The first call on her birthday rings for her. She knows who it is, because as soon as she picks up the phone, she says, “Hey, babe—“

…

Her heart stops. A new voice.

“Who is this?”

…

“What?”

_The phone slips from her hands, dangling from its cord, banging against the wall as it swings. The frantic voice on the other end becomes warbled as it is desperate for an answer, calling her by an...

The most annoying thing about life to me is the fact that we’re not allowed to halt or hasten time’s journey of prosperity or decay. A flowery sleeve of ink is slowly blooming up my arm, and after all the painful wrist cramps, I look up at the clock and only ten minutes have passed since opening.

“Bored already?” From the corner of my eye, a flash of dark green hair enters my vision. When I turn...

“Merry Christmas, darlings!”

Golden light poured in as soon as she tore open the curtains, and the both of us hide our faces.

“Oh, come on! It’s Christmas! Don’t you want to see what I got you two?”

This is the only time when the shop is closed, and Phaedra loves to make the most of it, even if it means dragging us out of bed at seven o’clock in the morning. Her inner child always comes out on...

Phaedra has been dead for over two hours, yet we’re still in the antique shop. I do not know the state her body is in, but the terror in me prevents me from wanting to find out. The ghosts are gone, and we are alone with the corpse of someone we thought we could trust.

The death of someone who has harmed you, who has lied to you for their own benefit, shouldn’t be something that sticks to the min...

“Phaedra was my most talented student, and when it comes to revenge, she was a patient girl. Ever since her coven was slaughtered, she has waited over two hundred years for the right time to make a move. Unfortunately for her though, that cost her magical abilities. With each passing day without use, small bits of it dwindled until she could no longer even levitate a fork.”

I never thought a phan...

In a world of roses be a violet. Purple in color, it still expresses love, just in a different manner that is existent, yet prosecuted.

Not everyone may understand what this means, but this doesn’t change anything. Let yourself be vibrant and colorful, let yourself grow the way you want to. And do not, by any circumstance, let any forces of nature stop you....

When I was little, I used to lay outside and reach my hands up to the sky above, convinced I could touch the great moving clouds of if I just extended my arms a little further and run my palms over the world no ground dwellers could see. With every growth spurt, I would try again and again and again with no progress. My parents kept encouraging me.

“Never stop reaching for great hights,” my mothe...

Not even an ounce of jealousy from him, nor a flicker of regret. He sits in his little corner booth, sipping whisky, devouring the groupies around him with his eyes as they giggle at whatever stupid joke he said. I slow my pace, hands tightening around my many heavy shopping bags, ensuring he sees that I’ve moved on from what I thought was his love.

But nothing. Still nothing.

He’d kissed anoth...

Roses have thorns because there are disgusting, sick people in the world who wish to ravage their petals, rip them by the stems for their own sick pleasures. They think just because they have an alluring scent, they have the right to take their perverse hands and rip them from the soil they only just bloomed from.

Fortunately for other flowers like daisies, sunflowers, peonies, and more, they are...

I live a life of joy

Where colors are brighter

And I can fly

As I am not the world’s toy

Eventually, I was told

That there will be a wonderful change

I was excited

As I yearned to grow

But what came next was cold

Everything began to dull

And everything grew eyes

Their gazes devouring me

As they wish to prize more than my skull

My new, fuller feathers came with a price

An existence of pain

Of ...