Velvet Libido

“Whisky, neat,” he ordered.  His voice was quiet, just enough for the bartender to hear.

  She nodded and served him without much fanfare.  Perhaps she was able to pick up on his mood.  It was a solemn anniversary after all,…

“Why do you think Rex has such a dark and traumatic origin story?” Dr. Gloria asked once he had finished the tale.  

He shrugged at the question, not certain how to answer.  “I guess I always just assumed that some…

When he woke up, Rex was shivering.  He couldn’t see his mother, but he knew she was there.  She wrapped him in a giant fur blanket that was so warm it seemed to have its own heat source.  She had…

Terror seized Rex completely as he felt his body slipping over the edge of the cliff in the darkness.  In desperation he reached out for his brother.  Theodore was only a few paces away, but he was falling so fast…

It was a normal walk home from school for Rex and Theodore the next day.  

Until it wasn’t.

The pair were not quite halfway home when they heard faint cries drifting off the rocks and desert sand.  The ground along…

“I don’t know about this, Thomas,” Maria said, concern heavy in her voice.  “It’s dangerous to cross the Hollowells.  And it is doubly dangerous to make enemies in the desert.”

“I know, Maria, but it can’t be helped,” Thomas ran…

Moonlight splashed against the rocky ground as the winter evening took hold on the outskirts of this traveler’s paradise.  Desert winters were mild here, but at altitude the thin air and even the slightest breeze brought a distinctive chill.  It…

“What is your state of mind right now?  What are you feeling as we sit here and talk?” she asked through the video conferencing feature on his cell phone.  Taking appointments this way still seemed foreign to him.

“I don’t…