Mississippi Smoke

Calculating, cold, often without emotion was how I was described by those closest to me. I had thought perhaps there was truth to their depiction until this endless searing pain took the place in my chest where my heart used to be. Vengeance now ate away at my soul. The wrath I planned to unleash would make the demons ...

SaylorWas it a sin to hate the dead?It was something I had pondered many times over the past ten months. Although it wasn’t why I required medication to sleep at night. I wasn’t truly concerned about the level of darkness that resided in my soul. It was the images of the night I had watched a bullet take down the boy...

Taking her was a means to an end. The task was to weed out the man who had stolen millions from us. He may have succeeded, but he’d pay with his life. Hiding from us was a grave error he’d regret soon enough because once he found out that we had taken the one thing he cared for as repayment- he’d show up. When a man...

“They were kings, and for a brief part of my life, I was allowed to live inside their kingdom.”BranwenLittle girls grow up, and time steals their innocence. Memories fade, and things you love change. Except for me. You see, I fell in love at first sight when I was six years old. The problem with that was he was a gro...

MontanaMomma hadn’t been gone from the world for twenty-four hours before the first letter showed up. Blue paper, folded into an origami heart, left where the writer knew I’d find it. Dealing with my grief, I was able to put it out of my mind until the next one came, then the next. Each one more disturbing than the l...

RansomWithin the family, we had no secrets.Our lives were intertwined, and the darkness that came with our way of life was something we all shared.Accepted.Had been born into.But for ten years, I’ve had one thing that was mine.Something I kept to myself.A source of light when things got heavy.The nerdy, overlooked tut...

A deep chuckle sent a bolt of pleasure through me. “Damn, you’re sweet. Lucky for you I’ve got a conscience and I’m gonna walk away.”Wait, what? Walk away? He reached out and took a lock of my hair, then twirled it around his finger before dropping it with a sigh.“Why … why are you walking away?” I blurted, des...