Maintaining An Image

I was looking through the credit card bills for the last month. Neither my wife nor I are hurting for money, both having successful careers that we have been able to walk away from in the last few years. Due to being high profile in the community we both are expected to attend quite a few social and charitable functions every month.

The mirror has cracked, and the lines between friends have entirely dissolved. The first pieces of this adventure are coming to the fore. The only real question is what will you do?

Your choices tonight: Which pair do we follow into the dark next chapter?

“Natalia… Natalia”, I barely registered the voice. “Oi, Natalia!” Calvin almost shouted, it took a moment before I realised he was talking to me, while I'd often thought of myself as Natalia, I clearly was not yet fully used to others referring to me with the name.

“You only have like 4 hours before mum and dad get home, Laura will be over later, you should probably get up.”

Dexter had always played second fiddle in his family.
While he is just as strong a witch as his sister, witch society still hedges its prejudice against male witches.
But all changes when an accident makes a make-up spell hit Dexter, instead of his sister.
He looks eerily similar to his cousin and therein lies an opportunity.
One his mother is eager to exploit, when their family and witch coven suffers a tragedy.

Now it is up to Dexter to step up and be the witch he was always meant to be.

Twilight

It began like a normal day at the dock. As always, I wore my lavender summer dress and one-inch heel sandals. Every day I went out at sunrise and came back exactly at twilight. But this day would be different.

Medical Center, Napa Valley Recovery Center:
Sara and Cindy wave goodbye to several girls as they are picked up by either their family member or by the Uber that had been arranged for them. This part of the job, the identical sisters loved.

“It’s good to see those girls going back to their families or with new families.” Cindy looks at her twin while watching the cars drive away.

 
XXVII: Back at the damn ball

Bulbs flashed everywhere like tasteless arc welders fucking epileptic fireflies. “Countess Devaris!” A tabloid wraith blocked her path. “Does Lady Elaine’s absence signal fractures in Phoenix Rising’s founding triad?”

Immersed
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

People used to laugh when I said that I played competitive underwater hockey. They thought I was joking, like there was no such thing. But there are hundreds of clubs in North America and regional competitions as well. There are regional teams that play off for a state title and even international teams that compete against other nations.

Alma Mater
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Oliver Furness came to me in 1898 – I remember that it was the year that the Spanish American War ended. He had a scholarship to the University, or thought he had. He saw that my boarding house and health clinic offered lower rates for “students with refined manners” and considered that described him well enough. He was a slightly built young man, seemingly ready to study, as I had been at the same age.

I have to keep myself from smiling as I touch up my lipstick, before liberally coating my long brown hair with shiny hairspray. Once my look is complete, I stand up from my dresser and examine myself in my bedroom’s full-length mirror.

Sara’s Quarters:
Kelly woke up early and felt like crap. She was still getting used to being a girl, but last night had been wild. She went to a friend’s birthday party. One of the girls she first met when she came to Vineyard, invited her.

She walks into the bathroom and does her morning business, before taking a nice hot shower. Ever since she was turned into a girl by her father. She had found that she enjoyed taking hot showers. She didn’t know why, but it felt nice against her sensitive skin.

Blake Medical Recovery Center, Napa Valley, Northern California:
Sara and Cindy look down at all the women and some men who have been brought to the center for help and recovery. Both of them couldn’t understand why anyone would forcibly turn innocent males and some women into the opposite sex.

“Mom and sis weren’t joking when they said that there would be days when this job would get to you.” Cindy looks at her twin sister standing next to her.

That didn’t cause me any panic. I was expecting a few deliveries and I was hoping this was the one I was really waiting for. When I opened the front door a delivery-man was standing there, brown uniform, a cardboard box in his arms and one of those sign-in document thingies for me to register that I had received the delivery.