Vampire Code: The Calculus of Others

The Loogaroo Express runs both directions: It can take passengers out of Forgotten Hollow just as easily as it can bring them in, and Sylvia’s mother had thirteen reasons why Sylvia was not going to be riding it out of the valley this weekend.

Sylvia concentrated on calculus while her mother rattled off her concerns. “Firstly, the curtains fit the windows poorly! Light always seeps in through…

City Tales: My Lovely Landlord, 4

By the time the bonsai outgrew its windswept form, CT had stopped indulging in the sweet yearnings of homesickness. She discovered she no longer wished to be anywhere else: she found plenty of inspiration exactly where she was.

Dozens of canvases lined the walls, waiting to be filled. She specialized in the flotsam of urban commercialism, finding perfection in the color and form of shapes that…

City Tales: My Lovely Landlord, 3

Evenings in the city brought nostalgia. With roughly 837,440 people living in approximately 47 square miles, it seemed strange to feel so alone. But after a day of painting and writing, CT often realized she’d spoken to no one. Surprisingly, when she stood on her balcony looking over the empty streets, no one in the apartment building across the way ever looked out at her, standing there. She…

City Tales: My Lovely Landlord, 2

Slowly, the view from the balcony stopped beckoning CT elsewhere and began to welcome her here.

Each morning, she looked for clouds. Sometimes, they were wispy remnants of fog. Other times, they preceded storms that rushed in from the ocean. Rarely was the sky without cloud, except perhaps on a chilly night. Through the months, the clouds became friends of a sort.

CT made slow friends, too, with…

College. I arrive. It’s what I’ve wanted for so long. When I get here, everybody’s heading into the dorm.

“Get a room quick,” says a student in knee socks. I guess she’s one of my new dormies. She looks nice–kinda rebel spirit, like me.

But as I paint a ground mural on the front walk, I hear her talking about me to the other dormies. I can’t hear what she says, just my name, a sarcastic tone of…

I really want to go to university.

Take some time to develop skills and earn some money first. You’ll have a better time, and there’s really no rush.

I guess college is a goal I can work towards. Gives me a reason to save. Now I just need a way to earn some money.

I’ve always wanted to be a street artist. There’s money in that, right? I’ve been practicing a lot. I don’t want to get busted, so I…

I love my phone. When I feel lost, overwhelmed, or generally mildly freaking out–like I’m doing quietly on the inside right now–I pull out my phone and get lost browsing the web. I move into a world where everything’s contained, and suddenly, my worries about landing here, in this tiny cabin at the edge of cemetery at the edge of town, with little money, no marketable skills, and nobody I know,…

New World Symphony: Three Wishes for Tomaz, pt. 2

Tomas stood at the last grave in the long row of tombstones that lined Cradle Rock: his grave. He was the last to die here, so close to making it to the new era when time would shift. He regretted nothing: not one aspect of his long life with Redbud. But he mourned the loss of that long life.

He spent the day wandering Cradle Rock, visiting all his favorite spots, watching Redbud as she went…