Love From Afar

Lauren

Bonfire

Photo: lizandryan.com

      By the time Lauren and Kat had arrived, the fire towered over the house. On the drive up the dirt road that pretended to be a driveway, it looked as if the home had been set ablaze. Fifty-three people littered the backyard with nothing guiding them but a roaring bonfire that marked the midpoint between Mark’s house and the utter darkness filled with a thick forest of soldier pines and bramble bushes. The house occupied another group of ten; a loud game of beer pong in the kitchen seemed to take precedence over the cleanliness of the abode. The kitchen was buried beneath plates and cups lined with crusted food and stagnant liquids. Red plastic cups dotted here and there, rank with the smell of warm keg beer. Kat parked her Toyota Tacoma in the front yard and started toward the house. Lauren followed quickly behind. Two men holding several red cups greeted them at the door.

Banished Hex

Photo: Terry Tabors/Dash Files

Prologue

Beyond the Volcanoes of Corallik, the wet mud and ash road finally broke at the edge of the barren plateau. A bottomless cavity stopped the four travelers from continuing their journey on horseback. The tired horses gave a temperamental whinny as the sheets of rain cascaded down from the dark skies; black clouds were momentarily ripped white by bright slashes of lightning. One of the weary riders, a colossal man with blue eyes, dismounted and looked through the storm. Beyond the precipice was a large and ominous tower, a spiraled structure of twisted metal stretched outward in a hazy gleam of grey metal.  Standing above the tower was a hooded figure no taller than a young boy. His grey beard, however, gave away his age. In his eyes was stillness, a red stillness that both welcomed and despised the wanderers’ approach.

Love From Afar

Ashlyn

Freak

 Photo: www.kurzweilai.net

      

      “I’m sorry, babe. I wish I could make it to your graduation, but I’m not feeling too hot.” Ashlyn sounded sad and sickly, her words separated by stiff coughs. She was twirling curls of her blonde hair with a slender index finger. There was a wicked crest smile on her face as she scrolled through her Facebook feed on her iPad.

Love From Afar

Troy

Changes

Photo: blog.sfgate.com

      I can’t believe I grew these things for so long, Troy thought to himself as he stood, head cocked to one side, in front the mirror in the downstairs bathroom of his two story apartment. He held a pair of titanium Clauss scissors with his left hand. Every three seconds or so, there would be a thick snip and a long snake of matted hair would fall into the marble sink below the mirror. Troy was cutting five year-old hair. Dreadlocks, or “locks” as he called them, were a symbol. Although he himself was not Rastafarian, he respected his father’s cultural beliefs. If Troy was to be honest, which he usually was, he would say that the religion of his pops was just another excuse to rebel and smoke pot. This day, however, was the beginning of something new.   

Love From Afar

Lauren

Peer Pressure

 Photo: www.inlist.com

       The club was large and dark. Music pulsated in rhythmic beats that had dancers heightened to the maximum level of lust. This place made the sweet and innocent shed their morals for a few hours of unadulterated ecstasy as colorful lights and lasers poked holes through the black noise. Bodies, sweaty with the friction of movement, pressed hard against other bodies as fingers groped at exposed flesh and tight clothing. As the disc jockey held up an index finger above his turntables, the crowd responded with a cascading climax of disappointing moans. This was the usual preface regarding the last song of Saturday night. A stream of the insatiable slowly made their way to the bar in hopes of cashing out under budget. A majority of the large crowd headed directly for the exit without saying a word. Others ignored the DJ’s gesture and continued to grind against their dance partners. Lauren, however, made her way to the bathroom.

Episode 51

It's been two years since we started the podcast! We celebrate with stories of holidays, graduations, special guests galore, and a New Year's Eve tale that's just "too philosophical." Stream from our site or download from iTunes!

Episode 50!!!

We did it! Welcome to Episode 50! Also on iTunes!