When you are studying to become a teacher, they tell you it's not important that your students like you, but that you teach them something. I found that to be true only when you care more about teaching than feeling good about yourself. Being liked by the people you spend twenty hours with every week is kind of important. Whether that's a good thing or not. So I became one of the cool teachers. Maybe I could have taught them more, but you know what, I don't think it's that important that … [Read more...]

Yesterday, Scott was a '5,673' and today he's a '1'. That was odd I thought to myself. Not that '1's are rare. I see them at the train station every day. Usually, only once though. The second time I see someone, they're a 2. You see, I have a special power. Every time I see someone, a number floating above their head goes up by one.  It counts the times I've seen someone. An unexplainable..., well, what? Superpower? Seems a bit laughable for that. I'm not sure what to call it. It started on my … [Read more...]

Did you know that it's really hard to suppress a blinking reflex? No, you probably didn't. That's not a particular fault of yours. The blame on that one lies on me. Not for you not knowing, but for you no longer existing. It puzzles me to know that this letter will reach you in some way in some form of existence, but I've been told you'd appreciate the explanation. Personally, I'd prefer not to ever know about the banality of my death, but I might be biased by existence. My blinks change … [Read more...]

"Earth-spast," R'osh muttered as he watched the wriggling figure on the ground. Cut off from its synthetic augmentations, the body on the floor spasmed, suggesting more of a struggle than was really left in it. It was those death throes that had given the slur its rise to prominence. Earth had gotten quite advanced in modifying what was a rather flawed concept to begin with: the human body. In fact, the bodies of Earth's citizens were probably way beyond what R'osh and his kind could handle … [Read more...]

I wake up. The mattress below me feels too soft in a familiar way. I hear the noise of a passing car, muted through a closed window. Opening my eyes, I find myself in a small room. It's night. The faint light casting through the window reveals enough for me to recognize my surroundings. This is odd. Slowly I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the overly soft mattress. My small feet, free of socks, touch the memorably soft carpet. It's the softness of a fluffy carpet after being used to … [Read more...]