“I’m sorry, but we just don’t know.” That phrase, and its myriad variations, was one I’d heard a lot in the past three months. That’s how long Liz had been in her coma. She was driving home late from her office, and then… something happened. Her car went off the road and flipped multiple times. The injuries were severe; multiple broken bones, internal bleeding, a lacerated liver, and more. A traumatic brain injury had pla...

“You didn’t know it was a costume party either, huh, Henry?” Even through the noise, I’d recognize that voice anywhere; I turned, wide-eyed, towards its source. “Tabitha?” My old gaming buddy grinned broadly at me, then launched herself into my arms. “When did you get back into town? Are you living here now?” She pulled back and looked up at me, green eyes bright through those thick-ass glasses. “Sort of? I’m moving back....

We didn’t hang out. He didn’t call. I didn’t text. I’d say that I didn’t wait by the phone, but it's the 21st century; it stayed glued to my hand as I doomscrolled Twitter and compared myself to people on Instagram. Was I putting myself in a good place mentally? No. Was I going to do something about that? Also no. In the spirit of making bad choices while being emotional, I decided to go to Roy’s. Not to get laid. Just to...

I never expected to be a barfly, but it turned out to be a pretty good life choice. Six-year-old Sarah expected to be a Disney princess. Hell, I looked like one; Snow White, to be specific: black hair, pale complexion, rosy cheeks, ruby lips. My eyes are green, but outside of that? We could have been twins. Unfortunately, my prince turned out to be moonlighting in a whole library of other women's stories. So there I was,...

When your big tiddy goth girlfriend wants to fuck in an abandoned church on Halloween, you make it happen. Naked as Eve in the Garden, Lilith presses her glorious pumpkin-sized tits against my chest. Claws scourge my back as I defile her atop the altar, and a wicked tongue spouts profane glossolalia at her second cumming. Then, my devoted supplicant kneels to await her anointing. With stroke after stroke, I paint her uptu...

Things were tense when we got home, less between my wife and me than between Travis and his mom. The two of them went out a few days later for a very, very long dinner. When they got home, both had been crying, but the tension had largely gone. Later that night, in bed, Allison curled up close to me and whispered. “Thank you so much, Luke. God, thank you. You’re such a good dad, and you’re a damned better husband than I d...

That wasn’t the last time that we had sex; far from it. If Allison felt the need, she would initiate, and I usually responded positively. If I felt the need, she never turned me down, no matter how tired she was. I was never cruel with her, always making sure that her body was ready with my fingers before we began, and she usually came at least once. But I used a condom every time, and we rarely fucked facing each other a...

Neither of us spoke at first; I was too stunned, and she too ashamed. Finally, I asked in a raspy voice, “Why?” Her gaze remained steadfastly away from mine. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Luke. I… He was dying. And I was so… the depression, it was crushing me. I couldn’t be home with Julie. I couldn’t be home with you. And every time I was there, I felt… disconnected. I felt guilty for not being home, and then when I was home...

It was a letter that upended my world. Not one of the “Dear John” variety; that would have been less painful. Nor was it a “We Regret To Inform,” but the sense of loss, while not as acute, was even more all-encompassing. No, it wasn’t a letter of the paper-and-ink kind at all. Instead, it was one of the many small sigils that make up those and many other missives, the second of the twenty-six characters that comprise the...

“You’re going to get caught.” Her voice startled me. I was at the bar getting a drink, doing the usual pre-game for Friday night out with the girls. There were five of us that night; there had been a sixth, but she had already found what she was looking for before we even got to the club, a tall blonde stud that oozed sex appeal. We all knew we wouldn’t be seeing her again until Monday morning at the office. Turning sligh...

Disentangling myself from Sam as gently as I could, I gazed down with sadness at her nude, beautiful body. She was smiling in her sleep; I’d let her have her happy dreams a little longer. A renewed sense of shame swept over me as I felt myself stiffen. I stood under the water, hands flat against the wall of the shower, letting the cold water sluice down my body. I’d long since cleaned my body; there had been, thankfully,...

“Matty!” The little blur of blue jeans and blonde hair slammed into me full force, leaping into my arms with the force of a small meteor. I staggered back into my tiny one-bedroom flat as I caught my kid sister, barely staying on my feet. She clung to me tightly, and, after a moment, I did the same to her. I had missed her so much since I last saw her at Christmas break. “Hey, Sammy.” I enjoyed the warmth of her petite bo...

She twirled around the pole, false enthusiasm on her face. She could have chosen a gem for her stage name: Ruby, Jade, or Sapphire. Perhaps a different virtue: Faith, Charity, even the popular but inaccurate Chastity. But looking out across the sea of half-seen faces, leering gazes that represented a new transmission for her car or books for school, or just another chunk for her nest egg, the young woman knew she’d chosen...

Marge was sitting at the small table, looking out the window and wringing her hands together. Her eyes were moist; not full of tears, not yet, but right on the verge. When she heard me enter, though, the first one slid down her cheek. “Charlie, baby. We need to talk.” That phrase never presaged a happy conversation. Everyone, man or woman, married or single, knows that. I knew it better than most. Sitting down in the chai...

“You could have stayed.” “You were fucking another guy!” Kelly regarded me coolly. “No, I fucked another guy. I shouldn’t have. I confessed, and I apologized. I begged you to stay and go to counseling so our family could stay together. What I did was wrong, unequivocally, and I was sorry I ever did it. Am sorry.” She looked away. “Will never stop being sorry.” “Yeah, you were so sorry that you did it for months, and then...