Mama says she’s taking me to the playground today! I’m so excited because I haven’t been in ages and Jackson taught me how to do the monkey bars the other day at school. Now I will get to show Mama how strong I am! Maybe that will make her happy. She’s been really sad for a while and super sleepy. She mostly naps on the sofa or just lies there staring. Not even at the TV or anything, just at the w...

She was haunted by the past,

She felt rotten deep inside,

She spent her days in a numb bubble,

Wishing she’d already died.

But she couldn’t quite do it,

Couldn’t end her life herself,

So settled for the lesser evil;

The razor sat on her shelf.

Now she’d have to wear long sleeves,

And hide her arms from her friends,

But if, for another day, her life

Was to be without an end,

Instead there had to...

At first, I thought it was a hallucination. Human brains are capable of incredible things when pushed to the limit, and ten days stranded in the middle of the ocean would push anyone to the brink of sanity. I’d woken from a restless sleep under the blistering sun to see a seagull perched on the end of my raft. I blinked and unconsciously picked at the peeling skin on my shoulder as I tried to figu...