They had no proof.

He knew that they knew he had done it but they didn't have
any proof. It was a huge distinction and it was the difference between him
keeping his freedom or being locked away for decades. They continued to
question him, probing him for information that they could use against him or
find the proof they needed to put him away. He smiled and continued to block
their every inquiry by feigning his innocence for a crime they all knew he
committed.

1.The young man wanted a role model. He looked long and hard in his youth, but
that role model never materialized. His only choice was to embrace all the
people in his life he didn't want to be like.

2.Lori lived her life through the lens of a camera. She never realized this until
this very moment as she scrolled through thousands of images on your
computer. She could remember the exact moment each photo was taken. She
could remember where she had been, what she was thinking as she tried to get
the shot, the smells of the surrounding area, and even the emotions that she
felt taking the photo, yet she had trouble remembering what she had for
breakfast.

3.It was a rat's nest. Not a literal one, but that is what her hair seemed to
resemble every morning when she got up. It was going to take at least an hour
to get it under control and she was sick and tired of it. She peered into the
mirror and wondered if it was worth it. It wasn't. She opened the drawer and
picked up the hair clippers.

4.There was only half a worm in the apple. At first, Judy didn't quite comprehend
what this meant. "Why would only half a worm be living in an apple?" she
wondered. And then it dawned on her. Judy quickly spit out the bite she had just
taken expecting to see the other half of the worm. It ended up being much
worse than that.

5.It wasn't quite yet time to panic. There was still time to salvage the situation.
At least that is what she was telling himself. The reality was that it was time to
panic and there wasn't time to salvage the situation, but he continued to delude
himself into believing there was.

6.She looked at her student wondering if she could ever get through. "You need
to learn to think for yourself," she wanted to tell him. "Your friends are holding
you back and bringing you down." But she didn't because she knew his friends
were all that he had and even if that meant a life of misery, he would never give
them up.

7.What were they eating? It didn't taste like anything she had ever eaten before
and although she was famished, she didn't dare ask. She knew the answer
would be one she didn't want to hear.
8.She wanted rainbow hair. That's what she told the hairdresser. It should be
deep rainbow colors, too. She wasn't interested in pastel rainbow hair. She
wanted it deep and vibrant so there was no doubt that she had done this on
purpose.

9.She wondered if the note had reached him. She scolded herself for not
handing it to him in person. She trusted her friend, but so much could happen.
She waited impatiently for word.

10.The desert wind blew the tumbleweed in front of the car. Alex swerved to
avoid the tumbleweed, but he turned the wheel a bit too strong and the car left
the road and skidded onto the dirt median. He instantly slammed on the brakes
and the car stopped in a cloud of dirt. When the dust cloud had settled and he
could see around him again, he realized that he'd somehow crossed over into an
entirely new dimension.

11.Another option you have is choosing the number of syllables in the words you
speak. You probably have never considered this option before, but you have it
every time you open your mouth and speak. You make so many choices like this
that you never even think about, but you have the choice with each one. What
are you going to do with this knowledge?

12.She sat in the darkened room waiting. It was now a standoff. He had the
power to put her in the room, but not the power to make her repent. It wasn't
fair and no matter how long she had to endure the darkness, she wouldn't
change her attitude. At three years old, Sandy's stubborn personality had
already bloomed into full view.

13."I'll talk to you tomorrow in more detail at our meeting, but I think I've found
a solution to our problem. It's not exactly legal, but it won't land us in jail for
the rest of our lives either. Are you willing to take the chance?" Monroe asked
his partner over the phone.

14.Barbara had been waiting at the table for twenty minutes. it had been twenty
long and excruciating minutes. David had promised that he would be on time
today. He never was, but he had promised this one time. She had made him
repeat the promise multiple times over the last week until she'd believed his
promise. Now she was paying the price.

15.There was no ring on his finger. That was a good sign although far from proof
that he was available. Still, it was much better than if he had been wearing a
wedding ring on his hand. She glanced at his hand a bit more intently to see if
there were any tan lines where a ring may have been, and he's simply taken it
off. She couldn't detect any which was also a good sign and a relief. The next
step would be to get access to his wallet to see if there were any family photos
in it.
16.It wasn't that he hated her. It was simply that he didn't like her much. It was
difficult for him to explain this to her, and even more difficult for her to truly
understand. She was in love and wanted him to feel the same way. He didn't,
and no matter how he tried to explain to her she refused to listen or to
understand.

17.Betty was a creature of habit and she thought she liked it that way. That was
until Dave showed up in her life. She now had a choice to make and it would
determine whether her lie remained the same or if it would change forever.

