Jethro Pili

“Swim Queens” by Jethro Pili

My alarm clock rang and I rolled over to turn it off. 6:00AM. I hit snooze and went back to sleep. I didn’t want to go to school. Especially not a new school where I didn’t know anybody. I had no friends there. All my friends were back in New York, not in some stupid backwater town called Salem Beach, Maine. When our parents were murdered in cold blood in our apartment, my little brother Jack and I had to move to Maine, where Mom grew up. Our grandfather took us in. Though why he would do it now would forever be a mystery. He never was invol...

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“Operation: Sabotage” by Jethro Pili

October, Year 2044… The former United States of America is once again embroiled in a bitter civil war. The divide between the Democratic and Republican parties had grown far too wide, creating factions instead of parties. The Republicans seceded from the Union and formed the Free and Independent Republic of America, while the Democrats formed the Democratic Union of America. This, in turn, sparked the Second American Civil War, also known as Civil War II, or CWII. Foremost among FIRA’s generals was General Joshua Soteras of Kansas. He and hi...

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“Come Find Me” by Jethro Pili

Serafina’s POV:I could smell the sharp, sulfurous sting of gunpowder in the air and felt the smoke from hundreds of rifles and cannons stab my eyes. There was also the metallic stench of blood somewhere in the mix. It was so unbearably overpowering that I had to close my eyes and cover my nose with the sleeve of my gown. When I opened them again, I watched in horror as the California 100—of whom my Charles was one—charged bravely into the fray, giving the Confederates Hell. But there were casualties on both sides—heavy casualties. I feared f...

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“It's Good To Touch the Green, Green Grass of Home” by Jethro Pili

Submitted to Contest #113

Everything was loud and quiet at the same time. The air was deathly still as everyone waited for the jury to finish deliberating. The ticking clock on the courtroom’s wall sounded like miners’ pickaxes against solid rock and I could hear the rush of my own blood in my ears like the waters of the mighty roaring Niagara Falls. My heart beat as deafeningly as a battering ram against an ancient castle’s wooden gates. My pulse raced like a thousand charging cavalries in battle. Despite the cold airconditioned room, I felt sweat form under my hair...

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“Dr. Joseph J. Coates, Dream Specialist” by Jethro Pili

New York City, NY. At 4:30 in the morning, while it was still dark outside, Joseph Jacob Coates awoke to a knock on his office door—well, cell door really. It was one of the hospital’s nurses. He fumbled for the light switch on his desk lamp to turn the light on and rubbed the last stubborn remnants of sleep from his bleary eyes. He squinted and checked the wristwatch lying on his desk beside his bed and shuffled over to the heavy metal door to open it. “What is it?” he asked, flipping the room’s light switch on. “Sorry to wake you up, Joe—D...

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“The Spots of the First Drops of Rain” by Jethro Pili

Dark angry rainclouds roiled above like a stirring witch’s brew in a cauldron and the thunder rumbled like Zeus’s empty stomach. Sharp flashes of lightning exploded, illuminating the sky like camera flashes at the red carpet, followed shortly by the gentle pitter-patter of the first rain of the season. Samuel Ihle stood in front of the living room bay window of his San Francisco Victorian and watched as the droplets of rain raced down from the top of the window pane to the bottom. It amused him then as a child, it amused him now as a fully g...

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“Living Legacy” by Jethro Pili

Matt Folger stuffed the last few items in his carryon luggage and zipped it up. After finishing packing, he looked up and smiled fondly at the pictures on his nightstands. On the left was a picture of him and his girlfriend Abigail after their high school graduation ceremony. On the right nightstand was a picture of his parents in their twenties. It was taken in the Philippines where they had met. It was where they both served during their time in the Peace Corps. They were sitting on a fallen branch by a river with a native boat and boatman...

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“Meet Me At Bob & Jude's” by Jethro Pili

Submitted to Contest #110

“Meet me at Bob & Jude’s,” the note read. It was signed, Dagger. I read the little note written on the back of a café receipt once more before turning into the back parking lot of Bob & Jude’s Roadside Stop, a roadside diner along a dusty, lonely Colorado road. I parked my black Impala in an open spot, put the gear in park, killed the engine, then locked my steering wheel in place. I got out, locked the door, and slammed it shut. It felt good to stand and stretch my legs. I had driven all the way from California to Colorado, which to...

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“The Night Job” by Jethro Pili

Submitted to Contest #109

My name is Father Gabriel Collins and I have been living a double life. No, this is not a confession about some hanky-panky going on between me and some altar boy or a married female parishioner, or a beautiful young novitiate at the convent the next town over. It breaks my heart that those things happen, but I am not one of those priests. This is about my day job. And my night job. Why does a priest need to have a day job and a night job, you ask? Because our town has been ravaged by a vile demonic plague. We are surrounded by and overran w...

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