Young Love

There’s this girl. I can’t get her out of my head. Ophelia. What a beautiful name. It suits you. I walk by that coffee shop on Sixth Street every day…[...]

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A Kiss Goodbye

“Aren't you going to hug me?” He asked as he dropped her off at the airport of the city they'd relocated to. After a hug and a quick kiss, she…[...]

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The Strong, Black, Independent Woman

“Mama, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she admitted over the phone, her voice barely above a whisper. Dr. Simone Cadwell had always been the strong one. The one…[...]

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To Be Black

T/W : Descriptions of gun violence, blood, and slight gore ; Censored swears ; Heavy discussion of racismJune 1st, 1921 - 2nd Day of the Tulsa MassacreGreenwood, TulsaI remember that…[...]

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Caught You Looking

Clarke I fidgeted nervously with the hem of my jacket. Who wears corduroy jackets? Hello, the seventies are calling and they want their clothes back. At least my olive-coloured shirt,…[...]

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The Grey Divide

The world had once been vibrant. As children, we hadn’t thought about the color of our skin. It was never a consideration, never a factor in whom we played with…[...]

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Premium Seat

It was worth it to pay that extra 25 dollars to get a premium seat with extra leg room. These short-haul flights were notorious for packing as many passengers in…[...]

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Derealize

This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening.  My heart begins to race. My face and palms begin to sweat. Everything feels so surreal. I feel like someone punched me…[...]

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Snack

[TW: graphic violence, mentions of sex] "Mariah, are you sure you'll be okay getting home?" "Sierra, I swear to God I'm fine." Sierra looked skeptical still. Mariah had quite a…[...]

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Crossing the Threshold

The scent of simmering curry hit me the moment I walked through the front door. My wife Emma always seemed to know when to remove the lid from the saucepan…[...]

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“You Are Oppressed”

"You are oppressed."Sudden. Abrupt. With no head or tails where that came from. I sit, confused, as the guy sitting across from me continues. “Oppressed and restricted, with no freedom…[...]

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Shayla Muldoon

*** In this story there is testament to perhaps the worst of all human sins -- bigotry. There is racial language and jokes (the n-word is not used), along with…[...]

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3V3’S 3D3N (EVE’S EDEN)

Trigger Warning! Proceed with caution and, at your own risk!Contains:- Sexual Violence-Disturbing Imagery-Abuse-Mental health-Substance Abuse--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Shivering. Dirt and muck covering her face, little cuts and bruises marring an olive skin, chapped…[...]

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Forgive or bleed open heart

I tiptoed back up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs it began to squeak. “Oh no, I can’t let her see me.” So, I went back down the first half…[...]

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Trials of the Wtich and the Demon

Trials of the Witch and the Demon A faint lavender mist falls over the Witrial Woods. Trees cascade down, stretching for miles as small bits of sun peak through the…[...]

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Becoming Lily

Becoming LilyChapter 1: The Platform Lily stood on the cold, graffiti-covered subway platform, a large suitcase in one hand and a stiff coffee in the other. She checked and double-checked…[...]

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Twelve Months a Slave

Shondra stepped onto the scale. 183 pounds.Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over as she stared at the number in disbelief. After weeks of strict dieting, early-morning walks,…[...]

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The Last Kite of Baobab Hill

In the village of Kalimba, nestled where the earth curved gently toward the horizon, the baobab trees stood as sentinels of time. Their gnarled branches stretched like arms holding up…[...]

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In My Mind Forever

“You really wanna come in here?” I hold your hand, gazing into your eyes. I’m daring you to be terrified and enamored all at once and I know it isn’t…[...]

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Signed, Sealed, Swindled

Content Warning: This story contains depictions of unethical medical practices, endangerment of vulnerable individuals, and themes of professional misconduct, trauma, and emotional distress. Reader discretion is advised.I should’ve asked more…[...]

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Ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲭⲁⲣⲓ

I am a horrible writer. The thought coursed through Lisa’s head. She stared at her phone, the words written there, after Bryan told her that her latest poem was stupid.…[...]

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Cuentos de la Novia

1. Knocking on Doors I am unemployed, so I count the states. I lie in his bed in his apartment in his city while he goes to his job. I…[...]

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Saved For Him

Aakesh’s Journal NotesTwo months after the final waveBiochemical Warfare has decimated most populations of the world leaving behind a mix of abundant forests, mutated creatures, and humans.The Long-legged Yellow Sac…[...]

