They took no notice of the slow, insidious change taking place around them.

The woman sitting next to him smelled of fried food and Dane's thoughts soon focused on French fries, burgers, hash browns and bacon as the train bumped along, still miles from their destination.

Rebbecca looked up at the sunset and realized that there would never be another exactly like this one and that this single moment in time would soon only be a memory.

They wondered what the night would bring.

Their incessant teasing of Tadpole Jones only steeled his will for independent thought.

In his vision Daniel saw his inner being, a small creature stripped of all the pretenses of society.

They stocked up on liquor and filled the bathtubs with water.

Once I dined with kings, but now I had become a pariah, forced to seek sanctuary where I could.

Working in the ER he knew just how tenuous life was, but refused to stop living his as if it would last forever.

They ran roughshod over everyone in pursuit of their one true god: power.

The fear rushed through him and without realizing it he had hit the gas.

I stood at the phone box, her final words rolling through my mind as the snow swept around me.

It wasn't until many years after Janey left her home that she realized she had never truly known or understood it.

For Chip the days seemed to be moving faster, as if he was a skydiver with a busted parachute blazing earthward.

They passed in the hall, their eyes meeting as if for the first time.

In the light of day things seemed less confusing, but he was still alone.

The farmhouse mailbox was like a lonely widow, waiting.

It began wit a few titters, but within seconds laughter filled Mrs. mcCady's classroom and total pandemonium was close on its heels.

What he saw that night scared Tony so much he left the game for good.

It was a love affair with a gun to its head.

Juggling lies was becoming so difficult it forced Joe to turn to the truth now and again just to clear the air.

Steve could smell the poverty on them, was reminded of his childhood and hated them for it.

Sometimes, sitting at her desk, she would pretend she was at an airport waiting for a plane to whisk her away.

The lilacs bloomed near the doorstep, their perfume banishing all else.

We kissed in the shadow of the abandoned factory.

They met at the crossroads that moonless night both half expecting the other to have horns and a forked tail.

She was a placid shore that hid a deadly undertow.

Their belching and ribald talk needled Dwyte into action.

I didn't recognize him until he gunned me down.

There was a small stinging sensation and then nothing but bottomless black.

Tom believed a good lark was worth the regret.