Explore The Horizons

"Downfall"  "We need to leave, the noise will wake him up." The tension in his brother's voice wasn't cause for alarm. That wasn't the point even if Cloud and Patches didn't notice it. Not what we want, right? Because of his accent, Cloud nearly never came off as genuine. Ash saw his brother give Cloud a knowing glance. "In the morning, we don't mention any of this." Asserting, "Consider my lips sealed," Cloud said.  "I hope they stay that way," Patches mumbled.  Those are my exact words: "I heard that." She sighed, "Already breaking your promise..."  As soon as the door banged shut, Ash sat up, listening to their hasty retreat, and stared at the doorway as if it were responsible for his disappointment. Ash felt stupid being dissatisfied even though the occurrence had occurred at least three times in the previous week. However, his eyes shifted from the door to the palms of his gloved hands.  The ...

"Coffee and Sun"   Samantha sat languidly on the café sofa, savoring her cappuccino in a theatrical fashion. She looked at her target with a grin on her face, watching his impatience increase. Samantha had mastered the technique of building suspense over the course of her career. Keeping someone under complete surveillance was impossible in any other way. It was an art form, and so demanded precision. The smallest stutter or misspoken word could completely derail the situation. One must be so subtle as to be formless, as Sun Tzu put it, but luckily for us, Samantha was the goddess of subtlety. A man sat before her, growing increasingly restless in the awkward pauses. Nico, a man whose life was defined by his frustration and ambition, was a long-time friend of Samantha's. The subtle shaking in his leg was a warning. Now was the moment to act, so she started unraveling her story. When she began, "It's about Bonnie," Sam's eyes narrowed in concentration. Th...