• The Baker

    “Your great grandmother was revered for her bread baking.” My aunt’s eyes started to mist as she told the story of Edna’s bread baking. There was nothing spectacular about Edna’s bread – no magical powers, no new recipes, nothing extra added. Nothing. I still couldn’t figure out why we were still telling stories about such…

  • The Bogeyman

    My greatest nightmare was coming to life just like I had dreamed. Just like the bogeyman had planned. My closet was his passage to access the real world though I knew he was only here for me. Everyone told me it was impossible. But I knew I had accidentally invited him in. Accidentally opened the…

  • The Architect

    I didn’t know nerves until I started my first day of my senior year of college. Until that sunny September day, I had never had an identity crisis. But the first step into the cool, dimly lit library, I felt my perception of life change. The truth was I had spent my entire life thinking…

  • The Mantel

    Henry was the only pet I had ever mourned. The only one I truly missed after his death. But it was weird, I was constantly seeing him. Hearing him. Dreaming about him. At first, I had been comforted by the thought his soul would always be with me, but everything changed the day my grandfather…

  • California

    PHOTO PROMPT © Fleur Lind  I knew exactly where I was going, but didn’t know how to get there. Not exactly. I was heading for California, for my new life, but I needed to make sure I was leaving my old life behind. I was running from my parents and I was running from myself.…

  • The Assistant

    From the day I could talk, I knew fame and celebrity was calling my name. I told everyone around me about the journey I was destined for. As soon as I could hold a pencil, I started to draw and the older I got, the better my drawings became. Throughout school, I took every theatre…

  • Alton High

    I had never wanted to be in on the joke. I hated pranks and this one seemed especially horrible. Not to mention dangerous. But since Joe and Charles were the masterminds behind the prank, the show would go on. At eighteen, the two were the Kings of Alton High and no one ever dared to…

  • The Orphans

    As I stared at the once magnificent building, I wondered about the children who had grown up there. Did they survive? Were they traumatized? Were they leading productive lives? Teachers, doctors and lawyers? Growing up, I had heard the stories about the children who were abandoned on the doorstep of the orphanage. But that’s what…

  • The Olympics

    When the gunshots started, I thought it was all part of the show. The after effects of the fireworks. But when I saw Jeremiah fall, I knew there was something more to what was going on. Jeremiah was supposed to win a medal. He was going to be famous. He was the only one I…

  • Down Home Toys

    “What do you mean you sold the company to them? How could you? Do you understand what will happen?” As Henry questioned Billy, I sat back and listened. Billy had managed to sell the factory, all the machines and elaborate toy collection to what he thought was a ‘franchise’. The so-called Tinker Franchise was really…