CN: Torture, Colonization
I am so tired, but I roll my shoulders and re- focus on the task. I got this.
It’s my fault. I was the one who decided that reading until I got sleepy would be the answer to last night’s restlessness. That never works; I just stay up late reading. Maybe I should grab a protocol manual next time. That should do the trick. Continue reading “New Fiction: Career Change”
I get to live forever…well…for a really long time. That was, after all, the crux of the deal. It’s why I sought Jonas out. And like the fool he knew I would be, I hadn’t asked him what the catch was. Don’t get me wrong – there would have been a catch even if I had asked. I know what happens when you make deals with the devil, ask favors from genies, wish on a Monkey’s Paw. But that’s part of their magic – they make you think you’re the one – the one person in all of history – who could game the system.
“Ugh. Are you thinking about our deal again? Boring!”
I hate him.
Jonas circles around me again. “So, who’s it going to be this time, Shalini?”
Random flip through the writing prompts book landed on “What was your first kiss like?” I don’t like writing romance, so I twisted it through the lens of speculative fiction, but still ended up in the middle of a love story. I let it sit for a few weeks on my hard drive, unattended, unloved (take that, romance story!). But tonight I’m going to a speculative fiction open mic and I wanted to have a story completed for that, so last night I threw on some headphones and made it happen. Still not sure if I’m in love with my romance, but the story has been told.
First Kiss
Michael smiled when he saw him. Jim was everything he could want for his first conshare. They say the melding of minds can’t be described – that it has to be experienced – but Michael had spent countless hours imagining what it would be like when he would finally take Jim into his arms. There would be no awkwardness or hesitation, just a soft kiss that would deepen until they began to fall into each other’s thoughts and dreams. He wondered how far he and Jim would allow each other to go. Jim usually displayed a cheerful optimism, but Michael sensed a sadness in him, a complexity that would paint their conshare with a rich velvet undertone that could stay with him for days afterward. Or perhaps longer.
