Pet She wrote the single word at the top of the blank, unlined page in elegant cursive script. Stared at it. A single word, and yet one that held such power. Even just seeing it there, transcribed from thought into reality, made her stomach clench with a faint, raw revulsion. Nausea. The urge to wipe…
David Zhang was a well-built man of Chinese ancestry, with emphasis on the ‘built’. Just shy of 5’7”, he was short by Western standards but his muscles made him anything but small. Life on Christmas Island had been good to him, and daily routines of jogging, weight lifting, and physical labor had transformed the once-average…
“Sandrijn. Sandrijn.” Zhang had made good on his promise four hours after their encounter in the gym. Sanneke had returned from the seaside lunch with Jessica and the girls, dressed in a black spaghetti-strap tank top and a peach-pink skirt adorned with white hibiscus flowers. Jess had retired to catch up on email and check…
That walk. That saunter. Jessica would know it a mile away, if she were able to see it. Focused on the video conference that took up the entire real estate of one massive computer screen, she doesn’t notice the spectre in the background of her own feed until her wife is right behind her, and…
They said it wouldn’t hurt. Doctors always say that, especially dentists. Or sometimes it will only hurt “a bit” – as if they know what you will feel, where your nerves run, and how many of those tiny electrical impulses zap from your skin to your brain every second. No one ever tells you it’s…