literature
Whether written centuries ago or just last year, literary couples show that love is timeless.
5:30 PM
Sunday, December 31, 2017 It’s cold. I’m cold. The alarm is going off, but I’ve already been up for three hours and seventeen minutes. I turn to look at the clock. The screen reads 7:00 AM. in a neon green. It hurts my eyes. My eyes. They’re burning. I get off the queen bed, careful to avoid the right side. Evan’s side.
By Emily Chang7 years ago in Humans
White Noise
The sound of muted laughter and glasses clinking filled up the Gatsby-style ballroom. I sipped on champagne and reflected on my childhood based on the mannerisms of the people around me. Kids run around like little drunks, seriously. I smiled to myself thinking of the wind in the trees and a dog barking to hear another answer back. Maybe a few birds chirped as they carried small twigs and strings to their nests under construction complete with imaginary caution tape. Back at home, another noise entertained my trained ears that paid attention to even the most subtle things. My TV was playing the news as the anchor discussed the weather. That reminded me of the puttering of the rain on the roof that lulls me to sleep on winter nights. Meanwhile, snow drifts down with delicacy and elegance, the quiet before the storm is noise in itself. The engine of a car. Footsteps in gravel. A telephone ringing. Music of blaring headphones. The hum of electricity in every light. The sound of the earth spinning. The sounds of cells reproducing. I could hear it all. The cacophony makes me feel so serene, the noises of babies being born contrasting with the last breath of a dying human being reminded me of the balance of life. I could never miss the sound of a shooting star that would make me think of the Little Prince on his own tiny planet with a rose. I wished every time to gift everybody with my talent, which would allow for a certain peacefulness and understanding of the things that matter most. What I don’t understand is why people only have the capacity to pay attention to what is in front of them may it be a film or another person. If they could hear the complex mechanisms that could make their computer run, for example, they would appreciate it more. The mechanisms and the factory workers slaving away to give you such a pristine product. My eyes scanned the room and the fabric of men and women’s clothing rubbed together as they danced to vibrations of guitars and vocal cords. A child would cry and worry given these talents and someone elderly would just be sick and tired of the white noise. I thought about it for a while. I took another sip. Maybe it was called white noise because, in the end, I will approach the light at the end of the tunnel where all the sounds will combine to open up the portal to paradise. I saw a handsome fellow across the room and we locked eyes. I heard his heartbeat quicken, an honest truth that he was intrigued. That emotion rubbed off on me, as my talent gave me the ability to muster my courage and make my way over to him.
By Dasha Bukovskaya7 years ago in Humans
Embers (Ch. 11)
ZACH "You're dating Rhiannon too?" Thea asked teasingly with a raised eyebrow as my brother brought the car to life and she buckled up. Rhiannon pretty much invited herself over after school and her smile was too exhilarating to turn down so I had agreed. I'd given her the tour of my family's home and we finished with some light studying before her natural sensuality began to take over and I had to excuse myself with a false claim of needing some water. My brother had been in the vicinity unfortunately and witnessed the whole thing. He decided to take it upon himself to rescue me out of Rhiannon's web of desire and distracted her with his matching charm. And who was I kidding? I could never compete with this over-sexualized generation I belonged to. I was still a virgin, my brother as well as far as I knew, but no one believed him enough to buy it.
By Sharlene Alba7 years ago in Humans
Perspectives of She Who Wished to Be Perfect
Cheri and I had never fought before. In fact, to prevent most conflicts in our relationship, we mostly resorted to compromises when we reached disagreements, we allowed each other to have social lives beyond our relationship, and she even recommended we keep locator apps on each other's phones to evade rapid texts asking where we were. I guess we weren't prepared for everything, though.
By Monique Star7 years ago in Humans
Complex
"You're very quiet, Nini." His sudden observation broke me out of my reverie. I stopped gazing out of the cafe window at the passing cars and shoppers to sip my London Fog tea and take a nibble of my now room-temperature quiche. I still wouldn't look at him.
By Eva A. Schellinger7 years ago in Humans
Embers (Ch. 10)
Giselle I'd barely taken a step out of my car in the parking lot of Pasadena High, and I already wanted a smoke break. My shoulder bag was full of nicotine patches, but I wasn't sure they'd be enough to get me through the day. So I bought a shit ton of snacks, which barely had enough room for actual school supplies. All I needed was a notebook and a pack of pens. Everything else I needed I could always buy later.
By Sharlene Alba7 years ago in Humans
A Dollar a Year
Green bills unfolded and folded in is hands. Jertavious Dawe spoke under his breath each count of the money. The dollars in ones and fives mostly, turned over like water off of a mill. The circulative motion of the greenbacks enticed the young man of only eight years. His brother came into the house and saw Jertavious alone and almost in trancelike mode in his Newark, Delaware home.
By Skyler Saunders7 years ago in Humans
Who Gets the Spaceships?
Barton Scholes, a black man, sullen and beat from the divorce agreement, sits on his patio overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Bethany Beach, Delaware. Worth north of 250 billion dollars, this man had been a paragon of good business sense. The owner of multinational technology internet giant Encontrar, the Delaware Times, and a manufacturing and spaceflight company Superspace, among other properties, the man commanded a sizable piece of the market. His wife stood adjacent to him vaping an e-cigarette.
By Skyler Saunders7 years ago in Humans
The Bay Wall
Two big seagulls swoop down on a French fry that floats in the sea. They wrestle with it, flapping their wings aggressively as the fry predictably splits in two. The birds fly away. I pick up another three fries and fling them into the wind. The bay wall I’m sitting on is rough, and I consider diving into the low tide.
By Dylan Dames7 years ago in Humans
