Recent Stories
A lot is made of those who walk away from the city. And I get it. I do. It's a shock to learn the city's secret. That a child must suffer for our prosperity. Of course it breaks a lot of people. Of course they walk away. Of course they abandon their civic duty.
Sure there are those who go about their business as before. Who bury the new knowledge so they can return to their normal lives and go about their days. To keep their sanity. To convince themselves they're still good people. To follow the easiest course.
Once again, she paused before opening the door.
She'd had worse jobs, Lisa reminded herself. Much worse jobs. She'd worked fifteen years in retail, after all, and five years in fast food places before that.
The orange streetlight winked out, which woke the dog, who was a mildly clever Pomeranian, and was easily disturbed by the smallest of sounds. And when the orange streetlight winked out, it went--wink!--and of course, Daisy, the Pomeranian, leapt into wakefulness, yipping and yapping, snarling and barking.
Angie and Tyler's hands touched the green-gold brass of the magic lamp at the same time. The metal was slick with creek water and they had to dig away the mud and wet moss that had half buried the lamp using their bare hands. Their fingers smeared the mud, leaving their hands and the lamp dirty. Someone must have thrown it into this creek, deep in the woods, years ago.
Angie and Tyler had strayed from the trail hours ago, and Angie kept oscillating between feeling thrilled to be alone with him in the forest... and terrified that she was making a dangerous mistake. She and Tyler had only been dating a few months. He seemed perfect and kind, but she knew that abusive men used a honeymoon period to lure their girlfriends in and then isolate them. Right now, they were pretty isolated.
By the time you finish reading this sentence you will be infected with the image of a single red balloon that has just been released and floats up into a clear blue sky. Do not be alarmed. This infection is not harmful to you or your community.
The red balloon supermeme is a virus designed to rectify problems in human software that were engendered by our research. Once it has been fully absorbed through the process of reading this message, things should improve for you on a daily basis.
Yup, it's Groundhog Day here once again at East Coast Sector 3 Shelter H, and we're gearing up for our annual Groundhog Day extravaganza. The Mayor of Pittsburgh is here, and his beautiful family, along with a host of wealthy dignitaries from the business community and sports and entertainment fields who were lucky enough to secure a spot in our lovely underground facility.
I'm your emcee, William "Bucky" Halverson. Can everyone hear me?
by Sean Vivier
Published on Aug 5, 2020
by Mari Ness
Published on Aug 4, 2020
by Sean Patrick Whiteley
Published on Aug 3, 2020
by Mary E. Lowd
Published on Jul 31, 2020
by Eduardo Robert Vega
Published on Jul 30, 2020
by Kurt Newton
Published on Jul 29, 2020
