(content warning: rape) Frank would be at my place at 11 PM on the dot every Friday without fail. He’d show up dressed immaculately in a debonair suit, like he was subliminally selling me dreams of a cushier life. At… Continue Reading
Innocent? Ha! If actions speak louder than words, she was loud and proud. Finally! Her children teased her about being a pushover, but not this time. This time she’d gotten it right. She was sure of it. Well, she’d been… Continue Reading
Every day my head nurse, Mindy, was mean to me. She always gave me the hardest assignments — the patient who yelled “help me” constantly, or the one with explosive diarrhea. Every night, I cried myself to sleep as my… Continue Reading
She was a ghost. A voice called out, “Elle?” Elle turned her head, where she saw a nurse standing by the door, looking into the room that housed Elle, her father, and the admissions specialist. Elle stood up, but it… Continue Reading
I’m lying on the floor of the playroom. The ugly carpet is scratchy against my face, my nose is running and my sinuses are playing a drum solo. I rub my cheek back and forth: It keeps me awake. I… Continue Reading
I crack open the encrusted seal on my dehydrated eyes. Even without my glasses I can tell; I fucked up. The woman on top of me isn’t my wife. She’s my best friend and business partner’s. She sinks down onto… Continue Reading
A lifetime ago, I smoked a Washington High School record, running the mile in 4 minutes and 23 seconds. Now, at fifty-eight, I want to run the mile again, albeit in twice that time — to prove my angina is… Continue Reading
High school began and I was determined to be different. I grew my hair out all summer so that I could wear it up in a high and slightly off-centre ponytail. Gone was my chin-length bob that framed my round… Continue Reading
For years Teresa ate pasta twice a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays, and it had become, she believed, a necessary part of life. She found refuge in a warm bowl of bucatini or farfalle, even after the most hectic days… Continue Reading
He stares at his nude self in the bathroom mirror. He runs his fingers from his neck down his chest and over his breasts. They’re gentle, fragile, moving across his skin as if one wrong touch and he would break.… Continue Reading