_Splash._

It felt like the water was going to consume me, but it wouldn’t, not yet. It was cold. Insanely cold. I swum deeper and deeper, I was going to find him. It was too dark for me to see, I just had to feel it. Two floppy ears, a button and gem for eyes and a few loose stitches. Was this necessary for any plush rabbit? Probably not. For Jerry? Most definitely. My lungs were on fire, I had n...

Sophie never stepped foot into an aquarium, you’d expect a seven year old to be fascinated by all the bright creatures swimming around you, but Sophie was never fazed. She was more reluctant than bored when it came to the topic of aquariums. Though today was a school excursion, and being a child who lives for the approval of her friends, she didn’t have much of a choice but to go.

She dragged and...

12:45 AM. July 12, 2004

I swim down to get Teddy, it’s awfully dark.

But I would even endure years of mountain climbing to protect Teddy.

I swim back up to the surface,

Though it never occurred to me how fast the ice would freeze over.

Or how long it would take to melt.

6:44 PM. January 7, 2018

It’s glistening,

Slippery,

Foggy.

How does no one know I’m here?

Person after person,

They w...

“Mama.” My daughter yells at me, but it’s abrupt.

It’s louder this time, far louder.

Everyday I ask her to be quiet, to stop.

In the house she wouldn’t stop yelling,

In the basement she wouldn’t stop yelling,

And in her own grave she still can’t stop yelling....

When I open my trunk I discover a dead body.

One dead body,

Which is funny, since I put two in there yesterday.

As I hold the shovel in the other hand and drag the body out onto the ground,

I turn and see the other body sitting atop the grave,

Alive....

Carrie sat atop the castle where she’d always escaped to when she wanted to seek solace. It felt as right as all the other times she was here, even though things had changed. She was five years older and so was the castle. It was more of a wooden platform that was situated in the middle of a now dilapidated playground, but Carrie didn’t feel any different.

The wind swept Carrie’s hair back, as sh...