It all began as a soft light, then an aching head, followed by a slow realization that there was a familiar bed underneath them. The window near their bed was open and a gentle breeze kept the curtains wafting. Their belongings were organized neatly and all in their places - exactly as they last remembered them ( Read more... )

September 5th had arrived. Sitting down in the basement of the Ashwood Heights apartment complex made Ava anxious. Emily had assisted her in setting up all of the chairs they could find - including scooting around the couches so they would all face one wall. The very wall that she leaned against and counted down the time until seven o'clock came ( Read more... )

With autumn beginning to set in, Tito was finding it a little more difficult to finish his mail route before sundown. Not to mention that it was beginning to get chilly (at least to somebody raised in mild California climates). He had spent the better part of the afternoon jogging from mailbox to mailbox rather than walking, fighting the sinking ( Read more... )

August in Oregon was surprisingly uncomfortable. It was in the northwest, land of cool breezes and forbidding mountains, but apparently that sort of thing didn't apply here. Or maybe Truth or Consequences wasn't really in Oregon, but rather in some sort of quasi-America in another dimension where Oregon was actually located around southern ( Read more... )

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To the average onlooker, the town square looked like any other festival event. Of course, it was snowing in July and they were celebrating a whole bunch of Japanese holidays but to the naked eye everything seemed normal. As snow fell lightly from the sky, restaurant owners opened up booths while a stage was being set up by some construction workers ( Read more... )

Lou swiped the rag over the gleaming mahogany surface of his bar, his smirk long and thin as a knifeblade. He'd buffed it to the point of creating a mirror-like shine, reflecting that glimmer of too-white teeth back up at him ( Read more... )