You ebbed and flowed through consciousness like the tides. Never with one foot firmly on the ground, always intent on leaving. Was I not enough to stay? When you clocked out, I clocked in. Empty vodka bottles encased you as smoke enveloped me. I swept your shattered pieces left scattered at my feet. First to go were the still-lit cigarettes, begging to burn down my living nightmare. Clearing the s...

When I look in the mirror, I no longer recognize the reflection staring back at me. This woman is older than I am. The shape of her mouth does not show me joy but criticism. She has hard creases on her forehead and between her eyes. Her once enviable cheekbones have been buried beneath the weight of depression. This woman’s ocean-blue eyes have darkened with time. She traded her porcelain skin for...