In the dimly lit confines of his prison cell, Charlie, a lean man with piercing eyes and a brooding demeanor, sat slouched on his bunk. The weight of his loneliness weighed him down – a heavy anchor in turbulent seas. Feeling as if the system had railroaded him, his heart was full of resentment. And with nobody on his side, it seemed impossible to do anything about it.

One day, as he shuffled thr...

It came without a manual

And was far from casual

Difficulty increased as we went

Making it a necessity to vent

Spotted only on weekends, barely

Better days were seen very rarely

Never a dull day promised

If your effort is honest

Feet first, heart second,

Head last, I recommend

Connections guaranteed

That basic human need

A bond that’s more than ordinary

Signing up for life is necessary...

Alex had hear plenty about the Circle during her time chasing it down. It was housing more empowered than she had ever seen together in her life.

She needed to find new allies and she couldn’t trust anyone from the agency or the academies so she needed to find people here. She wasn’t looking forward to the process however, so far the circle had only shown her brutality and force and she wasn’t s...

Becca, a young woman in her late twenties, found herself longing for deeper connections and meaningful friendships. She had always been a bit of an introvert, preferring quiet evenings at home over loud parties and crowded social events. It wasn’t that Becca disliked people; she just struggled to find her place in a world that seemed so fast-paced and superficial.

One day, while scrolling through...

I thought it was really cool

This huge deal I’d made it into the program,

Be taking physics before high school

Get myself an upper hand

I could picture myself coming to school the next year,

Armed with information like it was a weapon

No one would doubt me again

Even if that last part’s in my head

And then five months passed

I guess I never thought they were going to

And I wondered suddenly if th...

“Choo, Choo! Welcome to Love Express. How may I hel—” Hannah said with a 1000-watt smile.

“Stop talking. I want a refund and I don’t want an argument.”

Hannah’s eyes grew wide. Love Express was an app that set up group meetups for local singles. Hannah was an Engagement Associate for their events. She coordinated with the venue staff, checked reservations, and handed out name tags. Her stomach d...

Sandra lives alone in the back woods of Indiana. She spends her days writing emails back and forth from her work from home job as a customer support supervisor for her local library.

When she was younger Sandra spent so much time in the library, exploring strange worlds and vast continents from the comfort of the small cottage she and her mother lived in.

As the years went by, Sandra outgrew t...

Jared glanced down at the flyer he clutched in his hands. Bright, professional letters read: ‘Make close friends now! Ask me how!’ It was an obvious scam, and he knew that, but that didn’t prevent him from paying the ridiculous price for the course. His tax return felt better spent on booze. At least booze wasn’t mean, it just made you mean.

The woman who sold the course went by the handle Marga...

Mands, a makeup obsessed and self centered teen had probably done everything a teen wasn’t supposed to do. She drank beer underage, threw parties, failed classes on purpose, dated two people at once, gossiped to the point that her words became savage, created drama when it truly wasn’t necessary….

And she lied

She lied a whole lot actually.

She lied so much she practically made up her whole life....

How hard can it actually be? To make new friends. I just have to go up and say hi and tell them my name and the rest will flow. Or at least that’s how the sign up video described it. But to be fair, that flier and website made a lot of promises. And for a program that ensures no pressure and no stress, there certainly was a lot of fanfare and confetti…..maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe this wasn’t...