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Graduating to Haitian

“Bonjou everybody!”“Hello Everybody!”“I am so proud of you.”A thunder of claps came from the crowd and I waited for it to tame down before I continued.“Wooh!” “You have made it…[...]

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Conundrum

A moment lived is a moment loved. We don’t think about past memories as children. We simply live it. It was as present as we could have ever gotten. Now,…[...]

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In Vivo Veritas

Gaslight flickered along the tiled walls and danced across the faces of the professors in the gallery above, perched like birds of prey. A portly man stood in the first…[...]

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The Loud Ones Don’t Pass

Layla had always been taught that beauty would fade. And while she accepted there was some truth in that sentiment, she just didn’t believe in the permanence of it. After…[...]

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You, again

Frankie was supposed to be playing photographer, capturing as many moments of the engagement party as humanly possible. It was his ONE job. But being the cousin of the groom…[...]

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The Gods of Arasha

Khet hated the sun. It was always hot in Arasha. Waves of shimmering heat dogged his steps, magnified by a merciless sun that sat unchallenged in clear blue skies. Often,…[...]

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St. Pablo

Fernando tipped his head to watch the clouds come into the town of Retiro over alto San Miguel and thought about money, the rain, and drowning. Which were really one…[...]

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System Error?

“It’s back!” the older dark-skinned man shouted, fear clearly permeating his voice. “Again?” Nia asked, stunned by the announcement. She rushed to the console next to him only to see…[...]

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Eggs and Bacon

The gravel under her feet crunched and ground against her shoes as the heavy set woman turned and sat down heavily on the bench. It had felt like an eternity…[...]

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Dog Days, 2026

The mattress was thin, just enough to lift me from my grandmother’s living room floor, but it was mine for the night. My cousins were sprawled nearby, shuffling through their…[...]

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The day my birth changed things

Hello everyone, this story will be told with some nonfiction parts from my life and fiction with the character I use. His name will be Shadow Angel, not to be…[...]

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A Tarot Reader’s Plight

“Maya, are you sure you are not clairvoyant?” The question from Toyol the other day kept bothering her. She joked about being a highly stimulated, burnt-out autistic person with special…[...]

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The Mask of the Great Dane!

My neighborhood is peaceful today, because I, the Great Dane, protect this neighborhood. I am not a great dane though, his name is Maxie and he lives next door. My…[...]

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The River Flows Past the Willow Tree

A faint lavender mist falls over the Witrial Woods. Trees cascade down, stretching for miles as small bits of sun peak through the cracks of the leaves. Wisteria sways softly…[...]

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The Watch That Time Knew

Tagline: One watch. Endless moments. A girl who holds the threads of history in her hands.Synopsis: Nia is an ordinary girl until she inherits her grandmother’s mysterious watch — a…[...]

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The Prince’s Shadow

Sometime after the British India Company started advancing its control across India, there lived a young nawab of the Mughal court. He was a prince out of the fairy tales;…[...]

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Firestarter

It’s just a business center; full of files and flammable paper cups, to which the fire starts without much struggle. In minutes, it licks up the walls, crawling across the…[...]

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My Hands are a Voice

Eye on the target. Pull the string back. Elbow slightly elevated. Release!I watched the arrow glide through the air, hitting the target square in the center. I looked around and…[...]

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Take Me Away…….Not Here!

Waking up in an unfamiliar place is disconcerting to say the least, but waking up in the middle of nowhere is worse. Looking around, all I can see is grasslands,…[...]

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Vigil of Whispers

The peal of thunder split the sky. Ka'handre, clad only in robes to his waist, sat cross-legged in the cradle of a towering rubber tree.The night was thick and endless.…[...]

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The Road Not Taken

CW: Addresses abortion, emotional abuse, and themes of oppression. My mother was a twenty-four-year-old woman with a bright red bindi between her soft brown eyes, dark hair flowing down to…[...]

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Let’s Start Here

“Where are we going?” Nusrat questioned, her voice groggy with sleep and curiosity. “Just a few more steps,” Rafiq reassured while covering her eyes from behind. He guided her slowly…[...]

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Peace at Low Tide

This short story is set in the early 1990s, when storms of rage ended with the slam of a receiver. In the distance a sluggish sun crawls out of the…[...]

