novella

I had this guy__ file pulled this morning, along with the rest of your neighbors. His name is Desperado.__ause. A few seconds passed. He was waiting for my reaction.__id you say Desperado?_ I couldn__ stop the snort of laughter that bubbled to the surface. __eah,_ the Director confirmed. __e changed his name when he turned eighteen. It was Melvin.__ was still laughing. ___ause Desperado is so much better than Melvin.

Joseph, you__e out of clean towels._ Lucia poked her head into the living room, the rest of her hidden behind the wall. Her red hair dripped water onto my wooden floors.__he__ in the buff._ Jenna guffawed. Gabriella rolled her eyes, beaming.I rose. __o back to the bathroom. I__l bring you a towel,_ I ordered Lucia. She disappeared down the hall.__ou have naked angels running around your house,_ Jenna continued through her laughter. Gabby laughed louder.

Ah yes, now you__e beginning to feel it. It__ so satisfying to see my best efforts coming to fruition. Undoubtedly one of the most gratifying rewards of my profession. It would warm my heart__f I had one.

Help me out,_ I pleaded. __ou__e left me alone to deal with this situation, and now we__e being dealt the consequences.__ swore I heard Tom growl. I actually pulled the phone from my ear to stare at it to make sure it hadn__ turned into a tiny lion.

How ya doing?_ Gabby__ face came into view, and she grinned down at me. She__ stopped doing her healing thing, and the pain rushed in.____ just peachy,_ I quipped, throat scratchy. __nly hurts when I breathe or blink or exist, if I__ being honest.

History is not a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken, but rather, a glorious tale which I wish to be cast in.

The little queen lived in a world where the sky swirled like the sea and nothing was itself for very long. Everything looked to be in brushstrokes.

Kiana loved birds," Breena told him late one dusky evening. "When she was just a few summers old, she would run beneath them as they flew, her chubby arms stretched out as if tmo take flight alongside them." She sniffed and wrapped her arms around her stomach. "A few weeks before the attack, she told me that she was still going to fly one day. 'I look at the birds, and I see freedom,' she said. 'To soar above the hurt of the world, to be too high for the wars of men to touch you: that is what it means to fly.

It__ complicated,_ I said in defense, hands going up to show surrender.__alk slowly,_ Jenna retorted derisively.__kay, I deserved that,_ I admitted.

I__ not your boyfriend!_ I snapped, trying to gently move her hands away from my body.__ow can you say that?_ Sara asked in horror.__t__ shockingly effortless,_ I replied. __y vocal chords vibrate, and my mouth and tongue articulate. I can even do it without thinking._ I had to remind myself to stay calm, and sarcasm was the best way to do that.__hen are you going to give me a key to your house so I don__ have to knock like some guest?_ Sara asked, coming at me again.I backed away. __ow about never? Is never good for you?__ara, undeterred, said, __ou__e the reason I go to therapy on Fridays.___he plot thickens!_ Gabby exclaimed for comedic relief.

Prose before hoes, muthafucka! I__l be right over.

Self-awareness is the most overrated trick in the book. More than ambition, more than free will, more than getting on to the property ladder early. Right now I should be at the Little Hills, you probably just call them the Hills, right?

Evil people can still keep promises. Many have done just that, girl, though they are usually not promises you __ational_ people wish them to keep.

Hunter and hunted. There are so many ways in which a man can destroy a woman._ Her handmaid sighed. __hen it comes to matters of the heart, immortals know nothing.

She pressed his amulet to her lips, then let it fall on its chain to rest between their two bodies. __e could leave here,_ she said to him. __e could run away together.__e frowned at the stars, the bubble of peacefulness that had settled around them after their lovemaking now ruptured. __ run from nothing and no one.

Ari's words felt like drops of sunlight upon my skin, and my frame was burning with longing.

Fort somehow turned the symbol of nerdiness into a visual aphrodisiac__panish fly in the form of solid black frames.

She might not have read many books. But when she reads a book, she swallows the very words. If you open the books on her shelves, you will find that the front and back covers encase white pages.