Right hemisphere

A frame
I see us in it
Like a photographic memory
It clicks, similar to when I design
It takes time & experience to achieve
But it was overnight for me

Left hemisphere

I’ve become a place people visit often
He’s in his suit as if it’s our first date
My body holds the lingering memories of him
I’m trapped with the ghost of him
Our love became a funeral parlor

I wanted to share a personal macOS tool I spent the last few months building to help with my daily writing and editing workflow.

As a writer, my biggest bottleneck is the lag between having an idea and typing it out. I also struggle heavily with proofreading by eye (my eyes naturally skip over typos and double words when re-reading my own drafts).

So I built Hushbird. It combines two simple ideas in one place:

1. One key starts dictation in any active text field so you can speak thoughts instantly at the speed of speech.

2. Another key reads selected text back to you in a warm, natural voice.

Hearing my own draft read aloud has completely changed my editing workflow—hearing errors is infinitely easier than spotting them by eye.

The part I cared most about is privacy: the entire transcription and voice engine run 100% locally on your Mac's Apple Silicon chip. Nothing is ever uploaded to a server, and there is no account or internet required.

I am still polishing the interface and would genuinely value any feedback or suggestions from fellow writers on this setup! If this would help you get your drafts down or proofread your work, send me a DM and I'd be happy to give you full access to try it out.

The product is named Hushbird. I'll drop the link in the comments below.

​

EPISODE THREE — THE STORM

There was a night, early on, when I could have ended everything before it had even begun.

We weren’t officially together. No one knew we were seeing each other. Most evenings ended the same way — drinks, a movie half-watched, then her bedroom. Lately, even the pretense of routine had fallen away. I was expected to be on call, present when instructed and indifferent when my phone didn't buzz.

I was working far too many hours per week then. Sixty? Seventy? Sometimes more, and those figures exclude the hours spent driving to and from the myriad job sites, which would often increase the total by another fifteen or more. It was the kind of schedule that makes fatigue feel permanent.

That night, the storm rolled in just before I began my two hour return to home.

By the time I was on the highway, the lanes were gone. Snow swallowed the reflectors. Cars sat abandoned in ditches like discarded remnants of another time. It was the kind of drive that demands full attention.

She texted the entire time.

At first playful.

Then insistent.

She said she needed me. That she missed my face. That she couldn’t sleep without me there with her.

I told her the roads were bad. That I was exhausted. That maybe tonight wasn’t the night.

She said that told her everything.

“If you wanted this, you’d be here.”

The last message came as wind pushed the truck sideways.

“Maybe I should just disappear.”

I called. She didn’t answer.

I drove faster after that.

Fear has a way of disguising itself as devotion.

Her house was dark when I walked in. No lights. No television. Just the sound of the wind pressing against the windows.

She was sitting on the bed when I reached the far doorway.

Calm. Upright. Waiting.

On the floor beneath her bare feet was something heavy enough to alter the air in the room.

I remember the relief before anything else. Relief that she was alive. Relief that I hadn’t been too late.

I didn’t ask why it was there.

I didn’t question how the conversation had escalated from my reluctance to her disappearance.

I sat beside her.

I held her.

That night should have unsettled me enough to leave.

Instead, it bound me tighter.

I have felt for a long time now that there has been something between us that is more than nothing.
And I think, in some way, we have both been aware of it. Even all those looks we shared over time. You were the one who brought it up yourself once.

I do not think it became just physical for me. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I had grown attached to you.

At the beginning, I did not even see it as something sexual. I genuinely thought you just wanted to talk and get to know me. Even when you texted me saying you were coming to take a walk and say goodnight to me, I honestly thought you simply wanted to spend time with me and talk.

I tried to distance myself from it sometimes too, or pretend it was not there, because it scared me a little. I am not used to feeling this way, especially not for this long. It is not something I have experienced in years.

I am afraid of getting hurt sometimes. I am afraid of getting attached. But I do not want fear to control me or make me walk away from something that could actually be good.

I am not looking to put pressure on you or ask you for answers about the future. I just feel like there is something different between us, something that is worth trying to understand instead of pretending it is not there.

We are about to go on break, and we will not see each other for a while. I do not want us to keep communicating through glances and pretending nothing is happening. I think we owe it to ourselves to be honest with each other instead of speaking only through eye contact.

And if you still feel that you do not want a relationship or are not looking for one, that is okay. I am not trying to pressure you or force anything. It was simply important to me to be honest with you about how I feel.

I am also not looking to get into something physical again without any direction or meaning. I know that, in the end, I want something real, mutual, and meaningful. I am not asking for promises about the future, but I do want genuine intentions instead of staying in this gray area.

I just felt that it was important to say all of this instead of continuing to pretend that everything is nothing.

I know I deserve more than this. I deserve love. I deserve to be loved and to truly feel loved.

I deserve someone who falls for me from the very first moment.
Someone who gets excited to see me smile, who loves hearing me laugh, who wants to make me laugh just so they can see me smile again.
Someone who wants to see me happy.

I deserve someone who loves the way I talk, my enthusiasm, and the fact that I notice even the smallest, most insignificant things.
Someone who loves how excited I get over little moments.
How passionately I talk about the things I love and the things that light me up.

I deserve someone who wants to take care of me, who wants to walk me home at night, be there for me in the evening and during the day.
Someone who cares about how I am getting there, whether I have arrived safely, how I am getting back, where I am, whether I am alone, and whether I am okay.

I deserve someone who looks at me with sparkling eyes, and when we are alone together in bed at night, it feels like a sky full of exploding stars.
Someone who loves watching me quietly when I do not even realize they are looking.
Someone with whom I share secret glances and inside jokes that belong only to us.
Someone who cherishes me in the quiet moments, with shining eyes and a shy half smile.

I deserve someone who gets flustered by my compliments.
Someone who notices the little things about me and compliments them specifically.
Someone who gets excited by my touch, by the way I stroke their skin, hold their arm, the way we hug, and the way we hold hands.
Someone who gently traces each of my fingers with their thumb, one by one, with quiet affection.

I deserve someone who wants to talk to me for hours, who listens to me and is genuinely curious about me.
Someone who values my opinions and simply values me for who I am.
Someone who trusts me, worries about me, and wants nothing but the very best for me.

I deserve someone who pursues me, who is romantic, and who makes it clear that they want me and are interested in me.
Someone who wants to invest in us with all their heart.
Someone who is attentive, gentle, and patient.
Someone who wants to hold me all night and never let go.

I deserve someone who truly wants to know me, who puts in the effort and stays consistent.
Someone who remains after getting to know me, even the parts of me that are not perfect.
Someone who chooses to stay despite those imperfections.

And the hardest part is that you did some of these things. So many of them.

On paper, it could have been perfect.

But when reality and fantasy become tangled together, I was left wondering what was real and what existed only in my imagination.

I guess that is the nature of fantasies.

Not all of them become reality.

They give you a glimpse of a different life, of something that could have been.

But you chose to stay in the fantasy instead of being with me in reality.

Looking up at the ceiling, trying not to get in my feelings. I have so many questions for you.

