humanity

For better or for worse, relationships reveal the core of the human condition.

Xenia
Ramada Inn restaurant in Xenia, Ohio. A large plastic plant. Heavy "colonial" chairs. Blue tablecloth. Yellow water glass. Candle in a red jar. Muzak. Etc. There is a patch of daylight from a distant window, but it's still too dark for lunch.
By Aaron Schwartz5 years ago in Humans
If You’re Listening, I’m Ok
Waking early enough to catch the bus on a school day is definitely one of Janes least favorite memories. Dad would always come in acting as her alarm. Yelling from the doorway half asleep himself, “Hey, wake up! I’m only going to tell you once!” Jane would often hop right up until he made his way back to his own bedroom. Then she’d crawl right back into those warm sheets. “Why do I have to go? Can’t I sleep 10 more minutes?”...... SPLASH! Jane woke to a bucket of water being poured on top of her. “I told you once already!” , her dad yelled. She was up.
By Jane Smith5 years ago in Humans
With a little help
To whoever find this Moleskine I never had kids. I was an only child. It was just me and my Mom and Dad. My Mom died when I was 12 in a car accident. Some jerk was texting on his phone and plowed right into her. She died instantly. I remember the police asked to check his phone to confirm the time of the message. They told my Dad the message he sent was “LOL”. Someone sent him a picture and he wrote “LOL” and it cost me my mother. My dad died three years later from pancreatic cancer. It was both a slow and a fast death and it left me all alone. For years I would walk around after that always wanting to tell people I had lost both my parents. As if it was part of an instruction manual they needed before they got to know me. As if it would explain to them how I worked, or at least why I was the way that I was. Which was a bit of an asshole if I’m honest. My life hasn’t been filled with many Hallmark created moments as a teacher once said. I never took the time to invest in things, or people. And that’s probably why I’m all alone right now. Sick, and alone. Just how I always thought I would end up. I manifested my own ending. Anyway, I figured I’ve been a jerk to all those who may have once cared for me. My ex-wife, Lily for one. Yeah, who knows how I ended up convincing someone to marry me but stranger things have happened. It didn’t last long anyway. She left me, as she should have. And Dan, from work. He was always nice and patient with me. I wore that relationship away too when I accidentally deleted a bunch of clients’ files. That poor guy was always nice to me, and I probably cost him half his business. Anyway, this, this right here is $20,000 from my Savings account. As I don’t have anyone to give it to, and I’ll be damned if the government gets it, I’m sending it out into the universe. I want to try and do some good. So, please, whoever finds this book, in the back is a check. Please, take what you need from it, and then send what’s left and this book back out. Hopefully we can do some good for some people who really need it. Or maybe it’ll just get stolen and used for drugs. But it would be nice to think that this, the only money I’ve managed to save in forty-three years, could go somewhere good. Could help someone. Who knows.
By D5 years ago in Humans
About Me
Hi, My Name is Samantha Ashman. Born in 92. Friends call me me Sam for short. I was raised in utah and still currently call this place home.
By Samantha Ashman 5 years ago in Humans
The Wine Stain
“You’re the strongest person I know, Aunt Amelia.” Erica put her arms around me and snuggled up to me on my blue velvet couch.
By Cindy LeBow5 years ago in Humans
One and Only
You’re surrounded. Muzak on an unending loop slithers under a hundred-voiced fugue. Assertion and insinuation echo through the sales convention.The machine-coffee you bought an hour ago is stone-cold. Undrinkable. Your throat’s dry. You try to convince yourself you’re not thirsty.
By Constance Lindgreen5 years ago in Humans
A Sasquatch Voice
At a Parisian style cafe called “Adelaide’s” Caroline convinced me to walk into the forest alone. “How much did you inherit?” She asked.
By Mark Anderson5 years ago in Humans
Moon Living
Living on the moon sucks. For me it’s even worse. I’m a bit of a ridiculous celebrity not by choice but because I was the first child to be born in the new outer-space settlement. Before my birth, it was a mission to set up a thriving mining community on the moon. After my birth, it became a community. Everything changed once I was born. Time started on the day I made my mom and dad parents. I’m like the Jesus of the moon calendar.
By DW Plato5 years ago in Humans
The Garden
The light filtered and fluttered through the car window as the car took another bend before dunking them deep into the thick of the trees. Minnie looks at her hand and studies the little flecks of light that float in through the leaves. The car is quiet save for the breathing of her companion.
By Angelica Casandra Williams5 years ago in Humans
Oblivioni Traditae
Thaein shouldn’t have been at the cliffside. He was supposed to be back in the city by now, lying in the gutter, besotted. He’d had a long day of dragging prisoners, drunkards, and thieves around, and just wanted to drown out their yelling in a large pint of Myrtle’s honeyed ale. So why was he staring at a boy, no more than 12, lying on his stomach at the cliff’s edge? Though dirty and plain, his clothes were fine.
By Samantha Davis5 years ago in Humans
South
Train rides have always been odious affairs, there is no getting around it. I used to like to watch the countryside dissolve into itself, but the older I get the whole business becomes too dizzying. Greens bleed into blues and dry into browns too quickly for me to get a hold of myself. Then there is the issue of my reflection hovering over the whole affair, changing color with the trees and fields and flowers. It was all very romantic when I was young-- making worlds and people out of my own face-- but now I prefer to look inside the cabin for my entertainment.
By Adreanna Jasso5 years ago in Humans
Mirrored
Something drew Jance Weston to the plain wooden box, sitting on her brother in laws desk. Hell, she had even dreamed of the damn thing. Something about it demanded her attention. It was heavy, but it held nothing inside. Curious, Jance picked it up. She pushed then pulled on it, until a side sprung back and the bottom dropped open to reveal a little black book. She wanted to take it right then, but her gut told her to hold off, until her loathsome brother in-law left town. She didn’t have to wait long, for he was always taking trips. Jance had no trouble convincing her sister to invite her over to her house for lunch. Genève loved to brag about her husband’s good looks and especially his wealth. Jance swiped the book from right under her sisters’ nose. Quickly slipping away with it into the nearby bathroom. Where she used her phone to take pictures of every page, before putting it back exactly the way she found it.
By Judith Watson5 years ago in Humans