I am my father’s favorite daughter

I am weaker, perhaps on purpose

I am quiet,

obedience is virtue.

I do not push him off

I do not yell

Humility warms my veins

and his hands and his fingers

He caresses my hair usually

He does not for my brothers

For they push shove and scream

Unconscionable resistance

I am my father’s favorite daughter and my mothers tears

He does not love her like he loves ...

If Ryan could physically kill himself, he absolutely would. Right now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with him - in fact, he is mostly happy in life. His house sparkles in the hills of Malibu as the sun sets. He and his husband, Fisher, wade in the pool, sipping cocktails made for them by their brand-spanking new RoboMaid. Ryan sips his mule, sucks his teeth.

“Mm. New vodka?” he asks Fisher. ...

Eventually, the rains stopped falling, and the waters receded. The air no longer burned the buds off of the trees, though there were few of them left anyway. Vines, brown but utterly alive, crawled up the concrete cliffs. Clouds meandered lazily across a sky that was almost blue again. Breezing winds blew ash through the burnt streets, the smell of black char finally beginning to fade. The sea bec...

The morning of the day she died, my grandmother and I sat out on the porch of the homestead together. Her frail hands shook as she brought her tea to her mouth, her wrinkled lips pursed as she bent down to drink. Her tongue searched for the straw. I just watched her struggle, knowing she couldn’t see me watching her anyway. I could just imagine the things she’d say if I tried to help. _“Fuck off,”...

Rose didn’t get off of the plane coming back from Orlando.

Robby waited for her for hours. He watched the other passengers filing past, the baggy-eyed Southwest employees behind the counter yawning. children whined, their complaints carrying throughout the mostly empty airport. The AC whirled above, whistling through the grates like a wind through a lost forest. Robby fretted. Where is she? Where...

“I was just trying to be what you wanted.”

Jason’s hair whipped across his face, while dead leaves swirled past his feet. They sat on the park bench, holding slowly cooling coffees, avoiding each other. Across the way, a dog chased a ball. Children played as his world ended.

“You don’t understand me, then.” Her voice was frustrated, tired. She spoke quickly - the words burned her tongue. “I ne...

I inhabit darkness.

Other beings are made for the light; I am not. The light scorches, it burns. It kills. Death lies in the light. All of our kind, my brothers, my cousins, and my sisters, my lineage across generations, wither and dry in the Brightness. Under the Grains of the Sea I crawl, praying the air will remain still, for fast air is the harbinger of death.

We try to sleep under the Grai...

“I don’t really think that you actually want to kill me. I feel like maybe there are some repressed feelings here? Or something?” I was grasping at straws. “Have you tried therapy? There’s gotta be a better solution. Like what did I do to deserve this?”

He stopped sharpening the axe for a moment and looked down at me from his perch on the tree stump, his eyes piercing into mine. Was that a smirk ...