“Can I…poison them?”

“No.”

“Kidnap them?”

“No.”

“Stab them?”

“Cathe, what the hell?”

She rolled her eyes, turning her head toward the little picture above her bed.

It was a painting of a ladybug on a leaf—tiny, delicate soul just trying to figure out life.

“Then what?”

She sighed at last.

“You could simply ask him to meet up, and talk it through”

“I don’t want to”

“Well, I don’t see no ...

"What exactly do you expect?" My best friend stands in front of me, hands gripping her hips, her face pulled into a scowl that is more anxious than disdainful. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Well," I say, slowing my voice as to keep it steady, "I expect that by morning she'll be back to normal, and we just have to wait it out."

"We!" She throws her hands in the air and turns to pace...

It’ll be so much easier than Lindsey thinks.

All I have to do is show him how good it feels to understand and be understood.

If I show him what it feels like to be truly loved, then he’ll finally know how to love me back.

It’s all about matching energies — he just doesn’t know how to match mine yet.

I’m sure he’ll stop leaving bruises soon.

I’m sure, one day, he’ll hear me when I say no.

I’m almo...

a vast desert oasis stood the kingdom city of Cairo Utopia. It was ruled by the pharaoh, Yoesph Neferhotep, his queen, Amara Yasmin, and their daughter, Princess Amira Jasmine. The royal family had a strong, supportive bond with the Christian community, a faith that was a deep and vibrant thread in the fabric of their lives.

A fallen City;

One day, a great flood shattered the peacefu...

His nervous laughter filled the room as his eyes darted back and forth and then he looked down. He was smart, handsome, kind and humble and he could see none of it. An escape artist like myself just trying to make it through a harsh world with what’s left of our broken selves. We were the children who internalized everything that’s wrong with the world as somehow being our own fault.

Could there...

To begin

We must start

By contrast stirring in the unsettling

Unsolicited wayside of our universe

We must try and convince

ourselves

What can barley fit in its self

can fit in our palms

Cradle were love refuses to fester

is be tamed by what is beastly

The world, so big

Reduced to rain spillage

Feet trigger by the byproduct

Which existing enables us to trail behind

To littler

Is to reach th...

Stringy yellow petals on scrawny stems, the witch hazel glowered from its jar of cloudy water. Cricket didn’t believe in witchcraft and all that hooey but still she had to do something. Everything was changing at the Mills. Faraday’s sect were pulling away. Tuck was slipping through her fingers.

“That’s the one you want.”

As if it was directly by her ear, the raspy voice made her jump. The ragg...

She pranced down the sidewalk, eyes locked on the door.

She knew he didn’t expect her today but that’s the surprise.

Her heart beating out of her chest.

Hands full with a chocolate cake and skittles, his favorite.

At the brown worn door,

She quickly set down the items on his rocking porch table

The one he kept for its ‘personality’.

Breathing in deeply and breathing out her nerves, she lifted her...

"Well, maybe he really did get a flat tire from a nail in the road! I mean, it happens. He would want to be a gentleman and pick me up when we go out on a date. So if he has no car, he can't do that, right?" Gabby turns to me with those innocent eyes, looking for a single sign of ressaurance.

I respond by throwing a sharp glare in her direction, to let her know that she's not going to get that re...

The Starbucks inside the Barnes and Nobles cafe was bright and full of energy. Its door never stopped moving on the rainy, drizzly and chilly October morning. It deposited sweatered, jacketed, wet people inside. Despite the employee's valiant attempt to keep the floors dry via an oversized rug, the floor was covered in track marks, moist and gritty.

Miran and her two friends, Jennifer and Heathe...