Earth. Having gained a new perspective on life, she quickly comes to a rather horrifying conclusion: she's been a complete and utter brat! No wonder everyone hates her!

And then there's the fact that she's apparently been reincarnated as the villainess of Tower Conquest, a lesbian porn game with a surprisingly intricate plot. One in which the Heroine conquers Dimona Tower, turning Devilla's people against her in the process. In victory, the Heroine brings about a glorious age of peace between demons and humans for the first time in millennia. ...Which actually sounds pretty good for her people, come to think of it. Devilla knows her terrible behavior is beyond forgiveness, but maybe she can still make up for her past mistakes? She just needs to make sure the events of the game unfold correctly. Though there is one little detail she'd like to change - the part where Devilla herself is killed or enslaved!

The series cover was commissioned from https://twitter.com/HaizeUqei

I proceeded to tell my parents everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks. Well, not everything, obviously. I deliberately omitted the specific details of flirting with the hunky Italian waiter (whose number was still tucked away in my jeans pocket) as well as having snogged Darnell at the nightclub. But I did tell all regarding becoming Tabitha and playing for the girls' football team.

First half of this is another brand new scene, I hope you all like it.

Alright so a few things. First off, Desyi being brought back might be seen as cheap or a deus ex machina. I understand that viewpoint but at the same time I really have no idea whether Ruexin’s original intention was to bring her back. I killed off Raycern to bring her back so we still had one character death in order to make it feel as non cheap as possible. Also it just kind of fit.

Second off, the anti capitalist messaging may be seen as shoehorned in because the original story had nothing to do with capitalism. So, okay. I tried to make the anti capitalist stuff as minor as possible, but I still think the story needed a nice and uplifting ending. And this was what I thought worked the best.

UPDATE AUGUST 2024: Again, a lot of this was written when I was a new writer. You don't have to cut 2022 me slack if you don't want to, but I will.

The Time of Void Skies brought death and destruction all across Vanasia. Memorials were set up across many towns, honoring those who had lost their lives in the tragic event.

The Lyceum had the largest memorial of all. Thousands of names were listed. It didn’t matter if they were rich, poor, a criminal, or someone who had died of causes unrelated to the event. If they died during it, their name was listed.

Part Seven

Both legs, fully shaved.

I woke up the next morning not 100% certain where I was. My memory of the preceding evening was hazy and my head felt heavy.

Epilog

The man was rather ironically young, actually much younger than I was expecting. We met at the small building I'd had constructed where the old and blocky office had stood. He seemed to take personal offense at the fact that I'd had the new, very small structure put up with my own money on my own property. Of course, like many archeologists, he seemed to take any deliberate change to the landscape as a personal offense.

I confess that I was worried when I sent Larry away to school for the first time in his new short lilac pleated skirt. I was concerned even if his big sister had confirmed everything he had said. Betty had the full inside story. It was really a senior social studies project. Bob, the captain of the baseball team had decided to write a paper on influencing and peer pressure. He had secretly roped in the rest of the team and some other to help him. Could he get the boys in the school to wear a short pleated lilac skirt?

Jack O' Lanterns, Moonlight, and Magic
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman
Chapter Three: The Next Move

Had I'd known I'd opened Pandora's Box at Spirit Halloween, I'd hasten to close it. But at the time I had no idea that I'd opened it. To me the costume was just a costume, but as so often the case with me, it was the first hint of things to come. After concluding my business there I turned toward home and around early afternoon I found myself turning into the driveway. The first thing I noticed was mom's car was gone and so was dad's truck.

Chapter 1

I’m a Private Investigator. My card reads ‘Max Force – whatever it is, we can move it for you. You have a problem; I make it go away. You need help, I can get it for you. You need protection, I can keep you safe.’ All you need is money to pay me for my services.

'This is surreal', I thought. 'You're playing in the girls' cup final, Tabitha, in front of all of these people...and it feels AMAZING!'

I played the ball back to our centre half, Wendy, from kick-off. We tried to keep possession for a bit but Shevington applied an unbelievably quick press and they took control of the ball before we were able to string three passes together. That set the tone for the rest of the first half.

Masks XXVIII: Old School

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part Nine

Michelle walked past the bathroom, stopped, reversed and looked in through the open door. She saw her wife staring into the mirror over the sink.

"I didn't think you were the narcissistic type."

"My dad likes to joke that noses run in our family," said Vic, sadly. "Mine did look a lot like his, before; it's smaller, now, and a different shape."

"I think you have a cute nose," said Michelle.

Vic just sighed.

* * *

My alarm woke me up at 8am. The final wasn't due to kick off until 5pm, so I'd only need to be at Miss Snell's house to get ready 2pm at the earliest. That gave me 6 hours to kill before then.

I got up and did myself some breakfast. Then I decided to go for a little morning run. Nothing too strenuous before the big game later in the day, but something to get the blood flowing and the body active. I slipped on a pair of pants, a pair of shorts and an under armour t-shirt.