I could still smell the burning of the engine. The beeping of the alarms still filled my ears. Jennifer screaming into the radio for help and that we were going down, I could still hear it ricocheting off the metal interior of the plane. But all I could feel, despite all the trauma surging through my senses, was cold and loneliness. I shivered, leaning against the concave wall of the plane and clutching the tiny bottle of whiskey in my hand. A whole cooler full of travel-size

The alarm blared. It was a high-pitched, terrible beeping that filled all three floors of the house. Maddie leapt from the couch, her Lays chips and Canada Dry Ginger Ale spilling onto the red and gold paisley rug underneath her slippers. Maddie couldn’t hold it in. A small gasp escaped from her mouth as she rounded the couch, passed the floor to ceiling windows that led to a blanket of freshly fallen snow on the deck and peered down the hallway toward the front door. The hal

Maria hated hotels. She especially hated hotels when she was with her husband and the White Grand in San Antonio was no exception. Faded pink brick covered the outside with ribbon-like ivory trim along the tall, arched windows. The windows were tinted with a shiny black in order to hold in the secrets of the White Grands most reticent guests. There were 28 floors. Maria and her husband, Harper, were staying on the 27th floor. Maria held her champagne glass against her chest,

The black dog slept against the iron fence. Her torso raised and lowered with each heaving breath of her heat-induced sleep. Water sloshed in front of her nose and her eyes flickered open. With eyes as dark as ink, she looked up. “Just give it to him,” One girl said, giving the shoulder of the other a light push. “My mom specifically told me not to give strays anything.” “What if she’s not a stray, Ali?” Impatient, Ali grabbed the plastic container of water and placed it in f

The river pulled like an ocean. It had been many years since Ben had seen the current so strong. Each time his paddle sliced through the waves, the water yanked at the oar like it was a spider’s web, sticking to the wood and trapping it in it’s tenacious web of streaming rapids. “Take it slow. Okay, love?” He called behind him to his wife who was breathing loud and heavy. “Oh god, Ben. This isn’t exactly what I expected,” Lydia said. Ben looked over his shoulder. Lydia heaved

Jeremy had been trapped for 17 hours. Each time he moved, he wedged himself farther between the plaster walls. His shoulders ached, his ankles were swollen and his throat was filled with an arid sticky hoarseness. He had stopped screaming many hours ago when it became evident that no one was returning for him and not a soul was looking for him. It had been a usual job: a property that needed renovations before the new owners moved in. The plumbing had been torn out and replac