Stories

Another episode from the files of Detective Gennaro Saggio. Detective Saggio is off for the fourth of July. Simon Gallagher, his partner, is copied on the murder email this time around.

Prompt #9 - Creative scene by @wildone

You run into school knowing you are late, again. You quickly stop at your locker and ditch your jacket and grab some books. As usual the halls are quiet during classes. You dash to your classroom, open the door and start on your explanation and stop. No one is there. No teacher, no other students. You leave and look at other classrooms, all empty. You check your phone and it is actually a school day and not a holiday or anything else. What's happening?

Book 3 in the Jacksonville Jaunts series centers around Bart Hamilton. Bart was once a teammate of Carlo Marini's on the cross-country team. Even as a senior in high school, Bart was unsure of his sexuality. He waffled between thinking he was gay, bi, and periodically straight since his early teens. It wasn't until after he turned thirty-four before his feelings were cemented on the gay side of the fence. That was when a man named Noah Hankins changed his life for good.

It's a common belief that places can be haunted due to things that occurred there. This seems especially true for prisons, hospitals, and hotels. As I have done before, I thought it would be interesting to tell a story from a unique perspective; this time, a haunted hotel story, but from the hotel's most notorious room's perspective. So, once again, this is an anthropomorphic story. We'll get to experience some of the nasty things that happened in room 606 of the fictional Memphis-Mississippi Hotel. We will experience what the room witnesses. Witnesses, or is the room itself an active participant?

Domenico Martini is entering high school at a boarding school, necessary due to circumstances from earlier that summer. He learns a lot about school subjects, life, himself, and a whole lot more. He'd always liked boys more than girls, but never had a chance to do anything about it - maybe not totally gay, and he wouldn't be sure if you asked him about it, until arriving at the school, that is.

This story originally appeared elsewhere. It has been updated to make the characters meet GA's guidelines. Additional enhancements may appear as I go through revamping it.

Prompt 263: First line: "It's behind me, isn't it."

Centaurus 4 is the latest mission to Proxima Centauri b. Three attempts to reach the distant planet were unmanned. The main reason for that was that Proxima Centauri b (PC-b) is 4.22 light-years (1.3 parsecs) from Earth. Recent advancements in space travel have reduced the travel time to 153 days at ten times light speed. The story takes place roughly two hundred years in our future.

Centaurus 4 has a crew of 16. The first three members of the crew have recently exited the ship and started their survey of the immediate area. What they experience is shocking, to say the least.

Another episode from the files of Detective Gennaro Saggio. Things have been relatively quiet. Orono, Maine has once again returned to being a sleepy little town. Detective Saggio is working Memorial Day, not looking forward to investigating the excitement caused annually by drunks.

There was excitement, but not the kind he expected.

James Toranaga is a twelve year old boy dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault. He’s doing okay. The memories are tough, and the world feels a little rougher than it used to, but he’s a strong kid with a loving family to support him.

It sure makes his emerging sexuality harder to deal with, though. He doesn’t want to think about it.

Luckily, he has the perfect distraction: he can fly.

But these strange new powers may bring dangers of their own. He is not the only one who has them.

Ludo has a nice life. A lovely wife and son, an attractive modern house, and a good job, idyllic really. But his wife is restless and spends too much time at work; Ludo finds himself getting too close to Arthur, the father of one of his son’s friends. Then his wife’s job takes a sinister turn, casting everything else into the shade.

Ralph has a successful web-design firm, lovely twin daughters and an ex-wife with whom he is on reasonable terms, though his parents persist in regarding him as a disappointment, disliking his choice of career and general lack of ambition. But, in the wake of his divorce, he experiences a return of feelings and ideas that he hasn’t had since his teenage years when an affair with another boy at school left an indelible mark. And now, he has to decide, does he want to be that person who hides, lashes out at any suggestion he might be gay, or does he want to break free.