“You have an hour and forty minutes to complete the free response questions,” the instructor announces from the front. “You may now turn to the first page of your section two packet and begin.”

The sound of paper against paper echoes throughout the gym as everyone turns their pages to the first question. I fiddle nervously with my pencil as I examine the complicated words.

The chill of the col...

“We are in this together, but I’m not sure I can trust you,” he confesses under his breath.

I take a step backwards, confusion distorting my expression. “Now? You’re saying this _now_?”

“It wasn’t supposed to end like this, _I’m sorry_.” Translucent tears stream down my face as he now holds a blade to my neck. Tears of his own mirror mine, though I’m not sure if they’re tears over me or from t...

Dear Rising Light:

The shine that never ceases,

Enveloping the world that cowers beneath.

Did you forget the moon?

The darkness long forgotten,

Dead in the dusk with no beings but itself.

Without your light it decimates,

Left lonely in the sand.

Your shine gave it purpose;

In its absense, no one spares a glance....

They all swarm around the envelope like a hive of bees, greed twisting their smiles. I don’t bother to join them; I know my parents won’t disappoint me.

My siblings each take their turn reading the letter. With six of us, the money my dead parents left behind could go many ways. Nevertheless, my siblings are smart enough to know where the lot of the sum will go.

I tap my finger impatiently. “Ha...

One… inhale.

Two… hold.

Three… exhale.

Four… repeat.

Inhale, hold, exhale, inhale, breathe.

Numbers pile up in my brain as I try to soften my nerves. My breathing feels erratic; it’s a bundle of worries ready to explode.

“Calm yourself,” I whisper. My hands cup my face as if to steady the anxious thoughts running miles in my head.

“Amara, you’re next!” A voice calls out. That must be my ...

“It’s the most I can do,” I say with a sweetened smile after healing my final patient for the night.

He thanks me profusely, pulling me in for yet another hug. Though I’m quite exhausted at the moment, I can’t contain the smile that creeps onto my face.

Unlike most, I hold the magic of healing; a power most people would kill for- and some have tried. Despite the tiring responsibilities that co...

I shuffle in the front seat of my car, rearranging my array of cheap blankets. I'm parallel-parked next to a gas station, the only suitable place I could find in short time.

I rest my head on one of the blankets and observe the city around me. Twinkling lights are scattered like stars and the music of the rumbling city fills my ears.

I watch people going places; some are rushed while others a...

It feels like drowning; an overwhelming emotion consumes me. It is fatal, yet I lean into its beautiful embrace and the current pulls me away...

My husband sits next to me, keeping an arm around my back. He is my hero and my doom; he is my life and my death.

If I escape death, I’d be trading one cage for a bigger one. If not death of the soul, it would be death of the body. He may be my death...