Sometimes just being there is NOT enough.  Sometimes the mere act of existance in the same space does nothin to qwell the yawning pit of self-doubt, self-loathing, and loneliness.  Sometimes the voices from another room are small daggers that tear at your heart more than silence ( Read more... )

Because it was necessary, I gave the previously unnamed hero a name......I don't think its really his name, but I was running out of descriptive words in my head.

So, he is now Nat.  With Nina it doesn't work, so suggestions welcome, it was more for my covenience than anything.

Talking in public was always problematic for Nina.  She either was ( Read more... )

Time has an elasticity that the other dimensions lack.  It changes not only with distance and perception, but with emotion and context.  When you find the other part of yourself, time means less than the immediate connection and realization that you fit together perfectly.  The problem comes when the connection only seems to go one way.- something ( Read more... )

When the briefing was done, while the terrifying reality seeped in, the men in suits left.  The message was clear in 30 minutes, they would be driven to the airport and from there flown off to an undisclosed location.  Their things were packed, their families notified, their plans canceled.   Their phones and other devices would be taken or ( Read more... )

Life is made of moments.  Connected together they form the stories we tell ourselves about our world and our place in it.  Some moments you try to forget, some you cling to when all else is going wrong, and some change over time through the haze of memory and time.

It was the first day of their enforced sabbatical, sequestered in a hotel away ( Read more... )

He could hear people in the hallway, feet rushing back and forth and urgent whispering.  He knew they were talking about him, and he just didn't care.  The room was dark except for one light in the far corner, a concession he forced himself to make after finding himself sprawled on the concrete floor.  He had taken all but one lightbulb out and ( Read more... )

It is part of the same story, but it feels later on.

He had won awards before, in his old life, in the time when he was a shiny cog in a entertainment machine.  This one was different, and there were rules and speechwriters and important people in the audience.  He knew he was supposed to act his role here, too.  He should smile and nod and read ( Read more... )

Some promises you kept, even if they hurt.  Some promises you kept because you were stubborn and proud and determined to do the right thing.  It didn't matter if you had to humiliate yourself to make it happen.  It didn't matter if you had to lose something else important.  Some promises you kept ( Read more... )

Fantasy as escapism from reality is a completely human way of dealing with stress and anxiety.  When life gets to be too much, being able to retreat into a world that is more perfect is one way of dealing with the weight of responsibility.  It is there for the moments when you just need to be able to shuck the bills, the cleaning, the demands on ( Read more... )

I know, I know......

If this were a movie, the shot will be in soft focus.  The ridiculously handsome man would lean in, staring intently at the supposedly plain, but really gorgeous woman with slightly messy hair, and he would huskily whisper "Please stay, I need you."  Then the music would swell, and she would kiss him and promise to stay ( Read more... )