It has been a killer week. Finishing my second single malt of the evening, I decided to head home. As I exit the building the air hit me square in the face, hot, thick, and heavy. It reminded me of the Scotch I’d just enjoyed. How poetic, I laugh. Taking a deep breath I could smell rain, possibly a storm was coming. Shit, I needed to stop by Kroger on my way home. Nothing I dislike more than dealing with the rude, vacant...

“Damn, Shit, Fuck!” I shouted, banging my hands on the steering wheel and shaking my head from side to side, my long hair flailing, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” My car had just slid off the goddamn icy road into a ditch and it was getting dark. Now, what? I sighed, knowing my cell phone was dead. I had lost the charger and was going to get a new phone when I got home. "Who knew I'd slide into a fucking ditch," I muttered to myself...

I am sitting in a random Starbucks in Orange County, found with my trusty smart phone app. I"m not really reading the report I'm supposed to be finishing, just looking around at the people here. A few cute women smile at me when they catch me looking, but so far nobody seems that interested in sharing my table. Then I notice you: pretty honey-colored hair, shoulder length, wearing sunglasses indoors, like you're trying no...

In hindsight I wish I'd taken a taxi. I put that particular error of judgement down to the silly amount of Zinfandel I'd drunk with colleagues after the training course had finished, but it was pointless doing anything about it now as the station was only another ten minute walk away. The summer solstice was supposed to be the high point of long, lazy summer evenings with an almost never setting sun happily dragging dayli...

I honestly thought that, after two years of commuting into the city for work, I'd experienced it all. Until that was, the afternoon of the points failure. Now that was an afternoon that will live long in the memory. Sorry, I'm getting a little ahead of myself, let me back track a little. I'd been traveling on the train to work for quite some time. You get to see the same faces day in, day out, but you never speak, never a...

1 - The Beach Katie "The fire island paradise with breath taking landscapes and a climate envied the world over." Having been here a week with Linda and Kirsty, I couldn't dispute a word the Lanzarote guidebook had said. Kirsty had just broken up with her boyfriend and had enticed Linda and I to book two weeks away to help her get over it all. We'd booked a villa on the Jardines Del Sol in Playa Blanca on the southern tip...

Veiled in shade, lying in wait, she advances into the light, She shows her face, and draws near. Sunbright and passionate, she dances, shining and sharp and flashing her jaws. She summons me to her and I dare not refuse her beauty, cannot decline such a simple request... Dressed in a blackened carapace of cobwebs, and once silver silk, lost again and very virgin, gifted with backbreaking grace and abandoned by human laws,...

It was just another normal day in the cheese aisle when I first noticed her. Customers came and went as normal buying all manner of chilled foods. The queue at the deli ebbed and flowed as people clamoured for cheese, cold meats and fresh pizzas. It was my job to manage the staff and ensure all the shelves were fully stocked. In hindsight I didn't pay too much attention the first time, but after four days of seeing her vi...

It was a band I had wanted to see for ages and finally they were in the UK. I had got a ticket quickly as I thought they would sell out but none of my friends or my wife wanted to go so I was there alone. I was not keen on the support act so I headed to the bar and got a drink before the rush then found a spot in a quiet corner. As I sipped my drink and looked at my phone I spotted an attractive lady, who looked a few yea...

The Fisherman After a full day of sun, I started thinking about what trouble I might get into that evening. I had enough of the dive bars Jane and I had been going to all week. There didn't seem to be any place to dance on this island. No easy relaxed places where you can get close to your partner, with no one smashing into you holding their beer bottles or pink cocktails. I walked to the edge of the surf and watched the...

This novella is an experimental writing collaboration by TheGulfCoaster and runnergirl. The story has two perfect halves, a male and a female side, which fit together as one. Runnergirl will reveal Emmy's feelings and tell the tale through her perspective, whereas TheGulfCoaster writes from Robbie's. The two stories share mutual dialogue and action where the characters intersect and thus this is a unique venture. Only by...

She stood next to me, a short girl of 5' 2". Her dark brown hair, almost verging on black was covering the majority of her face. She was hiding her beauty away from the world tonight. This was a gathering for a friend's father who had recently passed. All of his friends had come in support of his family. His father was a famous man- but it was still a shock at the number of people who were in attendance. There really wasn...

Just a little something to tide everyone over until the third installment of the Meeting Derek and Jackie series is complete. As always this is a true story. Jay was having a rough day. Working in IT for a large midwestern bank often had headaches. Today was more like a migraine waiting to happen. The day started with the company issued mobile phone ringing as he stepped out of the shower. Still dripping wet he looked at...

The cool air rushed over him as he plunged into the darkness. This was Jake’s favorite time to run. The darkness heightened all of his senses and he felt like he was floating. As he glided through the side streets on his way to the waterfront, he could hear the traffic and people on the main street. To his surprise, he also heard a woman’s voice call out from one of the dark side alleys. He decided to angle over to invest...