While Anne felt that she could stay indoors in the Hamlet and not take a single visitor for days on end, perhaps even weeks, hiding from everyone and everything, she was not responsible for only herself now and there were other things to consider. She could care for Matthew's immediate needs well enough if she had to, for he could be fed and washed ( Read more... )

For whatever reason, most Friday evenings at the Compound were quite slow. Where people went was a mystery to Shari, but after the dinner rush it wasn't the kitchen, that much was sure. She was still quite fastidiously working off her auction hours, and was glad enough to find herself with plenty of elbow room to bake. There wasn't any ( Read more... )

In his thirty-seven years, Joe Dick had had an impressive number of fluids spilled, thrown, dripped or otherwise smeared on his person. A good percentage of those fluids had come from other people, blood, vomit, sweat and other things Joe figured he shouldn't even be allowed to think about in front of small children. He'd had a lot of things ( Read more... )

Night. And they are gone.
The footsteps, still echoing.
Then silent.
Then black.Nothing read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles months ago. Louis annoyed him. Lestat seemed like a god. Then he'd gone and started a rock band and it seemed a little silly after that. Nothing sings to himself, broken lines of Bowie and Robert Smith, the Lost Souls mixed ( Read more... )

Coraline had hung paper chains all the way from the Compound to the Beach; they decorated every available tree along the main path and brightened up area. She’d have to take them down later of course but for now they looked beautiful hanging in the sky. She’d spent weeks planning this party, worrying that no one would turn up and trying to get as ( Read more... )

It all started when Alex woke up that morning. The first thing he'd seen was Pitti, and he suddenly realized that he didn't hate the dog, despite all of his posturing. He quite liked it actually. It gave him something to do and reminded him of home in a very odd way ( Read more... )

There were no rowing competitions on the island and Tobi knew there likely never would be. As far as he knew, his was the only rowboat around, but even if there'd been more than one, he doubted there'd be enough interest to make an actual competition. At least not like the ones he was used to ( Read more... )

It was no secret that lately Fraser had become somewhat restless, permanently seeking new ways to pass the time. The IPD kept him fairly busy he supposed, but Fraser was accustomed to having a full schedule, and the surprising amount of free time he'd found himself with lately was slowly starting to leave the Mountie feeling lazy ( Read more... )

He found it buried half in the sand. A morbid message in a bottle washed up on shore ( Read more... )

There were no starlings in the aviary, but Lyra appreciated her warm, cozy spot up against the post in the center all the same ( Read more... )