Like… Daddy, how could you leave when I needed you? How could you leave me in a world like this? When I told you I loved you that day, did you know you were going to be missed?

Why didn’t you talk to me about the things you were going through? We could’ve gone to the beach and chopped it up, just me and you.

Daddy, we needed you the most… especially me. I was pregnant with your grandson, and now all I have are memories. And sometimes, that’s not enough.

Missing you has truly been rough.

Before I could finish, my phone rang with the quickness. It read “No Caller ID.” With that, I went back to my dinner.

But it kept ringing.

So I picked up.

My heart sank.

I had to adjust.

The voice said,

“Hey, baby… it’s me, Daddy, calling from Heaven. I don’t have much time, so I need you to just listen.

I’m sorry you had to experience something like this, but baby girl, you’re built for this.

Remember, Slime… we’re built to last. This too shall pass.

I know you have questions, but we don’t have much time on our hands.

Tell my grandson his GD is always here.

When you had him and thought I wasn’t there… Slime, I was the one holding back all that hair, telling you to breathe, baby girl. I was there every step of the way.

I only got ten more minutes, so baby, listen.

This road isn’t going to be easy. Just put your trust in the Lord,Baby, and watch the blessings overflow.

One more thing before I go…

Remember who you are in Christ. Your past is your past. Move forward and make every second last.

I love you so much, baby.

This isn’t goodbye… it’s see you later.”

And just that quick, he ended the call with a “see you later” kiss.

I fell to my knees because they never know how deeply they’re truly missed.

Sometimes goodbye isn’t forever. Sometimes… it’s just a see-you-later kiss.

From my Daddy Until We Meet Again 🩷

I did. I turned everything upside down and didn't think about the consequences until later. I had bottled up so much anger and resentment that I finally exploded. It felt good for a moment... then came the regret.

I couldn't take those words back, and I was left feeling both relieved and embarrassed.

Eventually, I managed to get my anger under control, and here you are, trying to see what you can do. The reaction you're looking for isn't there, and I hate to disappoint you.

Guess who's been applying the therapy lessons they've learned?

Me.

Disembodied Spirit, Whole Head of Cabbage

Have you ever felt like you don't quite belong in this place, this time, or honestly, this entire dimension?

Some of us were clearly built for the "good life" (you know, the one with 1000-thread-count sheets, perfectly curated minimalist living rooms, and custom wardrobe pieces that cost more than a month's rent). Instead, I am far removed from that luxury, firmly grounded in reality, down here in the trenches with the rest of humanity.

I was an early adopter of the "life ain’t fair" philosophy. Wishes don't just magically come true; they require either a massive stroke of luck or a series of highly calculated life choices. Sadly, neither of those things seems to happen to me.

Because of this, I experience various forms of out-of-body moments. It’s hard to fit them into one tidy description, but it’s essentially a recurring series of personal oddities where I just don't feel like myself.

Take last week, for example.

I was walking home when I spotted a running group. They were all flawlessly kitted out in high-end athletic gear, draped in fluorescent bells and whistles, looking aggressively beautiful and handsome. Absolutely nothing was out of place. Every body part that should have been hanging or bulging on a normal human was perfectly toned and taut.

Staring at them on my commute home triggered a wave of profound existential guilt. I thought about how I need to be healthy, how I should exercise, and how maybe I should start by eating better.

Then I arrived home to my comfort zone, dropped everything, including my outside clothes, and immediately marched to the kitchen to pour a stiff drink. It had been one of those days. In fact, it's always one of those days.

But the true out-of-body experience happened when I opened the fridge.

Have you ever looked inside your refrigerator and seen something so profoundly strange that it slowly upsets your entire psychological well-being? You see it, you try not to acknowledge it, but it just steeps in the back of your mind.

Later, while you're on the sofa trying to enjoy an evening of scrolling or reading, it hits you. You walk back to the kitchen, yank open the door, and stare with immense mental strain thinking:

"What the actual f**k is this?"

It was a giant, apocalyptic head of cabbage.

Now, don't be offended, because I actually love cabbage. But for the life of me, trying to recall the exact sequence of events that led to me purchasing this monstrosity bewildered me to the point of genuine annoyance. I ultimately chalked it up to cognitive decline. I reasoned that I'm getting old and my subconscious knows I need to take care of myself and eat better, which must be why there is a random brassica taking up my entire middle shelf.

Satisfied with this theory, I decided to finish off the night by polishing off a chilled bottle of wine.

I got absolutely, utterly plastered.

I have zero recollection of the events that led to me falling asleep on the kitchen breakfast table, but that is exactly where I woke up, tenderly cradling the giant head of cabbage like a newborn child.

Upon closer inspection, a few chunks had been aggressively bitten out of it. I can only presume I got the midnight munchies, but hey, at least I ate healthy.

I was feeling pretty proud of my subconscious wellness journey until a week later, when I got a text from my mom:

"Hey, I left some peppers for you in your fridge. By the way, did you ever finish that huge head of cabbage I bought you? Also, I love those peace lilies in the living room!"

Lilies... What lilies?

"Hello, how are you?" as I see the face of the woman I've loved a thousand times look at me. I get lost in your new features.

Your eyes are green this time, your hair brown, but still the face and voice I've fallen for.

"Hello?" I snap back to that same voice about to scold me.

"Yes, I'm sorry, ma'am. How can I help you?"

I see you pick at your left hand, a hand I would kiss every morning before work. (That's a new habit.)

"I would like a..."

Before you attempt to say the order, my coworker calls out your same old name, the one I've seen written so many times.

"Katie, order for Katie!"

I see you give a puzzled look.

God, I love when you look like a deer in headlights every time.

"You've come here enough, ma'am, that I got your order ready thanks to"

(I can't be bothered to remember some random coworker's name; however, it's a lie. She's only been here three times. It's the same order she's had for the last century.)

"Oh, well," she says, luckily cutting me off.

I know that look in your eyes. You're flattered.

"As you know, I'm Katie, and you're?"

"As air-headed as you were in the other lifetimes." I think about filling the gap of her silence. My hand subtly hits my name tag instead. "Marcus, but you can call me whatever, as long as it's not 'gramps.'"

I hear the giggle I fell for all those years ago.

"Damn well, okay, butt face."

Same joke she's made at least a dozen times.

I don't know how or why, but she always finds her way to me.

"But seriously, butt face, I swear your name sounds really familiar."

I feel the same hope and joy grow in my chest. She says that every time.

"I just have a familiar name." I hand her my phone number, one of the only things of mine that never changes.

I may lose you in sickness or age, but that's whatever God's sick excuse for irony, because you may find me every time, but I fall for you harder each time.

God, everything feels cold except for the warmth of the crimson covering my hand.

I shoot awake.

I hold my stomach tight and vomit into the trash can beside my bed.

"Good morning, honey. Oh, are you okay?"

My girlfriend's voice. I've heard it countless times, asking a question I've heard even more.

"Yes, beloved," I say, curled over my trash can.

After a minute, and after she grabs me some water, I get up and check my reflection. I remove my shirt and see a new scar joining the hundreds of others.

"Huh... stab wound this time. Worse than the last one."

I caress the scar that, just hours ago, was bleeding out.

