Steve and I have been together since elementary school. We grew up next door to each other and were inseparable. Toys were rare and precious, and there was no money for allowances or entertainment. We had to create our own, which included each other as we matured. We had a few friends but never let those friendships come between us. He was and is my best friend and the love of my life. There is no doubt in my mind that he...

I didn’t get any work done that day, nor did I sleep well that night. The following day was better, but by Saturday evening, I realized that I’d had no visitors, and I began to worry. I’d expected someone to come and try to talk me out of exposing Ella’s secret and, in turn, the community’s role in keeping it. That didn’t happen. No one came to talk to me about this or anything else. I thought about reaching out to someon...

“What?” I could barely believe my ears. Bob's revelation stunned me; he was not only complicit in hiding Ella's secrets, but he had convinced our neighbors, too? Bob nodded. “Not all of them. Some of them had already decided to… well, to do nothing, I suppose. Some of them just wanted to mind their own business. Others, like Mary Taylor, had their own reasons, and if their spouses weren’t already of the same mind, they mo...

I stood in front of the office building for almost an hour before he came out. Once, I had wronged him and ruined his life. Now, another had done likewise to me, in the same manner, and almost exactly twelve years apart. I don’t believe in karma, but a primitive part of my brain, the same one that made my ancestors ascribe noises in the dark to monsters and lightning among the clouds to gods, couldn’t help but link his fa...

A sense of joy and triumph filled Abigail when she turned off the main road and into the neighborhood. For the very first time in her twenty-three-years-long life, she was driving home—to her home. It was just a rental, a duplex at that, but her name, only her signature, was on the lease. Kim, her best friend since high school, college roommate, and all-around wonderful woman, had just gotten married. Abigail moved out, l...

Michael was sitting by his pool enjoying the feeling of the sun beating down on him. His backyard was his oasis. The manicured lawn, and the landscaping he had done with the bushes and trees, were all designed to make him feel like when he stepped out of his house, he was at a spa or fancy resort. It also helped, along with his very tall fence, to give him privacy from his nosy neighbors. If he wanted to swim naked, he co...

"And did you see what that little hussy was wearing?" One of the ladies said. "It is just scandalous! Imagine!" Another in the group said in agreement. I had just come home from work at the garage that day and Mom and a couple of the neighborhood ladies in the "Gossip Guild" were chattering away like a trio of angry squirrels. I didn't pay them much attention – I rarely do when they get a burr under their saddles like thi...