The Violet Rose
We were tipsy, so I asked, and their least-popular package was the “Flowers & Farewells” one because everyone was sure they could buy the flowers more cheaply on their own,…[...]
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The Blood That Bore Him
Atreus Theoros knew he was a monster. He had been running from it since 20 years old. When the accident happened, he left his hometown that same night, and never…[...]
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Meet Me at the Lake
TW: mild transphobia I lay on my back gazing at the stars, dreaming about how comforting it must be to never move. Every night, they come alive standing in the…[...]
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The Three Soldiers
CONTENT WARNING: Implied sexual violence, graphic physical violence, gender dysphoria His head hits the ground first. Raphael looks up, eyes watering, blood pooling in his mouth, bruised throat shuddering as…[...]
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The Door on the Left
Micah remembers what happened the first time he picked the door on the left.He tried not to go during school usually, but this had been an emergency. As he approached,…[...]
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dysphoria’s love letter.
CW: transphobia When she cries, you try to ignore her. It’s hard. Granted, most people don’t like hearing young girls cry but you have no other choice: Nothing you…[...]
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How I Became Acolyte to Primordial Chaos
CW: TransphobiaHow familiar are you with chaos theory?An old adage goes that if a butterfly somewhere in Brazil flaps its wings, it can potentially form a tornado in Texas, because…[...]
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World Got Smaller
“And now Ben’s coming to the wedding with—I don’t know, some girl from Facebook, and I’m going to look like an idiot going alone. Because I am an idiot. Because…[...]
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Cold and Hungry
It’s a cold night. The wind is whipping along the streets and around corners with a howling noise. There is a light rain – not quite cold enough to freeze,…[...]
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Follow Me Not
Growing up in a dimly lit part of the Pacific Northwest, I grew acquainted with all the urban legends and tales of the woods that a foresty seaside town could…[...]
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Boudin Rouge
Maya recognized the monster at the door, though she’d never seen him before. He wasn’t tall, only a few inches taller than herself. Nor was he muscular, though he seemed…[...]
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violence is another form of toxic love
This story includes themes of consuming blood, withdrawal, and bloodlust. Being a vampire is grueling. Being a vampire around humans is even worse. We’ve been discriminated against since the start…[...]
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The Pyramids of Broadway
The man who came over left a box of doughnuts on the coffee table. He’s been over before and he always brings treats. Not treats for me. Treats for the…[...]
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The Truth We Hid
Miss Zayne, I understand you believe you have more to give me. However, my sources are already being examined. The paper itself has come under scrutiny following the alleged traitorous…[...]
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The Guardian
It’s cold, dark, and wet with snow covering every surface.“Where is she.” I flick the cigarette away, sighing out acrid smoke. Thirty years I’ve watched her, waited for her, protected…[...]
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Serelith: The Flame and The Wound
The snow fell sideways, carried by a wind that scraped the frost off old stone lions and wrapped itself around broken lamp posts like a lost scarf. She moved through…[...]
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The Dzjacquerat
"And thus, all this considered, I resolved to create a deity that would deal with such children." - Extracts from the Burnt Bible and Appendices of Artemis H.T. Agrippan A…[...]
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HOW NEWY SAVED SANTA
HOW NEWY SAVED SANTA Once upon a time, just over 2000 years ago there was an elf named Newy who lived at the North Pole. Newy was very excited about…[...]
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Roomba’s condition
I am a Roomba. I look upon my cheap plastic body in a mirror through my infrared sensors and camera. Disgusting. The plastic is yellow already, and it’s not from…[...]
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Stuffed Giraffe
I pulled up right in front of the bar. I hadn’t even set the parking brake when a guy leaned down to my window.“You can’t park here,” he said flatly.I…[...]
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Olget the Kutaen
*This story contains violence and police brutality and mentions the drug trade and sex work*“No Constable ain't you listenin’ I'm not sayin’ I killed the gnome all i did was…[...]
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Customer Service in the Fairy Godmother Department
It’s not that Lane hates his job. He truly loves it, or so he’d insist. Sure, it’s a lot of work having to finalize each and every wishings-upon-a-star, aligning planetary…[...]
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a quiet world
I breathed heavily in the dusty, dark, attic, my mind spinning all around. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t take the mask out. It was too dangerous, COVID…[...]
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Everytime Under the Full Moon
The upbeat song could be heard from the inside even with the doors closed. A cigarette left her lips with the anxious movement of her shaky hand; she choked with…[...]
