Despised dreamers have always changed the world.

I stared at the keyboard, then the screen, then back to the keyboard, but still nothing came.

 Ezra had been happily haunting his former mansion for eons but now could get no rest as amateurs of all stripes (inspired by the slew of ghost-hunting TV shows) hounded him ceaselessly hoping to make contact.

Narcissism was our national disease whose virulence allowed us to export it easily.

Cat videos, it turned out, had their place in a world that had become increasingly chaotic.

The crack and crash of the trees was the first sign that the storm was anything but ordinary.

She never bothered pursuing her dreams, believing the soft-focus fantasy would always outshine the hard reality.

Today was the day he today was the day he would today was the day he would get today was the day he would get off today was the day he would get off the today was the day he would get off the merry-go-round.

Their small-time minds shared dangerous dreams.

Sometimes drudgery was the only solution for the weight of the world.

She often used to feel an intoxicating sense of wonder, but this, sadly, had been replaced by a spine-tingling sense of unshakable doom.

"We've become addicted to being entertained," my actor friend told me before sheepishly going on,"and I'm part of the problem."

My life was once defined by rock anthems and beer commercials.

Tad hated most things and loved letting everyone know it through his Internet trolling efforts, but never realized it was himself that he truly despised.

In the end, it was the giving spirit and unbending will of the common man that mattered and not the miserly and rapacious behavior of the lords of industry who mistakenly believed themselves superior.

The truth wasn't out there after all.

Our lives seemed to hum along one day no different than the next until the evening the man with the scar on his cheek and eyes as blue as a cloudless summer morning showed up at our door.

The malevolent spirits found a home in the capital.

Scanning the lavender sky just before sunrise I was filled with a renewed sense of the gifts life had to offer us if we were only brave enough to accept them.

The cooing of the mourning doves was almost as lonesome a sound as the whine of the train whistle.

In the waning light of the fire shadows leapt, stirring up ancient fears and the acute knowledge of being alone.

He stared at the white prison wall as if it was a movie screen and his memories a fantastic Hollywood fable.

Darkness fell suddenly like a heavy velvet curtain and smothered our laughter.

A deep sadness permeated the old woman and seemed to stretch out and affect those around her.

The Devil was fond of obfuscation.

The historians laughed at the politicians who scoffed at the people.

He stood at the ship's stern watching his homeland grow progressively smaller.

Evan—who thought of his life as a series of twisting alleyways filled with delights and terrors in equal measure—awaited with bated breath the next surprise around the corner.

In her mind the conversations she'd had with now long-dead friends continued unabated.

They taught us to read and write and yet we still couldn't communicate.

The torches and stakes were replaced with teleprompters and television monitors.