Her phone #rings. Number unknown. These telemarketers never quit. She deletes the voicemail without listening.

He shouldn’t be calling. She’ll think it’s an awful prank or cry; there have been enough tears. But he leaves a voicemail, just in case she needs to hear I love you one last time. #vss365

"Sign here. And here. And here."
Over and over, I sign on the dotted line the mortgage agreement, thick as a Bible. The ten commandments of home ownership. Thou shalt not miss a payment.
"I'm not signing my life away, am I?" I joke, as the #pen slips, bleeding dark red ink.
"Sign here." #vss365

To great fanfare, they put a #man on the Moon. Then a woman. Soon, children arrived. We welcomed the families, showed them how to live in space.
But they wanted the stars for themselves, save one. “You can have Earth. We’re done with it.”
We do not float here but burn. Gravity buries us. #vss365

"Good riddance," the pallbearer says. "But I feel bad for his brother. He's a kind soul."
As usual, my twin is #exalted for my good #conduct, and I'm punished.
Parents, teachers, even our wives, mixed us up all the time.
But you know the difference between dead and alive, don't you? #vss365

Fun shapes and phantom hands from trapeze yesterday #aerialdance 💪

We had an agreement. Milk and sweet cake at dusk; the washing done, house scrubbed, shoes mended by dawn. But those #illusive humans preferred fragile machines. A snap of #sprite fingers, and a smartphone smashes, a laptop dies. Nothing lasts anymore, they grumble, forgetting the old magic. #vss365

I spilled a bag of stars. They scattered like marbles, only twice as pretty. For a while I watched them tumble around the big black nothing, bringing it to life with their specks of light like dust in the Summer sun. One has a blue green ball #revolving around it. It looks cute from up here.
#vss365

Only a summer job, a decade of summers ago. But the carousel's orbit is strong. Around me, the world #revolves. Chubby toddlers stretch into lanky teens. The painted horses fade and crack; I repair them. I fall asleep to the whistling calliope, my head spinning, moving but never forward. #vss365

She twists the radio dial, #fascinated, as she tracks the #tempest across counties, storms in her blood.
"A tornado brought you," Nan says. "Dropped you right in the cornfield."
When the clouds part, another visitor. Dress blue as the Kansas sky, shoes like silver dimes.
"Where's Aunt Em?" #vss365

Extra, extra, read all about it. No one does. Pages molder, minds go missing. At least people still buy cigarettes and gum. The paper boy doesn't #endorse smoking, but those small addictions pay the bills, so he may feed on charcoal words, #frustrated by a never-ending hunger for more. #vss365

"This boat is full. No third class."
"Have mercy," she #entreats. The other passengers, faces like #overcast skies, pockets heavy with jewels, don't step in to #mediate.
She crosses the #divide, seawater in her lungs. "I have no coin."
The ferryman #wavers. "This boat is full. Go back." #vss365

After the funeral, she #partakes of the entire Waffle House menu, scattered, smothered, and covered. Hunger #surpasses every grief, every memory. She must feed, fill the empty space.
"Eating for two?" the waitress jokes.
She belches Chanel No. 5, her twin's perfume. "More coffee, please." #vss365

She did everything right: Rich soil, plenty of water, fertilizer. Last year, he grew like a weed, tall and spindly.
But winter was long. Bare branches. No green shoots. Alive but not thriving. A weak #warmth in the air #assures her spring is near. If he'd only turn to the sun, he'd bloom. #vss365

I am a secret. I linger in dark #corners, fade into the wallpaper. But he finds me. His #bonny lass, his #precious love. Our hearts beat in #harmony until the money vanishes. His fury is a storm, his fists #lightning.
He can't find me now. No one can. I am a secret, under the floorboards. #vss365

She twirls the #jewelry chain in the sunlight, #spellbound by an iridescent memory. Diamonds turned to glass, not fine enough to sell for food or rent. But she traveled a rainbow road once, from her green home to here. She spins the prism again, searching for the colors to point her home. #vss365

"You have a lovely library."
"It's yours."
I shrink from the #magnanimous gesture. "I couldn't—it's too much. We've only been courting a few—"
"I insist."
He leaves me with the books for a blissful hour. When my stomach growls for dinner, I tug on the door.
Locked, from the inside. No key. #vss365

