“No, no no no no no!” Oblivious to his pleas, the car’s engine spluttered out anyways.

“SHIT!” Nobody heard Sandy’s voice except the wind, carrying it as far as it would go across the flat and cracking ground.

To break down on a highway was one thing, but getting stuck on an _empty_ highway in the _middle of the desert_ was a whole new world of bad luck.

Doing the only thing he could thin...

“Did you hear about Summer and Kyle?” Her eyes twinkle with the thrill of a new story, something she seemingly can’t get enough of.

Gossip is something that keeps Gale satisfied, and distracts her from the life she finds so miserable. (Rich and loving parents, devoted boyfriend, great college, what could _possibly_ be worse?) It’s like a drug to her.

“No! Tell me!” Despite my determination t...

All I see is darkness.

I know you’re there with me. Though my sight has been stolen from me in cold blood, yours is warm, and I can hear your heart beating, beating in sync with mine.

“It won’t be much longer,” you tell me, and now I can add your voice to the list of things that keep me grounded.

Your hand in mine; I feel the weathered skin on your palm and the scar that runs up your forea...

Like pieces of a puzzle, every little bit of my plan was clicking into place. Over and over again, hour after hour, task after task, I could hear the ringing _"check!"_ playing in my head, could see the mental checkmark.

The only thing that could possibly ruin it now was this stupid fucking skirt, the longs folds of fabric constantly tripping me, driving me to insanity. Oh, and maybe that egotis...

Your actions lead to consequences.

How could I forget?

The cold clutches of mother nature, a hard and unforgiving fate.

Yes, she’s dead.

Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you believe me? Do you belie...

do you know me? um

you place this glass in my hand

will i break? or guard?...

My hand finds its way back to the shallow pocket in the front of my jeans, pulling out yet another lemon flavored coughdrop. As I remove it from its white and blue wrapper, my breath burns my throat.

The wrapper joins the accumulation of others in my back pocket as I pop the drop into my mouth. Walking down the street, I can’t tell if that bitter taste is from the candy or this sickening worry ...

those _things_ are always loudest when i’m on the brink of sleep. i hear them through the grate of the window, the cold iron criss-cross pattern vibrating as they screech and scratch. one of them sticks a long and thorny finger through the inch-wide hole.

how many times before they learn? the creature tries to pull its finger back, too late. the hooked thorns, easy to stick in but impossible to ...

I’m often told that death is just another part of life. Another fragment, another puzzle piece, another brick in the wall.

“You can’t escape it!” they yell.

“You can’t hide from death!” they shriek.

I rest in the graveyard, gazing at her tombstone, those hateful, disgusting words carved in a rock slab, meant to label and describe her forever.

The people yell and claw at the gate behind me, ...

quarter-to-four and the rain had already started.

of course, it was merely a light sprinkle, but the forecast this morning said that it would only begin around five o’clock, and by then i had planned to be on the four-thirty train out of this hellhole.

the wind picked up, and i almost lost my hat several times as i marched down the streets of new york city towards grand central station. i watche...