CTEST

Celebrating thirty-one years.

Celebrating thirty-one years.

In the motel bar, we pretend not to notice each other. We’ve been careful. But the night manager knows.

The crowd swaps partners on the small dance floor before going home to whatever keeps them coming back here.

Her boss’s presence is palpable. The dim lights find his ...

In shadowed corners, whisp’ring nights
A touch, a spark, we come alive
We meet in secret, dimming lights
Two hearts learning how to survive

Blazing fire to a steady flame
A love once veiled now fills the ...

I want to know you, make you mine.
I think about you, all the time.
If you’re ready, just let me know.
It’s our time, just let it go.

Your face, your smile,
A perfect picture, static style.
I love ...

She walked in unnoticed, shaking rain from an umbrella. A Victorian home. Lightning flashing through the windows. Why tonight?

She knew them all—except one. A quick glance, just out of curiosity. He looks young.

“You made ...

Fate shines in the harsh glow of the spotlight.

Aiden Davies pushed against the turnstile at the train station on his way to the community center. He’s a volunteer. He doesn’t work anymore.

My memory is dry,
gray dust in the back of my mind.
There once were trees,
towering, breathing things,
a dark green canopy against a blue
that has long since faded to a dirty white.

There was a woman.
They say she had a child.
A soft voice that feels borrowed,
like ...

Maren felt her pulse quicken. All her life she’d been cautious. She’d gotten good at being alone.

The lab at midnight was quiet, with only long, slow exhalations from the cooling fans and the soft tick of the spectrum analyzers. The signal felt like ...