Jessica Kohlgraf
Bio
I have always been a writer, maybe not a good one, but I have always liked bringing different stories to life. Currently I am serving in the Military which takes away considerable amounts of time so I can not write as much as I would like.
Stories (8)
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The Vanishing Half By Brit Bennett
(If you have not read this book, spoilers lie ahead.) These days I rarely find a book that I don’t love. Maybe it is from taking such a long gap from reading that my mind is just hungry for different stories. Over time, after reading so many stories, it becomes easier and easier to guess what might happen next because we have already read and seen so many different variations of the same story. This story was different. “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett was constructed in such a way to give no clear view of who was the main character. At first, I thought it was going to be Desiree the older twin as she embarks on a quest to find her missing sister, towing her child, battling racism, and evading an abusive husband. Sounds like quite the quest, doesn’t it? However, we have likely already read many stories like this and so has the author, which is maybe why we didn’t follow Desiree on such a quest. At first, I was disappointed because I so much wanted those intense moments of her closing in on Stella, and those terrifying moments of her almost being caught herself by Sam, the husband. However, Desiree’s story is nothing like that. She was supposed to be the wild twin, the one who would never come back to Mallard. Instead, that’s exactly what she did. Mallard is where her story seemed to end, as she got stuck in the same poverty cycle of her upbringing. There is a certain beauty and painfulness behind that as well because she is a story like so many of us. All of us have dreams and hopes that we wish to fulfill. She took her shot and although she couldn’t see it through, she still tired. Which is the same story for many, so we all can relate a little bit to that.
By Jessica Kohlgraf4 years ago in Humans
Just Another Run Away Teen
The fog is so thick that I could not tell what surrounded me. Was I in a forest? A cliff? Would the next step I took plunge me into death? Even as I walk nothing becomes clear. The ground beneath my feet is dry and I can see tiny pebbles that my sneakered feet press into the dirt that makes a small gravely sound.
By Jessica Kohlgraf4 years ago in Families
A Brief Explanation of the Navy
In May, 2016 I was graduating from William J. Palmer High School, when my college plans were flushed down the toilet. I was going to receive only $10,000 for the two schools of my choice. My heart was broken, and I couldn’t see a way out of the hole of student debt that was surely to come. My heart felt frozen for a future unknown.
By Jessica Kohlgraf4 years ago in Serve
Military Has Me Singing
A little while ago at work I had to give a training over stress-management. To be clear and obvious, I am in the Navy. It is no secret that the military is one of the most stressful jobs in the country followed by physicians, personal assistants, and first responders. As reported by Military.com in, “Military Deaths by Suicide jumped 25% at end of 2020,” that by June 2020 128 deaths occurred by suicide. Keep in mind that was before the pandemic. It is my personal belief that more occurred that were not reported. No, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it seems that I hear of a new one almost every month from the grape vine, because someone who knows someone, who is on that ship.
By Jessica Kohlgraf4 years ago in Serve
Miracle Workers
We were all waiting, although some of us were better at hiding our anticipation. Mother hid hers by endless chatter about miracles while she flipped bacon in a pan. Father was silent, but every so often when he picked up his cup of coffee, he would glance my way to see if I was locked in with the expectation that the doorbell would ring any second. My leg bounced and though Mother had placed the plate of bacon and scrambled eggs in front of me a few minutes before, I had not been able to touch a bit of it. Levi, my little brother, was obvious. He could not contain his excitement and ran back and forth from the table to the front window after every bite from his plate. At four he could not contain his energy or excitement.
By Jessica Kohlgraf4 years ago in Fiction
Saying Goodbye is Not Easy
One of the hardest things in joining the Navy is losing your connection to people. Since high school I had kept a small group of friends and only trusted a few when it came to me personal life and secrets. That intimate trust meant a lot to me. When I joined the Navy, I knew that our relationships would be strained because of distance and my new obligations. I never imagined that I would lose the connections almost entirely.
By Jessica Kohlgraf4 years ago in Serve
Safe Haven
The island is peaceful. It is only a hundred square feet at most. Maybe not an island at all, but an inlet, or an iceberg, minus the ice. The river which surrounded it was as clear as glass, and flowed with a small giggling sound that a baby would make.
By Jessica Kohlgraf4 years ago in Fiction
Just a Slice of Cake
When I woke the realization hit me that I was in my own dining room. The large ceiling light was turned off and the dining room was bedecked in an overbearing number of candles in all shades. I would blame the marbles of sweat that rolled down my face on the heat of so many candles, but it was the fact that my wife had me tied down to the chair with the very ties that she had gifted me in the past five years. One had dinosaurs on it and the other little stacks of money with wings coming off them. And she wondered why I never wore them. A decision I might be regretting now.
By Jessica Kohlgraf4 years ago in Horror