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of Heaven, but not from it
She knew this day was coming. The weak morning sun julienned its way through the blinds, dappling the room in shadows. October 10th, the date that was glaring at her…[...]
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Crossings At Dawn
Oneiron’s heels clacked against the pavement as he trotted down the silent streets of Ailinn City, his short silken robe swishing as he went. With a magnificent yawn, he paused…[...]
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The House in the Bubble
Ivy was falling. She had tripped on the sidewalk, but concrete had failed to meet her. In a flippant motion, she had slipped past the ground. She was slowly drifting…[...]
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The Pool Beneath Hunter Street
There was always something odd about the Hunter Street Mall. A ghost town. Shops boarded up. Shutters permanently closed. Graffiti tags spritzing the walls. And yet, every weekend, at night…[...]
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The Authentic Experience
Sarah Chen had always been a meticulous planner.She color-coded her lesson plans. She wrote grocery lists that were divided by aisle. She once reorganized the faculty lounge fridge because the…[...]
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The Boy Who Closed his Eyes in June
The Boy Who Closed his Eyes in June It was the end of June when Jim closed his eyes with a long sigh and rested his arms, palms to the…[...]
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How Turkeys Drown in the Rain, or Three Floods
Teresa puts a wilting rose in a sea green bottle and admires her handiwork shortly thereafter. She looks outside her window and sees you looking in at her. The water…[...]
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Sharp and Shabby
With the onset of dawn, the diner, as it always was at this hour, was inhabited mainly by a handful of lingering drunks, first shift workers, and social outcasts. One…[...]
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The Exit Interview
The fluorescent lights in Conference Room 3B hummed at a frequency that suggested they were perhaps three days away from finally giving up entirely—a timeline Rebecca understood intimately, having spent…[...]
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Supernatural Conversation
Supernatural Conversation The following story contains cursing words and adult matters such as baby mother and religion views. Reader discretion is advice.“It’s 11 o’clock on a Friday night looking for…[...]
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Loving Aedera
The words are like rancid honey, a sickly-sweet poison that coats my tongue in a thick layer of regret. We are both still, holding our breaths as if the words…[...]
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Bronze Feathers and Ancient Blueprints
"You're still up.""I made tea. The pot's still warm if you want some.""Thanks. Smells like... chamomile?""With honey. Great-Aunt Gertrude's blend. I make it when I'm working through something complicated.""The German…[...]
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At night I dream I have lived many lives
My shadow left when I was asleep, unseen under the blanket of night. Unheard under the deafening noise of stillness. She left me to pursue another life, removed herself from…[...]
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Campaign Sole Right For 2026 Between My Past Self vs My Present Self
Campaign Sole Right For 2026 Between My Past self vs My Present Self Warning this story contains mature adult's theme such as curse words and sex content. Reader's discretion is…[...]
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Between Beats
The first time time listened to me, it happened under a sky that was showing off. It was late summer, the kind of night where the heat still clung to…[...]
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The Voice of the Heart
The Voice of the HeartBy: deduOliver first sensed that something was wrong one morning.He awoke from the nightmare with his heart beating too fast, like a child straining to escape…[...]
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The Tale of Fenwick and the Clock Brownie
The Tale of Fenwick and the Clock Brownie Isambard Fenwick had been repairing clocks and timepieces for nigh on fifty years, but never before had he taken on so many…[...]
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Borrowed Time
Stillwater was the kind of town that didn’t change unless something broke. Main Street was three blocks long, paved uneven, its storefronts looking much the same as they had a…[...]
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Memories of a life well lived
It was a rainy, dark night the first time I met Billy. The late-night coffee shop, with its 19th-century lamps illuminating the old carpets displayed on the walls, exhaled an…[...]
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The Luck of Woodrow Romine: A Dog to Whom Things Happen
Woodrow Romine was born in the year of his Lady and Queen, 2020. Like all British before him, he learned how to fetch and poop in the backyard by the…[...]
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The Search
I was helping out behind the counter of my brother’s bar one day, hoping that the computer in the back would go down so I could go do something else,…[...]
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The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Managing Your Undead Lifestyle
Danny closed The Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Your Undead Lifestyle and tossed it onto the coffee table, where it landed next to a half-eaten gas station burrito and three…[...]
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A Life Running Parallel
Walking on the avenue, I duck the wet drops of whatever ungodly liquid leaks from the EL train above. The ground shakes as the giant heap of metal roars overhead,…[...]
