The pot bubbles and steams as I stir the liquid, boiling the water hot. Tiny bubbles pop up and float, temping me to touch them with my finger. I clench my fist tight, holding back the urge.

With a sigh, I set the spoon down and rest my forehead on the hard cabinet, letting the sound of boiling water flush my worries away.

I can almost imagine waves creasing past my head and fish flouncing by. C...

The day started fine. I was cleaning the dishes and left the house near 11:00, but now I stand on the frozen lake, miles from my home.

I came over to ice skate. The kids in the neighborhood love coming here. It's one of the few times we get to have fun, especially during the winter. The ice was thick and slippery and I was the only one who didn't have skates.

One of the neighborhood kids, a li...

Room to Rent

From my phone screen to the house to back to my phone, I was transfixed. Hydrandras edged a bright green expanse of lawn. A curved cobble stone driveway led up to prim three story Victorian It was storybook worthy. The Facebook classified was for a room for rent in large house with an eldery couple. I looked down at my busted up Converses. I was regretting my choice of outfit, denim ...

The underwater train left a trail of bubbles. The little girl, Mira, bounced up and down. She and her dad were heading to the best restaurant in the world.

The Koral Kitchen.

The restaurant was in the Great Barrier Reef, and food was catch fresh. Like caught only minutes ago, washed, cut, and put onto a plate for consumption.

The Koral Kitchen had another great thing about it.

It was owned, built,...

My lungs are burning with in intense feeling, like I’m being lit on fire from the inside. My eyes closed tightly under the lake water as I kick my legs, reaching my arms up to break though the water’s surface. I need air. Now.

I gasp, rubbing my eyes with my fist as I adjust to the setting. A camp counselor is looking at me dead in the eyes, a frown on his face clear as day. “You failed.” The onl...

Toothy quietly munched on the last of his classmates, a delicious teenaged grouper named Bloop, as Professor Darkcloud swirled his tentacles through the last of some ink to demonstrate the basic principle of diffusion.

“So you see, even though when it was condensed in a small space my ink was enough to hide me completely, because the ocean has so much more water than ink, when the ink is no long...

Gasping for air, all I see is red. The water surrounds me, yet I don’t feel like I’m drowning. Again - up - and again, gasping for air. Isn’t it funny how we can feel torn from our homes, everything we’ve known, at a moment’s notice? Life is cruel that way, I’ve found. I’ve seen people close to me hooked away by something or other clutching at their minds. Now, it seems, it’s my turn to succumb.

...

There was a time when we lived on the land, long ago before the water submerged everything in its path. Life on land was the way of living, humans were born from their mothers wombs, brought into the world screaming, raised by their parents, went to school, made friends, had relationships, grew older, survived on their own, and started their own families.

That’s been over hundreds of thousands o...

I floated under the water for a moment and let the smile widen on my face. It was almost too good to be true. I almost couldn’t believe it. I kick my feet and ease my way back up, turning my face to the warm sun as my face breaks the surface, the smile still lingering on my lips. As I open my eyes, a splash of water hits my face and a cackle of laughter hits my ears. I turn toward the sound and im...

A peaceful silence envelops me as I descend into the darkness. My eyes lock onto the shimmering bubbles, their surfaces catching the sunlight like tiny mirrors. I reach out—not towards the surface, but toward the bubbles themselves. They weave through my fingers, leaving a trail of fleeting kisses, delicate and bittersweet, as though they know I may never see them again.

The last of my breath esc...