Writing is hard, even at the best of times. It’s like digging deep beneath the surface of soul and skin, drawing blood, occasionally hitting bone with lightning flashes of pain. Once you have enough to get started, maybe, you pause to look at what you’ve done. You clean it off as best you can, hiding […]
“Why did you decide to have me?” Monica pauses in the middle of the book she was reading. Her hands fall to her sides while she struggles with what to say. “God gave you to us as a precious gift from heaven.” In other words, they weren’t planning to have a child. But that was […]
In the dark, no one can hear you scream. In the silent swirling void of the chaotic mess of my yesteryear, memories disappear into despair. And yet, we are never without hope. Pain is never without end. Buried deep in her garden, luscious red tomatoes wait beside starchy rich potatoes and more. Patiently, wiping sweat […]
CLICK ON THE FROG TO JOIN THE FUN find me here. I’m trapped in a maze. Every turn, every path takes me to the center, where memory, like a ghost haunts me. There’s a swinging bench by an old stone well. I hold one last quarter in my hand. The tinkle of bells rides like […]
“I wish I were dead,” Jana murmurs as she slams her locker shut – then quickly looks around to make sure no one heard. If she were to disappear tomorrow, think about it. He would never need to see her face again. Eventually, they’ll stop accusing him of “slumming it” and her of being a […]
“I heard this place is haunted,” the excited boy in the skeleton costume declares. Dressed in powder blue, carrying a wand tucked carefully in her free hand, Esmerelda chuckles as she opens the door. “Aren’t you terrifying?” she mock-gasps. Nothing scares her, not really. But, it’s fun to say. A minute later, a few candy […]
CLICK THE FROG TO JOIN THE PARTY Mia’s grandmother warned her she would die this way: forgetting her coat and catching cold. “We did not bring you to America so that you could be a slob.” Mia will never realize her grandmother was wrong, after all. Her mistake? Being a little too attractive, a little […]
Dear Frank,You may be wondering where I have gone. Let’s face it. This was never going to work between us. You speak your mind, and I speak in poetry. You say things as they are, and I imagine them as they could be. I will miss you, but I think we can agree this is […]
Wriggling with joy, pink bursts forward from white silk tainted with red. She remains pure, an unsullied reminder of furtive moments spent nestled in a painter’s warm palate. Delicious, sumptuous, yes. What sensuous joy and what pleasure she trails in her wake. Her dreams whisper softly, like long-remembered fingers on skin, like children traipsing thoughtless […]
Lesha, New York City’s newest angel, received her first solo assignment with a nervous flutter in her almost-human heart. It would be her job to corral a newly-deceased soul from earth to the afterlife. From what other angels had told her, the passage could be easy, but it could also be very tricky. The soul […]
Anne Higa 