Boiling Point
_ **Boiling Point** _ My walk from the station was more like a swim, the swampy summer morning air even more overwhelming and oppressive than the metro journey that'd got me there. A journey made up of three trains, two transfers, and nearly an entire...
Blind Date
_ **Blind Date** _ A wave of noise and a blast of heat crashed into me the moment those automatic doors slid open. I ducked my head to dip inside and escape the gloomy, late-November cold, allowing this new 'VRcade' place I'd been invited to fully...
Lost & Found
_ **Lost & Found** _ The air stifled so very much. Even on a morning that was not so hot, how difficult it was to breathe came as the first thing to my notice upon disembarking the train. To walk through the streets, the crowded, overloaded streets,...
The Climb
_ **The Climb** _ I'd overpacked my grocery bags. I knew that from the moment I had to lug all four of them out of the store. The decision to do an extra-large after-work shop, thereby granting myself a day off from that part of my weekly routine,...
Aftermath
_ **Aftermath** _ Ball clutched to his chest, the broad moose in mud-splattered claret started another tired charge downfield. Wearing his cleaner green and gold-hooped shirt, my boyfriend Marek steadied himself, arms poised, legs ready to...
Torchbearer
_ **Torchbearer** _ Blake sank to his knees, placing a paw to his battle-felled brother's chest. The pain-stricken grunt it drew threatened to pierce his own. Blood oozed between his fingers. Drenched his palm. He recited a silent prayer for any and...
Hard Labour
_ **Hard Labour** _ I glared at the short straw in my palm. Again. As hard as I willed it to, it refused to grow longer. "...Do I _really_have to?" "Listen, the straws have spoken," Manny replied, beaming his pleasure for the longer one in his grasp....
Crash Landing
_ **Crash Landing** _ The bedroom door creaked louder than it had any right to. It left me frozen at the threshold, halfway between the light of the hallway and the darkness beyond, ears brushing the top of the doorframe while deep in thought over how...
The Toyshop
_ **The Toyshop** _ I'd felt awkward as shit from the minute we'd stepped off the train. Making a trip downtown, usually, came with a sense of anticipation. Excitement, even. Which beachside bar would I be chilling out at? At which restaurant or cafe...
Noisy Neighbours
_ **Noisy Neighbours** _ My bed rocked and rolled, jumped and jolted, over and over. Not for the first time that weekend. Far from it. Too bad it wasn't my doing. Loud grunts, long groans, and other noises coming from gods knew what or where flooded...
Helping Hands
_ **Helping Hands** _ I grabbed a slice of sourdough outta the pack I'd brought from my kitchen section down below. Being up on the sun-soaked main counter, right next to Tomas, made me an easy target for his pleading over breakfast prep. "Sorry,...
Tilted
_ **Tilted** _ A warmer than usual summer meant another hot, sticky summer's evening. An evening made even hotter and stickier by how hard Marek and me were going at it on the couch... playing our new fighting game: Rift Warriors 2. My paws were so...