I slid the bag across the table. The hooded figure opposite me peered inside.

“Where the hell did you find this?!” he demanded roughly.

I stared back at him levelly. “Does it really matter? I got it, no questions asked.”

The man reached into the duffel and pulled out a tiny black kitten. “There haven’t been any felines on earth for decades,” he murmured as he tentatively stroked the kitten b...

My heart pumps weakly

Starved of love;

It shivers bleakly

And longs for a hug.

For a touch of kindness

From someone who cares;

But around me is blindness

Or nobody dares.

People walk past me

Each desperate day

They glance without seeing

And guiltily look away.

“Why?” you may ask

“Do people not see?”

It’s too hard of a task

To help someone in need.

I make them uncomfortable

With my filth...

She was huddled in bed

In a cave made of covers

Her face streaked with tears

And her tiny body trembled.

He came to her rescue

Like good daddies do

With strong, gentle hands

He scooped up his daughter.

.....

She clutched the steering wheel

For the very first time

Sweat ran down her shoulder blades

But she knew she would be okay.

For her dad was beside her

With a calm, steady voice

His big...

He wandered through the camp, his boots kicking up fine, powdery dust that choked him. Ugly wooden barracks stood at attention on either side of him. His gaze locked on the strange creatures peeking out of the open entrances—pale, haunted faces; bony skeletons with sagging, papery skin; bulging joints and reedy limbs.

And the eyes...the eyes were the worst part. They stared at him: dull, hopeles...

I leaned on the ancient stone wall of the lookout point and gazed over the sparkling water. The inlet, shaped like a teardrop, was surrounded by the craggy cliffs and gentle slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. Seagulls soared at eye level, their wings outstretched like hang gliders. Far below, tiny waves rippled on the water’s surface, glinting like crevices on a crystal. A sailboat the size of a...

tears of heaven fall

gentle drops on the window

wander down the glass...

Time moves on

Secretly

Silently

Unceasingly

With it, it takes

Us

Our lives

Our very existence

Funneling down to that crucial point

Called Death

Time begets memories

It erases memories

It leaves hints for the future

And landmarks to the past

It marches on

Never looking back

Always gazing forward

Towards the hazy future

We cannot turn it back

We cannot retrace its steps

It leads us in ...

I crouched in the brush, my back against a large tree hiding me from the hiking trail. My pulse pounded in my ears, my chest heaved with gasps, and my body quivered with adrenaline and terror as the strains of the song “Happy” filtered faintly through the stillness of the forest.

A bead of sweat trickled maddeningly down my temple. I raised a shaky hand and smeared it into my hair as I tried to ...

Darkness is a cloak that sweeps over our world. It hides both the scary and the comforting, the dangerous and the protecting, the hateful and the loving. Sometimes it is a warm, cozy blanket that shields us from terrors and swaths is in quiet serenity. Sometimes it is a stifling blindfold that makes us vulnerable to the threats that lurk behind its skirts.

Then light steps in and sweeps away the...

The door is locked—you can’t get in

No matter how hard you try

Kicking at the door won’t do any good

Nor will using a crowbar to pry.

“Well how,” you ask, “can I get in?”

The answer is actually a mite strange

You gain access by NOT trying or prying—

I know, that makes me sound quite deranged.

But see, the key to unlocking my door

Is to not use manipulation or force

You have to gain my trust b...