“Is there an animal you think is particularly like you?”

I blinked. What an odd question. If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? “An animal? Uh—a chipmunk?”

She turned to grin at me. “I believe it,” she said.

"Hey, it's only a little blood. I've seen more when I cut myself shaving."

Nothing I said seemed to have any effect. She kept calling for help in between hugging me and telling me I'd be alright. She kept muttering to herself, "not again, not again," before calling out again.

Wyatt, Gloria, Grace, and Anthony meet in one of the conference rooms on the floor Raven was on. Wyatt looks at everyone gathered at the conference table “we need to stop this assassin. They are going to attack again and the next time they might succeed.”

“So, what do you have in mind?” Anthony looks at Wyatt. He was wondering what they could do to stop the assassin.

“A simple switch and bait trap.” Wyatt figures they need to pull a page from their mother’s playbook.

“Switch and bait? What’s involved in that?”

Things had gotten a lot clearer since yesterday. It helped that I didn't have to worry about Christina. The nurses did tell me about her catfight with Rick's wife. I'm sorry I missed it. Maybe there was security footage. I'd ask.

Okay, I'm a guy, the idea of Christina and another women fighting kind of turned me on. As long as she didn't find out.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Somebody needed to turn off the damn alarm. I tried to reach for it but all I felt was pain. I decided to go back to sleep.

I opened my eyes again and there she was right above me smiling. Just like in my dream. She kissed me. Then there were more faces. I wanted to tell them to get out of my dream but I couldn't make my mouth work.

Life Imitates Art
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

My parents did not approve, but as I tried to explain to them, art is not what you want to do, it is what you have to do. They were right. It is not a job, it is a calling.

She chased me out of the kitchen. I ran in the bedroom with her right behind me. She stopped and told me to take off my shirt so she could check on where I had been hit by the taser. I knew she was going to bug me until I did so I carefully took off my shirt. Sitting in the car and on the sofa had aggravated the dull ache. I heard her intake of breath as she saw the bandage.

111 Brookberry Cir Unit 111, Chapel Hill, N.C.:
Angela stretches as she wakes-up. She has never slept as soundly and as comfortable as she did last night. Sure, some of her muscles were screaming at her from her swimming exercise, but overall. She felt relax and well-rested.

I don't know what the hell got into that woman. If I didn't know better I'd think she was jealous. That was some kiss she laid on me and that ass in her tight skirt. . . . It was going to take me a couple of minutes before I could get out of the car and not embarrass myself.

It's bad news all around for our void-trader Lillyn.
But it comes with a gift.
Will that be enough?

I wish I could say my motives were as selfless as Christina thought they were. In part they were because by admitting to being at fault I diverted attention from him looking at her license. I knew if there were more than a cursory glance and he saw the M that I suspected was in the box for sex the whole atmosphere might change.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.
That is the saying Lillyn bases her newest venture on.
Each day hordes of adventurers unload junk and trash on her counter.
Asking her to trade them to the void.
But what if she has other plans?

I decided to take Ms Lukes advice and poured myself a tumbler full of liquor from a dusty bottle that had been my dad's. Like him, I seldom drank except with clients to be sociable, so the large glass of straight liquor hit me hard.

561 W 179th St #2, New York, NY:
Carla was still feeling sore from the bolt that was removed from her shoulder. Her wife gave her an earful about getting hurt again. She knows as she gets older that she’ll be hurting from all the injuries she has sustained. She makes a few turns and finally ends up at the cleaners she was heading for.

Lillyn takes another walk with Pasus when an unexpected visitor arrives.
Bringing news that might unbalance Lillyn's world once again.

“Anna, I’m going for a run, then I’ll be back to shower.”

Anna and Dan were happily married for the last nine years since meeting at college. Now with two young girls, Tracy and Margaret, they were settling into their lives. But the good life had packed some extra pounds on Dan’s frame, and he was determined not to let his burgeoning beer belly bloom into a full pregnancy look.

Christine looks down at Lache as he slept. She wore him out last night while trying a few positions out of the Kama Sutra book she picked up. All those years she had been celibate, would put a priest to shame. A shiver travels down her body, as she just stands and admires Lache’s sleeping form.

She could feel the fluids Lache deposited in her vagina sliding out and down the inside of her legs. She heads into the bathroom and does her morning routine. Today, she was working from home. The place she was working for, wanted her to create three different alien-looking masks.

“Okay, how did I get drafted to sand down all this mud?” Kelly was looking at the new wall Charlie’s construction team had put up.

All the wiring had to be redone. So, they had to tear out all the old sheetrock and install new sheetrock. Kelly was wearing a short bib coverall and had a mask over her face as she sanded the dry mud down. She noticed that the new electrical outlets were covered with plastic.

Ever since coming to Besona, Lillyn stumbled from one opportunity or mishap to the next.
Her last misfortune leaves her a little paranoid.
But maybe, if she calms down a bit, it will grow on her.
It might even be an opportunity to change it into a fortune.

Raven was nervous as she waited for the nurse to come and get her for her surgery. The last tiny bit that made her, a male was going to be removed from her body. She would no longer be in the halfway state she was. She loved Clair very much and couldn’t wait to see what it was like to have sex as a normal girl did.

Clair could tell Raven was nervous. These past few weeks after the trial has been nerve-wracking for her. Dr. Heath and the Warden were appealing the decision and challenging the evidence that had been used against them.

My PC dinged indicating I had another email. It had been doing that all day so I ignored it. I'd wait as there were sure to be more. Several dings later I opened up my email and Christina's immediately caught my eye.