Sybil looked in the bag. Then she looked back at Todd. “Holy shit,” she said. “Are you crazy? Where the hell did you get this kind of money?” Todd took the bag back and rolled up the top. “As I said, as acting executive of the Mackey Home, this money is mine to dispense as […]

Sybil first met Corey in the alley behind the Cheri Lounge, where she had been working for a couple of years. It was the same day the Phenomenon occurred; the entire state was in an uproar. There was speculation that the overnight appearance of a city on the mountain signaled the apocalypse, or an alien […]

It was a shabby little diner. And it was the wrong part of town for four kids to be in at this time of night. Or any time, really. But it seemed that I was the only one aware of these kinds of details, the others having lived their whole lives in the home. I, […]

She was sitting in her chair, doing her knitting, and listening to the preacher on the radio. She had been listening to the man for years. She had by now forgotten (or mostly forgotten) that she started out listening to him because she thought he was vaguely ridiculous, and she enjoyed chuckling at his inanity. […]

We had a great breakfast that morning. At the home, we would get a breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs once a month. Pancakes were less of a rarity — we would have them once a week or so. But that day we had both, plus oatmeal and juice and English muffins, which were usually […]

I have to begin this story where I can. It isn’t the beginning of the story; it’s the first day of my life that I really “remember”— in the common sense of the term. It’s the day I left the home. It was also the day the Phenomenon occurred, as well as being the day […]

Corey was there, in a vast city square that glowed with its own light. White structures with domed towers surrounded the plaza on three sides. The fourth side sloped away to the shore of a small mountain lake. The air was sweet and clean. There was a fountain there, blasting water into the air in […]

  It was a bit past two when we reached my shop. Reuben looked tired and discouraged.   As well he might be.   We departed Michel’s company about half way back from the town with the incomplete tower. Our paths branched at that point; I could make out a quicker route home than returning […]