For a moment, I remember the feeling of the blade... the warmth of my blood covering my hands.

Just another scar.

Scar one hundred and something.

"Hey, I've got to shower. You joining, or-"

"Oh shit, James."

I see the color drain from Jasmine's beautiful face.

"When did you get all those scars?"

I shrug.

"I don't know, babe."

I kiss her worried forehead.

"But you've..."

"I've never had these scars before."

"Yes, but..."

"But people don't just appear with scars."

"James, I'm serious."

"And you want me to stop playing games?"

"How are you doing this?"

"My love, we're perfect together."

I say it while pulling her dainty body close.

God, how many times must I lie to her? This is similar to Loop 56.

"Fine, I'll drop it. But you better apologize for-"

"Cutting you off tonight?"

I say, walking out of the bathroom with a smug look.

"You're lucky you're cute."

I hear her say as I walk out the door.

I walk into my kitchen, open the window, and stand ready.

A moment later, a baseball flies through and lands right into my hands.

"Thanks, Billy! Tell your wife happy anniversary!"

I yell out, seeing a guy and his kid running away from where they've been countless times before.

"Wow... it's perfect."

I set the baseball four inches from the counter's edge, put down some toast, set up a plate, and grab a fork.

Moments later, my toast shoots up.

I throw my utensil, causing the toast to land perfectly on the plate with a soft thud.

"Wow. That was better than the last three loops."

"Looks like today will be the day," I say sarcastically as I pick up the fork from the ground.

"Oh, toast."

Jasmine runs in and steals my plate, knocking the baseball off the counter and causing it to fall onto her foot.

"Ah! What the fuck? Where did this shitty ball come from?"

I yoink the plate from her hands as she jumps around on one foot in pain.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"Not true, cutie. I made it."

I kiss her nose and shuffle away.

"But you love me."

She puts her foot down and tries to lunge at me, but I step slightly to the right.

She misses completely.

"You've got to go to work. You're going to be late."

"No, I'm not. It's-"

"7:30."

"Not true. The alarm clock-"

I show her my phone.

7:25.

"Shit. Got to go."

Before I can finish my sentence, she kisses me and steals my toast.

"SUCKERRRR!"

She runs out of the house.

I grab the keys from the table, fill her water bottle, and walk through the door.

I toss both toward her.

"Hey, do you have-"

Before she can finish, she catches both.

"Wow... we really are perfect together."

"Yeah," I say, shocked.

"Love you."

She walks out.

My heartbeat is louder than the door closing.

She caught it.

Loop 34: She dropped both.

Loop 50-54: She caught one.

Loop 60: They hit her in the face.

This is new.

I look at my shaking hand and feel a grin grow across my face.

This is a development.

Maybe today will be better than the last.

There's a thought that there are more rouge worlds, than those bound to stars. Nearly undetectable, lurking in the deep abyss. On one of these very common objects, is a very rare thing. 

It's hard to say where it came from, or how long it's been away from its star. What is evident however is that it spent a long time around its star; long enough to develop life, and for that life to develop civilization. Perhaps flung out of its orbit by another rogue world barging into the solar system: it can only be assumed a long stable system was thrown into sudden unequalibrium. 

What was once a full nitrogen rich atmosphere now lies in frozen piles across the world's surface. Although they appear as snowy obelisks formed in rows, beneath meters of snow is the preserved remains of skyscrapers. Frozen like popsicles, the remnants of the long gone civilization looms over the tundra. 

The world grows colder each year as heat escapes its innards without being replenished. There remains one place where a hotspot warms the crust enough to be bareable. It once was a beloved collection of geysers and hosprings; a national park atop a supervolcano. Now the foundations of a megacity dig into the surface. The land has been hollowed out, mined and redeveloped into living space. To merchants, it's hard to see the place as anything worthy of calling home, but just as harbour towns have residents, so does this world. 

It is among the few planets with intelligent life that has been granted autonomy within the empire's borders. On a constitutional level, the government oversees no territories on the planet, in reality it owns and operates a number of high security prisons which benefit from the absence of due process in this foreign jurisdiction. 

As this world has floated past many systems it has collected a large population of drifters, criminals, people with access to spacecraft motivated by escaping their homeworld. It's a mining district powered by ex-convicts and operated by criminal warlords. It's slimy in everyway, perpetually taken advantage of by every government it passes by. "Anything goes", neon signs advertise down the streets of the redlight district. In some areas this is true, blocks that pedal traffiked prostitutes, others that profit from interplanetary slave trade. The individuals that partake in these businesses are acutely aware of what parts of the city they are forbidden to enter. The city is run by a handful of warlords who have it out for one another; morals may be flexible on all accords, but some sins are above all others. Brutal and constant streetwarfare has made permanent residents numb to the displays set to make the enemy into a spectacle. One such instance is in poppy fields, where crucified bodies rot as stand-ins for scarecrows. 

The government benefits most from the cheap uranium sapped out of the mines, this has made the world a frequent stop as a vital trading hub. Now nobody bats an eye to see a spaceman from earth dealing in the streets to make cash on the side. Nor are people surprised to see their state senator walking out of a sex club. 

There is no depravity too far for some city-goers to partake in. A haunting amount of people know what goes on here, but nobody seems to care. The only silver lining is that someday, perhaps someday soon, the supervolcano underneath the city will erupt and wipe out every last extremophile. 

Note: This is to spark interest.

Synopsis: In 1966, when the 20-year-old politically inexperienced Queen of Midoria ascends to the throne, Elenora Ashila inherits a kingdom that has become increasingly polarized. Things take a dramatic turn, when high-ranking general, Rikard Pereno, urges her to make him prime minister and dissolve the parliament because of the ‘’threat’’ of communism. A caretaker hands her a telegram from a foreign reporter that tells her about what’s actually happening in her kingdom. A game of influence, persuasion, and loyalty ensues.

The frame was worn smooth at the top-right corner, pale pine stripped down to gray pulp by forty-two years of finger-oil and high-velocity anxiety.

Eli stood on the threshold of the lobby, his right index finger hovering two inches from the wood. His posture was that of a man about to disarm a naval mine with a salad fork.

To properly appreciate Eli’s hesitation, one must understand that human mortality in this particular corner of the universe did not operate on the customary schedule of long illnesses, quiet hospital bed declensions, or dramatic last words delivered to weeping grandchildren. The human body, when its allotted clock ran out, whether due to advanced age, untreatable organ failure, disease, or malady did not flatline. It popped.

Specifically, the brain stem issued a brief, definitive, firework-level detonation, leaving behind a slightly singed collar, a remarkably clean pair of shoulders, and an otherwise intact, motionless body that would instantly collapse onto the floor like a sack of damp laundry. The global life expectancy remained entirely normal, but the cause of death was, with very few exceptions, uniform, loud, and bad for wallpaper.

Naturally, because human beings despise the concept of helpless, random inevitability, they invented rules.

Eli’s family belonged to the Order of the Third Threshold, a respected group that knew for a scientific fact that one could prevent an early pop by tapping the top-right corner of any outbound doorframe exactly four times with a double-jointed knuckle. Other, less enlightened people chewed dried clove, carried polished walnuts in their left pockets, or refused to walk under telephone wires on a Tuesday.

