All that spring, Catarina and Marcelo had been taking lunch on the low stone wall that marked the division between the private beaches owned by their respective employers. At first they would merely nod and sit some meters apart, silently contemplating the horizon while eating sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. But they had come to…

Kaitelinn won American Idol that year.  Sheldon, the loser, was made to sing a ballad about his failure and inevitable return home to Buttfuck Nowhere, Indiana.  Kaitelinn watched from the wings with a lower lip that trembled under the weight of so many emotions.  Her eyes leaked tears but her eyeliner stayed put.  When Sheldon…

Marnie sits on the floor of her playroom and stares at the broken cradle. She has her knees hugged up to her chest and her legs are bare. A sharp red scratch runs down the side of her face, but she doesn’t remember making the mark. Her hair, forced back from her forehead, is so…

Icy water bites my hand as I pluck an apple from the kitchen sink. The fruit is bruised, so my thumb pushes in through its skin. A soggy, brown mess; I use my knife to clean it the best I can, and, with what’s left, I make perfect squares, arranging them on a dish. The…

Oh, how she loved these summer days, still, even after these many years.  Years during which entire wars had been fought, diseases conquered, and planets walked upon.  Even seen in that broad landscape, a summer day was still a thing unto itself, perfect in its promise, in its ability to make you believe it would…

The news broke that afternoon. First a link to a brief article from the Asheville Citizen-Times was shared on Facebook. A couple tweets followed as Mark’s closest friends each found out. The high school newspaper ran a story on their website, and it gained enough traction to air on the local evening news. Down in…

Her green eyes close and sleep follows. Her favourite time of day, or rather night. At night she escapes her diagnosis, her ageing bones and the tang of disinfectant that pervades this ‘home’. At night she prowls the rocky terrain of her mind and inhabits it wholly. She likes to sleep more now. In sleep…