The sound of a car horn woke the couple. Michelle stretched.

"Owww my face hurts."

She slowly got out of bed and went over to the full length mirror. Her nose was swollen and her eyes were puffy. She had a purple swelling around her left eye.

"Oh no, my face what has he done!"

The tears started to flow.

"Come on now Michelle, it will be fine in a day or two."

She doubled over sobbing. Sam knew it was delayed shock from nearly being killed by her stepfather. He bent down and pulled her to her feet.

"Shush now , you're still beautiful."

Kerry Cottage
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

In that part of the West Coast of Ireland the bad weather can come at speed and without warning. He had asked the hotelier if it would rain and had received a typical twinkly-eyed Irish response.

“Well this is Ireland, so it will certainly rain. The only question is when, and where, and how much?”

The answers were here and now and a lot.

Charlie finds himseld getting more and more tangled with governments

Light And Shadow (Part 5 of 8)

by Erisian

Chapter 22 - Power

We were wet.

We were tired.

We were hungry.

In other words, we were soldiers.

Sam rushed through the front door and saw Michelle waiting. She choked on her words.

"I'm so sorry Sam. You treated me better than I have ever deserved, and I threw it back at you. I'll go if you want."

Sam wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. He kissed her forehead, and said.

[This part is written from Kelly’s POV]

"You look, fine Darling," Matt said to me for what seemed about the twentieth time.

“I agree,” said Nancy.

I was feeling far from fine. It felt like my first day at the NYPD Academy all over again. That didn’t go down very well as the chief instructor and my father were not the best of friends.

Michelle sobbed herself to sleep. Anger, sadness and fear made a tight ball in her chest that prevented her from breathing easily. Eventually she dropped off. When she woke she had that brief feeling of amnesia, then the full reality of what had happened the night before came rushing back.

Michelle picked up a couple of sirloin steaks and vegetables to go with them. She wasn't read while she walked around, she just looked like any other woman in the shop. This gave her an enormous sense of satisfaction.

Author’s Note: I apologize. I messed up. For some reason, I was thinking of May 3rd as being the day Shelly Chatham, Marcia’s biological mother, passed away, and May 4th as being Marcia’s birthday. That is backwards, so I’m currently working on fixing my error in the previous two chapters – As well as what was supposed to be chapter 3. Rosemary rolls eyes at this point. LOL

Chapter 3

5 AM

Marcia arose and hurried through her morning routine, then hurried out to help Bruce feed the animals. She really wanted to get to the horses. There was one that she absolutely loved, and secretly wished was hers. He was a palomino, and greatly resembled the horse Roy Rogers rode in all of his movies.

When she realized she would be on a farm where there were horses, she decided that she wanted to learn about them. Thus, she had decided to research all she could. When she came across information on the famous palomino, she’d watched as many films as she could find with the old western star and his master.

Caldwell Medical Center:
Cecil adjust the glasses she was wearing as she gets off the elevator. She glances down at the fake medical chart in her hands. The three officers that attacked Jack’s grandson and his friends were on this floor. She heads towards the first officer’s hospital room. His name was Bruce Donovan.

The Abbot
A Short Story based on Historical Fact
By Maryanne Peters

I loved her and that is all that I can say. To me she was the very epitome of what a lady should be – beautiful, refined, intelligent and hungry for sex. So why was she a nun? Well, she was not a nun really, because she did not qualify to be one.

They moved into the living room. The old but comfortable sofa welcomed them both. They sat apart, but at a angle so they could talk. Michelle's knees touched Sam's. Unwilling to part from such an understanding warm presence.

"So how long have you felt this way Michelle?"

She thrilled at being called by her female name. Until today no one had ever called her anything but Micheal, or freak.

"If you want we can go to court and fight this out. You know being the poor put upon wife I will probably win and you'll pay costs."

"But how is that fair? You get the London penthouse flat and I get left with the fixer upper in Hertfordshire. We haven't even started on it yet, it was meant to be your project. There's still a sitting tenant to get rid off."

"You should have thought of that before fucking your secretary shouldn't you."

Chapter Four – Jaylene

Mitch Freeman decides to remove the only person who can identify him: Jaylene Foster while Penelope and Jaylene make a surprising attachment. Steve continues his hunt for the man who is stalking trans women and murdering them.

“Cliff, you were right,” said Maxine as she arrived for work the next day.

“I’m generally right about most things. That’s my job. What was it this time?”

“Don’t go being smart with me. Cliff.”

The Bottle at the Back of the Fridge
Copyright 2021 by Heather Rose Brown

This is a short vignette about a parent who's coping with changes in family relationships while transitioning, and struggling to not give into easing the pain of loss in an unhealthy way. While there's a bit of sadness in this story, there's also hope as well. I hope you enjoy it.

=-=-=

Reel Six

She walked leisurely towards the dining room, this time taking a lot of interest in the positioning of the wandering heavies. When she entered the dining room Gonzales left the bar and came over to greet her, taking her hand and kissing it.

Allan Rogers loves teaching community college and running stats for the football team. What happens when he gets involved with a secret genomic project in his spare time and who will he be after? A light, fun illustrated story!

Chapter Three – Susan

The identity of the killer and his backstory is revealed but not to the police who continue their investigation. Steve's moral courage is tested when temptation comes his way. Penelope continues to remain sober and a valuable asset to the Task Force.

Charlie begins to smell a rat.