Some Things You Can’t Hide

“It don’t look too bad,” Steven said over the wind blowing through the windows of the blue and rust Chevette.

“What do you mean by ‘too bad’? Is Mom gonna notice it or not?” Dan divided his attention between the road, his kid brother in the passenger seat, and the rear view mirror.

“Oh yeah. You ain’t hiding that.

Somewhere Out There

Cheryl Watson sipped from a corrugated paper cup. It wasn’t that good—just what the hotel provided with the coffee maker—but it was hot and it woke her up. She stood on the room’s balcony overlooking the pounding surf. The windows provided a great view of the beach but the torrents of rain beating against them through the night had made sleep impossible.

Bound By Silence: A Bitter Draught

The crystal wine glasses redirected and amplified the light from the lamps around the room. Faithe sighed to herself as she realized the burgundy glow from the glasses around each setting looked like blood stains on the white cloth covering the table.

Bound By Silence: Bygones In The Street

Dust rose from the cobbles along with the day’s heat. The casks on the tilting cart were dangerously close to falling. A gang of workers struggled to lift the cart and repair it while the teamster calmed the horse harnessed at the front. The frightened animal had sidestepped when the left wheel had failed and slewed the rig to the right blocking the whole street. It wasn’t long before a crowd gathered to watch and tempers began to flare.

Bound By Silence: Catching Up

“Thomas!” Faithe rose from her chair and ran across the room. “I am so glad you came. You’ve been gone far too long.” Her embrace brought the smell of roses to Thomas’s nose—not cloying like with their mother, but fresh and clean. “Come sit. Collette, please have Mags send more tea and breakfast.” The serving girl left the room through the door Thomas had entered.

Bound By Silence: Arrival

The cloaked figure slowly walked the narrow street heedless of the fog and the dark between the widely spaced  and guttering street lamps. The steady soft clip that accompanied each footfall on the cobbles echoed slightly between the cramped buildings and faded into the sound of the almost-slumbering city—the muted voices of the dock workers as they drank