His right hand rested gingerly upon the rung near her left, fingertips almost touching hers. They chatted and giggled and chatted some more, recalling memories of childhood and how they met.

At last, a chill ran over them both. It was dark, and they had completely lost track of how long they'd been standing there. She looked up into his malachite eyes and slid her wrist across the rung, intertwining their fingers with a smile. In this sweet moment, an exchange of words and feelings brought them close. He pulled her to his chest and kissed the top of her head. She caressed his back with her free hand as tears formed beneath her lids.

"I'm scared," she cried, making one last attempt to yank free from the restraint as water rose rapidly all around them.

"Don't worry," he whispered, holding her tighter, "Everything will be okay."

All through January, I've been part of a vss (Very Short Story) challenge. Each day, we are to post a tweet using the prompts provided by vssCollab (https://www.worldanvil.com/w/vsscollab/a/vsscollab-challenge-article) and https://vss365today.com/.

I chose to focus on my current project Secret Agent Someone- specifically on the singed remnants of his troubled beginning. Below is a link to the page where all the tweets can be found and read in order. This will be updated daily and together will form a comprehensive story. I plan to release the full tale of his childhood soon... it's something he doesn't wish to divulge, so I originally did not want this book to come first, though I did publish the first chapter of Troubled Beginnings featuring his parents here long ago (https://theprose.com/post/368005/chapter-one-troubled-beginnings) so I suppose there has been a little back-and-forth in my mind for a couple of years, but I've finally settled on telling the story in order.

The novella should be coming soon, but, for now, enjoy these singed remnants before he burns the past completely to ash and laughs.

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/secret-agent-someone/a/Singed-Remnants

God bless, much success, and I pray your new year is going well so far!

Hey, Prose Fam. I pray your holiday season has been going great. I know it seems I disappeared off the face of the Earth for a moment, but I'm back now (kinda)

I could hardly participate in NaNoWriMo this year, but I penned a few words just to say I didn't skip a round. Then, there's WorldEmber. I figured I wouldn't be able to do anything, but, surprisingly, I was able to churn out a few articles in like two days thanks to the Christmas story I was working on.

UNFORTUNATELY, I was not able to edit the novel OR complete the audio experience I was trying to make in time for this Christmas, but hopefully, with all this preparation, it will be ready to debut next year.

This story, An Intern for Christmas (working title) is actually a section of the full Secret Agent Someone story that I wanted to isolate and blow up into it's own Christmas special. I had planned this since early in the year, but once I was invited to be on Escape this Podcast (an awesome honor and privilege that I indeed do NOT regret) a lot of my plans kinda got pushed to the back burner. Then, life happened. I got called back to work in the office. I struggled a bit. I got hired for a few big gigs that took precedence (I still need to work on a lot of things! It's a blessing with challenges.) AND even my voice actor, the awesome guy who plays Someone, caught a cold for a moment. :(

He's doing better now, and even if he didn't get sick, I probably wouldn't have been able to finish anything anyway, but... IT'S A LOT. Nevertheless, Merry Christmas, everyone! I know it's Christmas Eve in most places, but for some, it's already the day. OR it will be really soon. So God bless you all and have a wonderful, safe, holiday. I am thankful that, though my plans didn't work out, at least I got to do something. Almost 6,000 words in about 48 hours (in addition to work and everything) is quite a feat if I do say so myself.

Oh. Click the link below for a quick preview of the story! Sorry if you have to wait 365 days for the rest! XD

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/secret-agent-someone/a/an-intern-for-christmas--plot

I began writing as soon as I was able. Making up songs. Stories. Characters. Worlds.

I enjoy the craft, adding my faith and message into every piece and sharing with others. Even if I am the only one who ever reads, hears, or appreciates my work, it is indeed a joy.

My ultimate goal is to finally get myself to a position where I am not frantically running around every which way putting my own projects on the back burner. Somehow, I wish I could catch up with everything and then have a nice, quiet time where I can write out what's floating around in my brain, edit the words that are already out, organize it all, and publish to be read, even if for free, books in every genre. Something for every soul. Even if no one picks up a single page, I have these stories bursting at the seams of my brain and clawing at the cusp of my heart to be released out into the world. This is why I publish short stories. Snippets of works that have been dancing along in my infinite imagination for years. They've grown with me and matured with me. Often I find new friends or things I've never seen before. Other times, I unearth tales long lost from childhood. All genres. All stories. A host of characters.

