“Why do I have to learn piano if in five years all music’s going to be made by AI anyway?”

“But my biology teacher says humans are machines too.”

Robert was late. This was especially infuriating to Cynthia because he had the ability to be anytime anywhere. If she were honest with herself this peculiarity was the reason she fell in love with him, but now she just found his anachronisms annoying.

He was sad when Cynthia broke up with him, so he went back and ensured she’d never been born.

Justin put the finishing touches on his email and hit send. He found giving his messages a human touch helped them stand out in the never-ending garbage dump of communication his supervisor constantly found herself filtering through. Hopefully it would be the advantage he needed come promotion time.

Now he just needed to await a response. Transmission to corporate headquarters would take 53 light years.

Steven was playing from behind from the start. Every time he made a play to get within striking distance, the deficit grew to the point it seemed out of reach. It didn’t matter how aggressively he attacked or how ferociously he defended, the cards were always stacked against him.

Steven never even heard his opponent call game.

The trick or treaters are finally done for the night. Time for some soothing TV. Must be some
horror movie, some ghastly looking character is staring at the camera emoting “You’ll be dead
before the night is over.”

Must have a really late tricker, someone’s at the door now.

From Guest Contributor Doug Hawley

Brandon and April hold hands as they walk their house one last time, searching for anything important left behind. The entire move has been an impromptu affair, with little opportunity to reflect on what truly counts as essential. Certainly not their record collection or even their wedding album. It’s weird to think about how much things have changed in so little time, and what used to be cherished heirlooms are now nothing more than dead weight. The less they bring with them, the better.

What’s the quote? May you live in interesting times? Surely, an alien invasion counts as interesting.

Ray slipped at the top of his building’s stoop and flew face first at the cement below. Time elongated as a supercut of his entire life played out like a scene on a museum urn.

That was really the only memory that came to mind. Ray was only four years old.

Detective Bobby considered all of the pieces before him one at a time, thoughtfully analyzing the unseen solution. A lesser detective might have wanted a map or set of instructions to understand the full picture, but Detective Bobby eschewed relying on such crude crutches. Detective Bobby instead relied purely on his own intellect and so far it had never failed him, despite what certain others might say.

“Bobby, put your Legos away! Time for dinner!”

Henry knocked on his 8th door that morning. The woman of the house answered, still dressed in her bedclothes, with chopsticks through her hair bun. A remote worker rather than a stay-at-home mom. The latter at least take the time to look presentable before answering to a stranger.

This initial assessment was essential, as he used it to gauge which of the dozen memorized scripts he’d start with. The company believed using the right script equaled making a sale, but in his experience it didn’t really matter. Whoever first told him these bibles would sell themselves was the real salesman.

Chance traveled to this decade against his will. Yes, he’d complained plenty about how fucked up everything was in his own time. He’d pointed to a number of examples of how society had been better before and that the whole country was doomed if we didn’t get our shit together. But the last time he checked, it was still a free country. He could complain all he wanted. It didn’t mean he actually wanted to teleport back to the past.

How was he to know his wife was building a time machine in their basement just to shut him up?