“Y-you were betrayed?” I ask with hesitation. Miss Jessica gives me a sad smile. “Yes, everyone deals with it at some point in life. Here’s how it happened. “Like you, I had an idol to look up to; her name was Mackenzie Billings. She’s known for her intense investigative journalism and dogged determination. All the ...

Jessica looks up at me and sighs, “I used to have role models in my youth, too. The problem is that you forget that you and that person are two different people, and even then, you don’t know the person that much. Heroes always disappoint when you get to know them. I’m sure I make ...

“Well, that about wraps it up, sir.” The young officer shut his notebook and returned it to his front shirt pocket, offering a curt nod as thanks. “Wait,” Marcus said. “Do you know anything? How did this happen? What’s the plan? My wife and two kids were inside–” The policeman lifted his palm in a ...

Esme’s vision narrowed, shadows pushing in from all sides. Her heart galloped and flailed at her ribs, almost as if it wanted out. She knew she was hyperventilating, but wasn’t able to catch her breath. She tried to remember the breathing exercises her therapist had taught her so many months ago, but panic drew a ...

Miss Jessica shakes the frappe in her hand for several seconds, then responds. “Tamara, I remember you as being a high-strung and introverted nature for your age, but an intelligent girl with big dreams. “When we first met at the social services office that afternoon, you didn’t talk to me for the first ten minutes.” ...

“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 ...

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 ...

“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 ...