I was awoken by my alarm clock screeching down into my ear. My hate for that sound grew and grew, day by day. Every part of me just wanted to go back sleep, every-day is just the same. I wake up, have breakfast, set off for work, finish work and come back home, have dinner, go bed. It’s constant cycle and it is starting to really get frustrating, and boring. I need to find a hobby, something I enj...

The envelope of butter yellow arrived on a cold November day. The air had a bite as Penny trudged to the mailbox, the snow crunching beneath her boots, creating a path to and fro.

She didn’t even notice it at first, thumbing through the usual stack of junk, a utility bill, and a few flyers advertising holiday sales, humming to herself as walked through the enclosed front porch, through the livin...

Orion stretched in bed, he was midway through having a lovely dream about spending hours on end in a boundless forest. Every time he saw a squirrel, he was successful in pinning it down and cheekily carrying it back to his human, big black tail thumping hard against the air. On one instance in his dream, he even managed to catch a bird.

He ran back to the main trail and was met only by cheers, “...

I didn’t sign up for this! And if he knew that the “winner” had no choice in where they traveled, and for how long, he wouldn’t have submitted my name. Unless he wants me gone.

My flight leaves at 10 tomorrow. I don’t think they’ll literally drag me out but they made it clear that I would be on a plane tomorrow morning. A plane??? I’ve barely even left Rolling Rock - let alone left the ground, in...

She sat anxiously awaiting the ring of her doorbell that may change her life forever.

She sat at the edge of her favorite turquoise recliner and read her favorite book titled, “we all looked up.”

Her palms were sweaty and her heart pounded against her chest. She knew this was her last chance to escape Hudson valley.

She ran her fingers through her long wavy brown hair. Her eyes glided across the...

Taromi holds the ticket in her hands. There must’ve been some kind of mistake. She couldn’t have won - actually won. When she entered her painting into the competition on a whim, only to prove to her older brother that there would be people that would enjoy her painting, she did not expect to actually win the grand prize. She observes more closely at the ticket. It has borders with golden ribbons ...

The sky echoed as I felt in my heart. The sun was shining the blue sky bright. But there was a touch of darkness. It was heard to explain but it was there. I turned back to my husband and kissed him and kissed my 2 baby girls on the cheek. One was 5 and one was 2. I entered the plane with one look back at my life. In a tiny town off the coast of Ireland. With grandma Lia’s grocery store off the 16...

It’s time. I can do this. I step onto the tiny airplane, ready for a new experience. I haven’t ever been on an airplane, let alone out of my small town. In some ways, i’m nervous, but I’m way more scared of never doing anything with my life. When I bought that lottery ticket, I didn’t expect anything of it. I would have never guessed that I would be the one to win a one in a lifetime, all funds pa...

The moment I’ve been waiting for. I used to dream of the shiny ocean waves right in front of my face. I’ve once imagined how the stars in Greece would look like. What it would be like to feel so… grounded. Present.

And now I’m here.

I take a deep breath in.

How could anyone question whether or not It’s worth leaving their small town for?

Nothing else feels this way.

I would never know the bou...

It’s crazy how Henry won a ticket to Maine. A ticket outta the terrible town of Tusko Mississippi because he was tired of living here for 23 years. Just 23 years of his life that he had spent here dealing with everyone’s drama and his own. As he boarded the plane he took one last look back and breathed in the Mississippi air

“Ahhh never gonna come back to this trash fire”

A rather old man dressed...