I seethed with repressed anger, waiting with my parents at the gate for Lufthansa flight FL401 to board. Scowling, thinking, I hate you, Mom, for agreeing to this. I hate you, Dad, for telling Mom, “It will be a good experience for her.” I hate you, Uncle Jack and Aunt Betty, for offering to host me for the summer. Thanks for f@#king my summer! I hate you all. Uncle Jack was Dad’s brother. A career U.S. Air Force officer,...

My three daughters playing peacefully on the floor, I sit back on the living room couch with my laptop, pondering about the theme of the latest competition announced in StoriesSpace. ‘Are they looking for a complete story within the limited timeframe announced? Or a story around the theme?’ I decided on the latter, struggling with how to begin. The cursor continues blinking while nothing comes to mind. “Please,” I cry out...

In the far, far distant future, on a cosmological time scale unimaginable and incomprehensible to humans, the remnants of humanity evolved from the corporeal to beings of photonic energy, and finally after uncountable eons, to lives of spirit, residing only in the quantum field of consciousness. Not only did humanity change, but so did the universe in which they were formed. They witnessed the star they called Sol burn th...

The Ice Storm Warning is ominous. Ice accretions of 0.25 inch to 0.5 inch are expected. Hazardous road conditions will exist during the morning commute. Ice accumulations will bring down trees and limbs. Power outages are likely due to downed utility lines. However, amid the chaos brought on by the storm, a natural beauty can be found. Freezing raindrops hang from the branches and trees. Glittering against a background of...

‘Is conscience a quantum field? Is the essence of those who have passed preserved? Are they truly gone? The present fading and finally disappearing into an infinite past as the arrow of time moves forward?’ I recall my quantum physics classes and ‘The Conservation of Information,’ and ponder the questions as I struggle with the loss I’m experiencing. ‘Do animals even have a conscience? Are they self-aware?’ For fourteen y...

The ringtone on my cell phone chimed. It was a message from Paul, my new boyfriend. It was strange calling him a boyfriend. I’ve known him for some two years as simply a ‘friend.’ Actually, it has only been a few weeks since that first kiss on the frozen shore of Royal Lake and the beginning of this budding relationship. It was going to take a little bit longer to get used to referring to him as ‘boyfriend.’ My mind brief...

Vallon, my best friend, and I sat on the couch, mesmerized by the blanket of whiteness covering the woods behind us. Through the snow-covered branches, I could see Royal Lake, frozen over. The 4.1-mile path surrounding it was invisible, obscured by the eight to ten inches of heavy snow that had fallen Sunday night and into Monday morning. The scene was pristine, idyllic. Picture-perfect. Knocking on the front door awakene...

Anxious minutes pass as I awaited the results of the tests. My mind flirting with all the possibilities. Am I or am I not? My heart starting beating again when the doctor confirmed what I already knew. I was pregnant. Again. Not the first time I had heard the words, “You’re Pregnant.” The first time was a dream come true. Now I had to imagine my life with another child. Already the mother of one, how would I be as a mom o...