A Volunteer from the Audience
The little applause light above the stage clicked on, bright red, a second before the spotlights above cast out to the audience. I put on my best ‘thrilled audience member’ face and clapped until the lights flicked back and the sign flicked off.
It’s not that the appeal was lost on me, not exactly, but there was no way I could match Emma’s enthusiasm. Since her aunt had started working with the backstage crew, she’d been participating i

Dinner With Friends
I think I may have fucked up.
Or maybe not.
I’m still trying to figure it out myself, so you tell me.
Just for a little background to this story: I’m a small person, one of the millions of early converts to the shrinking process commonly known as ‘downsizing’. Whenever people ask, I say I did it for environmental reasons – to do my part and reduce my ‘carbon footprint’ and all that – but it was mostly just a practical decision t

Last Minute Packing
“This isn’t going to work.” Hannah insisted, leaning with her back against the wall closest to the door. On the other side of the cramped bathroom, her friend Mara was busily digging through their luggage, which she had opened onto the foldout table that was built into the wall.
Without looking up from what she was doing, the other girl shook her head emphatically. “I am not paying $70. I don’t see why we can’t have three carry-ons given ho

Eight Ball in the Pussy Pocket (Pred Perspective)
It was Initiation Night at Rosewood College. A normal Saturday for most of the campus, perhaps (though the social scene at Rosewood wasn’t bad even outside of Greek Life), but the end of a long Rush Week for the members of Eta Alpha Tau and Upsilon Beta, the university’s most (in)famous fraternity and sorority, respectively.
Even under normal circumstances, Initiation Night had earned a bit of bad rap for its hazing practices and, to

Eight Ball in the Pussy Pocket
CLACK!
Nick watched in dismay as the giant orb came rolling towards him, travelling so quickly that its white stripes seemed to blur with the darker violet. When it struck, it was thankfully only a glancing blow, but it was enough to send him reeling inside his own protective sphere. The chamber spun unpredictably, throwing him onto his back every time he tried to stand, but eventually it came to a stop against one of the low barrier walls. The trapped man clambere

A Late Night at the Office
Casey took a long, satisfying sip from his coffee mug. It wasn’t a particularly good brew – lukewarm after sitting for hours in the pot and with a frankly sour aftertaste – but damn if it didn’t taste all the sweeter at the end of a long day at the office. It was one of those rare days where everything just fell into place. Files had been filed, copies had been copied, mail had been mailed, and spreadsheets had been… spread? Something lik

The Escape Room
Dale and his wife, Ellen, had developed something of an addiction.
It had started out innocently enough. A group of friends, old buddies from Dale’s college years, had invited them for a night on the town at the local escape room. The whole concept had sounded stupid at the time and he had really tried his best to weasel out of it, but his wife had convinced him to give it a try. And he had gotten hooked.
That had been months ago, and now the couple regularly spent their we