“Welcome. You’re almost at the gates of heaven. All you have to do now is go to this spot, and someone will come get you,” said the man. “Oh—cool. Alright. Wait… fuck, am I dead?” he asked. “Yep. Someone will explain everything when you get there,” the man
She held her guitar, hunched over it—to practice, she told herself—but it had been a while, and there had been far too many distractions. Finally, she played a chord. There was no sound. She looked around the room. It didn’t make sense—the bird outside the window
She stood on the bridge, looking down at the reflection of the stars in the park’s pond. The water was still, until a leaf from a nearby tree landed on the surface and sent ripples outward. As the ripples touched the stars, they began to lift from the water.
She grabbed a handful of dirt and placed a pinch of sand from the beach at its center. Then she set the handful into a drawer used as a planting bed. After three nights of moonlight and morning dew, a shell began to emerge and grow from the drawer. She
The lake reflected the colors of the sunset as he sat on the dock. With a lazy gesture of his hand, he began to blur a cloud that was sharply defined in the sky. Taking a sip of beer with his other hand, he kept smearing the cloud until it
He broke the glass with his elbow—the one marked in case of emergencies behind the painting. He pulled the lever and pushed the button. An electric sound came from beneath the floor, and the carpet along with the sofas dropped into a hole. With a ladder to the side,
The wind moved the flowers in the field outside the window. The tall grass on the distant hills swayed like waves at sea. A small log cabin with a cozy interior sat in the middle of the forest. She rested at the kitchen counter, drinking tea and quietly watching the
She sat cross-legged in a white dress. It was a hot day, but the shade from the umbrella and the breeze made it comfortable. A teacup rested beside a book she had stopped reading, distracted by something happening near the fountain. The green gardens and tall hedges were beginning to
“Star Stuff” read the label on a box in a closet, hidden behind stacks of other boxes. She reached for it and opened it. Inside were a telescope, a jar filled with black dust, and a leather journal branded with two initials. She had completely forgotten about it—until that
She sat looking out through the patio doors into the garden. Her blue eyes couldn’t hide the heaviness her heart carried. Suddenly, the room changed. The garden was gone. Outside the doors there was only darkness, illuminated by nothing but a few distant stars. One of the stars knocked
Running late for a delivery, he tripped, and the contents of the bag spilled everywhere. One item was particularly disastrous: a crystal cube. It hit the ground but didn’t break. Instead, it unfolded. It opened outward, spreading and copying itself again and again until everything in front of it
She folded a paper crane and placed it on the windowsill. A gust of wind gave it life—and real wings. The bird flew upward, past the clouds and into space. Two stars followed, one guiding the way. They played around the crane in wide circles, protecting it from comets