Ivory was glaring at the dice, her eyes hard and narrow as if she thought it might change the roll.‘Let me see those,’ she said, the sound of her voice betraying her disbelief. She reached out. ‘Leave it,’ Boss said. He was on his knees, rubbing his face. Even so, by the sound of his voice, Billie didn’t think he was messing around. Ivory scoffed. ‘Do I look like a puppy you son of a bitch?’ ‘Snake eyes is snake eyes.’ Jeff said with a grin. Boss was glaring at the pips in disbelief as if th...

'Close enough.' A figure stepped from the shadow of a crumbling wall, a woman in black silks falling long over her thin frame. Freckled and pretty in the moonlight, her eyes were dark with more knowledge than her age seemed to justify. From within the folds of her wispy attire she was pushing forward a long rifle. Billie thought the woman looked too young to be pointing a gun at someone, but the hardness of her glare cast little doubt about her resolve. 'We're just checking out-' 'Don't st...

A cold wind rushed down from the ice tipped crags into the mountain valley, buffeting the two explorers peering at the stone and timber estate. The sky was a blue-black with faint stars that shone between late-sunset clouds. Dark and black shadows from clumps of trees formed an arc around the meadow, seeming to wrap around them. The sole way out: a trail ahead into ruins. Unless you're the type to turn back. Classia wasn't sure how she felt about that. ‘Summer breeze,’ she said, folding her arm...

Flickering Out Part III ‘Ugh,’ Jeff grimaced, coughing up some of the pungent water. Stringy pieces of saliva mixed with blood dripped from the corner of his mouth and into the swamp water. Billy crouched holding his chin. ‘What the hell happened?’ Jeff's voice was rough. ‘You tripped over one of those shoots when you looked back at me. You fell pretty hard. You're forehead is cut.’ She wiped blood away from the blooming welt, causing Jeff to wince in pain. ‘My head hurts and I'm soaked. Le...

Flickering Out Part II And now I’m with Jeff and his dice. 'It's said he won so much he must have been a cheat.' The pack on Jeff’s back moved from side to side a little as he hiked with Billie along the trail. ‘We’re about ten minutes from the last meadow. Once we cross through we should get there just about twilight.’ ‘It is a beautiful hike, these huge trees, big sky, all of this solitude. I’d build a cabin here too,' Billie said. ‘It’s no cabin we're going to see. It’s more like small m...

Flickering Out Part I It began with a bet. Classia didn’t plan on visiting Wyoming and certainly not Jeff. He was years behind her. Sure, they were friends one year when they happened to be in the same anthropology class. How many years has it been now? She couldn't remember and she had no idea what would posses him to call. How did he find me in Santa Cruz anyway? Does he Google names for old time sake? Maybe he sifts through Facebook posts. Classia avoided social networking with a vengeance....

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