family
Butterflies and Marigolds
In the immortal words of Edgar Allan Poe, “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” Right now, my life feels more like a nightmare. It’s only been ten days, ten of the longest days of my life. I never knew living could hurt this much until I lost one of the dearest lives I knew. Mamá was gone, poof, just like that. I held her hand as she took her last breaths; they never tell you it’s more than one. You imagine that it’ll be quick, a closing of the eyes, a chest that ceases to rise. But there is so much oxygen in a human body that must be expelled, so much life that has to exit so that it may float on the wind to the next plane of existence. When I realized the hand in mine was limp and lifeless, I gripped it tighter trying to will her soul back into that battered body. It was selfish of me, but in those moments, I just wanted her back, if only for a second. I don’t think Mamá knew how much I loved her, how much she meant to me.
By Bianca Serraty4 years ago in Fiction
A Good Day to Die
“Is today a good day to die?”, I heard faintly whispered in my ear and I shifted in my sleep, sliding my left foot up and down the inside of my right leg. Climbing out of my sleep fog, I tried to remember the question I had just heard. But like many dreams, when my eyes popped open, my memory slammed shut. However, the feeling of unease stayed with me.
By Polly Cavill4 years ago in Fiction
Tinder Love Happiness: What is it all about?
I had coffee while scrolling through Tinder on my phone. After reading profiles and swiping right for thirty minute — there was only one match that caught my attention. His name was Zack. He had a pretty cute swag, with his messy hair and confident eyes staring at me from the picture.
By Irina Patterson4 years ago in Fiction
Sharkie
The Munsons live in Lititz, Pennsylvania. John Munson works as an Insurance Salesman and his wife Judy, is a part time Florist. Together they have a month of vacation every summer. They work hard to save up for their special time with their little boy Jimmie, 6 years old. This summer, the plan is to rent a houseboat in Florida and live out on the ocean, get some fresh sea air, away from televisions, cellphones and the noise of cars and people, and maybe catch a few fish.
By Neville Nicol4 years ago in Fiction
Family
Alexander never understood or felt true love until she entered his life and altered its course. Mary worked as a receptionist at the factory, where Alex worked as a welder, and they rode the same bus to work each morning. Each day they would walk from the bus stop to the factory together and had become good friends. He looked forward to seeing her every workday morning and would wish the hours away every weekend in anticipation of seeing her again on Monday.
By Gerald Holmes4 years ago in Fiction
The Secret's in Nome
Steve flipped through the photo album while sitting on an old trunk in an attic. He had come to his recently deceased great uncle Ted’s house to sift through the remaining belongings to see what might be of interest that he would like to keep from the estate. The rest of his great uncle’s family had already been through the house. But his great uncle Ted didn’t have any close family, and the attic had scarcely been picked through by anyone else. Getting up the retractable attic stairs was difficult. Whatever the case, Steve sat at the dusty trunk with the photo album in hand, flipping through pictures of times past.
By Chris Rohe4 years ago in Fiction
Taming the Beast
When I was 7 years old I started working in the tobacco fields. My mother, who had split from my dad for what seemed like the upteenth time, left me for the summer in the care of her older sister and her husband on their farm in South Carolina while she went to secretarial college in Raleigh.
By Jean Williiams4 years ago in Fiction
Meadow's Garden
Meadow woke up early on Saturday morning. She had gone out with friends the previous evening, but she had managed to get home to bed by midnight. Her friends all had husbands and children to get home to, so it wasn’t that difficult to do. She was the only one in her group of friends that lived alone, but she liked it that way.
By Dawn Salois4 years ago in Fiction
16 Year Bet
What do you do when you lose a bet with a dead man? Grandfathers’ funeral was today, Mother spent the afternoon crying with a black tissue tucked between her fingers while Father whispered in her ear that it would be alright. My brothers, Daniel and Nicolas stood by the casket while our broken Grandmother kneeled on the ground in front of the wooden box that held Grandfathers body. I wondered if the casket had to be customed ordered to fit his fat ass; dead or not, he wasn’t an Olympian to say the least. I stood there, nearby but at a further distance to escape from the sympathy. I loved the old man, I did, but he left me with a burden that I had to wrap my mind around; a little box wrapped up in the ugliest brown paper and a bet that kept this box shut.
By Jessica Kubicki4 years ago in Fiction
The Hour Is Upon Us
As my daughter places the brown paper wrapped box in front of me, my body tenses. I knew the time would come for me to receive this package. After 18 years instead of waiting and preparing I got comfortable, maybe even content living in my human form, but looking down as this box I realized that my father and mother were right. It was the exact reason I was trained to be a warrior. My name is Almina which means Earth, I'll explain later why my name is important. Looking into my curious daughter's eyes who we named Isipho which means gift and she was definitely a gift to us. I'm not sure how to explain to a now 18 year old about war that is trying to come to Earth. How do I start? Should I start from the beginning to a place where we originated from? (Sighs) Perhaps I should have told her who I was. NO! Who she was the moment her level of intelligence could grasp all of this. Once I open this brown paper box there is no going back to normal for us. Only now is not the time to tell her everything, not on her 18th birthday, the day she has been so excited about. I promised her so much on this and I'll try to my best to give her just that. Her laughter, her playfulness, her enjoyment of everything her heart desires is the only thing I see right now. As she questions me about the gift, "Everything has a timing and that time has come, but you will know the whole story to my answer another day". I respond with my homeland dialect that she loves so much that she in a second she can speak it just as well. I smile as when she rolls her eyes in that playful way. I wish this package had not shown up, but I know there is a time for peace and a time for war. Yes, tomorrow I must tell her everything, unfortunately we have three days to return to our homeland and home on land that she knows nothing about. Yes, I denied her the knowing of this land foolishly thinking that I was protecting her, but I now see the errors in my way. Yes tomorrow.
By Zontroir Alexander4 years ago in Fiction
El Matador
There was once a cruel man. The cruel man is called Fidel. Fidel doesn't like anyone in the town. Fidel rules the town with an iron fist and does not treat the people well at all. The only thing that Fidel and the townsfolk share is a common interest in bullfighting. Fidel likes to watch bullfights at the Colosseum. The Colosseum is the home of Fidel’s prized bull named El Toro. Fidel especially likes to watch El Toro dominate Matadors in bullfights. Many times, the Matadors are local townsfolk. Everyone goes to the bullfight on Saturdays. The People have fun there as it is the only place where Fidel treats then somewhat decently. El Toro is the scariest bull in all of Mexico. He's a very big black bull, with large pointy horns. The bull El Toro always wins.
By Micah Hartman4 years ago in Fiction