A man in a wrinkled rain-slicker barged past Eli from behind, carrying a greasy paper bag of bagels. He did not tap the pine. He did not even lift his heels, dragging his boots across the threshold with a wet, heavy scrape.

Eli winced, instinctively pulling his chin down into his collarbone to protect his throat from the imminent shower of gore and toasted sesame. He waited for the loud, metallic POP!

It did not come.

The man in the slicker simply strolled out onto the avenue, humming an upbeat toothpaste commercial, his head resting squarely on his neck in blatant defiance of the second chapter of the Bylaws of the Sealed Vessel.

Eli’s finger remained suspended in the humid air of the apartment lobby, feeling rather foolish.

Behind the counter, Mrs. Gable, a woman whose skin possessed the exact color and texture of an old grocery sack, did not look up from her crossword puzzle.

"He didn't touch the corner," Eli said, his voice taking on the thin squeak of an instrument badly in need of tuning.

"He's a North-Sider," Mrs. Gable grunted. "They chew clove."

"Clove has no structural grounding," Eli insisted, quoting his father’s favorite evening lecture. "He's playing with fire."

"Lane seven at the bowling alley," Mrs. Gable muttered, turning a page. "His brother went off back in October mid-frame. Ruined League Night."

"Because he forgot his clove," Eli offered.

"Because he had stage-four kidney trouble," she snapped. "Now either tap the jamb or stand out of the breeze; you're letting the humidity in."

Eli reached up. His knuckle met the pale pine.

Thock. Thock. Thock. Thock.

Feeling significantly safer, Eli stepped out onto the avenue, walked two blocks to the transit stop, and boarded the 8:15 cross-town bus.

The bus was a moving catalog of blasphemy. To Eli’s left, a woman in a canary-yellow coat was aggressively stepping on every floor-seam in clear violation of basic pressure dynamics. Behind him on the right, a man reading a folded newspaper was wearing a green hat on a Thursday, an invitation to disaster so obvious it was practically suicidal.

Eli sat near the front, rigidly keeping his knees pressed together, his fingers performing the Liturgy of the Seated Passenger against the vinyl cushion.

The bus driver was an imposing man named Hector, whose neck was the width of an oak stump and whose dashboard was littered with little plastic charms from three distinct, mutually exclusive sects. Hector was currently ignoring a red light, breaking three traffic laws, and completely omitting the customary two-finger tap on the steering wheel before crossing an intersection.

Eli braced his feet against the floorboards. The yellow-coat woman hadn't popped. The green-hat man hadn't popped. And now Hector was barreling through a busy six-way junction at forty miles an hour, his head firmly attached, his hands casually resting on the wheel.

Eli looked at Hector’s thick, unbothered neck. He looked out the window at the city rushing past. A city of millions of people breaking every sacred rule Eli had ever been taught, walking under ladders, stepping on cracks, forgetting their walnuts, and inexplicably continuing to breathe.

Mrs. Gable’s dry voice echoed in his memory: Stage-four kidney trouble.

A strange, cold sensation blossomed in Eli’s chest. It was the sudden, dizzying realization that the four taps on the pine had done nothing. The clove had done nothing. The world was not held together by double-jointed knuckles or dried spices. There was no shield. There were no safety measures. There was only a universe full of invisible clocks, ticking down in absolute, indifferent silence, completely unbothered by whether one tapped a doorframe or...

POP!

It was a sharp, festive sort of noise, not unlike a party popper going off inside a metal trash can, though markedly more inconvenient for everyone currently on or in front of the 8:15 cross-town.

Hector’s dark-blue driver’s cap bounced merrily off the windshield, performed a neat little pirouette, and landed upside down in Eli’s lap like an inverted souvenir. Hector’s heavy, headless torso slumped forward onto the steering wheel with a dull, wet thud, his right arm flopping uselessly over the turn signal, which began to click cheerfully for a right-hand lane change that no one in authority was actively planning.

Regrettably, Hector’s heavy leather boot had chosen that exact moment to settle permanently onto the accelerator pedal.

The bus, liberated from human ambition and guided only by momentum, gave a jaunty little lurch to the left. It hopped the curb with the enthusiastic bounce of a puppy chasing a tennis ball, aiming itself directly at the display window of Goldberg’s Fine Pastries.

In the back, the woman in the canary-yellow coat dropped her tote bag, while the gentleman in the green hat finally paused his reading to consider whether a front-row seat to a bakery invasion constituted a cancellation of his morning commute.

Eli sat suspended in the front row, holding the driver's cap in his left hand like a potted plant and the knuckles on his right turning white against the metal handrail. The scent of freshly baked rye bread expanded rapidly through the cabin and he found himself experiencing a profound, almost peaceful clarity. The good news, Eli realized as twenty tons of municipal transit roared through the croissants, was that he no longer had to worry about popping at all.

Note to Reader: I promised myself I would post these. Please be kind.

Friday, January 3rd, 2025. Letter I; Part Two

Our duet in the car on the ride back to the hotel is one of my favorite memories. I’m not sure why I was surprised that you were really singing. Looking back on our time in Korea, you were the first to sing and dance to any recognizable song. I think I was surprised that it was your real voice, that you wanted to sing unabashedly. And like hell was I going to let you sing by yourself.

I should have kissed you after that. The thought loomed in my mind but never haunted me. I regret not kissing you, but I’ll never regret taking my time with you. So, in a way, I’m fulfilled singing and dancing and cuddling with you. I know that you’ll always be here with me, not for my body. I just want you to know and feel the same way I do. You’re more to me than just a physique and our physical relationship. Why rush with someone who makes me feel like we have all the time in the world? And the rest of the time I’m not with you, I can feel the world nipping at my heels, hurrying.

I curse the time that went by and didn’t give us the same slow courtesy. I had a million questions to ask you about us. About where you wanted to go with our relationship? How do you really feel about long distance? Is it as hard for you as it is for me? So many friggin questions, and for all the nerves I felt at the airport, I had not one to spare to ask you any of these questions. As silly as it sounds, I didn’t feel like it was the right time to bombard you with relationship questions. Even though we were there, in Dallas, to not only see one another but to figure out our relationship…together.

I felt like I was raising these questions out of the blue, as if we hadn’t already talked about our crushes on each other or agreeing to talk as more than ‘just friends’. Despite feeling overwhelmingly shy around you, I cared deeply for how you think and will always listen to your feelings and opinions. I think it seared me a little how much it matters to me, taking me by surprise. It definitely scared me too. How much you mattered to me was scaring the logic and sense to the farthest corners of my mind.

So, I opted to continue our conversations: nothing too heavy, just trying to find out as much as I could about you without always asking deep, probing questions. The more we talked on our trip at the Zoo, walking the downtown memorials, and slowly along the riverwalk, the more I could bring up what I could. Talking with you about anything because you’re not someone I wanted to be shy with.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see glimpses of us, what we’d be like when we move to be closer. Filling our weekends with activities when we can, sleepovers, stop-bys, lunch dates during the week, and a coffee break after church on Sundays. Coffee like the Magnolia place we visited after New Year's and before the JFK Memorial. I felt like I could talk to you for hours in that booth. I always felt that way, though; I could talk to you and be completely immersed.