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The Foolishness of Men

The Foolishness of Men The Cut The brightness of the Haitian day brought spray sparkles flying outward splattering the aquas of the waters. Peebo picked the conch shell up from…[...]

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Clean Enough

Step on a crack…break your mother’s back. That is how we got here-the idea that tiny things could destroy the people I love. I look down at my hands, violently…[...]

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Travel Lightly in My Heart

Rae stared out at the Ouachita River, searching the roiling water for a sign. The river was normally a half mile from her doorstep but today it was here, crossing…[...]

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The River Man

He made me laugh, cry, sing and dance. When I needed guidance, he was my father. When I needed to learn, he was my teacher. The spirit of the forest…[...]

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Prayer

It was dark, and my ears were ringing. I moved slowly, very slowly, a lot slower than I needed to move. I couldn’t breathe. When I gasped, water rushed down…[...]

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Cats Can Fight Masked Men Too

They snatched Devi away in front of my eyes. The audacity! When they came for her, I must have seemed nonchalant. I didn’t hiss at the masked men. They pushed…[...]

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Does So

DOES SOBy Kajsa Alger “Lightning always comes when the rain smells like this,” says Cole. “Does not,” Ruth snarls, taking one last chew on her gum before crushing a nearby…[...]

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Prophesy

Niṣṭhā was not, strictly speaking, a believer in prophecy. She considered the exercise frivolous and futile, the indolent, idle vice of the flaccid and feeble-minded.Such a sentiment, of course, amounted…[...]

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Clingstone

The fruit was spurious, in nature. Possibly. Like most things made in the hypermodern era, or the present year of 2123 (affectionately referred to by its denizens as “twenty-one-two-three”), the…[...]

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Sweet Boondi

It had been raining for two days. The river behind the Hanuman mandir, which was dry throughout the year, now had a steady stream of water. Its gentle burble bounced…[...]

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The Way Back

CW: addiction, self-harm, mental illness, inspired by true events From their earliest days, children learn through what adults do and the silent lessons they convey. They notice laughter after a…[...]

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Land of the Lumpies

In a land far, far away lives a small group of creatures. They spend most of their days gathering pebbles and small twigs to create walking paths across forest creeks…[...]

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Constellations in August

Why My Small Town Is The Worst:1. You know everyone.2. People can lie and everyone will believe them.3. You can’t escape them4. Legacies. (To kill and protect.) 5. Her.Small towns…[...]

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All the Answers Are Within

A loud crackling sounded off within my ear and I could have sworn it echoed the London Library, causing me to tense up a bit. The fragile binding of an…[...]

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Culpabilité

“Culpabilité”By Valerie Fowler Set in the 1990s when home phones hummed, goodbyes took their time, and calls lingered in dead air before letting go. Pastel dawn nudges night from the…[...]

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What We Never Said

The soft glow of morning light filtered through the thin curtains of Ayana’s childhood bedroom, casting long, golden streaks across the familiar floor. She stirred, her eyes fluttering open as…[...]

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The Twenty-Five Windows

The surface of Lake Michigan didn’t just reflect the sun; it vibrated with it. Each ripple caught the light in a rhythmic, golden pulse—a visual heartbeat. To anyone else, it…[...]

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Picasso Heart

12 February 2030Turtle BayManhattan, New YorkUSATo my sweet love,My precious gift, I know you don’t have many words if any and you don’t owe me anything. I don’t blame you…[...]

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Luck through the Lens

Beautiful. That was the first word that came to mind when I saw her. I watched from afar as she captured precious memories. A small, focused smile behind the lens…[...]

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Mogra and Daffodils

The daffodils had opened overnight.I noticed them while walking back home, the sun was unusually generous for early spring. They leaned toward the light, bright and unapologetically yellow against the…[...]

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The Woman in the Mirror

As Ashley stood in front of the bedroom mirror, she began examining the woman who had quietly turned fifty-seven. The warm glow of the bedside lamp softened the faint lines…[...]

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It’s Just a Word

Reader advised: This story contains coarse language and/or racial slander. It's not my fault I didn't know what the word "nigger" means. It's not my fault that quoting a movie…[...]

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Twenty Kilograms of Life

The suitcase was small. It had once belonged to her late father—brown leather, dusty from years of being under the bed since the revolution, never travelled, now meant for fleeing.…[...]

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Winner Takes All

There was silence, as they waited. It was hard and cool, like a blade made of ice hanging in a guillotine, a rope or thread away from another death. This…[...]

