My grandma was the kindest woman I knew. A sweet old lady, always ready to lend a hand. Her cottage was cozy and warm, though it always carried a strange, sour smell that never quite went away.

After so many evenings together, Granny and I came up with a project. Pets had been disappearing all over the neighborhood—cats, dogs, even hamsters. Their owners wept and posted signs on every corner. Gran...

"Not much longer to go" I sighted as we arrived at the river. We had been fleeing since last night. fleeing from the traffickers that had taken us. They had done unspeakable things to the both of us. We decided that we would rather die trying to run away than rot away in the horrific bunkers where they kept us. So we ran.

The river was freezing, my muscles were in agony, yet I had never felt suc...

The soil of silence waits each dawn,

For what the dreamer plants upon.

A single hope, a whispered prayer,

Will bloom if given tender care.

But fear will drop its darker grain,

And thorny vines will soon remain.

The rains will fall on all that grows,

Not choosing what the rootbed knows.

So guard the ground within your mind,

And tend it with a heart that's kind.

Our mind is a garden, your thought...

She was the ideal church girl.

She ticked every box that one might expect her to tick.

She went to church every Sunday.

She prayed before every meal.

She never disobeyed or sined;

and when she did it was something small or insignificant

like forgetting to say amen before she fell asleep.

Her robes never fell shorter than her knees.

She never acted extravagantly or impulsively.

She'd always forg...

It was a warm night like any other. My brother and I were laying in the soft comfort of our beds, we had begged our mother to tell us a story. She didn't say no, she never did. There was nothing better than drifting to sleep while her kind voice told of fantasy stories from far far away. Tonight, the story was about pirates, it was a bit scarier than usual.

-"That's a scary story mom, I sure hope ...

Husbands and wives should be in love

At least that is what ive been told of

They're supposed to hug laugh and kiss

Yet my parents were never like this

Mom and dad didn't love each other much

Maybe they didn't love each other at all

I had never seen them hug, kiss or even touch

At least not that I could recall

But now, 30 years later, as my wife stood before the door

Tears streaming down her face...

"You'll forget about her, just snap out of it" I heard over and over since the day she packed her bags and left our apartment. Since she had closed the door behind her a final time after saying her last words to me "Goodbye Tom, I promise you will forget all about me in the blink of an eye"

I believed them, at first. I knew I couldn't force her to stay, no matter how much I longed for her to. Bu...

'One day I am gonna grow wings'

In the mountain-locked village of Calvara, where clouds hung low like secrets and stars blinked like whispered promises, every child was born with a dream etched onto their skin.

Mine was a single line, faint and curled around my collarbone:

"One day I am gonna grow wings."

My mother said it was a curse. My father, gone before I could remember, had the same line...

Clouds cover the skies,

Rain pulls at your eyes,

But nothing hurts as much

As little words turned lies.

They came like petals, soft and light,

Whispers in the hush of night,

Promising the kind of truth

That even silence dared not fight.

You held them close, you let them bloom,

Wove them into every room

Your breath, your skin, your hopeful spine,

Not knowing rot would come in time.

Clouds cover ...

Margaret sobbed. She wasn’t prepared for this.

How could she be?

Just yesterday, a letter had been delivered to every author's home across the country. It was brief, but horrifyingly clear:

"Greetings, writers.

This letter has been sent to you by superior forces to inform you that, by June 9th, you will all be detained and sent into the story of your very first novel. You will be required to surv...