It was 2:34 a.m. and I had just won my eleventy-millionth game of Solitaire on my iPhone. For the record, it’s not cheating to switch between Draw 3 and Draw 1 mid play, it’s game strategy. I was lying on my side, my back to my bedside table lamp. It was more convincing to be … Continue reading Silent treatment
Tag: secrets
Love letters
Before Internet, before email, they wrote love letters to each other. She tied them with a red ribbon, secreting them away in the rafters of the attic so they wouldn't scandalize their children. A little Trifecta lagniappe, or a Trifextra, for the weekend. A love story challenge, written in only 33 words. Backstory: my husband … Continue reading Love letters
Forever
The hag sat in her worn rocking chair, a Meerschaum clinched in her teeth. Sparse twigs of her thinning grey hair falling loose from her tattered head scarf. Her skin the color and texture of the dried apples she sometimes sold at market. Hunched over, leaning on her rowan cane, the hag would carry her … Continue reading Forever
Shame
“There’s no shame, you did nothing wrong.” He held me close, stroking my hair as he spoke. I could feel his heartbeat through his shirt, comforting and familiar. I knew he believed what he said, and desperately wanted me to believe it too, but there was shame. Everyday there was shame. It didn’t matter that … Continue reading Shame
In a fishbowl
Not one day, one hour can pass without some fragment of our lives being broadcast to the world. A simple question is transformed into an indictment against our very existence. An innocent photo can be manipulated, twisted into the most grotesque caricature. Where once rumors would range only as far as the next office, or … Continue reading In a fishbowl
Panic rising as waves
A maelstrom of fear and worry rages through my brain. The black hole eye of the hurricane consuming all hope and reason. Panic rising as waves, crashing against a fragile faith. Grasping for a hand to hold me above the churning tempest. Longing to hear the quiet reassurance that this tumult will pass, sweeping clear … Continue reading Panic rising as waves
Thin spiral notebook 