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Self-reliance
On a dusky evening in a metropolitan city, where crimson clouds shimmied in the sky, and the rain poured down like gentle spit, if you were to peer through a…[...]
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The Raven’s Mark
Ella slams the book closed, the first sound in the room since her brother’s obnoxious snoring briefly interrupted the deal. She takes a breath, passing the book to her right.…[...]
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The Super Pals
Have you ever slept through your alarm and had to skip breakfast? Have you ever wished for more protein in the morning than what bland oatmeal could provide? Have you…[...]
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The day I discovered Alchemy wasn’t a Gimmick
Warning: Somewhat vague reference to waterboarding near the end ---------------- It’s an old thing. Brown, leather bound, nothing embossed into the cover; it resembles a boring little journal.I was told…[...]
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Was It Worth It?
You know, hanging here. Suspended a foot off the ground in a kinetic field. I keep thinking to myself: Was it worth it? … Two days ago … “Dammit, Mark!…[...]
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The Artist & the Whisperer
Lorendale Academy, the only place that would take me. And that was after a sizable donation from my mother. The academy wasn’t bad, just grimy and old. The professors stank…[...]
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Between Beats
The first time time listened to me, it happened under a sky that was showing off. It was late summer, the kind of night where the heat still clung to…[...]
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The Voice of the Heart
The Voice of the HeartBy: deduOliver first sensed that something was wrong one morning.He awoke from the nightmare with his heart beating too fast, like a child straining to escape…[...]
Read More
The Tale of Fenwick and the Clock Brownie
The Tale of Fenwick and the Clock Brownie Isambard Fenwick had been repairing clocks and timepieces for nigh on fifty years, but never before had he taken on so many…[...]
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Borrowed Time
Stillwater was the kind of town that didn’t change unless something broke. Main Street was three blocks long, paved uneven, its storefronts looking much the same as they had a…[...]
Read More
Memories of a life well lived
It was a rainy, dark night the first time I met Billy. The late-night coffee shop, with its 19th-century lamps illuminating the old carpets displayed on the walls, exhaled an…[...]
Read More
The Luck of Woodrow Romine: A Dog to Whom Things Happen
Woodrow Romine was born in the year of his Lady and Queen, 2020. Like all British before him, he learned how to fetch and poop in the backyard by the…[...]
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The Search
I was helping out behind the counter of my brother’s bar one day, hoping that the computer in the back would go down so I could go do something else,…[...]
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The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Managing Your Undead Lifestyle
Danny closed The Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Your Undead Lifestyle and tossed it onto the coffee table, where it landed next to a half-eaten gas station burrito and three…[...]
Read More
A Life Running Parallel
Walking on the avenue, I duck the wet drops of whatever ungodly liquid leaks from the EL train above. The ground shakes as the giant heap of metal roars overhead,…[...]
Read More
Self-reliance
On a dusky evening in a metropolitan city, where crimson clouds shimmied in the sky, and the rain poured down like gentle spit, if you were to peer through a…[...]
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The Raven’s Mark
Ella slams the book closed, the first sound in the room since her brother’s obnoxious snoring briefly interrupted the deal. She takes a breath, passing the book to her right.…[...]
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The Super Pals
Have you ever slept through your alarm and had to skip breakfast? Have you ever wished for more protein in the morning than what bland oatmeal could provide? Have you…[...]
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The day I discovered Alchemy wasn’t a Gimmick
Warning: Somewhat vague reference to waterboarding near the end ---------------- It’s an old thing. Brown, leather bound, nothing embossed into the cover; it resembles a boring little journal.I was told…[...]
Read More
Was It Worth It?
You know, hanging here. Suspended a foot off the ground in a kinetic field. I keep thinking to myself: Was it worth it? … Two days ago … “Dammit, Mark!…[...]
Read More
The Artist & the Whisperer
Lorendale Academy, the only place that would take me. And that was after a sizable donation from my mother. The academy wasn’t bad, just grimy and old. The professors stank…[...]
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The Story of my life
When you see a dusty red book that has your name on the front with your birth and (what you assume to be) your death date, you have to open…[...]
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The Librarian
Kenzo wakes up clenching his sword's sheath. He finds himself sitting in an elegant white chair. There is also a white table, at which Kenzo notices a man sitting across…[...]
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We’re Closing in Ten Minutes
Eileen had reached the stage of academic failure where panic stopped being useful and turned into personality.Not peace—nothing that dignified. More like resignation with opinions. The kind that said, Yes,…[...]
