“Here you go!” I look up to see Jessica in front of me; she holds two tall glasses of iced frappe coffee with straws in her hands. Her left hand extends to offer one of them to me, which I accept in silence. She sits in the hammock chair opposite mine and sips her coffee ...

Sobs ripped through Sofia’s chest as she fell back into the hot, white sand. Mama and the babies were inside. Inside. Dad was still at the pool when the concrete mammoth slammed to the ground. The beach was full of people. She couldn’t focus. Wails and shrieks swirled around her, muffled and distant. The guy ...

The Old Woman ran her fingertips over the dead leaves, then clenched her hand into a fist, and clawed at the drooped plants. Water dripped out of the hose on the dry ground beside her. A strong breeze rustled from beyond the garden fence. They stood in the distance. Without her glasses, they were blurry ...

Once we arrive at the path leading up to Jessica’s house, I can see the clear blue ocean below the hill, with the olive trees dotting the beach. My mind tries to remember when I saw and smelled them. But the recent revelation overshadows any calm I felt before it. We enter Jessica’s glass house ...

Sophia frowned when she heard a loud bang. A storm? She squinted up at the clear sky but saw nothing but blue. The horizon revealed no military jets making practice runs with their telltale glints and smoke trails. She turned to look for a rogue thunderhead and saw black smoke billowing from a balcony on ...

As Nia walks down the hallway, she overhears Mr. Chav’s voice followed by two other unknown voices. Some of the words she hears are “dinner” and “kitchen.” Those must be the other guests Mr. Cash invited to the castle with Chav in the dining area. I think I can return the key and then come ...

“So, Derek, first you want to heat the pan to medium,” said the lady on the TV with the too-big hair. Simon watched through dull eyes as she plopped a large saucepan onto a stove and lit the flame.  He pulled at the scratchy T-shirt his mom had given him to change into. Bright green ...

I fail to notice that I have fallen bottom first on a rock with my legs stretching out; the shock is immense. I sit in a daze while Jessica Galton and Fizz look at me. After a minute of silence, Jessica Galton smiles at me and says, “I’m sorry for the unexpected surprise; this is ...

Esme stared out at the water from her poolside lounge chair. She remembered loving the wicker seating when she found The Paradise online, but now the rigid weave dug into her thighs. She sensed Marcus’s eyes boring into her from a few chairs away and refused to look at him, her grip tightened on the ...

Once she locks the door, Nia puts her clothes back in her suitcase. Afterward, she blocks the closet door and sits on the edge of her bed. What the hell was that all about? A woman I never met before pops out of the closet! Thank God I didn’t undress when she came in. Does ...