Prime rib, roast potatoes, homemade bread and butter. Salad, charcuterie and three kinds of cheese. Such a #bountiful feast.
I slurp my nutrition shake, beige sludge that tastes of all of these things and none of them, and enter a prompt for dessert.
Brown sludge. Almost chocolate cake. #vss365

Mom pours the leftover daylight into a jar. "Time for bed."
Brother dozes in his crib, fat limbs limp with #lethargy. Mom's head drops to her chest. Dad snores through the TV news.
But I'm not tired. I sneak to the kitchen, gulp the citrus sun and join the stars, shining through the night. #vss365

She turns the dusty scrying stone in her palms. Cloudy, like Nana's #cataracts. Though blind, her mind's eye remained sharp until the end.
"You have the sight too," Nana swore.
But she sees nothing, only fog, as she packs the glass ball away in the attic.
Outside, storm clouds gather. #vss365

It's an old house, we tell our guests. You'll get used to the moans and groans, the drafts and chills. The wandering eyes in paintings and the old dowager who paces the attic? All part of the restored Victorian #splendor. Suitable for children? Absolutely! Ghosts love hide and seek. #vss365

On the coldest day in January, #timid and shivering, he finds a home. Brings the wife and kids. There’s chocolate, crackers, spiced nuts. They feast like kings.
On the warmest day in January, the children go missing. His wife won’t wake.
Peanut butter. She loves that. He’ll get some—
SNAP! #vss365

Me: The library is having a book sale this weekend! I know I don't need more books but—

My husband: Of course we can get more books you goober.

This is why we're married. ❤️ #lovelanguage #booksky

I tell my husband we should replace the welcome mat after the third postal worker moves into our guest room. "It's being friendly," he says. "Dan, there are nine strangers living here." I step around it carefully. "The Jehovah's Witnesses took the den." Outside, a FedEx driver steps onto the porch. His eyes go soft. He sets down the package, walks inside, and starts folding laundry. --- *Enjoyed today's story? Share your thoughts and follow us for more tiny daily tales.* #HomeSweetHome #Marriage #Hospitality #Guests #FedEx #Laundry #Magic #Humor Your daily treat from TinyTalesDaily.com

A blue award recognizing Sara Pauff and her entry Penned as fifth place in the fantasy category for the Fiction Five contest by Critique March.

Excited to receive an honorable mention in this Critique Match contest for the first chapter of my YA fantasy crossover novel. ✍️ 🎉 The feedback from the judges was very helpful and encouraging. #amwriting #writingcommunity

Twenty-seven #mountainous mattresses, blankets layered like a cake. A gaggle of geese sacrificed for those dozen down pillows. Tea, snacks, and a stack of novels, Netflix streaming. Bedrotting, but never sleeping. The pea? A fairytale annoyance; the trials of real life keep her awake now. #vss365

Little chairs around a miniature table. A tiny teapot to pour into #miniscule cups. So hungry, the doll nibbles at nanoscopic scones. After dark, she'll raid the big house kitchen, jump on the giant feather beds, and dream about her real life before she became an #enchanted plaything. #vss365

"Happy Valentine's Day."
He reaches out for a #kiss, a lingering #touch. Meets the slick tempered glass. The #lacuna in this virtual date across space. She is a screen in the #dark, thousands of light years away, and he is a screen at dawn. Her stars are dead before their light reaches him. #vss365

"Don't scratch," Ma scolds. "Getting your wings is always uncomfortable."
Ma rubs aloe vera into the fiery #ache, tells me to sleep on my stomach. At dawn, I slither to the shower, hot water soothing my scaly spine, my leathery pinions. No angelic down for me. I am no bird, but a beast. #vss365

"You're skin and #bones!" She pats my #pale cheek. "Too much studying at that fancy college. Are you eating?"
"Yes, Ma," I lie. I haven't felt like eating since I received my strange #wound. Ma's Sunday gravy bubbles rich and red, but her #blood smells sweeter. My hunger howls like a wolf. #vss365