James Pyles's Blog, page 211

This Isn’t My Home Anymore

It’s all changing. My home, or what’s left of it, is barely recognizable. Hard to believe I grew up here. This used to be the field where I flew kites, played tag with my friends, where we ran around pretending to be superheroes. We sure could have used a few of those, but now it’s […]

Return to the Dark Realm

The Fourteenth Story in the Adventures of the Ambrosial Dragon: A Children’s Fantasy Series Landon was practicing using his invisible cloak, but without Buddy’s permission. It was Saturday and he was at the playground. While his Grandpa was sitting on a bench reading a book, Landon slyly pulled the cloak out of his backpack, walked […]

What I See When I Look At You

The contents of his uncle’s safe deposit box were arranged across Brian Vail’s desktop. He moved the monitor, keyboard, and mouse of his PC to one side to make room. He wouldn’t be using the computer because he already had. The notes, letters, drawings, and other minutia organized in front of him contained far more […]

Strange Sight

He sat on the sandy shore and stared up at the cliff. It would be the last thing he’d ever see. His peripheral vision was closing in on him. He could see the trees, the buildings, the tower, all through a continually narrowing tunnel. “I wish I could have seen your face one more time.” […]

Time’s Window

“Temporal Shift Unit is powered up, Commander Sharp.” Physicist Jamie Benjamin and her team had spent a week assembling the complex machinery in Gale Crater, which was believed to be one of Mars’ long dried up lakes. “If this device works as well as it did in the tests on Earth, we could very well […]

Seeing Means Changing

Police said that two people died in the car crash. It certainly seemed like they should have. Only I knew they originally did die, but then, I saw it happen yesterday, before it occurred. How do you stop a car accident unless you’re involved? Fortunately, one car was driven by an Uber driver and he […]

The Ghost of Natalie Edwards

If you haven’t done so yet, please read Tunnel Vision before continuing here. “I was against Ellis informing you this way, dear Brian, but he was insistant. He felt telling you of the family inheritance before he passed away would make you rather skeptical.” “That’s putting it mildly, Aunt Sharon. If Uncle Ellis had told […]

Tunnel Vision

“You should be relieved, Brian. Your vision is perfectly normal, which frankly is pretty extraordinary for a man of your age.” “Then what the hell is going on, Mallory? Why do I get these episodes or visions that make me feel like I’m going blind?” Brian Vail and Mallory Nelson had grown up together. They […]

Vengeance

The area around Hong Kong had so many cities and islands that when Sean woke up, he wasn’t sure he knew where he was. He got out of bed, went to the window of his hotel room and opened the curtains. “Ah, Adolfo’s yacht arrived last night. Good.” Adolfo rarely rose before ten and his […]

The Collector

Sidney Feldman finally acquired the crown jewel of his collection, an original Joyce, circa 1897, simply titled, “Woman Singing.” It had been taken from its Jewish owner by the Nazis in 1939. Feldman found it at an estate sale and knew immediately what he had. True, he could have returned it to the owner’s heir. […]