I slammed the door harder than I meant to.

"Gods," I growled, pacing around the room like a storm trapped. "You're impossible."

"Oh, I'm impossible?" Cassandra shot back where she stood by the window, arms crossed, face flushed with irritation. "You're the one who just shuts down the moment things get difficult!"

"I do not—”

“You do!” she snapped. “You push me away and pretend like everyth...

Dinah Hughes got home around 10:30 pm. When she entered her apartment she found her roommate Lee, walking around the living room with a flashlight.

She scoffed, "I can't believe the power's still out...this is ridiculous."

"You're telling me. At first, they said it would be 3:30, then they said 6:30. I called at 8 and they said unknown, then at 9 they said 9:30," Lee scoffed. She could see...

I sat in the bathtub whilst the scorching hot water poured down on the entirety of my body. On most days the heat of the water would bother me; today the pain of my feelings overpowered and numbed the physical pain. The events of the night before replayed in my head over and over again. Walking home had been a difficult task- it was supposed to be an innate movement, yet it wasn’t. To me, it was a...

“Ouch!” Maria yelped, jumping away from the scolding water and into the shower curtain. She grabbed onto the curtain for support, but it only fell to the floor, with her crashing down with it. As she made contact with the ground, she could feel a crack against the tile. She screamed in pain and laid there, her brain throbbing against her skull with every heartbeat.

She couldn’t concentrate on eve...

The rain started to trickle down the windshield as I pulled out of the driveway. I was on my way to work and was happy to get out of the house but not happy that it was for work. I turned the curve to the main road and the rain picked up. It was a spring shower, just heavy enough to be annoying and depressing but at the same time, enough for the flowers to grow. I was depressed with the rain becau...

Cecilia closed her eyes tightly. She took a deep breath that reached every inch of her body from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. In and out. In and out. That perfect rhythmic pattern she turned to when she needed to slow the downpour of stress and emotions overtaking her. In and out. Slowly she opened her eyes. She was still unsure, scared, and overwhelmed, but slightly more calm.

T...

I found her lying in the field among a shower of rain. The grass mingled with her light summer dress, pressed to her drenched skin. Wordlessly, I walked toward her and lay down beside her. I didn’t bother bringing an umbrella.

She had her eyes closed, but when I joined her I felt her hand come to rest on my arm. After lying silently for awhile, I spoke.

“It’s coming soon.” It came out as a rasp...

“Babies are flowers,” my mom tells her, smiling that happy, graceful smile I know so well. “They blossom and they bloom, and they are wonderful beings of joy. But beware, because some day, they will also learn to talk.” She laughs a small chuckle, a tiny thing, but it still manages to sound like peaceful bird song, or a faint breeze through the trees.

My aunt smiles nervously, rubbing her stom...

Standing under the shower I could barely feel the almost scorching touch of the water.

It hadn’t been 24 hours yet since Julie came back into my life. I had day-dreamed about that moment over and over, imaging that when she opened that she would fling her arms around mine and life would continue as it had been.

But now, sitting with my back against grimy tiles, steaming water pattering against ...

(... continued from “The Usual Suspect”)

No matter how hard I scrub, I can’t get rid of this feeling. Somebody- or something- is watching my friends and I. Stalking us. Hunting us.

Eventually I leave the comforting embrace of the hot shower. As I towel off I catch myself in the mirror. I trace my fingers along the scars from my surgeries. My eyes are drawn back up to my face. My reflection smil...