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3,147 WORDS
Robert hears the rescue team coming down the stairwell before they call out. He doesn’t bother to answer. He’s busy watching sixteen ants march across a piss stain of his own making. The storm of reflective vests that enter give…
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3,568 WORDS
In the 668th year after Creation, which was also the fortieth year of the reign of imperator Jadunath, master of sky and stars—may his memory be a curse!—a sorcerer came to the maharaja’s court in search of a wife. Our…
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991 WORDS
By the time you come to your senses, his parents have already arranged for him to be burned. Your rage can’t save his body, but you rescue him from them one last time. You spin and spin the cold metal…
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I am bringing a rind of bread to the daughter in the lamp-house again. This is the third time. In the path along the garth-wall a hortulan stops me and demands to know my errand. I hesitate and he demands…
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You remember when you used to love him. You remember how this time a year ago, you did not hesitate before the thought, I will die for him if only he asks. And he asked. He did. He asked you…
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There were walls within the glass mountain, just as clear as its sheer cliffsides. There were floors within the glass mountain—and ceilings, too—but they left just as little to the imagination. A shining citadel of rooms; a pyramid stripped of…
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You look up from your book, wearing a smile you’ve reserved for me. “Tired of studying?” I take a seat beside you and sprawl out, my back against the table. “I hardly see the point.” The top of the library…
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3,994 WORDS
Wooden wheels crack against the dirt road, warning me of the owner’s approach. His journey up my hill is slow. The cart fights its way through the brambles and wildflowers that have made the path theirs in the four decades…
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2,994 WORDS
I. Animal Husbandry The day your moms become infected, you’re in your animal husbandry class, taught in the tack room of the barn. Sarah’s mom is holding up a chicken egg, saying, “Eggs are valuable, versatile, and portable. You can…