The apple smell becomes more prominent once I roll over. Sleep has been damn near impossible tonight and Leah’s fruit scented shampoo interrupts the light slumber I’ve been wrestling with for the past hour. It smells good though; fresh and soft, like she is, but it’s still unsettling. Opening my eyes, I let them settle on her blonde hair and sigh. There is no good reason for me to be awake right now. Between work, checking out the cabin, dinner, then coming back here and mak...

The humidity is like a blanket over my nose. It’s hard to breathe and the mold and dust in here isn’t making it any easier. There’s a window in the far corner, but I can’t really get to it, unless I move all of the wooden chairs piled in front of it. Judging from how old this place is, I doubt if it’ll even open. But, it’s too damn hot in here not to try. I step carefully across the room because most of the floor boards are weak. Wonder what’s underneath this place? Probably a crawl space, bu...

There’s something about red that gets under my skin. I hate red. It fucks me up. I don’t know why, either. It’s just something about it. It’s no wonder that I hate variations of it, like fucking pink. And adding hints of yellow, orange, and blue to make peach and cotton candy? It makes my stomach hurt. I can normally ignore it, though. It’s not like it’s as bad as red. But, it’s still there. The red…it’s always there. That’s another reason why Leah’s dorm room drives me insane. Leah’s room lo...

Adam is the most together person I know. God, there’s so many things about him that I admire. For example, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’s the kind of guy that rolls up his sleeves and does what needs to be done, no matter the situation. If the bills need to be paid, Adam finds the money. If there’s a highly stressful situation at work, he jumps in, gets everybody to the shut the fuck up, and settles the uneasiness. If I lose control, he’s right there with a gentle voice and warm ...

The newspapers have us all wrong. They seem to think that I’m some sort of monstrous sexual predator and that Adam is a sadistic animal. It’s not like I’m the type to hide in a dark alley and use chloroform and shit, like some sickos I’ve read about. I don’t prey on people or forced them to do anything they didn’t want to do. And Adam isn’t some kind of deviant like they say. He doesn’t snatch people up from shopping malls or walk around with a bag of Medieval torture devices or any of that o...

Adam is the most together person I know. God, there’s so many things about him that I admire. For example, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. And he’s the kind of guy that rolls up his sleeves and does what needs to be done, no matter the situation. If the bills need to be paid, Adam finds the money. If there’s a highly stressful situation at work, he jumps in, gets everybody to the shut the fuck up, and settles the uneasiness. If I lose control, he’s right there with a gentle voice and w...

Scratch the Surface - Chapter 2 The scent of coffee creeping under my door is enough to force my eyes to open. Not even the sun and its harsh rays can stop the rumble in my stomach when that aroma is dancing under my nose. Nothing else seems to matter right now. Not even the fact that I don’t know how I got here. I don’t remember coming home, much less stripping off my clothes and landing in the bed. And how did I end up in my Michigan shirt? I thought for sure I’d lost it weeks ago. This is ...

Scratch the Surface - Chapter 2 The scent of coffee creeping under my door is enough to force my eyes to open. Not even the sun and its harsh rays can stop the rumble in my stomach when that aroma is dancing under my nose. Nothing else seems to matter right now. Not even the fact that I don’t know how I got here. I don’t remember coming home, much less stripping off my clothes and landing in the bed. And how did I end up in my Michigan shirt? I thought for sure I’d lost it weeks ago. This is ...

The amber light of the cigarette, as I inhale, sends a flash of brightness across the room. As soon as I take in a healthy drag and feel the cool flavor of menthol opening my lungs, I suddenly become aware of everything else around me. This room looks like all the others. It's small, dirty, and the only window in here is covered by a thick screen of dust. I find myself wondering what this room looked like when it was functional. How grand was it before the wrecking balls came in and destroyed...