"Let's form two lines, please!" The worker's voice bellowed across the Department of Dead Dreams. "Artists and musicians to the left. Entrepreneurs on the right." The bodies in the dim, crowded space shuffled. The worker focused on him. "Hon?" He stepped up to the glass and handed over his form. "You want to take the cash payout or the trade-in?"
"The trade-in."
The worker stroked a few keys, and a slip of paper printed. She stamped it and slid it under the barrier. "You've been reassigned to sales. You start on Monday." He took the slip and stepped aside. "Next!"
About the Creator
Paris Giles
In a practical move, I studied journalism and have written mostly editorial stuff, but I love storytelling in all its forms. I have a special passion for the way we relate to one another and for the beauty that exists in the dark parts.
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At Last
Aside from a group of teenagers gossiping and giggling in a corner booth, and the septuagenarian reading a well-worn book a few stools away, it was just she and I. It’d been about a month since I started coming a few days a week, always during the lunch rush. I’d stand outside and watch through the dusty window to see what section she was in that day, then I’d go in and request an out-the-way table in a different section. The thought of speaking to her caused my chest to tighten and my armpits to sweat, but I’d watch. I’d order a club sandwich or steak and eggs, or whatever, and I’d watch her.
By Paris Giles4 years ago in Fiction
The steps to losing a child
Step One: Lose a child. Not what anyone wants to happen and nothing you can do to change it, but you can go through steps to becoming happy again. You can go through steps to loving again. You can go through steps to become a new you because after losing a child you will never be the same person you once were.
By Tabitha Hinkley4 days ago in Fiction
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