He had raised his defenses so suddenly that it was like running into an invisible wall. And then he was gone, the space he left behind...

He sat on the worn floorboards, head bowed and hands knotted together as though trying to wring answers from the air.

The room was perfectly still, as if mocking her frantic search. “Where are they? I know I left them here somewhere!”

Each step forward was an echo of the conflicts she faced. She could attack or defend, begin or end. Sometimes, everything felt like too much

The coffee was lukewarm, but she didn’t care. It sat there, untouched, beside the open notebook. The blank pages stared back at her, as if t

“Welcome home,” I said, my voice a little louder than usual, but it felt good. Like I had said it with real meaning this time. Not a hollow

A short story by PenName Protection I had always been the type to notice the small things. A flicker of light in the corner of the room,...