family

Family unites us; but it's also a challenge. All about fighting to stay together, and loving every moment of it.

Portraits and Stars
Cenn raised me amongst the ruins of a forgotten civilization. The worn stone shambles of what may have once been a massive building echoed my giggles back to me as I hid behind the ruins of a stone pillar. Now, the place was scattered in pieces, the only four walls made of canvas, stretched across a corner to shield us from the elements.
By Alex Rapp5 years ago in Humans
Without Hesitation
There was a room in my head that I hid away in when my surroundings got too overwhelming. It lacked light, sound and smell. I could shut off mentally there until I deemed it was okay for me to clock back into life. The last few weeks I found myself checking out from everything more often, and I knew my family especially had taken notice. I don’t think it surprised them when it started happening more, considering my Pap was the glue that held all of us together. He was the one who kept me on my feet and refused to let me sink into the hole I tried digging for myself the last couple of years. With him gone, there hasn't been much to grab onto to pull myself back out.
By Sam Kiper5 years ago in Humans
The Ashen Box
She could still feel the heat rising from the ash through her thick boots as she walked in a daze towards the old front door. Around her lay the remnants of 50 years of family memories. And thousands of years of that land's history. As she crossed the missing threshold, she turned her head instinctively towards the non-existent hall table and choked back tears, recalling the photographs of her grandparents that had forever stood there. Everything was gone. No living room to open birthday and Christmas presents in. No dining room to share laughter and celebratory dinners in. And no kitchen to break news over a cup of tea in.
By Anna Rolland5 years ago in Humans
Mana from Heaven
Two men stood in a field. One shielded his eyes against the wind-blown soil and the setting sun. The other was writing in a small, black notebook. Its pages showed long days of use, but its binding looked new.
By Garrett Schmidt5 years ago in Humans
The Greenhouse
Gracie huffs as she strikes the dirt with her spade. She was a determined sort with a sharp sense of wrong and right, that’s partly why Bert valued her friendship so much. He watches her blonde ponytail fall over her shoulder as she lifts the spade again. Thud. Thud, thud. Thud. This time the spade slides in and she places her boot on its step and it sinks, submerging the blade. She turns around to face Bert.
By LuLu Mackie5 years ago in Humans
The Little Black Book
I wasn’t supposed to hear them in the kitchen. They were speaking in hushed tones. My grandfather was telling my mother the latest news from the doctor. He needed surgery, but it was expensive.
By Matthew Donnellon5 years ago in Humans
A Father’s Gift
Even on his deathbed, a trickle of a smile played across his face. A contented man as he neared his last breath. The array of monitors, the specialists who followed each other in and out of the spacious hospital suite, the skyline views. All were testament to his wealth. Yet he had begun life abjectly poor, or so went the story he told.
By Mark Triffitt5 years ago in Humans
Running Errands
She tapped it on the table, turned it then tapped it again. “I’m sorry,” she said out of habit. And out of habit, she walked the little black book end-over-end and tapped the table with it again. The book made tiny controlled cartwheels between her finger and thumb, sticking the landing each time. “I was in outer space.”
By Autumn Helenihi5 years ago in Humans
Her numbers.
Her numbers. 23977. The number that haunted her; her arm scarred for life by five numbers that she dreamed about nightly, invading her every thought like a plague of the mind. At thirty-five years old, Lina did not know what they meant. Her mother Dana Muller had avoided that conversation for over twenty-five years, promising an answer would one day come, but Lina continued to wait. Memories of her first years of life were clouded beyond recognition, with only images of a grassy meadow infiltrating her dreams at night.
By Mykela Bourne 5 years ago in Humans
"A Softer Place"
2/24/21 “A Softer Place” By: Rudy Gutierrez For my deepest and dearest loves, Hazel and Liset. CHAPTER 1. Time Flies
By Rudy Gutierrez5 years ago in Humans
Boomerang
Another good night’s sleep. That’s seven in a row now. When I walked away, I started sleeping again. I took a chance on me and don’t even think about you anymore. I was scared and did it anyway. I knew the adjustment would take time; I wasn’t prepared for the rollercoaster of emotions though. I do what I want, when I want and feel good for the first time in years. This mind/body/soul cleansing, it's messy, unpredictable and long term. It's my path and it's divine, even when it doesn't look that way.
By Rae Ka Ri5 years ago in Humans
Rain
By the third week of money raining down from the sky, even the homeless had gotten bored of it. It was the summer of my twelfth year, and this was the biggest thing to have ever happened in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
By Jasmine Christine5 years ago in Humans