Lamp by Belinda Roddie Let me light your lamp for you, as you have run out of oil again. Walk with me and the rest of the shorn sheep past the valley of the damned and up the hill toward the ivory gates. Therefore, everything shines and glistens as if you can catch the light in your mouth, taste it like nectar flowing from a flower's fluttering eyelids. The rams will bleat and snarl from below - their lights have gone out, for they won't accept oil that is not their own.

Ability by Belinda Roddie Rachel Worthington had the uncanny ability to turn every head that passed her - while also twisting their bodies. It was as if a carnal urge overtook both the bones and the blood, and occasionally, men who eyed her fell forward and frothed at the mouth and were overtaken by lust. We weren't sure if it was her beauty, or if she was a bona fide sorceress casting malicious spells.

Borders by Belinda Roddie It wasn't as if I wanted to separate you from me as if we were land masses. But the borders were drawn, and the kings had been crowned. Now, war was imminent. I had a sword, and you had a bow and arrows. Who would fall first on the battlefield, and who would weep profusely for said fallen? Our kingdoms were nothing but imaginary. In the end, I wanted your bed, and you wanted my body. And you wanted my bed, and I wanted your body.

Traditional by Belinda Roddie They wanted a traditional wedding, but we were not a traditional couple. We wanted bagpipes and kilts, but also pagan rituals. We wanted a three tier cake topped with a fondant sculpture of a dragon. We wanted our groomsmen to look like vampires and our bridesmaids to look like werewolves. And above all, we wanted the entire playlist to be composed of songs from bands like Birthday Massacre and Nightwish. Oh, and we were also gay.

Commission by Belinda Roddie I never received a commission for the refrigerator I sold, but I did get a rich woman's number, and the next week, I was drinking bubbly and eating caviar and filet mignon at one of the finest university clubs in the city. Her name was Lucy, and she wasn't much older than I was: Stiff upper lip, brunette hair, yet a glint in her eye that matched a splash of color in an otherwise murky blue abyss.

Modern by Belinda Roddie Nelsie wanted the house to have a modern look, while Naomi wanted it to have a Victorian flair. They bickered about this over their homemade tea lattes with frothed oat milk, while their respective wives shook their heads and sighed. Perhaps sharing the same real estate was not the best decision in the world, but then again, the market was abysmal, and the two couples had to take what they could get.

Stylize by Belinda Roddie The reboot of my favorite film was so different in all the wrong ways. It was heavily stylized, heavily saturated, heavily edited and riddled with so many visual effects that it was like someone used lasers to zap holes into Swiss cheese. I tried to enjoy it, but it was all just so...I couldn't even put it into words. "I'm done," I told my friend. "Beers at Freddy's. Now."

Advisor by Beliinda Roddie I didn't need an advisor, least of all a royal one. However, there she was, draped in a purple shawl that hardly matched the extravagant coat she wore in the dead of summer. She eyed me over red-rimmed glasses as I sat in my study, looking over countless old tomes detailing the far too long and boring history of my noble ancestors. "Take it seriously," she often reminded me. "No promises," I often replied.

Complete by Belinda Roddie The test was complete, but the answers were incoherent, and the questions weren’t exactly comprehensible to begin with. The computer had no answers for those skeptics who inquired about the test’s creation, process, and conclusion. It had no answers for scabs being opened from scratching heads too hard. It had no answers for those who took the test. And it had no answers for their denial, bewilderment, anger, or tears. No one passed. But also, no one failed.