18.They rushed out the door, grabbing anything and everything they could think
of they might need. There was no time to double-check to make sure they
weren't leaving something important behind. Everything was thrown into the car
and they sped off. Thirty minutes later they were safe and that was when it
dawned on them that they had forgotten the most important thing of all.

19.Things aren't going well at all with mom today. She is just a limp noodle and
wants to sleep all the time. I sure hope that things get better soon.

20.There was something in the sky. What exactly was up there wasn't
immediately clear. But there was definitely something in the sky and it was
getting bigger and bigger.

21."Are you getting my texts???" she texted to him. He glanced at it and

chuckled under his breath. Of course he was getting them, but if he wasn't
getting them, how would he ever be able to answer? He put the phone down and
continued on his project. He was ignoring her texts and he planned to continue
to do so.

22.It had been a rough day. Things hadn't gone as planned and that meant
Hannah got yelled at by her boss. It didn't even matter that it wasn't her fault.
When things went wrong at work, Hannah got the blame no matter the actual
circumstances. It wasn't fair, but there was little she could do without risking
her job, and she wasn't in a position to do that with the plans she had.

23.The house was located at the top of the hill at the end of a winding road. It
wasn't obvious that the house was there, but everyone in town knew that it
existed. They were just all too afraid to ever go and see it in person.

24.He looked at the sand. Picking up a handful, he wondered how many grains
were in his hand. Hundreds of thousands? "Not enough," the said under his
breath. I need more.

25.She was aware that things could go wrong. In fact, she had trained her entire
life in anticipation that things would go wrong one day. She had quiet
confidence as she started to see that this was the day that all her training would
be worthwhile and useful. At this point, she had no idea just how wrong
everything would go that day.

26.Since they are still preserved in the rocks for us to see, they must have been
formed quite recently, that is, geologically speaking. What can explain these
striations and their common orientation? Did you ever hear about the Great Ice
Age or the Pleistocene Epoch? Less than one million years ago, in fact, some
12,000 years ago, an ice sheet many thousands of feet thick rode over Burke
Mountain in a southeastward direction. The many boulders frozen to the
underside of the ice sheet tended to scratch the rocks over which they rode. The
scratches or striations seen in the park rocks were caused by these attached
boulders. The ice sheet also plucked and rounded Burke Mountain into the
shape it possesses today.

27.There was a time when this wouldn't have bothered her. The fact that it did
actually bother her bothered her even more. What had changed in her life that
such a small thing could annoy her so much for the entire day? She knew it was
ridiculous that she even took notice of it, yet she was still obsessing over it as
she tried to fall asleep.

28.One foot in front of the other, One more step, and then one more. Jack's only
thoughts were to keep moving no matter how much his body screamed to stop
and rest. He's lost almost all his energy and his entire body ached beyond
belief, but he forced himself to take another step. Then another. And then one
more.

29.There wasn't a whole lot more that could be done. It had become a wait-and-
see situation with the final results no longer in her control. That didn't stop her
from trying to control the situation. She demanded that things be done as she
desperately tried to control what couldn't be.

30."Do Not Enter." The sign made it clear that they didn't want anyone around.
That wasn't going to stop Jack. Jack always lived with the notion that signs were
mere suggestions, not actually absolute rules. That's why the moment Jack
looked at the "Do Not Enter" sign, he walked past it and onto their property.

31.He couldn't move. His head throbbed and spun. He couldn't decide if it was
the flu or the drinking last night. It was probably a combination of both.

32.Wandering down the path to the pond had become a daily routine. Even
when the weather wasn't cooperating like today with the wind and rain, Jerry
still took the morning stroll down the path until he reached the pond. Although
there didn't seem to be a particular reason Jerry did this to anyone looking in
from the outside, those who knew him well knew exactly what was going on. It
could all be traced back to a specific incident that happened exactly 5 years
previously.
33.He heard the crack echo in the late afternoon about a mile away. His heart
started racing and he bolted into a full sprint. "It wasn't a gunshot, it wasn't a
gunshot," he repeated under his breathlessness as he continued to sprint.

34.She reached her goal, exhausted. Even more chilling to her was that the
euphoria that she thought she'd feel upon reaching it wasn't there. Something
wasn't right. Was this the only feeling she'd have for over five years of hard
work?

35.It was a scrape that he hardly noticed. Sure, there was a bit of blood but it
was minor compared to most of the other cuts and bruises he acquired on his
adventures. There was no way he could know that the rock that produced the
cut had alien genetic material on it that was now racing through his
bloodstream. He felt perfectly normal and continued his adventure with no
knowledge of what was about to happen to him.

