family
The Unwanted Gift
The Unwanted Gift Chelsea is a beautiful young junior high school student who loves meeting new people. Everyone who meets her loves her; Never having met a stranger, her parents worry that harm would come to her one day. Chelsea likes to hang out with her two best friends, Karen and Mia, whom she has known since they were babies.
By Ronna Curtis5 years ago in Fiction
Rachel was not going to be like her mother.
Rachel was not going to be like her mother. Pacing frenetically across her messy bedroom, Rachel grabbed a seemingly random assortment of things, and stuffed them into a faded black backpack with duct tape on the strap. She skirted around the sturdy oak-framed bed, with blue dingy sheets and a faded quilt. Clothes were strewn about the room. On the floor. On the dresser. On her old Chemistry textbook. Hanging out of the hastily half-opened drawers. She shook a bottle of Bath & Body Works peony body spray with barely any liquid left. Not enough to bring with, but she couldn’t bring herself to throw it out either. She darted past the posters from magazines tacked to the walls, her attempt to decorate the room without spending any money. Past the old boom box with a case full of burned CDs. The soundtracks she’d often used to drown out the explosive fights that punctuated the deafening silence.
By Zianna Weston5 years ago in Fiction
My Mother’s Cake
America was hard. It was kind and crazy and lovely and mean and full of possibilities and people whose eyes you met and quickly looked away from because you didn't want to see how far down that feeling went. It was everything and full of nothing. You were already torn in half and America did not help with that.
By Maria Shimizu Christensen5 years ago in Fiction
Christmas Vacation
When the lake froze over, everyone in the cabin was really happy. Well, almost everyone. One person that didn't like it was, Alexa. Alexa was never a fan of the lake in general. She absolutely loathed it in the Winter. As most of her family seemed to hang out there more during Christmas Vacation. And staying away from it wasn't an option. Since, her parents said it was 'family time' and she couldn't back out of 'family time'.
By Raphael Fontenelle5 years ago in Fiction
The Green Porch Light
My mother has a habit of half-assing everything in the most endearing way possible. From cleaning the counter in figure-8s — totally missing the dirtiest sections — to undercooking pancakes and making gooey centers my favorite way to eat them. She puts things away not where they go, but wherever is most convenient or where she thinks they belong.
By Abby Draper5 years ago in Fiction
The Most Delicious Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever
She was five when we baked our first cake. Little blonde pigtails bouncing and big blue eyes dancing while we pulled out the ingredients. I had printed out the recipe so she could help me find everything. "What's next, Mama!"
By J.B. Miller5 years ago in Fiction
Lorraine's Lesson
The door swings open, and through it barges my Mother's friend Lorraine, a larger woman, greying hair, demanding. She sits at the table and begins talking with my mother. For some reason, even when she was kind, it came across as if she were plotting some spiteful revenge for some unseen slight, which was always a moving target.
By Jeff Johnson5 years ago in Fiction
Grandma's Hands
Susan bent in front of the oven and peered through the glass. The chocolate cake was rising nicely. Knowing when to take it out was part of the trick to the perfect cake. She thought of all the summers she had spent at her grandmother’s in her little house in St. Louis, the scent of chocolate wafting through her memories. They had baked this recipe over and over, and the entire family would acclaim their perfectly symmetrical triangles of pure chocolate bliss every time it was served. It was a birthday special request, but there were a lot of birthdays in the family. By the time her grandmother sold her house and moved into an apartment, Susan could bake the recipe with her eyes closed. She knew the exact moment to take the cake from the oven, the exact degree of coolness before she slathered it with a generous amount of cocoa frosting.
By Shelly Slade5 years ago in Fiction
Linnie Lane
6:00AM. The sun is beginning its glow over the Chicago skyline. The birds chirp with harmonious song and the noise of the city is at its lowest. Avery wakes with no intention of productivity today. Between the hangover and the conversation he had with his cousin, Victor, last night the overwhelming emotion he’s feeling is something he’d rather leave dormant.
By Alexis Fenton5 years ago in Fiction
