Every one had island fever. Slumped over desks half asleep half drunk, chemical energy rushing through veins, slowing footsteps. People drifted through their lives, hibernating as teenagers before life got real, half asleep from the toxic smoke drifting from the closed bathroom stalls.

Everyone wanted to leave. Most people did, but came drifting back decades later. Once it was in your blood the w...

“Let’s get out there and make this the best game this season! I want you all to focus now and really put your hearts into this game! Everybody on three!” Coach reaches out his hand into the center of our huddle.

“One, two, three! Ravens! Fight!” We all shout in unison, giving me the goosebumps I love. The ones that travel down your back and spread out to your limbs.

The team heads for the door b...

I don’t think you like the way I look

Your peppermint smiles turn sour

When we catch eyes

I don’t think you like the way I look

And lately I’m not sure I do either

Riding to school in your car again

Riding to school in your car again

I’m motion sick

Bile coming up my throat

Puberty came and went on a while

Now the therapists stuck with me

I’m wordless and can’t seem to drown the voices out

The ca...

Darkness shrouds her clearing to a void of cords and sounds. Disjointed nothingness. In there she finds herself walking in the dark slowly. As if she would fall into a cliff at any moment. She sees Pedro. Glazy like a foggy mirror. The others transfiguring behind him.

Nothing again.

Just her, pacing back and forth talking to the silent smoky figures.

“Validating my thoughts means nothing in...

we had been arguing consistently for months. years, if i’m being honest. i didn’t know who i was anymore. i was quiet and reserved. i had strong opinions, but i wouldn’t dare let them slip. i spent nights crying myself to sleep, but no one knew that but me. the embarrassment of telling my friends and family that they were right about this man that had taken over my life was unbearable. so, i smile...

I wake up the next day laying right next to her in her bed. My eyes all watery and puffed from all the crying be both did yesterday. As I turn to her side I realize she is still asleep and so I take the time to get a last good look at her, knowing this will be my last chance to have a moment like this with her.

Marissa and I had been together for 10 years and i had always believed it would be the...

He had always wondered if this day would come. Six years ago, he’d moved off grid into this tiny house to get away from all the restrictions of modern life.

Back then, as he’d made his preparations, he couldn’t believe how excited he was to get away from it all. He hadn’t even felt a bit of nostalgic hesitation. He was over his girlfriend - they saw the world so differently. She had bought in com...

The children we raised knew something wasn’t quite right with mommy and daddy. They asked about it, but I knew they weren’t ready.

Falling out of love is complicated, especially when the other person is clueless. How was I supposed to do this? Oh, how was he so blind as to miss how I’d recoil when he touched my skin, was so tense when I’d talk to him? Maybe he knew but didn’t want to leave me. T...

He cupped her face in both of his hands, his face so close to hers that she could smell his sickly cologne. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, only to open them to see his icy blue ones staring back at her. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and he wiped them away with his thumb.

“Can’t you stay? Just a bit longer?” She whispered, her voice wavering. More tears. He tilted her face down, so her ey...

i’ve left.

and i don’t think you ever noticed.

i’ve went missing.

no, you’re not gonna see me in a milk carton with my height and weight on it.

i’ve left, i’m gone.

gone in the sorts of myself.

you can still see me, you can still see my dark blue eyes and dark brunette curls.

you’ll still be able to hear me talk, and maybe you’ll focus in and realize i don’t laugh.

maybe you’ll look at me and...