The first afternoon in Ibiza,

the sun was only the sun.

Hot, obviously.

Stupidly hot.

The sort of heat that makes the pool tiles look wet

even when they aren’t

and turns every British person

the colour of something that should’ve been taken out the oven twenty minutes ago.

We were meant to be saving ourselves for the party boat.

Instead, by half twelve, Bridey had ordered cava,

Disco was drinking something blue

that came with three straws and no dignity,

and Angel was photographing her own knee.

“Why your knee?” I asked.

“The light’s nice.”

“It’s a knee.”

“It’s a nice knee.”

That was Angel.

She always knew where the camera was,

even when there wasn’t one.

She could be half asleep, face-down on a sunbed,

and still somehow arrange herself

like somebody had paid her to be unconscious.

She wore a white bikini that afternoon,

tiny enough to make you wonder

whether the rest had gone missing in customs.

I was under the parasol in a shirt,

factor fifty shining on my arms,

a hat big enough to interfere with air traffic.

Disco looked over her sunglasses.

“Casper, you look like you’re waiting for the vicar.”

“I’m Scottish. This is beachwear.”

“You’re actually getting whiter.”

“I’m reflecting the sun back at itself.

Doing everyone a public service.”

They’d called me Casper since university.

It wasn’t even cruel.

It was accurate.

I don’t tan.

I go from milk bottle

to furious ham

and then straight back to milk bottle again,

usually with three weeks of peeling in between.

Bridey was beside me, pulling at her bikini bottoms.

“Do I look fat?”

“Yes,” I said.

She stared at me.

“No, obviously not. Jesus.

You’ve asked seventeen times.”

“I feel fat.”

“You had two croissants.”

“Exactly.”

“You’re getting married, not being weighed for market.”

Angel held out her phone.

“Can you take one of me?”

“I’ve already taken about forty.”

“Those were before the drink came.”

“The drink’s the size of a plant pot.”

“It changes the vibe.”

I took the phone.

Angel lay back, one knee raised, chin turned slightly,

her mouth open just enough

to suggest either sex

or mild dehydration.

I knew that look.

We all knew that look.

She’d used it online, in magazines, on hotel balconies,

and once in second year

while sitting on our kitchen worktop

with a rugby player between her legs

and me trying not to laugh because he’d left his socks on.

Nobody mentioned him much.

He’d turned out to be a complete prick.

Not tragically.

Just in the boring, everyday way men sometimes do

after convincing themselves they’re the main event

in a story involving two women far more interesting than them.

All four of us knew what had happened that night.

Nobody brought it up.

Same as nobody brought up Angel kissing me

in the bathroom two nights earlier,

or her hand disappearing under my skirt

while Bridey hammered on the door shouting,

“The taxi’s here and I am not paying waiting time

because you two have become lesbians again.”

We weren’t.

Not exactly.

We were just old friends

who sometimes got drunk

and forgot where friendship ended.

“Lower angle,” Angel said.

“I’m not lying on the floor.”

“Casper.”

“Angel.”

She grinned.

And then I heard him.

Stay.

I lowered the phone.

“What?”

Angel didn’t answer.

Her eyes were shut, face tilted upwards.

There wasn’t anyone near us.

A waiter stood by the bar polishing glasses.

Two children were trying to drown an inflatable unicorn.

A man in Union Jack shorts was asleep

with his belly pointing directly at God.

That was it.

No mystery Spaniard.

No voice close enough to belong to anyone.

Still, I heard it again.

Turn over.

Angel rolled onto her stomach.

Not sharply.

Not like she’d been told.

Just slowly, lazily,

as though the thought had occurred to her naturally.

I took another photo.

“Your arse looks good,” I said.

“It always does.”

“Healthy confidence.”

“Years of training.”

She had a lovely arse.

There was no point lying.

I’d seen it in bikinis, dresses, mirrors, photographs,

and pressed against the wall of a student flat

while the rugby player made a noise

like a wardrobe being moved downstairs.

Bridey sat up.

“Take one of me.”

“You hate photos.”

“I hate bad photos.”

The heat shifted across her.

You look thinner in this light.

Bridey went quiet.

Just for a second.

Then she pulled her shoulders back

and handed me her phone.

“Portrait mode.”

Disco was scrolling through her ex’s profile.

She’d blocked him that morning,

unblocked him over breakfast,

blocked him again by eleven

and was currently inspecting the story

of a woman she claimed not to care about.

The sun touched the freckles on her shoulders.

Nobody has ever really seen you.

She stopped scrolling.

Looked up.

Smiled at nothing.

That was when I decided the sun was a man.

Not a god yet.

Just a man.

Fernando, I called him in my head.

Early forties.

Too tanned.

Gold chain.

White shirt open three buttons lower than necessary.

The sort of man who says my darling

before asking your name

and has spent twenty years confusing confidence

with never being told to shut up.

Angel reached behind her neck

and untied her bikini top.

“Oh, here we go,” I said.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just warning the pensioners.”

She pulled it off.

No fuss.

Angel got her tits out all the time.

They were online.

They were in hotel mirrors.

They’d been in my hands twice already that week.

Still, the pool noticed.

Every man suddenly needed to look

in exactly her direction

for reasons unrelated to her being topless.

One started rummaging through a bag

that happened to be behind her.

Another adjusted his chair

four separate times.

The sleeping man in the Union Jack shorts woke up

like someone had restarted him.

Angel lay back.

The sun lowered his voice.

Let me see you properly.

Her nipples tightened in the breeze.

She smiled, but it wasn’t quite her usual smile.

That bothered me.

Angel loved being looked at.

She wasn’t ashamed of it.

There was nothing tragic about that.

She knew she was beautiful.

She also needed reminding.

Both things could be true.

I knew because I was old-fashioned enough

to want someone to write me letters,

remember how I take my tea,

wait for me on station platforms—

and stupid enough to keep falling for men

who sent fire emojis at two in the morning

and forgot my surname by breakfast.

Angel stretched one arm over her head.

Fernando warmed her stomach,

her breasts,

the white strip of skin under her bikini bottoms.

He sounded pleased with himself.

I rubbed more factor fifty into my arms.

Disco looked over.

“You’ve done that three times.”

“I enjoy having skin.”

“You’ll go home exactly the same colour.”

“That’s the dream.”

“No tan lines at all?”

“No tan.”

“Not even on your arse?”

“My arse has seen less daylight

than a priest’s search history.”

Angel opened one eye.

“That’s not entirely true.”

Bridey spat cava back into her glass.

We all laughed.

And because we laughed,

I nearly missed the voice turning towards me.

It wasn’t loud.

That was worse.

I can still see you, Casper.

I stopped rubbing sunscreen into my wrist.

The others said Casper like a joke.

Fernando said it softly.

Like he’d been waiting all morning

to get me alone.

I shifted my chair deeper beneath the parasol.

The shade didn’t feel as cool as it had before.

“You all right?” Angel asked.

“Fine.”

“You’ve gone pink.”

“That’s my natural glow.”

“It’s not.”