Even other types of writing... songs, for example. I have hundreds of them, but I hardly have time to stop and actually record my voice singing them, or compose the music and piece together the track. But I love music, and these songs yearn to be propelled into the flow of the wind as it wisps through the leaves of trees on an autumn day. They cry to be carried along with the smell of marshmallows being roasted at a winter bonfire. They desire to join the tweets of birds in spring and chirp with crickets in the dead of a summer night.

I once kept a journal, and many believe I should keep a blog... oh, but dear time. Dear time eludes me. Even now, when I am penning this rant, there are things to be done. I shall end here. God bless you all, and one day, perhaps, my dream may come to pass.

Until then, be it short stories, quick poems, social posts, or rants,

I must write.

I must write.

I must write.

This.

This.

It is my greatest wish.

If I had one wish,

to turn back time

or freeze it in place.

Every day.

Every day.

Make haste.

Make haste.

There's never enough time in the day.

Do this.

Do that.

Help them.

Work. Flat.

I lie on my back.

Awake.

I fight my sleep,

For, tasks, they creep.

Never enough time in the day.

Awake, to work.

Then eat? Maybe.

Then sleep? Maybe.

It seems, maybe.

I'll never catch up,

it seems... maybe.

That I can only

Pray.

That one day.

My dismay.

Goes away.

One day,

I'll catch up,

or learn to say 'No'.

Not so.

I cannot.

Things are hard.

Too much on my plate.

I wonder.

I wander.

I wait.

I stop.

I breathe.

But, only for a moment.

Busy whirlwinds spin.

I can never truly rest.

People say, "Do what's best.

FOR YOU".

But, I can't

seem to comprehend

the trend

that draws me in.

I should take out more time for myself.

Put some of these tasks on the shelf.

But, still, it will seem

that it's ever a dream

to freeze time and complete

everything that I need

To do.

It's true.

But, one thing I know...

if time's truly stopped,

things sure would be slow.

so many would drop.

Unless I could choose

what's frozen and loose.

The sun wouldn't rise or set in it's beauty.

I may not be able to complete any duties.

How could I make calls if everyone's stuck?

How could you search Google if net's in a rut?

How could you say hi to family and friends?

The time in time frozen is quite a lonely end.

So, if I could freeze time, could I record?

How would that work? Think too much, it's absurd.

But, putting the logic far aside, gone,

I don't think I'd freeze it at all for too long.

I may get some rest, record, sing a song,

but then I'd press play and go trudging along,

Busy,

Busy,

Busy,

Bee.

Busy,

Busy,

Busy,

Me.

Busy.

Busy..

Busy...

He is a mystery. He is mad.

Quick as a whip, but something's definitely loose up there.

The way he looks at the world,

the things he does,

the things he says,

the things he laughs at...

...the way he laughs...

A psychopath for sure

~some might argue deranged~

"But clever nonetheless," as he would say.

He gets attached to none

~or so he claims~

Seducing many, then effortlessly moving on to the next mission.

He is daring and adventurous

~not giving a care about anything or anyone~

"Not even myself," he would add.

Unconventional?

Impractical?

Delusional?

Yes... "But clever nonetheless," I must admit.

Sometimes, he solves the crime faster than anyone could imagine.

Sometimes, he cooks up the perfect plan.

Often, he lives up to that title everyone back at WILLOWISP seems to give him; "Best Secret Agent on the Force".

Often, he gets on my nerves.

A lot of times, I find myself staring at him in disbelief.

... a lot of times, I find myself staring into his deep, dark, malachite eyes...

BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT.

The point is, he's my partner and I guess I'm glad about it...?

Even if he only considers me an "Obligatory Associate".

Hi there.

My name is Sandra.

Some call me WordiGirl.

I'm known here as LexiCon.

Nice to meet you.

God bless!