I’m here and as long as I continue to stay here, I will be writing. A pen as my sword, a book as my shield, I will stand and fight on the side of creativity.
I’m here and as long as I continue to stay here, I will be writing. A pen as my sword, a book as my shield, I will stand and fight on the side of creativity.
Water flows through splintered beams,
Haggard cracks within the seams,
Rocks and mud within our home,
A loss of warmth betwixt the dome.
Pulling up a book to read,
I realize I’m without a need.
Between the wreck of shale and tree,
There I sit while others flee.
Screams and cries,
And sweetened lies,
Yet here beneath the awning I wait.
Even if they do arrive,
I made my peace that they’ll be too l...
For a moment,
All I can see are stars
Bright, hot, and burning
The rumble of the cheap stage below me,
Threatening to collapse with every boom of the mic.
Handprints sear my shoulders,
Ushering me forward for the inevitable piercing of eyes.
All on me.
All deliberating.
What I wouldn’t give for a warm fire,
The only light being a lamp in the corner.
But all I can feel is cold,
Curtains shifting...
I sighed, combing my fingers through the stiff, gelled hair my mother had so desperately styled for tonight. My collar felt too tight, suffocating me in my own cologne.
“Carson,” I stiffened at the call of my name, turning to see yet another well-dressed woman. She was dressed exquisitely—as most everyone here was—a concerned and… determined look on her face. “Are you quite alright? You left in s...
Evelyn Boone had everything; a boyfriend, an apartment of her own, a large following on Instagram. She was the embodiment of thriving. She came in with a beaming smile and a kale smoothie and flooded the room with her energy.
Kathleen Jacobs had enough; she scraped by with her three other roommates that she doesn’t talk to outside of asking them to clean up their dishes, she had a secure place at...
She never wanted anything. She didn’t want to choose what the family had for dinner, she didn’t want to think about the future, and she didn’t want Evelyn to leave.
Nora pressed her hands over her ears and curled up on the couch as her father screamed. He pressed his finger into Evelyn’s chest and spat in her face, his face redder than the mark he had left on Evelyn’s cheek.
“-OUT OF MY HOUSE!”
...
Stumbling through the woods with bones that felt entirely different but deep down they were all the same, Armani braced against the trunk of a tree and wheezed for breath.
Their face, once smoothed and young, now bore wrinkles and loose skin. They closed their eyes when they saw their swollen hands, one clutching tight to a black flower with orange creeping from the inner cup. Everything ached a...
A cottage sat atop a small hill in the center of the forbidden forest. The shudders creaked with every movement of wind and the roof was halfway caved in. A black cat sat on the singular fence post, her tail flicking lazily over the splintered wood.
A boy with large, circular glasses stumbled out of the cottage blowing and spitting at the pot in his hands that was currently on fire. He threw it o...