Moving to the dessert was the worst. My mom had said “it was what was passed down to us.” But I refused that. I didn’t want to stay here. I didn’t want to be out here. There was nothing but bugs, snakes, sometimes animals, my mom, my grandma and the sand.

When grandpa died, we moved here to help grandma. We were uprooted from our tiny, uppity town in Boston and taken to the middle of nowhere Ari...

Back when the world first started crumbling under our feet, a couple dozen of us banned together to go into hiding. We waited 2 years to emerge and once we did, we couldn’t believe our eyes.

Year 2520

“Ally, don’t go near the edge. We have to stay hidden.”

“I know, mom!” I yelled back into the cave. My home; our home. I try to sneak away and go to the edge to see the others. The sky creatures...

I hated working in the city, I hated the subway and I hated Monday’s, so naturally I was already in a bad mood. I scanned the chip hidden inside my wrist to get on the subway.

BEEP.

“Approved. Thank you Mr. Jensen.”

SWOOSH.

Another memory gone. The sad thing is, I can’t even remember which ones I lose. I used to write them all down and cross them off as they disappeared, but it was too much...

“All I wanted was a lazy Sunday, but now I have to kill you.” The fly flew onto the tv screen once again. It’s been buzzing past my head for the last hour now and I’m so over it. I stormed into the kitchen to grab something, anything to kill the sucker. Lacy was standing with the refrigerator door wide open searching through week old leftover Chinese containers and multiple half empty alcohol bott...

Everyone here is alive because of them. I have to keep reminding myself this over and over again in my head as I slave away day in and day out at the hand of my maker. Literally. Jesus himself. Well, his minions.

It was a summer day, but it was raining…or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was just cloudy….doesn’t matter. I was sitting on my back deck just minding my own business and eating some Hawaiian...

“For crying out loud, it’s 2021! Why would people do this?!”

Drew was my best friend and, rightfully so, the best man in my upcoming wedding. He planned this bachelor party the traditional way.

Vegas style.

Not the hangover Vegas style with roofies, alcohol, tigers and babies, but the gambling and good times type of fling.

Drew had been my best friend since we were 7. His parents moved to t...

New life; new skin

What a new world you live in.

Tiny socks; little cries

See the world through your eyes.

Cheek to cheek; face to chest

The cuddles are always the best.

Tired body; sleepless night

Nothing beats this beautiful sight.

Milk breath; constant coos

It all makes up for the daily poos.

Pink blanket; colorful sleeper

Everyone knows you’re a keeper.

Plastic bottles; pumpkin seat

Yo...

“Many people don’t know this...” Papa always started this story out the same. He talks about the family restaurant and how he did the “taxes” in the office in the back, then proceed to go into the stories of guns, drugs and money. The kids loved hearing the history. They could take it back to school with them and tell their friends, who rarely believed them. Papa always made it seem like they were...

It had been 862 years since Josiah had seen sunlight and felt the warmth of the rays on his face. They called it “The Day the Sun Disappeared” and it happened just as it sounds. Everyone woke up and the sun was no where to be found. Day after day darkness lingered and wasn’t leaving. It drove some people mad, putting others into a deep depression. Josiah, however, was already all alone.

The moon ...

I didn’t want to believe Madame Laveau. There’s no way. Suddenly, this vacation to New Orleans wasn’t so relaxing and fun anymore. I ran back to our air BNB to meet up with the rest of the gang and warn them.

“So, basically, if we don’t get the necklace Rico bought from that creepy guy on the street to this “voodoo priest” who lives in the bayou by midnight tomorrow, we all will die? All because i...