“It’s either rage or heatstroke.

Give it time.”

She laughed and reached for my drink.

Her fingers brushed mine.

There was nothing unusual in it.

Angel touched everyone.

But her thumb stayed against my knuckle

for half a second longer than it needed to.

The sun noticed.

Of course he did.

Men like Fernando always notice

when women want each other.

They think it’s happening for them.

You’ve always wanted to be chosen.

I picked up the factor fifty again.

“That’s enough,” I muttered.

Bridey looked over.

“What is?”

“Sunscreen.”

“You’re arguing with it now?”

“I don’t like its tone.”

By three o’clock we were on the party boat.

Everything after that came in pieces.

The harbour slipping away.

Music too loud to talk over,

so we shouted directly into each other’s mouths.

Salt drying on our legs.

Plastic cups of something sweet

that tasted like melted ice lollies and bad decisions.

Disco dancing on a bench

while checking whether her ex had seen her story.

Bridey forgetting to hold her stomach in.

Angel standing near the front,

white bikini top back on but badly tied,

hair whipping across her face

while she filmed herself against the sea.

On her phone screen, she looked golden.

Perfect.

Like the afternoon had been arranged around her.

Outside the screen,

her shoulders were already going red.

None of us felt ourselves burning.

That was the clever part.

The wind made our skin feel cool.

The sea spray kept landing on the sore places

before they knew they were sore.

Every warning arrived disguised as relief.

A bloke from Manchester asked

whether Angel and I were sisters.

“No,” I said.

“Girlfriends?”

“Only when convenient.”

Angel put her arm around my waist

and kissed my cheek.

“Very convenient,” she said.

The man laughed too loudly.

Fernando laughed as well,

somewhere inside the heat.

To Bridey he said:

Smaller.

To Disco:

Someone will regret losing you.

To Angel:

More.

And to me, hidden under the awning

with my shirt buttoned over my bikini:

Not yet.

I drank the rest of my cocktail in one go.

By sunset,

we thought we’d got away with it.

The sun dropped behind the buildings

and everyone clapped

as though he’d done something kind.

Back in the hotel room,

the burns came out.

Bridey took off her dress

and made a noise normally heard

when people discover spiders in the bath.

“My shoulders!”

Disco inspected her nose in the mirror.

“Do I look burned?”

“You look like someone’s flicked ketchup at you.”

“It’s only one side.”

“That’s worse.

You’ve been grilled unevenly.”

Angel stood in front of the wardrobe mirror

wearing only her bikini bottoms.

Her shoulders were scarlet.

So was the top of her chest,

apart from two pale shapes

where the bikini had briefly covered her.

“Oh, fuck,” she said.

Bridey looked over.

“You’re a lobster.”

“I’m not that bad.”

“You’re a sexy lobster, if that helps.”

“It doesn’t.”

“A lobster with subscribers.”

“Still no.”

We were drunk enough to find everything funny

and sober enough to know it would hurt tomorrow.

Disco tried rubbing aloe onto her own back

and nearly fell into the wardrobe.

Bridey discovered a blister

and announced she was naming it Colin.

Angel sat on the edge of the bed.

I squeezed aloe into my palm.

“Turn round.”

She looked at me.

“Bossy.”

“You’re bright red.”

“You like me bright red.”

“I like you with an intact outer layer.”

She turned.

I rubbed the gel into her shoulders.

She hissed.

“Cold.”

“That’s generally what aloe does.”

“Your hands are freezing.”

“You said that at uni.”

The room paused.

Not properly.

Just enough.

Disco was the one who broke it.

“He really was a dick, that bloke.”

“The rugby one?” Bridey asked.

“We’ve only shared one rugby player,” Angel said.

“So far,” said Disco.

Angel glanced back at me.

I kept rubbing aloe into her skin.

There were details from that night

we could still remember too clearly.

His socks.

Angel biting my shoulder

because I’d started laughing.

The way he’d messaged her afterwards

and not me,

then messaged me three weeks later

as though we might not have compared notes.

Men sometimes forget women speak to each other.

It’s how they manage to stay confident.

I moved my hands lower,

careful around the strap of Angel’s bikini bottoms.

Her skin was hot beneath my palms.

All afternoon the sun had told her

how beautiful she was.

Now she was sore

and I was the one trying to reach the bits

she couldn’t reach herself.

There was no seduction in it.

No camera.

No golden light.

Just aloe,

sticky fingers,

and Angel muttering, “Ow, ow, not there,”

while I told her to stop being dramatic.

That was love, probably.

Not the grand sort.

The useful sort.

Bridey pointed at me.

“Casper.”

“What?”

“Come here.”

“No.”

“Turn round.”

“I’m not showing you my arse.”

“We’ve all seen your arse.”

“Not sober.”

“Debatable,” Angel said.

I turned anyway.

Disco leaned down.

“Oh my God.”

“What?”

Bridey tugged the waistband of my shorts down

a fraction.

“Oi.”

“You’ve got a mark.”

“From what?”

Disco bent closer.

“It looks like a heart.”

Bridey snorted.

“A shag-me stamp.”

“Branded by the sun,” Disco said.

“Fernando’s fingered you.”

They all started laughing.

I did too.

“What a lovely way to find out,” I said.

“Three drunk women staring at my crack.”

“It’s not your crack.”

“It’s crack-adjacent.”

Angel got off the bed.

She came closer.

The others were still giggling

until they noticed she wasn’t.

Then the laughter slowly went thin.

Bridey stopped first.

Disco leaned in again.

The mark sat just above the waistband,

on the right side of my lower back.

A little red heart.

Not a vague one, either.

Not two patches that happened to touch.

A proper heart.

Small.

Neat.

Tender.

The skin around it was pale.

No sunburn.

No strap line.

Nothing to explain it

except maybe the edge of my shirt lifting

when I’d reached for a drink,

or sunscreen rubbed away by the chair.

That’s what I told myself.

Angel lifted her hand.

Her fingers hovered above the mark

without touching it.

I watched her in the mirror.

She looked worried.

And something else.

Not anger.

Not quite jealousy.

Just a tiny flicker

she’d have denied if I asked.

All day the sun had been looking at her.

Now he’d left something on me.

“What did that?” she asked.

“My shorts, probably.”

“Your shorts aren’t heart-shaped.”

“You’ve not seen the label.”

Nobody laughed.

Angel’s fingers stayed where they were,

barely an inch from my skin.

The room had gone quiet

apart from Disco’s phone playing music

from underneath a towel.

Outside, the balcony doors reflected us.

Four women in a messy hotel room.

Half-dressed.

Burned.

A little drunk.

Bridey holding the aloe.

Disco with one red side of her face.

Angel behind me, topless,

her hand suspended over my back.

And me looking at that stupid little heart.

I touched it.

It was warm.

Not hot.

Not impossible.

Just warm enough

to make my stomach turn over.

I should’ve been frightened.

I was.

I should’ve felt disgusted.

Part of me did.

But underneath that

was something I didn’t want to name.

A small, embarrassing thrill.

Because I’d hidden all afternoon.

I’d covered myself.

Stayed in the shade.

Made jokes.

