Cleo followed Tyler into the coffee shop and over to the table where his bandmates already sat with steaming coffees. “Hey, Cleo,” the lead singer, a skinny man with a lip ring, said with a smile. “Hi,” Cleo replied. “Sorry, I don’t think I got your name.” “Ryan,” he said, holding out a hand to […]

Jenna was there in the morning when Cleo woke up. Blonde hair tickled her neck and she ran a sleepy hand down Jenna’s warm arm as she gradually opened her eyes. Cleo carefully climbed out of bed and headed to the kitchen to make coffee. The winter sunlight in her kitchen was crisp and beautiful […]

Andrew was awake. He could hear the soft ticking of the clock in the kitchen and the occasional puff of the humidifier in Mia’s bedroom. The room was dark, with no streetlights outside to spill in a little bit of light. The dim pink glow of Mia’s nightlight and the blinking red light on the […]

If it weren’t for the fact that Andrew wasn’t there, Cleo could almost believe that her time in New Winslow had never happened. She’d been back in Boston for several days now and had fallen back into her old routine. At least to some extent. Her boss was none too happy that she’d missed an […]

New Year’s Eve and Andrew was still stuck in New Winslow. He should have expected it. None of his repeated escape attempts had succeeded, so now here he was at ten pm, bartending at Keegan’s like some bizarre fever dream. Olivia hadn’t been exaggerating. This place was packed. He recognized a few faces, but for […]

Club Apex was nearly empty when Cleo walked in, guitar in one hand, mini-amp in the other. Her footsteps across the scuffed wooden floor echoed throughout the room as she made her way over to the bored bartender. “Hey, Cleo, right?” the woman said. Cleo grinned. “Yeah, that’s me.” The woman returned her smile. She […]

If Iris was going to approach the town council about the curse, she was going to have to do it the right way. She’d need to have everything in place, all the information she needed at her fingertips, and she had to rehearse what she would say before she was actually in front of them. […]

Cleo left the next day. She hugged Andrew, trying her best not to see the naked envy in his eyes, an envy he was clearly trying desperately to hide. “I’ll come back before-“ “You absolutely will not,” Andrew interrupted. “You’re leaving on tour in what, a week? Don’t you dare come back and risk getting […]

Cleo was in the kitchen when they stepped out. “All good?” she asked. Noah cleared his throat and avoided her eyes. “Yeah.” “Saved the hand,” Andrew joked awkwardly as Olivia handed them both plates. “Couldn’t save the salad so I just chopped up some fruit.” “Sorry,” Noah said. “I think I’m gonna go-” “Sit,” Olivia […]

December twenty-ninth and Andrew was still trapped. He’d tried again multiple times that day, the first time tossing his bag in the car just in case. It couldn’t hurt, he’d reasoned. Plus, four days was plenty of time. It made sense that the curse would end today, and he wouldn’t want to be without his […]