The light is dimming by the minute. I notice it makes the swelling sky ever more impenetrable. Darkness seems so eager to devour everything…

“I said, I’m really gonna miss you”, she almost whispers. I realise I wasn’t quite listening. It’s just the two of us in this big empty parking lot.

“Now now, let’s not get carried away, shall we? I’ll only be away for a couple of months. No big deal!”, I say...

It rains here all the time,

So when it’s cold it gets slippy and yikes,

You simply wait it out n’at.

You can grab a pop now with some ice.

Don’t be a jagoff,

Cause yinz don’t understand,

The potholes will get you,

Again and again.

It’s louder than anywhere

I’ve ever been.

Our sports fans are always pumped,

We usually win.

A ring for each finger,

And one just for fun,

We are the champions,

This ...

“Good morning,” my mother joyfully sings to me as I walk down into the kitchen.

“Good morning,” I groan falling into my seat at the kitchen table waiting to leave.

“Are you hungry?” She asks hopefully.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You weren’t home for dinner last night and...”

“I’m sure. It’s fine,” I interrupt.

A solemn look takes over her face. “Sweetheart... you have to eat somethin...

When I was a young girl, I can remember those long hot summer afternoons that seemed to never end. No pool, air conditioner, or even fan to cool the house, on those endless summer days in 1970 Southern California. Wishing for rain, but in the years of drought, the asphalt would glisten with rainbow colors while steam rose from the molten tarred streets. You can fry an egg on that street, my mom w...

“But— but it’s not fair!” I protest. She glares at me.

“Listen, nothing’s fair. Nothing is ever fair. You can either learn that, or leave.”

“He doesn’t know that! Why does he get to stay but I don’t?”

“As I said, nothing is ever fair.” She pauses, contemplating. “And, for the record, I never said you couldn’t stay.”

“Setting me with an impossible task is basically telling me to...

It’s finished. The meeting has ended and now back to sober reality. I always wait in the lot and ponder whether leaving is a good idea.

I’d be back to my own devices and self pleasure thrill. Who would leave me alone in four enclosed walls with a single mirror?

Doesn’t seem effective.

“No son, you cage yourself in those walls. Not a single soul is responsible for your disgust in the way things ...

“Is it that bad?” I wondered out loud. “What is so interesting on your phone?”

She put down her device and glanced up at me with an imposed-upon look and replied wearily, “Excuse me! What did you want to talk about?”

I was stumped. There was nothing I wanted to talk about . . . other than perhaps to say something like ‘I wish I was engaged with something as fully as you are engaged with your ...

“There’s seriously something wrong with you”, Aliyah says, leaning in to cup her chin in her hands. She’s sitting in a chair beside me, her elbows resting on the bed inches away from my hip. My hands, which are resting in my lap under the hospital blankets, yearn to reach for hers for comfort. But I know she’d only bristle at my touch.

I remain quiet, waiting for my older sister to fill the silen...

“Mommy, what is cancer?” Isabella whispers to her mother. With tears in her eyes, Jane looks at Isabella’s heart-shaped face , so full of confusion. She does not know how to answer her sweet little 4 year old. The father of her child, her husband, had passed at away that morning at the tender age of 37.

Their story reminds me of the day I received the same news about my own father. My father, w...

i nod, not listening to what she is saying to me. instead my eyes are flitting around, noting all possible exits, and watching every single person in the cafe. closely. my eyes land on the mirror, watching the people eat and serve behind me. my constantly moving eyes finally stop- on me.

to the outside person, im a calm picture. however on the inside, im a nervous wreck. i fidget with my hands, ...