“Look at this,” he said, brandishing a flat, shiny rock.

“A relic,” the other man said.

“They called it a cell phone,” the woman whispered, her voice sounding hungry as she reached out for the object.

“Now, now,” the first man said, “Finders keepers.”

“I don’t think so,” the woman said, and then hollered a low grunt as she slammed her weight into him, sending the phone spinning across the floor.

The other man picked up the phone and began running, but it wasn’t long before he heard the woman on his tail.

“Give it! They had something called TikTok!”… Read the rest

I’m ready for this to be over.

I am ready to dig down deep into the dirt with my bare hands and bury every last bit of you and me.

I don’t want to fight or argue anymore, I don’t want to look at you and feel such ugly feelings.

When the heart breaks it’s hard and things can get weird, and they should be if it was a real love.

It should hurt to lose it if it was real.

But it’s over now, so we’ll put it all behind us, bury it deep, and keep on walking forward.… Read the rest

You slide the bag across the table, the hooded figure opposite you peers inside. “Where the hell did you find this?!”

“Never mind where I found it, it’s what we’re going to do with it now that we have to figure out.”

“Well, we’ll sell it, of course.”

“Sell the most valuable gemstone known to man? This thing is worth a fortune, and the second it gets into the wrong hands, we have no hope of seeing any profits from this.”

You reach to take back the bag, but the man pulls away.

“It’s mine now. Thanks for finding it.”… Read the rest

I never thought I’d be leaving the garden to go off and hunt for someone in the barren wasteland of the city we’d departed years ago.

They said he was seen heading East, toward the city, and I pictured him picking his way through the rubble of skyscrapers and dodging the sinkholes where bombs had landed in the streets or on top of buildings.

Then I wasn’t picturing it, I was there, stumbling over concrete and avoiding decades old ordinance, crossing no one’s path on the way to find him.

He left me for this nothingness, why should I bother?… Read the rest

When she heard them stirring in bed, she raced up the stairs to greet them.

She licked a forehead, she pounced on feet, she meowed them both wide awake and then bounded downstairs for her breakfast.

She was a good girl, and she knew it.

They were always holding her, petting her, giving her love and affection that some need in abundance, and some need none at all.

She needed an abundance of love, so she was in the right home, with someone who had an abundance of love to give.

What an incredible nine lives she had to spend.… Read the rest