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...
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...