I pull into the parking garage of Ole Smoky Distillery much earlier than anyone should be arriving at a distillery, as I do nearly every day. In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, people come from all across the country to slip into one of our many moonshine distilleries and have a taste of the Smoky Mountains before noon ...

  Several Years Ago Forbidden. Denied. All his life, he felt a calling; something told him to seek out the knowledge hidden deep within the city. And then the voice started speaking, several years into running after the calling. The High Rulers’ Archive has the answer. And maybe it was unwise to follow a voice ...

Kelsey’s bouncing with excitement before I’ve even found a parking spot. As soon as I turn the wheel and start pulling into an open space, she unbuckles her seatbelt and picks up her purse from the floor by her feet. Her ability to find excitement in the most ordinary, mundane things in life is one ...

Casey stuck her tongue out in concentration, unwilling to take her eyes off the screen. A poke in her ribs had her recoiling from the touch, but she refused to give into Jonas’ distraction tactic.  “Keep your hands to yourself,” she told him.  As her character rounded a sharp corner on the race track, she ...

Watching television at Geeta Madam’s home makes me happy, especially since Ma and I don’t have this lively box. We live in the slums behind these grand homes of the Safdarjung colony of New Delhi in India. I sit on the floor waiting for film characters to do their magic. Ma will be busy for ...

In the quiet of the room, every small sound echoed in Gavin’s ears. The tick-tick-tick of the clock, heels clacking on the marble floors of the courthouse, his brother, Marcus, chewing his fingernails on the opposite side of the wide oak table. Gavin ran his hand lightly across the wood, admiring the grain pattern and ...

He laughed. “Not enough family drama for a first date.” I raised an eyebrow. “My parents dying isn’t enough drama for you?” He reminded me of a cartoon in that moment and I thought his eyes would pop out of his head,

In the middle of the room, the only space with bigger than a foot of space to walk, Luna was on top of an unbalanced pile of chairs she stacked herself so she could finish her painting on the ceiling. Looking down on her were the intricately painted faces of her friends: Harry, Ron, Hermione, ...

Jerry’s mom had used the opportunity to get in front of us and slammed her brakes almost at the exact same time Isaac did. It was like he had prepared for her to hit the brakes as they stopped in sync. The five of us shot forward as he hit the brakes to avoid a ...

"...At least this way I can actually drive a stolen car and get away with it,” He joked.