Chapter 14 – The intruder

By the time I had driven back to town, I was tired and in low spirits. To make any real kind of progress in unravelling the mystery of the PI’s death seemed to elude me as much as ever. I was tempted to go straight home and soak away my weariness in a steaming bubble bath, but I knew I ought to check in at the office first, for form’s sake if nothing else. When I did so I found my boss at his desk in a scholarly attitude. Had he not moved from his task all day?

The Dead Pixel Society

© 2026 Zoe Taylor

“This isn’t enough to make up for me not screaming when I walked in on you in the girls’ bathroom. That was a ‘lol meet cute’ BS Disney moment. This is real. This is you seeing the Madison that hasn’t freaking existed since I was a freshman, and used to pray to God nobody heard me crying in the east wing stairwell, where the acoustics made my sobs sound like a tragic French opera..."

Chapter 13 – Horse country

I walked across to where my two-seater was parked and turned to wave goodbye, but the ex-agent had already disappeared inside the office.

Thursday, New Year’s Day, was a holiday in Portugal. I had almost expected that they would all just go back to work given the paucity of their Christmas arrangements. Maybe it is wise that it is a day off as the party went on well into the night. As was getting to be a bit of a habit, we got up late, exercised, breakfasted and wandered out around midday into a city that was still buzzing with a variety of acts performing in every square that we passed. Now I knew why they don’t do Christmas well; they keep all the fun for New Year.

Chapter 13

We had dinner with Connie and Isabella in a small restaurant where they were known and talked about the likely campaign. They had a lot of experience and had already mapped out the likely destinations of our travels, following the European, and then the world-wide advertising.

What surprised us was when Connie looked around and lowered her voice.

Every year on Reassignment Night, the world changes and reality itself skips a beat. Every year, some people are transformed in ways that the cannot control or predict. These are some of their tales.

This is a collection of short vignettes taking place in the same universe as my story Reassignment Night.

Chapter Six: Signal

Morning in Hinokuni didn't rush—it unfolded.

Chapter 12 – The decoy

The brochure was following me.

Chapter 12

On our way home, we spoke about setting down roots of our own and talked about places where we would like to live. When our contract expired, we would lose the use of the apartment unless we re-signed, so would need to get a place of our own. Of course, by then we would have over four million in our banks. We had only splashed out on the car and a few trinkets, and our expenses were all paid for by the employers when we travelled.

Chapter 11 - Magnetic attraction

Millie showed me upstairs and into an empty bedroom. It had its own adjoining bathroom and like the rest of the house was expensively furnished. “If you will wait here a moment, miss.”

More than a little embarrassed by my lapse in choice of attire I waited as requested. Minutes later she returned with a dress over her arm. “I think you will find this little frock acceptable.” It looked delightful and I took it from her eagerly, glad to be able to remedy my mistake.

Sent By Sophia

Chapter 12: New Alliance Forms

A Transgender Coming of Age Adventure

A Story from THE ONE

Ariel Montine Strickland

*

A story somewhat like this was intended to be an entry in the Summer Island competition but my attempts to make it a TG story wouldn’t work, so here is the love story it was probably always meant to be.

Chapter 11

Mum and John were with us until Saturday, turning the visit into a couple of days exploring the city, a place that was bringing Mum out of her small-town life, now ready to embrace a new future with the man she loved.