In a heart-shaped box, a mother keeps her children’s teeth, collecting them like coins or snowglobes. Out of love, of course. It's love that has her picking at her children's teeth, digging them out of their mouths. It's love that has her pressing a tissue against their mouths to stop the bleeding. It's love that has her drugging them so they can't feel any pain. She looks at her children now. All...

The first kill is the hardest. You’re hesitant, unsure if you’re doing it correctly, worried you’ll make a mistake and get caught. After you get away with the first, the rest are easier. But more than that: thrilling.

I found my passion for killing as a young child when I squeezed the life out of my cat and lied to everyone that she ran away. I buried the body in our backyard. We now have a sprawl...

I watch as I’m drained out of him

Slowly, slowly as he quietly fades away on the hospital bed

I watch death’s grabby fingers clutching at air

Eager to get its hands on him

It pulls and pulls, making every vestige of me disappear

There’s no point in even trying to save him

Death’s chains are more powerful

It steals all the beautiful flowers and I’m left with the charred, black ones

I can admit, I’...

I shrugged my backpack onto my shoulder, the weight feeling like a boulder on my back. I flinched as yet another glass shattered on the floor, followed by my mother’s high-pitched screaming.

“I can’t believe this! You gambled all our money away again!”

And like always my father replied with a soothing “It was a mistake,” that always got on my nerves. My mother’s too by the sound of it.

I walked...

“Don’t lie to me”

You said, the first day we met

You looked so serious then

To me, at least

With your sticky fingers clutching mine

And your earnest brown eyes boring into mine

“I have too many people lying to me already”

All I wanted was to play freeze tag

But you held me in place

Until I promised

So I did, to appease you

I didn’t understand why you were asking

Of course I wouldn’t lie to you...

A cold glass of water on a sticky, summer morning. A cup of hot chocolate and a warm blanket in front of the fireplace on a dark, winter night. The bright autumn leaves falling as you breathe in the crisp fall air. The bloom of flowers once again after freezing winter months.

I trace my fingers across the words as they morph into something else. Suddenly I’m in the middle of the battlefield watchi...

I sip my coffee and eavesdrop on the conversation next to me.

“The Author hasn’t sent a note in 2 years,” one girl says in hushed tones.

“Yeah… do you think…” the other girl replies, the question left waiting for someone to finish it.

“They died?” I whisper from right behind them.

They both shriek and turn around.

Once they see it is me, they relax.

“Raven! How are you?” the first girl, Cas...

Love is strange

Unexpected, but welcome

Sought out, and disappears

Sometimes it’s dark and twisted,

Holding you in a tight grip

Watching you struggle with glee

A foolish game of cat and mouse

Where pleasure is derived

From seeing love suffer

Other times it’s a warm embrace

Sunshine on a sticky summer day

Or eating popsicles on the front porch

Laying in bed with a good book

Or with your cat laying ...

If your hand could reach inside my heart, what would you do with it?

Would you hold it in your palm, but keep quiet?

Would you hold it above your head, loud and proud?

Or would you crush it until it breaks?

Until it smashes to the ground, glass on glass

7 different pieces, each one molded to your touch

I trusted you, but you took advantage of my love

The spirals cascade, the betrayal sets i...

March 19th, 1999

Her first cry pierced the earth

Marking her place in the world

Her mother’s tears flowed freely

July 22nd, 1999

Her first laugh, unique and her own

Sweet and tinkling like precious crystals

The desperate need to freeze time

And watch that moment over and over

May 9th, 2000

When she first babbled the word “mama”

Her mother’s hugs and kisses and “I love you”s

Flowing unconditional...