Stories
Cappuccinos & Crime
As Tom walked into the coffee shop that the “Villains Only” dating app suggested, he spotted the hammer-striking-the-globe symbol of the International Villains League by the door. The front waiting area was small, cramped, and as uninviting as possible. Tom knew this helped to keep the civilians away. The IVL would also seed Yelp and Google Maps with terrible reviews to make sure no one that wasn’t in the league would show up.
The Digital Familiar
Sylvie’s world existed in muted blues and greys, mirroring the screen she clutched like a lifeline. She was fourteen, lonely and keenly aware of the space around her that no one chose to fill. Her bedroom, a sanctuary of dust motes and charging cables, was where her true self resided, hidden from the echoing halls of her high school. She didn’t just feel unseen; she felt fundamentally misunderstood, as if the entire social dynamic of the school was a complex language she simply wasn’t programmed to speak. She was a silent observer, always on the periphery, watching over the life she craved, a ghost moving through hallways thick with connections between everyone else.