Pretended I didn’t care

who was looking at Angel

or whether anyone looked at me.

And still—

somehow—

I had been noticed.

Angel met my eyes in the mirror.

I smiled.

Only a little.

She didn’t smile back.

But she understood.

That was the trouble with Angel.

She usually did.

Behind us, Bridey opened another bottle.

Disco found the hotel-room crisps.

Someone shouted about chips.

The music got turned up.

The room became loud again,

ordinary again,

safe enough for the moment.

But outside were six more afternoons.

Six afternoons of white heat,

cold drinks,

pool water,

and pretending not to listen.

Fernando would be there.

Of course he would.

Men like him are patient

when they already believe the answer is yes.

I knew what he was doing.

I knew that being wanted

wasn’t the same as being held.

I knew the sun would never stay

to cool the burns he gave us.

Angel was still watching

as my fingers rested over the heart.

I smiled at her again.

A proper smile this time.

And somewhere beyond the black balcony glass,

though the night had already come,

I could almost feel him waiting.

Not because he cared.

Because he knew

there were six afternoons left.

He’s clever like Stein
Handed me footnotes
That twists and turns
Only to make me the fool

trapped in Juliette’s body
wishing to be Victoria
I’ve been reminded of this curse

This dread is seen
A pattern I felt
Pulse strikes nice and steady
I know there’s a red string pulling
I’ll find him eventually

I feel like I keep searching for understanding here. I hold conversations where I bare my heart, touches where I share my soul. And yet it’s not enough, this distance remains. It remains until I’m once again on a plane back home. When I’m once again in their presence it’s like I can breathe and I am brought to tears. Of happiness, of mourning. Yes it feels like I am mourning the absoluteness of tomorrow, the countdown of days till I am gone once more. Those who truly understand me, whose presence is the very essence of home. Are forced to now only have parts of me. I wish I could carry everyone I’ve loved with me in a little book, they could come with me everywhere I go and the foreboding loneliness that sinks in, that makes its self known within the pauses of conversation, and the breath of slumber will finally leave me be.

I wonder how many other women write about you?

How many other women you've sinked your teeth into?

Perhaps, I am not the exception and never was.

Can you even feel love?

The Photo

As Emma a feisty green eyed whatever hair color she chose to have whenever that is when a 24 year old. Who is pretty much gets her way. Always dressing as if she really had no place to go dressing in clothes that made her feel like she was just chilling all day. As she set there in her room looking around at all of the memories that surrounded her, memories that she had made over the years.

As she looked over to a photo of herself remembering back to the day when it was taken. A day that continues to live with her everytime she looks at the photo a photo of when she had first met her Jenna

But as she set there finding herself looking over to a door waiting anxiosly for someone to walk in. Someone who had given her a lot of the memories that she had made over the last few years.

Just as the door suddenly opened as freckles come running to greet her first, a dog that she had adopted with another. A person who she had made many memories with over the last couple of years. A person that she had met several years back up upon her arriving here in the small town where we now find her Emma.

As Jenna also a 24 year old dark eyed girl, always seemed to dress to match her, never changing hair of being dark sometimes matching her mood. Always seemly dressing like she was interviewing for a job from time to time, but on occasions dressing for the weekend.

As Jenna walked into the room leaving Emma with the thoughts of “ Like just set and chill with me for a bit, you know that you want to” As Jenna a lot of times would just look over to her giving her a smile before setting down like she was just coming home from a hard days work.

As she would look over to Emma saying

“So let me tell you about my day, but first I want you to tell all about your day, you know you the day of you know finding Chloe”

As Emma just looked and smiled to Jenna as she petted freckles before saying

“Oh so it’s going to be like that, huh! So where do I begin? I know you remember my high school teacher, the one I told you about that sometimes works at the ice cream parlor where we just chill sometimes”

Aa Jenna just looked over to Emma ready and eager to hear everything as she then said to Emma

“Yeah I remember you telling me about him. I think I remember meeting him on a couple of occasions. So why don’t you tell me what all happened”

As Emma then looked over to Jenna just wanting her just to finally stop asking questions and come over and just hold her. As Emma then said

“Well today I was getting ice cream down at the place where we first met, you remember the ice cream incident. Well, I was setting there eating my ice cream when he walked up to me asking me” As Emma then just looked over to Jenna saying

“Omg you are not really going to believe what he asked me”

Jenna then kept looking over to Emma as she then said to her

“Trust me, I want to hear what he asked you” as Emma then looked around the room to all of the photos. As she looked down to a photo that she was holding as she then looked up to Jenna she said

“He wanted to know how I first met you, and then he asked me” as Emma just kept looking down to the photo as Jenna then said to Emma

“Emma, you know you can tell me what he asked you?” As Emma then looked up to Jenna before once again, looking down to the photo before saying

“He asked me where I came from”

Our story begins here where we find Jenna a 24 year old dark haired with the eyes to match. A girl who was now finding her way back. Back to a place that once meant so much to her, a place that once held so many memories for her. As she set there up against her jeep looking to a photo, a photo that would help her with her journey back to the Appalachian Mountains.

A place that she had only left just a couple of years ago or at least she thought that she had left from there. Looking down to the photo, knowing that even though she had left her mind, never did. Leaving behind a memory, a person, a place that had meant so much to her as she sat there holding her in her hand.

Leaving her with the feeling that she had never really left knowing that a part of her was still very much still there. Holding the person in her hand as she set there looking at the photo, a photo was soon going to show her what she had left behind. With her now thinking back to a time with a special someone, someone that she had met upon moving there. With Jenna being new to the area at the time, not really knowing anyone just fresh out of high school herself.

For with her being new to a place, not really knowing anyone and really knowing what to do with her life. But for now, with her knowing that the moments when they would come to her and what would bring to her. Being young on the run! Not from the law! But always finding herself on the go, not realizing that some moments would stay with her. For when you are young it’s always go! Go! Go! I'm never really taking time out to just enjoy the small things in one’s life.

Just as Jenna was now finding herself standing there on the side of the road, a road that was bringing her back. Back to a place that had meant so much to her at the time as she stood there looking up to the stars above her. Looking particularly up to Big Dipper, looking to it as it looked like a painting to her.

He looked up at the stars as if they were shining just right above her, shining down on her as she sat there looking at the photo. Realizing to herself that a moment could easily turn to being a memory. A memory that she would hold forever as she sat there looking at the photo, knowing that soon she would be back to a place she once called home.

A place that would forever stay with her, a place that she could once again call home as she sat there looking up to the stars above her.

Knowing that she was looking up to a set of stars that her and another had spent many of a night. Many of the nights are just setting with each other, looking up to them while holding one another. Nights that they had shared with each other, looking up to the memories that they would make together. Memories that she had held for the last couple of years after leaving to be where she was now.

She found herself now once again looking up to the stars above her, thinking of the person that was in the photo. A person that she once held close to her but in a way now kinda hoping to once again to hold her. Knowing very much on how they were to each other close to her. A person that Jenna had come to know by circumstance, circumstance that we to often take for granted.

