Sea Turtles

Hi. It’s been a minute since we’ve spoken. How’s it going? As good as it could be, I suppose.  I haven’t been working - yeah, no, it’s okay - I applied for unemployment and I have a few month’s worth of bill money saved up regardless. Not worrying about the financial side of things makes …

Just Close Enough

I find myself missing the dark green pillow from my grandparents house. The circular one with the scalloped edges, that I would place at a perfect angle on the floor to sit on when I watched cartoons. It had to be just far enough so they wouldn’t scold me for hurting my eyes “you can’t …

Could you describe the ruckus, sir?

He wore a green turtleneck as though he were the first one to think of it. The lights adorning the back of the makeshift stage glowed as he gyrated and smacked the mic into the floor, casually (making my friend worry about the sound guy's reaction), as though that one time he watched the Breakfast …

Lights

“I don’t love you anymore.” I sat there, spacing out to the middle-distance. I felt my left eyelid twitch a few times, before subsiding. I nodded. “It’s not anything you did,” she continued. “I just feel like we’ve both started growing in different directions. Drifting apart. And I know how sad you are when I’m …

A 7am Commute

Staring didn't accomplish much, though the riders seemed to think that if they looked long and hard enough at the intercom they could make the conductor cease his morning announcements. It was a rainy Friday morning, not even 7am. You could tell the seasoned Chicago veterans from the newbies by the umbrellas casually dangling from …

“Did You Hear That Scream?”

"Did you hear that scream?" "Yes, I'm the one that screamed." "Why'd you scream? Is everything ok?" "Yeah, I was just trying to see if the house echoes." We were standing in the middle of a cavernous, empty room - our soon-to-be living room. Mom and Dad had stepped outside to see if the moving …

The Worst Thing in the World

"Isn't it fun to fall in love?" he asks, not waiting for an answer and laughing at his own cleverness. A sandy curl falls over one dark brown eye and he leaves it there. I'm sure he thinks that he looks charming, a romancer and an artist. His eyes leave mine and rake across my …

Little Victories

He wondered when she was coming home. No amount of frantic barking made the front door open, nor did scratching at the door and whining make the gravel in the driveway crunch with the weight of car wheels. After sniffing all around the house (maybe she was hiding again), he resigned himself to his fate, …

“Red Couch, Black Polka Dots. Just a Couch.”

Red couch. Black polka dots. Red couch. Black polka dots. He figures if he keeps repeating it over and over he'll believe that's all it is. A red couch, with black polka dots connected by slight lines. She'd traced those lines countless times, she said it helped her think. Just a couch. It shouldn't make …

Natalie

My next place, she muses, will have hardwood floors, shining in their newness. It will have high ceilings and many, many windows, so that the sun can beam through. Perhaps she'll have a cat, and her cat will nap in the pools of sunshine pouring into the apartment, heating those hardwood floors. She walks over …