36.He took a sip of the drink. He wasn't sure whether he liked it or not, but at
this moment it didn't matter. She had made it especially for him so he would
have forced it down even if he had absolutely hated it. That's simply the way
things worked. She made him a new-fangled drink each day and he took a sip of
it and smiled, saying it was excellent.

37.She had come to the conclusion that you could tell a lot about a person by
their ears. The way they stuck out and the size of the earlobes could give you
wonderful insights into the person. Of course, she couldn't scientifically prove
any of this, but that didn't matter to her. Before anything else, she would size
up the ears of the person she was talking to.

38.Her mom had warned her. She had been warned time and again, but she had
refused to believe her. She had done everything right and she knew she would
be rewarded for doing so with the promotion. So when the promotion was given
to her main rival, it not only stung, it threw her belief system into disarray. It
was her first big lesson in life, but not the last.

39.Dave found joy in the daily routine of life. He awoke at the same time, ate
the same breakfast and drove the same commute. He worked at a job that never
seemed to change and he got home at 6 pm sharp every night. It was who he
had been for the last ten years and he had no idea that was all about to change.

40.The irony of the situation hadn't escaped her. She had taken years to sculpt
the perfect persona with the perfect look that she shared on Instagram. She
knew her hundreds of thousands of followers envied that life she showed and
stayed engaged with her because they wanted that life too. The truth was that
she wanted the perfect life she portrayed more than any of her fans. The fact
was that despite all the perfection she shared on social media, her life was
actually more of a mess than most.
41.It's always good to bring a slower friend with you on a hike. If you happen to
come across bears, the whole group doesn't have to worry. Only the slowest in
the group do. That was the lesson they were about to learn that day.

42.I'm heading back to Colorado tomorrow after being down in Santa Barbara
over the weekend for the festival there. I will be making October plans once
there and will try to arrange so I'm back here for the birthday if possible. I'll let
you know as soon as I know the doctor's appointment schedule and my flight
plans.

43.She counted. One. She could hear the steps coming closer. Two. Puffs of
breath could be seen coming from his mouth. Three. He stopped beside her.
Four. She pulled the trigger of the gun.

44.It was a good idea. At least, they all thought it was a good idea at the time.
Hindsight would reveal that in reality, it was an unbelievably terrible idea, but it
would take another week for them to understand that. Right now, at this very
moment. they all agreed that it was the perfect course of action for the current
situation.

45.The drug seekers would come into the emergency room and scream about
how much pain they were in. When you told them that you would start elevating
their pain with Tylenol or Advil instead of a narcotic they became nasty and
combative. They would start telling you what drug and dose they had to have to
make their pain tolerable. After dealing with the same drug seekers several
times a month it gets old. Some of the doctors would give in and give them a
dose of morphine and send them away. Sure that was faster, but ethically she
still couldn’t do it. Perhaps that’s why she had longer care times than the other
doctors.

46.Mary had to make a decision and she knew that whatever decision she made,
it would upset someone. It seemed like such a silly reason for people to get
upset but she knew the minute that she began to consider doing it that there
was no way everyone in her life would be pleased with what she ultimately
decided to do. It was simply a question of who she would rather displease most.
While this had always been her parents, and especially her mom, in the past
that she tried to keep from upsetting, she decided that this time the person she
was going to please the most with her decision was herself.

47.The bush began to shake. Brad couldn't see what was causing it to shake, but
he didn't care. he had a pretty good idea about what was going on and what was
happening. He was so confident that he approached the bush carefree and with
a smile on his face. That all changed the instant he realized what was actually
behind the bush.

48.The wave crashed and hit the sandcastle head-on. The sandcastle began to
melt under the waves force and as the wave receded, half the sandcastle was
gone. The next wave hit, not quite as strong, but still managed to cover the
remains of the sandcastle and take more of it away. The third wave, a big one,
crashed over the sandcastle completely covering and engulfing it. When it
receded, there was no trace the sandcastle ever existed and hours of hard work
disappeared forever.

49.I checked in for the night at Out O The Way motel. What a bad choice that
was. First I took a shower and a spider crawled out of the drain. Next, the towel
rack fell down when I reached for the one small bath towel. This allowed the
towel to fall halfway into the toilet. I tried to watch a movie, but the remote
control was sticky and wouldn’t stop scrolling through the channels. I gave up
for the night and crawled into bed. I stretched out my leg and felt something
furry by my foot. Filled with fear, I reached down and to my surprise, I pulled
out a raccoon skin pair of underwear. After my initial relief that it wasn’t alive,
the image of a fat, ugly businessman wearing raccoon skin briefs filled my brain.
I jumped out of the bed, threw my toothbrush into my bag, and sprinted towards
my car.