The world was falling apart.

It had been the whole time. "We didn't start the fire". When she first heard it in high school. Her civics teacher told her what it meant. And it felt so true.

Marianna was bold in expressing her opinions. That history had always been violent. She would...

The leaves were changing. Writing dates felt different now that the month featured two digits.

Marianna grabbed her pumpkin spice latte after the barista yelled out her name twice.

Airports were the only place she ordered coffee. She wouldn't feel guilty since she would be stuck there.

It reminded her of  Spacecity ....

This was his first time at his sister's new place. It wasn't so new. She'd moved there two years ago. But he hadn't had time to visit. well that was a little unfair. He literally couldn't have come. He had been up in  Spacecity the past four years. Now he...

Someday everyplace would have  security cameras . Not because there would be some concentrated government effort. The government was too inefficient for that. Businesses and homeowners would become self interested. Surveillance systems would become popular. Easy to install.

People would think back at times when homes and businesses weren't covered by...

Jimmy's lighter was old fashioned. You couldn't get it at a store like 7-11. Would have to find a fancy cigar shop. But not even at the cigar shop. It would have to be a cigar shop in the past. They just didn't make lighters like that these days.

Jimmy knew...

James couldn't drink. Sneaking in beers didn't work. Because he couldn't get drunk. Instead he would just feel bloated and have to piss. So he began chain smoking.  Big Joe didn't approve. But since it didn't impact their heist he couldn't complain.

James would smoke a whole pack by the afternoon....

"So what happened here exactly?"

"Lamp to the back of the head."

"No i meant, why would anyone kill Dr. Carol in her office like this."

"Don't know. That's our job to figure out."

"You know how when a wife is murdered. 99 times out of 100 it's the husband?"

"Yeah."

"Well do you think there's...

What was it with  Big Joe ? James thought.

He couldn't say that there was necessarily something wrong with him. Although if he were telling somebody the story honest, that's exactly how he'd describe Big Joe. There's something wrong with him. He's messed up.

But if James thought there was truly something...

When he arrived at his apartment he was jolted. Sweat. Heartbeat.

The place had burned down.

Then he remembered. He and  Big Joe had done that. This was less than a day ago. Less than 14 hours.

God damn he was tired.  sun light soaked into his head. His eyes ached. Those pills...

For each one of Big Joe's bites, James scarfed down three spoon fulls. Big Joe would chew at least twenty times. James would basically inhale the food.

By the time James plate was empty, he was amazed that Big Joe's was empty as well. It was like those horror films, where...