It was the end of the summer, which was one of the best times on the mountain. The air was still warm enough that no one needed to wear a coat and there were still a few weeks of life left in the world before the chill set in and all the trees that weren’t evergreens started to lose their leaves. To Christina, it felt as though she were walking through an insubstantial world of dust. While everyone else in town was holding on to the last vibrant breath of summer, Christina felt the onset of fall on every inch of her skin.

One April Morning
A BigCloset/TopShelf Story Challenge Presented By
Erin Halfelven

"Uncle Alek?" Christina pleaded. "Where are we? What happened to me?" Her thoughts, which had been sluggish and unfocused, were now racing in her mind as they processed the darkness and the intense pain.

Alek placed his hand on his niece's head and stroked her hair. "Tina," he said softly. "Tina," he repeated, this time commanding the girl's attention. "You are in the hospital. You have had an accident." Alek was fairly certain that "accident" was not the correct term, but that wasn't important right now. "You had an accident but you will be alright."

Christina nodded slowly. She felt completely disoriented and untethered to the world except for the feeling of her uncle's hand on her head. "It hurts," she winced.

"I know Sweetheart," Alek said as he reached for a plastic bulb hanging from a wire on the wall. He felt the button on its tip and pressed it, summoning the nurse.

id (Part 2)

Seeing Double
By Paul Calhoun

Kelly and Reg have been dating for awhile, but Ned is starting to worry that the elusive Starling is becoming too notorious. He's also worried that he and Kelly never show up in the same place. He can decrease the number of heists he pulls as Kelly, but she'll need her boyfriend's help to fix the second. The only problem is that she'll have to get him to do it without him knowing why!

I , Vera
By Paul Calhoun

A pair of engineers with a prototype hollow female robot covered in a sexy secretary skin hear the boss coming. By the time the night of over, they'll have heard him come in several different places.

Alek walked alongside his wife as they passed various vendors offering hot dogs, cotton candy, and all the other delights of summer found at the county fair. While everyone around him was having fun, he was in a particularly foul mood. Not only had Christina left Boris with him, soon after, the girl and her boyfriend had disappeared. Keeping a sharp eye on his daughter and her ginger haired boyfriend who were walking several paces ahead of them, he vowed not to lose another one of his girls.

"Am I supposed to act all flustered and nervous and all that?"

"No," Jack replied. "No offense, but I don't think you're that good an actor. But not to worry, we've already given them the story... And they've been told that you're kind of a ditz."

Author's note: After the discussion here about certain stories and websites, I could not stop myself! Enjoy! Apologies if this offends anyone, as my sense of humor can be odd at times.

Susie switched off the phone and gave me a triumphant grin. "I told you so, Jeffrey - a top-notch murder case has come hammering on our door."

"No, it hasn't. And I wish you'd be a little more discreet about our doings, Susie - Steve Spooner could easily get the wrong idea about us."

"Never mind that, Jeffrey - this is cosmic."

"Don't you mean kismet?"

"Cosmic kismet is what it is," Susie enthused. "I've already deduced the empty, old house has a Jones & Co For Sale sign in the garden."

"Conceivably."

"Indubitably - that's the scene of the crime dad was at. No wonder he's a worried man."

"If you're right, I suppose it could prove awkward for him - the property sort of being in his care."

"There's more to it than that - dad's up to his ear protectors in really big trouble."

"Not if he only discovered the corpse and reported it to the police."

"Step on the mental accelerator, Jeffrey - innocent folk don't just find dead bodies."

Twice As Mice
By Paul Calhoun

A pair of mice have to infiltrate a cat party and find out that this week's glamour girl cat wasn't going. You can guess what happens given this season's theme.

I nodded, so he went on. "You ever watch reality TV, Lou?" I shrugged. "You ever seen the cake shows?"

"Cake shows?" I repeated, puzzled.

Chapter *8.33*

Hop Boom Boom!

Although my ankle was still a bit swollen and I've got a few colourful bruises, with the Mittelrhein on at the weekend I couldn't really afford to miss another days training. As a result of such thinking I was up with the sparrows and by six thirty I was honking up the climb into Altenahr. The Mittelrhein is at least not a premier series event, just a regional event on the other side of the river so we get to experience the intricacies of the Westerwald's climbs.

A silly story about herbs.

What happens when the lamp you buy isn't the one you intend to buy?

A story inspired by a sketch with the annotation "girly lamp."

A friend of mine wrote this, he normally doesn't write TG stories, but upon reading this I knew it needed to be shared. It is definitely written tongue in cheek and don't let any of the tags turn you away from this story.

http://paddedquill.deviantart.com/

"Cold. So...very....cold."

"Oh come on Jim, you could've used a less cliché dieing line."

"Dude!" John nudged his unorthodox friend, "Show a little respect, he's just been hit by a freaking lightning bolt!"

"Oh please," Kyle laughed, "Jim's the main protagonist, he won't die."

"Ummm dude." The fourth member of the group, Gary, interrupted. "The story's just started."

"What?" Kyle turned around in confusion.

"The story's just started meaning there's been no character development yet and thus there is no protagonist."