ElegiesThey meet for the first time in Singapore.In the future, there will be meetings that will go more smoothly. He enters this one completely unprepared. Evelyn takes longer than usual to buy his story about brokering a deal and he barely makes it to JFK in time. The plane runs into more turbulence than it has any right to. The inevitable howling infant is located directly behind his seat. When he finally reaches the hostel, he finds the clerk at the front desk has little to no command of English.But the run-down hostel with its chipped furniture and its yellowed wallpaper is infinitely preferable to what he has, for the moment, left behi
AcrophobiaIt was stupid and impulsive of them to fall in love—they both knew that—but what they didn't know was that the fall, as all falls are with aviators, would be a long one with an abrupt end.
Elevator"You know," said Sean at last, "I didn't expect that."The woman next to him only crossed her arms, leaned against the wall, and gave him a look."I mean, New York, right?" he added. "Not the sort of place you'd expect this kind of thing to happen."Silence. Sean shot her a glance. She was tall, sort of harsh-looking, and, as far as he could tell, well-dressed. Probably in her early thirties. Definitely not in the mood for a conversation. But what else was there to do? He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to think of something interesting to say."At least it wasn't an earthquake or something, right?" he said after a moment. "I've
Easy SellThe car was a midsize crossover SUV, dark gray, with brand new rims and superb body work that gleamed in the sun. Leon knew it was superb because he had patched it up himself after hours with a tub of paint and a plastic brush. He also knew it was the only thing that was anything close to superb about the car. The suspension would give out within the month, the brakes whined like his three-year-old niece, and the transmission was completely shot to hell. It was Frankenstein's monster with a nice paintjob."You're lucky you came today, Mr. Murray." He offered a winning smile. "Three of the same model came in a few weeks back, and they were go
TBOS: Round 2.8 FIN"All right, then?"Reinald swallowed hard and willed his breathing to return to normal before he risked a response. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? You're the one who got possessed by a piece of enchanted jewelry."The shaky laugh he got in response sounded almost alien coming from Anna, but it was the most welcome sound he'd heard all day. "Too slow, old man. You didn't answer my question. Besides, aren't you the one who got shot?""As I recall," he said, hating how his voice wavered slightly, "you were the one who shot me.""I'd rather not argue about that," she said, and her expression turned serious for a moment. "But answer
TBOS: Round 2.7iii. AnnaIt was feeling really fucking crowded in here.It had been bad enough with one presence in her head, especially when she barely knew what had been going on outside of it. There had been the vague glimpses of action, a few flashes of things happening that she'd been too slow to prevent. Shooting Todorov, for example. At least the Archetype, or the form of the revenge-seeking farmgirl or whatever the hell she was supposed to be, had been a decidedly worse shot than Anna herself was. She hadn't been able to see what had happened him, but he wasn't dead, which was something she felt oddly relieved about.And now there was something
Sta.sh
