Izotz

I made a wish, and I wished so hard. It felt like I wanted nothing more than this wish. But wishes, wishes, never turn our turn out as we think. Like a djinn, or a monkey's paw. I made a wish for another, and that wish cut me deep. I made a wish for the world, and it left me behind. I made a wish for the children, and they have forgotten me. I made a wish for forgiveness, but- No wishes left.

I want to rest in an empty place. I want to be in a somewhere that isn't. I want to feel what can't be felt, and don't feel what can. I want to remember what wasn't. I want to be what I can't. I want to cry air and breathe water. I want to say goodbye when I meet you, and hello when we leave each other. I want to have my body to break instead of my heart. I want to lay down on broken glass, and fear velvet. I want to fall and never land. I want to not want what I want, and want the things I don't. I want to be anything other than what I am.

I wake up in the morning and put on my clothes, say hello to my neighbor, and away I go. My car is too small, I feel so cramped. My claws cut into the faux-leather on the steering wheel, and into the rubber pedals beneath my feet. I can't afford to fix the air-conditioning, and I'm choking on the heat. At work they greet me with pleasantries and a smile, and when I don't smile back, it's to their relief. They'll call me weird 'cause I don't fall in file, but I ain't allowed to smile, they're scared of my teeth. My clothes don't fit, made for someone smaller, 'cause they treat me like I'm small, though I was born taller. My skin itches wher

The blood warms, rushes to my face. A building pressure, behind my cheeks and nose, making the skin tingle, almost numb. My heart jumps, a sharp intake of plastic-scented breath, a mini-heart attack as the machine rolls through its cycles, bringing me back to life. They tell you it's cold, but that's like saying the desert is hot. You're never prepared for how extreme it is. Not until you actually are there. The warmth of the deep sleep is always a vile contrast to the clawing, cold air without, despite the heated air pumped through the chamber. Bitter, stale air, not unlike the same breathed into the pod's respiratory tubes. Ah, well, nice t

A dark amusement played across the smoke drifting lazily from Winchester's barrel mouth, a soft chuckle after the fire-streaked bark of laughter. Two more of those laughing booms, sparks dancing in front of its mouth like golden confetti in the pale, piss-yellow glow of the streetlight just down the end of the block. Across, a man fell against the pavement, half onto the pooling black of the road and half onto the sidewalk. Those concrete panels seemed to glow when he touched them, lighting up like a disco floor, like in that Micheal Jackson music video. ... Billy Jean is not my lover... Slumping against that silver light below, the man clu

A winding road, stretching through the foothills of strong, silent pines standing in staggered rows, like an army. A waxing moon, glaring down, a heavy-lidded eye watching from the star-speckled night. A soft cling of metal as a lantern swayed with the steps of its owner, the soft yellow glow a meager challenge to the onslaught of leaden darkness. The man walked deeper into it, lantern-topped staff tapping away against the packed dirt as a cool breeze caressed his warm body like a wanton whore. Tap. Tap. Tap. Steady, eternal, like its bearer. Kahest had traveled far from the little shop in Halain. A pleasant city, fraught with the unnatural.

Still and sullen, they crowded around the fire, the seven that were left. The crackle of the burning wood was the music to which the smoke and flames danced, the only bit of joy to fend off the overwhelming darkness of the moonless night. The marshes were as still and quiet as the men, tendrils of fog creeping through the forlorn trees and around their legs, like some monster seeking to pull them off into the night. Doubtless, were that the case, none would resist. All spirit within the knights was gone this night, fled as surely as the sun giving way to evening. Logan looked up, across the burning pit, to the brave warriors he once called h