“Kida, come say bye to nana.” says my mom. I roll my eyes and I reply “ok mom, just give me a second” I get up and walk over to the cabinet looking for the cookie jar that nana always has in here making sure it had not moved . As I reach for the handle of the cupboard, I feel something dark looking at me almost looking right into my soul. As I pull the cupboard open I feel something almost dance s...

CHAPTER ONE: The Empty Space

I was the only one who noticed.

At first, it was a smudge. A faint circle of dust where the old cookie jar used to sit, surrounded by a few stray crumbs. Harmless enough. But when I leaned closer, the hairs on my neck rose.

The jar was gone.

No one else seemed to care. My cousins ran shrieking through Grandma’s living room, oblivious. Aunt Marla flicked through a ma...

Cookie jar

What’s in store

Not an ordinary granny

That’s just dandy

Find that jar

Hasn’t gone far

What’s the matter

Acting like a mad hatter

Don’t understand

It’s not the brand

You know what’s on there

Buyer beware...

"Would you like a cookie, dearie?" she would ask any time you came into her kitchen. She was *always* in the kitchen, and that kitchen *always* smelled of caramelizing sugars, citrus fruits, and cigarette smoke. She'd be sat on her stool in the corner near the open window and before you ever had a chance to answer she'd be handing you a cookie from the cookie jar on the counter behind her. Even if...

Note: This isn’t finished, but I had to post something :)

“Did you take it?” I demand, pushing past my brother to get to my sister.

She looks up at me, frightened. “I- no, what? No, I didn’t.”

I breathe hard, hand steadying myself against the wall. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Why?” She starts picking at her nails.

I gently push her hands apart. “Stop that. Here, chew a piece of gum.”

She brushe...

The empty space upon the shelf,

A vacant jar, a silent theft.

Grandma's cookies, sweet and round,

Now vanished, nowhere to be found.

The family gathers, unconcerned,

No missing treats, no lessons learned.

But I, I know the hidden truth,

A secret held in stolen youth.

For in that jar, a treasure lay,

Not store-bought sweets, but more than play.

Grandma's recipe, a whispered lore,

Passed down ...

A shimmer, a shine

A glimpse of the devine

A forgotten space tucked away

In a small container, a hidden place

It sat upon the counter top

A single silver dewdrop

Painted, pristine and delicate

Curving patterns so intricate

A world to get lost in, in those silver loops

Little pictures grouped together in little silver hoops

Sitting for hours, safe with it there

A home, a world, so co...

She didn’t know that when I was twelve, I put my shame in that old thing. I was watching it for days to make sure nobody really cared about it. The jar sat there on the top shelf of the kitchen my whole childhood, collecting dust. The pig-shaped jar seemed silly, inconspicuous. I knew if I ever had to do anything “bad”, as father would say, it could help me out. Nobody would look there. For as lon...

A wall of confusion hit him when his eyes gazed to the dusty wooden kitchen shelf as he sipped on a cup of warm, sweet afternoon tea. The same exact spot, and only spot, where his grandmother had kept the cookie jar, next to the old glass vase and vintage tea set, but it wasn’t there. His palms warmed and started to sweat, ‘where _is_ it? There’s no where else it could possibly be, unless she…’ It...

Sweat beads downs my brow as I look starvingly for the cookie jar.

“Mom, can you help look for it,” I ask, my voice lanced with fear.

Mom doesn’t hear the desperation in my voice and responds, “Honey, it’s only a cookie jar.”

Only a cookie jar. _No_.

I look more ferocious, throwing things and causing a mess.

Where are you!

I look over to see a piece of ceramic on the floor beneath the table....