James Pyles's Blog, page 169
January 29, 2018
Lucy Died on a Tuesday
Train roll on, on down the line, Won’t you please take me far away? Now I feel the wind blow outside my door, Means I’m, I’m leaving my woman at home. from “Tuesday’s Gone” Released by Lynyrd Skynyrd – 1973 Songwriters: Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins Jonathan Harker had boarded the Amtrak train hours […]
January 28, 2018
Walking in the Clouds
She was lost in the fog wondering how she had gotten there. The last thing Ana remembered was playing during recess at school. No, that wasn’t right. School had ended and she walked home. Was it foggy when school let out? No, it only gets foggy in the morning and only on some mornings. “It’s […]
Stone and Time
“Gross.” Eight-year-old Jillian looked at the statue of the naked man and woman kissing. “Is this your Grandpa’s?” “Yeah.” Tory looked down at the ground embarrassed. “He inherited the cabin from Great-grandpa but the will said the statue had to stay.” When Tory invited his best friend from school to spend the weekend in the […]
January 27, 2018
The Bristol Connection
Ian Dennis didn’t look like a spy, which worked to his advantage. Although the MI6 man fancied himself a “Sean Connery” type in his youth, he was now middle-aged with thinning blond hair and a bit of a belly paunch. No one gave him a second glance as he walked into the newly reopened St […]
January 26, 2018
Touching
“Don’t touch me.” “I like you Clarissa. Can’t we just hold hands?” “I…I don’t know, Brad. I don’t know if I feel…” Clarissa isn’t afraid of what she doesn’t feel but what she will if she lets Brad touch her. It didn’t happen all at once and it didn’t happen at all when she was […]
Getting the Stuffing Out
In our last adventure, Landon magically discovered what happened to the living stuffed animals but in the process, both he and his friend Ana were transformed into stuffed toys and trapped in the stuffed animal universe. “Landon! What happened to me? What did you do?” “I’m sorry, Ana. I was trying to bring the stuffed animals […]
January 25, 2018
Long Climb to Sanctuary
The cities were lost to the Grendels and most of the human race was dead. The early news reports Neville Smith heard said that the disease had been introduced to Europe and the Americas by groups of refugees from Somalia, but the conspiracy theory websites released documents stating that something got away from the CDC […]
January 24, 2018
The Last Festival
“…I’m trying to erase you from my mind …you’re my religion and my belief…” This wasn’t Yunin Obia’s first pilgrimage to the Holy City for the Festival of Qet but it would be her last. Every devotee of the God Slaz was required to travel to the great city of Shilarbor once every year for […]
Stepping Back
“It’s not real.” The building and pier are quite real, Jonathan.” “But the scene inside the cafe looks like a painting, Raven.” “Simply step through the door as you did previously.” Jonathan Cypher walked toward the painting on the building in the English coastal town. Then there was an actual door and everything changed. “It […]
January 23, 2018
Primordial
The last place Christopher Sanderson expected to wake up was in a comfortable bed in a richly furnished and adorned room, though he was surprised to be waking up at all. Bright sunlight from the large open window on his right momentarily blinded him, but he welcomed the warm breeze, the rustling of tree branches, […]
