Morgan Farrell had no idea where she was or where she had just come from. She felt as if she were stepping out of a deep, thick fog. Something or someone was right there in front of her. She leaned forward, staring, and saw a woman’s face staring back at her. The woman looked just […]

Robin’s eyes snapped open. She found herself lying wide awake in her bed. She thought at first she’d been awakened by a noise coming from somewhere in her little house. Breaking glass? But as she lay there listening for a moment, she heard nothing except the comforting rumble of the furnace in the basement. Surely […]

Lori Tovar pulled her car into the driveway of the house where she’d lived for most of her life. She stopped the engine and just sat there staring at the charming three-story dwelling. A familiar phrase went through her mind. First to arrive, last to leave. She smiled a bit sadly. She’d heard people say […]

Gareth Ogden stood on the wide beach looking out over the Gulf of Mexico. The tide was out and the Gulf was calm—the water flat and the waves low. He saw a few seagulls silhouetted against the darkening sky and heard their tired cries over the sound of the waves. He took a puff of […]

As consciousness slowly returned, Reese Fisher realized that she was in pain all over. The back of her neck ached and her skull felt as though it would burst from throbbing. She opened her eyes only to be blinded by glaring sunlight. She squeezed her eyelids tight again. Where am I? she wondered. How did […]

Chloe sat on the front steps of her apartment building beside her twin sister, Danielle, watching as the police led their father down the front stoop, in handcuffs. A large cop with a round belly stood in front of Chloe and Danielle. His black skin glistened with sweat as the summer night beamed down on […]

Hope Nelson took a last look around the store as she got ready to close up for the night. She was tired, and it had been a long, slow business day. It was after midnight, and she’d been here since early that morning. She was alone now, because she’d sent the last of her grumbling […]

Her nerves were on fire and she felt like she might get sick at any moment. The boxing gloves on her hands felt foreign and the head gear was suffocating. Neither of these things were new to Kate Wise—she had been training for about two months now, but this was her first time sparring with […]

There are moments in every woman’s life when they are expected to cry: weddings, giving birth, maybe during their children’s first dance or marriage. But one moment Kate Wise had not expected to turn on the waterworks was watching her granddaughter crawl for the very first time. She was babysitting for Melissa and Terry, as […]

When Tamara Bateman walked into the two-story house at 3:30 in the afternoon, she was reminded of why she loved her job so much. As a real estate agent in Estes, Delaware, she saw at least four new houses a week. Most of the time, those homes were so-so at best—carbon copies of other homes […]

Professor Ralph Henderson sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and fished around in the pocket of his coat for his car keys. It had been a long evening of marking English papers, and either his students were getting more stupid or he was getting more tired of the job. He was more than ready […]

For a man named Rosie, there was nothing delicate or pretty about him. Roosevelt “Rosie” Dobbs marched up to the front porch of Apartment 2B with his usual awkward gait—and had anyone been nearby, they might have heard him cursing under his breath, a string of obscenities that followed him like a shadow. With a […]

Kill her after work. Don’t let her make it back home. This instruction seemed to be looped in his head. He’d been hearing it for two days now, a voice in his head that seemed to have been born when he saw the picture in the Arts and Entertainment section of the local paper. He’d […]

Christine had only seen snow once before in her life. So when it started to come down around her as she made her way home from her boyfriend’s house, she smiled. She figured that if she hadn’t drunk so much tonight, she’d be able to enjoy it better. She was twenty years old but could […]

Gordon Maines looked at himself in the hotel bathroom mirror and couldn’t help admire what he saw staring back at him. For a third-term city councilman considering a run for mayor, he exuded the confidence of a man who regularly bent the system to his will rather than the other way around. Beyond that, he […]

Even before the baby arrived, people were calling Kate Wise the Miracle Mother. Upon learning that she was going to be giving birth at the age of fifty-seven, Kate had told no one other than Allen and Melissa. She hadn’t even told anyone at work. Not DeMarco, not Duran…no one. But somehow, word had gotten […]

Riley sat hunched on her bed staring at her psychology book. She couldn’t concentrate, not with all the noise in the room. That song was blaring again—Gloria Estefan’s “Don’t Let This Moment End.” How many times had she heard that stupid song just this evening? It seemed to be blasting out of every dorm room […]

Chloe Fine was listening to her deceased father’s voice as a late-summer thunderstorm rumbled outside. She sat on her couch in her quiet apartment, holding her sister’s voice recorder in her hand. She’d press play, listen for a bit, and then rewind it to hear it back again. She was dressed in an old T-shirt […]

Jessie Hunt, exhausted and sweaty, dropped the last of the packing boxes on the dining room carpet. She could already feel her muscles starting to cramp up and knew she was going to be in serious pain tomorrow. But as she looked over at Kyle, she couldn’t help but smile. They were officially moved in. […]

For about the fourth time in the last hour, the same thought passed through Jessie Hunt’s head. I hate this place. “This place” was an official WITSEC safe house. Though she despised being in the sterile tract home with US Marshals always around, she couldn’t really argue that it wasn’t necessary. After all, it had […]