Leaf Lucidity_The Empress_Thorn Hill Manor_Cyrene
Catalog Guide:
Leaf Lucidity
By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Their graceful, orderly orange-yellow forms became engulfed by chaos and inelegance of the same color. This chaos moved along each leaf, I observed, turning everything behind it into a crumbling ruin of its former self. I looked around to see if this was all, and soon found that it was. Everywhere I looked, leaves burned, soon morphing into piles of unrecognizable ash. I looked up, and found the sky was burning too, dark-grey rainclouds rushing away from the setting sun, like the smoke from the burning leaves.My life may have been in dang...
The Empress
“The carriage is ready, your Highness.”“Thank you, Mila,” Vanessa responded. “Can you fetch the princess for me, please?”“Yes, your Highness.” Mila started to scurry off, but the Empress caught her gently by the shoulder.“Vanessa. As I’ve told you countless times, you may call me Vanessa.”“Yes, your…” Her eyes widened at her mistake. She was practically shaking. “Apologies, your… Empress Vanessa.”She scampered away like her life depended on it. Vanessa heaved a long sigh.Minutes later, her step-daughter walked into the room, her baby pink dress billowing around her. An unladylike scowl was pas...
Thorn Hill Manor
Trigger warning: sexual assault on a minorSheriff William Johnson should have been in his bed sound asleep at one in the morning on this steamy July night but that wasn’t happening. If he had gotten a total of six hours of “Rest” in the last seventy-two, it would have surprised him. The events of the last three days precluded any peaceful slumber. It had been over fifteen years since anyone had died by anything other than natural causes or a farm-related accident in Gerald County’s little corner of Texas. The events on the evening of June 27, 1954, had upset everybody’s applecart. That was the...
Cyrene
The bright morning sun burst through the thick canopy of maple leaves above Rowan’s head. She smiled, stretching her sore limbs. “Willow!” She spoke with her usual morning singsong voice. “Rise and shine! Today we are-” She stopped short. Her upbeat, joyful attitude was crushed as she realized the tasks of the day. “Today we are going to the village,” She finished gloomily. At this, Willow poked her head up. Rowan’s cotton-tailed companion loved the village, since that’s where she got her the bundles of fresh carrots. Rowan grimaced. “I guess we should make the best of it, huh, girl?” She...