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And the World Keeps Turning

(Content Warning: Mental Health & Emotional/Verbal abuse) Life is so hard.There are always so many things you need to do. You need to cook, clean, organize, paint—wash the car, cut…[...]

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The career mirage

Isabella sat in the glow of the pixels that would consume her day. Coffee steam filled her nostrils as she blew into her travel mug before attempting to take a…[...]

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Please Verify

Sana skidded to a stop just before she crashed into her own car, pressing her thumb to the handle and begging it to recognise the print. The little blue light…[...]

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The Bottle

Lester Holt was deep in thought as he walked along the beach. The tide was low and he enjoyed the feel of wet sand between his toes. He had the…[...]

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SHIFTING

By the time Mila met Andrew, she had had a string of alternately unfulfilling and good relationships with one big black hole in her late 20s and a short bit…[...]

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Signals in the Noise

Looking at the sky has always meant facing uncertainty. It stretches beyond what you can fully see or predict, vast and indifferent to whether you understand it. At times it…[...]

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Gold Gates

The loss of color began when men took over our world… and not the men of color. It was the color of white and gold. Was gold even a true…[...]

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SKIN DEEP IN THE PROMISED LAND

Dr. Irina Polavina did not set out to change the world. Her target was much more mundane. She simply wanted to rid the world of grey hair. Studies by her…[...]

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Bloody Hands

Bloody Hands It has been said, “the earth remembers what we forget.” This sentence is racing on repeat through our protagonists head as he cleans his dirt-covered, bloody hands beneath…[...]

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The Quiet Afghan

It had been eleven years since Afshin had journeyed out of Mazar-i-Sharif, through the stony deserts and forbidding mountains of the Hindu Kush, to meet the friend who put people…[...]

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Salaam

Salaam It is 5:30 in the morning, Ziv has been tossing and turning since he retired to bed last evening. Sweaty, mouth dry, and with a pounding headache, he decides…[...]

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Saltwater Spirits, Sugarcane Shadows

The first thing Marisol felt was the pulse—a thrumming, blood-red heartbeat of a feather resting upon her threshold. It did not merely lie there; it breathed, twitching against the humid…[...]

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Spirit Eagle

Walking with her two young sons on each side of her, their hands in hers, the Native American woman approached the two black women. She stopped in front of the…[...]

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Stalwart Love

Stalwart Love In a little town where there was often little news, the death of the wealthy, clandestine-philanthropist, Adelina, spread like wildfire. It became the talk of the town, some…[...]

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D-o-N-ot-A-sk

D-o-N-ot-A-skThe paper was a pale, construction-paper green, the color of a mint that had sat too long in a grandmother’s glass dish. In a drafty classroom in 1960s Bridgeport, Miss…[...]

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Bones

The newborn skull is made up of 5 bones.By adulthood, it is 22, the face 14.If I were to build a human, I would begin with the skull (occipital, parietals,…[...]

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Vita Retro

12:01am             The girl opened her eyes, the sound of a train whistle lingering in her ears.   12:00am               The oncoming train blared at him, a bellowing trumpet like an angry elephant.  He…[...]

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A Light in the Cold

A Light in the Cold A drop of tea leaped over the thin wall of the china cup and onto her walnut coffee table as she knelt to sit on…[...]

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The Remarkable Robot

Warning--mature themes, mention of abuse I woke up from a bad dream I couldn't remember. Just before midnight, I ended up in the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror."Are…[...]

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The Ice Fisher

When the last bit of ice fell through the carved hole, Ahnah's hands felt like they were stung by jellyfish of ice. Cold covered her warm, flushed skin in a…[...]

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The Space Between Heartbeats

Ba-bum.....Ba-bum.There’s supposed to be a space between heartbeats. A pause. A reset. Something small and necessary. Mine has always felt longer than it should be. Not enough for anyone to…[...]

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The Winter Rose

The snow didn’t fall , it drifted, aimless and silent, coating the iron gates of the botanical garden in a fine, crystalized coating. Danny stood by the frozen fountain, his…[...]

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What Remains of Us

**Contains a death at the beginning that propels the character through her journey** Thump-Thump…Thump-Thump-Thump…Thump-Thump…Thump…Thump… Beeeeeeeep. A dozen or more people rushed around the room doing a million things at once,…[...]

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