“You have to move out of my bedroom!” my brother Kyle said. I was nothing short of enraged. “You know I have nightmares!” I said. “About what? About enlarged pizzas with bananas as cheese!” My face turned red. “Those are legit phobias! I have pepperluciophobia,” I replied defensively. He just rolled his eyes. That made me jump right of the swing. “Are you serious right now!?” I said. “Duh…” he...

Like most kids, we first met at the playground.

The way your mom tells the story, it was you who first initiated contact-that’s the way she says it too, like we were two different species about to have our first intergalactic encounter (who was the human, who was the alien- I always wondered).

You were the one to grab and drag me to the swingset, where we sat and swung, hand-in-hand. This mome...

The chains are cold in my hands a mirror of the night air. My breath comes out in visible clouds of smoke. “Do you remember how many times we used to come here?” My voice carries, but I don’t expect a answer. Not tonight. Not ever again.

This was silly. A stupid attempt for comfort. I was just gonna end up drowning in my sorrow even more then I already was. No matter how much I pleaded for his com...

When I swing, I feel free, like a bird, unable to fly.

Like a frog, forced to walk, like a, like a girl on a swing.

I try to catch the sun, moon, and stars, but I can’t reach.

Then you speak, and brings me back, only to wish fly again.

When I close my eye, I see myself fly, floating, reaching, and I wish it was real.

Because I am just a girl on a swing....

The night’s chilling air ran through the trees and the playground. The swings were rocking back and forth, the sea saw slowly going up and down. The moon shone, and the stars danced on the night sky. The heavy crunch of footsteps broke the silence, a creak as the figure got onto the roundabout. The figure slowly spun the roundabout with their foot, letting it stop before making it turn again. The ...

“We’re are we going?” Asked Stacy

“ somewhere!” Bella giggled

“ Ugg, you always say that!” Said Stacy in a serious tone.

Deep in Bella’s brain she new that this was Stacy’s last week alive…...

Everyone knows her name but not her story - her forever unwritten story. She’s just Nancy. Nancy the swing girl and nothing more. Nancy the lost girl and nothing more. Nancy the dead girl and nothing more. She’s just Nancy.

I was staring in anticipation at the toaster whilst my Mum frantically ordered people around exclaiming that we were going to be late even though we never were and Nancy stood...

“Where are we going?” Allie giggled.

“Just on a walk.”

“Max, it’s freezing!”

“Pfft. Throw on a jacket. Just because it’s below sixty degrees does not qualify as freezing Miss Texas.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever Mister South Dakota. Normal people don’t consider forty five degrees as warm either.”

Max threw the car in park.

“You’re lucky I brought a vest.”

“I’ll be sure to thank my lucky stars, n...

"Push me higher!" Mia shouted, her pigtails flying as she clutched the swing's chains.

Her brother, Aaron, planted his sneakers into the woodchips and gave her a shove. The swing squealed, tilted forward, then whooshed back.

"If you go any higher, you'll touch the clouds!"

"But, I want to touch the clouds!"

Nearby, two other kids argued over a red plastic shovel in the sandbox.

"You had i...

I step foot into the wooded area, memories of hot metal slides, chanting songs and emptying gallons of sand from a tiny shoe. Today it’s just me, here to meet an old friend a friend who chose a different path. The reminiscent joy fades a bit and I sit on a swing sad there is no one in my life to give me a push. I wait longer than I think I should, some things never change. Then two beautiful sandy...