Stories tagged “charles”
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Everything That Never Happened -- Snippet #1
[Captain Riley and his former 2nd mate, the shade Charles, meet in a funeral parlour] While Riley was still talking, Charles got up, walked over to the casket, and opened the lid. He stood a moment, looking in at — what, exactly, Riley wondered. ...
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Clear and Misunderstood
Charles was in trouble and he needed help. Unfortunately, few people rode the dawn train out to the country. The only other person was concealed behind a newspaper, held by thick fingers. He would have to do. “Pardon me.” Charles kept need ...
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An Invisible Noose
“It’s about time I caught up to you. I’m surprised you didn’t try to hop back home.” The handsome man smiled but his eyes were cold and had an odd stillness about them. Charles looked around helplessly. Even now the crowd ...
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Mapping Truth to Fiction
“It was a long time ago, when both us were undergoing similar, yet distinct changes. Your kind calls it the Tempest, we thought it was damnation. We didn’t know each other then, but as like stretches out toward like, we met in a grove outsi...
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Essence Tripping
The scenery began to change. First the colors muted becoming pale echoes of their former vibrancy. The world took on a shadowy, ghost-like appearance, or were they the ones becoming ghosts themselves? The stars fell from the sky in thin lucent beams wi...
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Silent Watcher
“Run little rabbit, run” he whispered, as he watched her through a scope. Despite his menacing appearance, he was not here to kill her. He’d been sent to observe her progress. Sarah had no idea why she was here. Now. Didn’t know...
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Life Goes On
Timothy watched Charles prepare to leave with a certain amount of regret. He was a friend and like most of his friends- life had changed him. Once rich and generous, bitterness had taken ahold of Charles and aged him more in a year than smoking and dri...
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Three Truths in Five Minutes
I waited until the door closed behind her before asking, “What’s her problem?” “She’s probably afraid of you. It’s a scarier world than it was a couple of months ago. Knowledge is one thing, proof is another.” ...
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I Didn't Sign Up to Read
I took home three books bigger than any text book I had ever opened and access to a website called gravediggers. The website was a front. Oh it was a real website with a cartoon grave-digger and a directory of funeral services, but if you clicked on on...
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A War is Brewing
Silver and gold chess pieces slid one after another across the black and white board with a quiet intensity. To anyone watching it would have looked like a computer simulation as no one touched a single piece. Two men casually sat next to the chess boa...
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Where Next?
The evening slowly meandered on into lateness and misery. Neither man spoke much, there wasn’t much to say; when you’ve run low on spirits both in your glass and in your life, words come even less easily than when confronted with a mind-numbingly d...