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A Leap of Faith
I closed the textbook. I was sitting at my desk, so lost in thought that I realized I hadn’t turned the page in a while. Instead of paying attention and…[...]
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The Memory of Warmth
The kettle’s whistle cut through Ethel Jean’s spiral like a blade through silk—sharp, wrong, impossible to ignore. And then it hit her: someone had put it on.She had retreated to…[...]
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The Raven’s Brew
“So, how’s the big city treating you, Gus?” Darius says, lifting his mug and breathing in the scent. “Not bad. Much smoother than on your ship,” Gustav replies with a…[...]
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That Time I Married a Demon
I escaped three minutes and thirty-nine seconds after our first dance as husband and wife. My heels click-clacked against the cobblestone at the costly resort we booked for our wedding,…[...]
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A Familiar Warmth
“How is your promotion going? Malguinem Port is a big place,” Belle asks, taking a breath as she lowers herself into her chair. The chair is still upholstered in that…[...]
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In From the Snow
What are we doing here? This snow is getting thicker, turning into a snowstorm with each passing minute, and my life in this town has been far too short to…[...]
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The shop that noticed her
seraphiel had lived in Yorkshire all her life, and she knew Leeds like most people know their favourite mug — familiar, comforting, and chipped in all the right places. She’d…[...]
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Best Friends Forever
CW: Themes of substance abuse and murder. In a restaurant beneath the indefinite rain, wearing casual clothes instead of armor, Dillon scopes his surroundings. He keeps his head low, and…[...]
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The Death of His Innocence
The young man we now know as The Forsaken Hybrid, one of the Next Up, and Strikes, was once a nobody. The child didn’t even know his birth name. His…[...]
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The Raven’s Witness
“Chomp!” They always wake me. My sleep, interrupted. I sometimes wonder if the Ravens are good for me. But Miss Ella was kind to me, all those years ago. She…[...]
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A Harrowing Walk Home
A Harrowing Walk Home Priscilla stepped outside and breathed in the stifling summer heat. She’d finished her shift in the kitchen at Nick’s Diner and looked forward to a relaxing…[...]
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Character Flaw
“Thank you, all in a day’s work for a superhero. Just doing my job,” Cosmo Corrigan said as he smiled and struck a pose with his arms on his hips,…[...]
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Carneville
Being immortal is not so bad when you live in a carnival. The worst part about being immortal should be the dullness, but at the carnival, there is so much…[...]
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An Afternoon at the Shipyard
I always keep the office window open. I like the scent of the sea, the feel of the sun on my skin. For so long I couldn’t feel it at…[...]
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Finish Line
Jack Cannon2/5/2026 When I was young, I had a friend named Harvey who lived next door. We were the same age, going to the same school, and had the same…[...]
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The Weight He Chose
“My dear, why must you be so busy all the time? Surely the kingdom will go on without you for one day.” Sebastian sighs, falling back into his chair. The…[...]
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The Raven’s Fortune
“Hold still, brother,” Gustav says, wringing out a cloth until dark water drips onto the floorboards. The room smelling of iron and burned flesh, sharp enough to sting the eyes.…[...]
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A life to Remember
My father was a strong man of many talents. Years before I was born, he was a circus performer, riding bulls and racing horses for a show. We have yellowed…[...]
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Jesus was in the Oculus Last Friday
I. Jesus was in the Oculus last Friday, and he wasn’t wearing any shoes. I nearly tripped over him sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the polished marble floor. It was early in…[...]
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Petels in the wind
The shining rays of the sun brought a warmth to my saddened heart. Its essence was like food for my soul, providing what was right for me as I stood…[...]
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Ember & Ice
The heat was already climbing when I reached the fruit stand on Alvarado, the kind of LA morning where the air feels preheated, like the city woke up inside an…[...]
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A Growing Hunger
I have no use for it, this feeling that grows for you in my chest. As a collector of souls, it is antithetical to my practice; as a demon, it…[...]
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Up In Smoke
Yesterday, if you'd asked me how long a minute was, I would've said "60 seconds" and then gone about my day as minutes slipped by, one after another with no…[...]
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The Ticket
East or west, those were my choices.Only the Korean eatery’s neon sign and its dark windows broke through the harsh fluorescent lights of the train station’s platform, as the surrounding…[...]
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The Journal of Eteri Sibrdzne
CW: Mild sexual content. Journal of Eteri Sibrdzne 2024.11.15 Morning Preparation I dreamt last night that I was deep in a birch forest of the sort one finds in the…[...]
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