humanity

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

A story
That mourning he woke up with choking despair, it wasn’t uncommon¸ but this time it felt different. The clock showed 9:02, a forgotten combination, he rarely woke up before noon these days. Always preferring military time to avoid confusion, he found that lately, it was especially handy.
By G5 years ago in Humans
Birling Gap
THE APPOINTMENT “It’s degenerative,” states the doctor, lips firm and tone professional, but with a kindness in the eyes. The fingers holding mine tense and I turn to my granddaughter, who desperately tries to look hopeful before I catch the fear on her face. She might as well attempt levitation.
By Dominic Anthony5 years ago in Humans
12B
Tom Hanks. I cannot stop thinking about Tom Hanks. I used to pay for an app that would play ocean waves crashing just to fall asleep, God, I’d kill to never hear another wave crash again.
By Mackenzie Breeden5 years ago in Humans
Life Changer
A black sedan races down the freeway, music is playing loudly the driver is singing along. He isn’t paying attention to the rode when he double takes and swerves careans between two deer clipping one knocking his side mirror off and swerving back right before slamming into the freeway wall. He slows down and get in the right lane and exits, he is looking back threw his rearview “Where the, what the hell was that” He says to himself as he drives down the off ramp. At the bottom he stops at the sign and gathers his thoughts take a few deep breathes “I know the news said to be careful but wholly” he slaps his steering wheel. He looks back up the off ramp and then looks around it is a desolate exit to the left under the freeway on the other side, down the street you can see a gas station to the right a long skinny parking lot in front of some old, factory. In front the on ramp. “I should just wait” but he looks at his missing side mirror and gets out and slams his door. He looks at his missing mirror and starts walking around his car. A stunning M5 BMW nice silver details all around silver lettering against a Midnight paint.
By Jon L Schildt5 years ago in Humans
Five stars
The endless recounting of half empty tills meant the end of the month was upon us. This was a solemn time for our humble (read: failing) family business. Every member from grandfather to grandchild must jam weathered hands into weathered pockets and frantically feel for an amount to contribute to the cause. This was to make up for the losses, which were undoubtedly there. My older sister Sana, who I respectfully refer to as Api, calls this manoeuvre the cost of optimism.
By Anika Khan5 years ago in Humans
Miles Away From Dawn
The first time they reached out, I was laying in bed half asleep around 3am. It was a Thursday morning when I felt the watch vibrate on my wrist. The light from its tiny screen were sun rays scorching my pupils in the midnight of my room. I squinted to put together the words from its startling message. They were pieces to a puzzle which at the time, I didn’t know I’d still be trying to solve 6 months later. The sender, unknown, but the message read,
By Joshua Brown5 years ago in Humans
Boxed
“There must be $20,000 dollars in that box,” the woman said, aloud or maybe not. It was not just a box, but an altar. A red oak vessel for a Man’s hopes and dreams. A simple prayer to the new gods of prosperity...Beside the box had laid a little notebook. A ledger, or perhaps an autobiography. The woman stood reading.
By Ambrose Balen5 years ago in Humans
The Man in the Fedora Hat
Many years ago, I worked in a department store. We worked Thursday evenings, 5 to 9 with an hour break for dinner and money to buy it too. We also worked Saturdays- 8 to 5. The upside of these hours meant we never missed out on student parties. The only drawback of the job was working over the whole of the Christmas break whilst everyone else took a holiday. However, this job had one major upside, one I had no idea existed until quite some years after I had left the store. I was just 17 when I started working at the store. My very first assignment was running the Christmas giftwrap table. The Christmas season was short- only 4 weeks but, Tony, the floor supervisor told me that if I worked hard, he would see if there was a role for me once I started at uni that February. Giftwrap was by the escalators, surrounded by a constant shifting tide of people racing around to finish their Christmas shopping. At the other end of the floor, towards the rear exit was the luggage department, run by Michael, an architect student and longest serving casual. It was the quietest department so he was on his own and on Thursdays and could quietly study. I could see the gift department, silverware, fine china and behind the escalators was kitchenware.
By Polly Fox5 years ago in Humans
Such A Cancer
Oh yeah, you're such a Cancer. I've heard this so often I've learned t0 add it to my response when someone asks about my sign. I'm a Cancer. I know, I know, totally makes sense. I'm a science nerd, a fan of study-driven facts over opinions or popular gossip. For years I brushed astrology aside as a waste of time. I still don't look at it as fact or an excuse to avoid someone (oh, you're an Aquarius? No thanks), but I have to admit it's a little eerie how spot-on my sign tends to be. When I met my now-wife five years ago she introduced me to the world of astrology, and now the signs are an integral part of conversations about the people in our life, and even discussions about our marriage. She's a Scorpio. Go figure.
By Halley Hogan5 years ago in Humans
Crying wolf
Mom always said “if you keep lying, you’ll lose track of what’s true”. She was right – people had always believed my beautiful stories, loving me all the while. She regularly recalled one Saturday morning years ago - I was just a toddler. Entering the bathroom, she found the medicine cabinet open. On the floor, toothpaste tubes squeezed into stripy snakes, pills scattered like M&Ms, and me, an adorable puppy-dog look on my face, a hint of a smile, smeared with liquid Tylenol, my wide brown eyes gauging her reaction. “Not me, mommy!” Even after the raging and hand-wringing that followed, half the weekend squandered at the emergency room, that day was immortalised in her mind as evidence of my irresistible charm, though most relatives felt it marked the beginning of my unrelenting hedonism, my casual relationship with the truth. Now, I’d crafted a vocation out of it. People didn’t want to hear the truth; often it was downright destructive.
By Rowena Russell5 years ago in Humans
The little Black Book
What can I say about the tale I am about to share with you? This is the story about a “Little Black Book” that from some form of wonderful luck, landed in my hands and has profoundly changed my life.
By Joseph Pettway5 years ago in Humans
One Last Call
22 years of her life, gone. Jodie swept a towel across the surface of the bar, her bar, trying not to think about the fact that soon, much sooner than she’d once expected, she’d find herself cleaning it for the last time. The bar had been a passion project, a dream come to fruition, despite her ex-husband’s doubts and distrust in a woman's ability to do anything but spend her days bent over a burning kitchen stove.
By Alyssa Tyson5 years ago in Humans