Mai Dang

“An overhead light blinked and extinguished.
Armitage drew the pistol with his right hand. He swung and aimed, checking there were no innocent people obstructing the way. None. Fired a single shot. It sailed over a plant and table setting. The round hit an inch from the watcher's heart. On impact the brown-haired assailant tipped. Jake ducked. A table toppled. The watcher groaned as the force of the momentum pushed him toward the floor-to-ceiling glass wall.
A second table collapsed, plates thrown asunder. Jake stepped forward, arm stretched and gun straight. A waitress hugged herself, crying. Two more male patrons hit the floor and crawled between chairs.”
― Simon W. Clark, The Russian Ink

“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”
― Rumi

“She adjusted her body weight and caught his eyes, her gaze shiny and with a tinge of sadness. “My grandmother told me once that the world is filled with ghosts. The longer we live the more ghosts will haunt us.” She paused glancing at her palms. “But they’re here to remind us we are alive. That our hearts beat, blood runs through our veins, we breath air into our lungs.”
― Simon W. Clark, The Russian Ink

“It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby