My grandmother, Setsuko, has lived many lives and made many fresh starts. I’ll start at the beginning. She was born in 1930 in Osaka. Growing up in Japan and as a girl in the Kumami family, Setsuko’s childhood felt like a dark time she’d never escape. Setsuko’s father died of tuberculosis when she was 4 years old, so she grew up with her cold mother, two younger brothers, and older sister Kyoko. W...

I remember when I first heard from my parents that they were selling the house. We were moving to a bigger house because my mom was pregnant with my youngest brother Shane. It was in the summer that they told me. My mom came home and sent our nanny Jasmine home. As she finished up dinner my dad came home, and they told all of us they had to tell us something.

We all took it a bit differently. I ...

Clark startled awake to his blaring alarm at 7:30am. He pulled back the covers and noticed that for the first time since the 6th grade, his sheets were wet.

While waiting for his toast in the kitchen, he pondered how many twenty year olds still had wet dreams. He was never very good at remembering his dreams. He couldn’t for the life of him remember what had led to such a sensual explosion.

He ...

I had a dream one night

Of a rainstorm

And dark slick streets

Car lights beaming through fog

Silence except rain

My glasses wet

Droplets splashing the rims

I remove them

To dry on my shirt

I wipe my eyes

My opaque vision clear

The world looks different

Unreal almost

Standing still, staring

Into a static headlight

A bald, sickly figure

Walks through the beams

Turning its scarved neck

Peer...

Mary Higgins walked up the brick steps to Finn’s house. She raked her fingers against each side of her part and squirted a dallop of rose lotion on her palm. All her feminine accessories rustled about noisily as she walked with confidence: the big shoulder bag, bracelets, and layered necklaces.

Before she even reached the door, Finn, a punchable and generically attractive brunette still wearing h...