Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Psyche.

Normy and Not Another Funeral
My cousin calls me last night and tells me the Fred, the boyfriend of her daughter, died on Sunday from a heroin overdose. My little cousin, her daughter Rachel, is on a trip out of state right now and flying home on a bereavement pass tomorrow morning. Fred was always really sweet and they were talking about getting married. Now she and our family will be attending his funeral and she will be sitting next to his mother in the front row of the chapel instead of standing with him at the front of the church. The flowers will be overwhelming and there will be friends sharing stories of love but there won’t be any happy wedding toasts with sparkling cider. These funerals of overdose victims can’t really be celebrations of life, since the addict didn’t love life more than they loved their drug of choice, right?
By Sarah Seas6 years ago in Psyche
Alive
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒚; sometimes I wonder if anyone else notices. I’m sure your spine has been permanently curved by the weight of all those empty, broken promises you continue to carry on your shoulders.
By Jillian Baker6 years ago in Psyche
Dealing With Depression
I’m starting this Story as a very confused 9 year old, about the time I started to wish I would hurt myself so badly that I would be in a Coma and all the bad things would be over.
By rebecca walker6 years ago in Psyche
More Storm Than Girl
Prologue: Mom, I can't do this anymore. It hurts to even get out of bed. When I wake up in the morning I'm angry that I did. I have to force myself to get up. I have to force myself to keep breathing. I have to force myself to pay attention in class and eat and be active. That's not what life is. Life should be something to be excited about, not a forced act. I've been feeling like this for a long time. I've wanted to leave for a long while. I'm just so fucking tired.
By Lexus Jacobs6 years ago in Psyche
Once upon a writer
As a child I constantly dreamed of becoming a writer one day. When I was about 12 years old, on a hot summer day, sitting alone outside – the first poem I ever created just came bursting out of me. It was so magical, almost unbelievable, I couldn't stop myself. I immediately went to my room to write it down, and as I had no journal at that time I used one of my notebooks for school – it only took about 15 minutes. Not realizing that bringing the notebook back to school with me everyday would change my life, It subsequently turned into my poetry journal. As the days, weeks, months and years went by I sat in each class with that notebook waiting for every moment I could write in it. I always had an appreciation for writing, research papers were my favorite – I always got good grades on them, but poetry was not something I knew I could do until I felt it hit me that one summerday… Sadly, my dream wasn't good enough for my parents, according to them it wasn't a real job to pursue or worth them eventually paying for college in that field of study. What's more, the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse my twin sister and I suffered in our family environment kept me trapped in a world of insecurities and self-hatred. I spent so much of my time either crying, sad, ashamed, afraid, and a myriad of other emotional disturbances, there was nothing left in me to focus on happiness. I was conditioned at a young age to feel worthless and be silent. Survivors of abuse never get the help they need right away, either because they're soul is so shattered that they can't ask for it, or the already limited resources fall short. This lack of compassion evolving in society – in my opinion – is going to bring all of humanity down to unimaginable chaos and fear, completely changing the way we were made; we are wired to be kind and compassionate.
By Nausilee 6 years ago in Psyche
I Suck at Adulting: Here’s How to Not Fix Your Life
I’m 35, and I have no fucking idea what I am doing. Up until now I’ve failed miserably at being an adult, and as such I’ve ended up doing a 360 degree turn only to land right where I began. Don’t be like me.
By Nicole Bedford6 years ago in Psyche
Always a Part of Me
Dinner parties are really fun, until you are forced to have family dinner with 5 other families who you've never met in the stuffy back room of an eating disorder clinic. Weeks prior to this get-together, my mother had told me that she wanted me to go to Walden Behavioral Care to, “get skills to cope with eating disorder behaviors” which at the time I thought was a load of bull, now I can at least admit and recognise that I did, and do have an eating disorder. Took me a while to admit that.
By Kyleigh Keovilay6 years ago in Psyche
The Light & Dark
The Dark Entering 2019 all I wanted to do was heal. Heal from the hurt of an unhealthy relationship. One modeled by toxic parental and relational behaviors. I wanted to rid myself of the pain cause by massive self abandonment. The only thing I knew how to do in order to get people to love me. I had finally began to understand the way my choices created the pain I was living in. I finally understood that the only way to remove myself from the cage I had put around myself (while believing I was caged by another) was to find my voice, own my truth and step into my authentic self. But how on Earth was I to do such a thing? I didn't know how. I was terrified.
By Tamra6 years ago in Psyche
Think twice, tap once
Following todays tragic death of British celebrity Caroline Flack I want to update a piece I wrote elsewhere. In my other piece I talked about celebrity suicides where there was no obvious reason behind it, think Kurt Kobain or Chester Bennington. both massively successful people with millions of fans, a lot of money and a seemingly perfect life. Think more recently of Keith Flint of Prodigy, in the middle of a successful tour and again with millions of fans. In each case there was a reason they took their decision, theories for all but only 3 people know why.
By ASHLEY SMITH6 years ago in Psyche
Be Kind
Even towards the end she was mocked. A valentine’s day card depicting Caroline Flack in a heart with the caption: ‘I’ll f****** lamp you’, was plastered across social media and certain tabloid outlets. It was a reference to the impending court case surrounding an alleged physical altercation between the Love Island presenter and her boyfriend, Lewis Burton.
By The Rumble Online6 years ago in Psyche
Typical Situation
My son is Autistic. He is mentally challenged. The first time I had to tell someone this was when he was five years old. And I cried. I cried because in 1995 no one knew what Autism was really.
By Sharon Shrum Kindig6 years ago in Psyche
My Roommate Situation
I moved to San Francisco State in August 2004, and I was a transfer student at that. My roommates struck me in the immediate present as gaslighting bullies. One was messing around with her perception of race, and didn't bother to correct me as I see now she was looking for an excuse to criticize an innocent person. They did turn out to be very abusive. But at first, I tried to be the one to help them get along although the roommate I met first was the sort of person who liked messing around with people, and like I said, I imagined I had wronged her by not guessing her race right. I'm sorry, hun, I didn't know any better, and remember I was in my mid-twenties so therefore, learning new things?
By Iria Vasquez-Paez6 years ago in Psyche