The flames leaped higher.

I rolled down the window slightly and let the cold night air blow against my face as I drove through the dark and for a second I was back there, a small kid sitting in the back seat, the lonely road ahead and the glow from my father's cigarette the only points of light.

Samantha's two favorite smells intermingled at Central Park, the woods and the city sidewalks after the rain.

Her sun dappled shoulders cried out to be touched.

He set the gun on top of the stack of bills and stared at himself in the mirror.

"Once we were all one family—us, the humans, dolphins and dogs—but all that has changed," the old one said as they moved through the line, the screams of the others hanging in the air like the red mist that covered everything.

While ringing a bell trying to solicit donations for a charity at the entrance of the supermarket Travis tried a number of tactics, from a simple smile to verbal threats, and to his surprise found that a salacious wink and a leer was by far the best ploy.