Realizing that when one is always on the go, you never really stop and just take the time and really enjoy a moment. Remembering that the people in that town were always seemingly always on the go. As people would either move away while new people would arrive with some staying for a while, while others had made it their home. But to Jenna she wanted to make it her home once more, making new memories together that someday would become a memory.

A memory of a young outgoing girl whose name was Emma a charming young girl in her own way. A 24 year old green eyed girl who seemingly lived in her own world. A girl who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind about whatever! Or whoever! Depending on the day! While just kicking back in life in her usual get up of cut at the knee pair of jeans. While at the same time sporting her everyday hoodie! Hey, a girl has to have her own style! A style that Emma a girl who sometimes would have her hair matching her attitude anything from blonde to never plain brown. At least to her, riding her skateboard down the street, never really taking life too seriously, only living life by the moment! Her time her moment.

But whatever! A new day, a new hair style for her. And no one was going to tell her what or how she was going to sport it. No one! Until that someone comes into your life telling you not how to wear your hair. But saying "This is you!"  This is the girl that I fell in love with on this day. Jenna did that to her but never in a bad way but always in a way! That would leave Emma feeling even closer to her every day, especially when you find yourself dressing for her to notice.

As Jenna stood there looking up to the stars above her, thinking back to Emma. Thinking back to the time just shortly after they had met as Emma was just standing there looking back at Jenna saying

“Oh my God! Really! Do you want me to go out in public dressed like this? I mean, are we going to a business meeting or something? Oh, come on!” As Jenna just looked at her saying

“No! We are not going to a business meeting. I just want to see you dressed up for once. You know dressed like we are not still in high school”

Just days like this, trying to decide on what to wear it just felt like someone else trying to dress you. “Oh come not today! are you going to wear this today or not”

It was having a big sister there trying just to dress you to Jenna at times, as she just stood there, leaving Emma standing there holding up a cashmere sweater, thinking really! “Are you going to wear this or not? I feel like I should be getting paid more for this”

Like a big sister just wanting to throw it back to Jenna knowing that Jenna was like “Fine! Just wear your dam pajamas all day then”

But to argue with her every day was going to happen, but Emma in a way, really wanted to wear the sweater she was just more than less, just giving Jenna a hard time going about it then and there. As she was saying

“You want me to wear this? What’s wrong with my hoodie?” Leaving Jenna standing there just shaking her head knowing that Emma was going to be Emma. But knowing that Emma was going to be her! As Jenna walked over to Emma grabbing the sweater and throwing it to the ground, saying to her

“Fine! Wear your hoodie then!” But before Jenna could say anything else Emma just gave a little laugh before picking up the sweater saying “I guess I can forgo the hoodie for one day” putting on the sweater knowing that look that Jenna was giving her was what Emma wanted to see. A look of being with someone who could see Emma for more than Emma would see herself at times. For to Emna It was her time! It was her time to be more than herself for someone. For to her, this is my life.

A life that she wanted to share it Jenna But never less Emma always finding herself wearing a pair of converses to finish the deal. Her looks! Her style! And no one was going to tell her otherwise. Nobody other than Jenna that was! But with Jenna  usually finding herself in a more casual getup more so than Emma would. Often leave Jenna to think why she even bothered. But knowing that Emma was going to be Emma as Jenna just let her be her.

With Jenna would more often find herself sporting the khakis and sweater. But more so, finding herself in sweaters more often than a hoodie as Jenna would find herself wearing as she stood there looking up to the stars.

Knowing that somewhere in her photos was a photo of Emma just standing there all dressed up in that plaid shirt giving Jenna a look of really? You got dressed all up now? Knowing that she really didn't. But the real question is? What are you going to do to get me undressed? Leaving Jenna  just a smiling knowing that she was going to get Emma undressed. Whether it was going to be in the bedroom on the couch or in their field looking up to the stars above them. Leaving both of them to

thinking, yeah, really!

But as Jenna stood there looking up to the stars above her, particularly finding herself looking at the big dipper.

Thinking back to her Emma setting, there was in the bed of a pickup truck usually parked in the middle of a field somewhere’s. Always in views of a nearby town or house but far enough away to see the stars above them. A small where one grew up while another would move there later in life. Bringing with her a fresh outlook on life for Emma who up until then really had no one, that was until Jenna  would show up along with a German shepherd named freckles. Who would find himself coming into Emma's life soon after meeting Jenna hardly ever finding herself apart from him for Emma had people close to her, but freckles was her companion

For Emma's attitude just didn’t match to well for others that would try to get close to her, that was until Jenna would move there. It was an unlikely pair that no one could have seen coming together. But together they did, sometimes with clashing attitudes but Jenna's smooth laid back style. To Emma's outgoing unmatched against the world attitude sometimes found themselves even closer to each other.

But sometimes clashing with each other on what flavor of ice cream to eat with it happening quite often while at other times finding themselves. Getting lost into each other, setting on the back of the pickup truck looking at each other as they talked about knocking over Emma's high school teacher’s sweet tea. As they were arguing about which flavor of ice was the best as Emma's dog freckles just set there looking up at the two of them.

Just want some ice cream but instead find himself licking up the spilled sweat tea. With Emma's former high school teacher just giving them a look as he then looked down to freckles licking up his sweet tea that he so much had waiting on all day. But knowing the two young girls were going to be young girls just bent down petting freckles just before ordering another tea.

He then walked over to Jenna asking her if everything was okay looking to her saying to her

“Is everything okay? And just how are you doing today? You know that you can always talk to me if you need to”

But no matter how their day would go for at the end of the day, they would find themselves in a field looking up to the stars above them.

Jenna would then get back into her Jeep, making her way down the highway, looking to a photo of Emma that was on her dashboard. A photo of them when they first had met with Emma being a 18 year old young wild and outgoing girl at the time. With Jenna also being 18 at the time with the two of them still very much set in their ways.

Especially Emma as the two of them would find themselves settling in a Photo Booth. Leaving Emma to sticking her tongue out while putting rabbit ears over Jenna's head. As Jenna would be like giving her an "Are you serious look." Really Emma?  But with Emma being Emma giving her a look back, saying to her “I can be serious, you just have to get to know me first”

With the two of them meeting just a day before while standing in line at local ice cream parlor. Something that they would often find themselves doing. With Jenna  ordering her favorite cookies and cream. While Emma was chocolate all the way. Maybe sometimes a little Superman ice cream or, as she would call it, her Supergirl. With neither one really getting to enjoy their ice cream on that day but rather finding themselves wearing each other’s.

With Emma being the girl with the attitude saying to Jenna “How about you watch where you are going there, miss little princess” As Jenna would say back to Emma “Excuse me! But maybe you need to watch out where you are walking next time” leaving Jenna to wipe off the chocolate that just wasn’t coming off of her shirt. Leaving Jenna to look at Emma saying to her

“Great now what! My sweater is now ruined just because you wasn’t exactly watching where you were going” Leaving Emma to say back to her

“Look princess! I don’t live far from here, so if you like? Maybe I can sorta let you wash your sweater if you want, you know” leaving Dakota just giving her a long look, thinking if she should not really knowing Emma at the time. But often times, moments like this lead to times that sometimes leave you just looking up to the stars' thinking.

“Yeah that was the time that was the moment”

Leaving Jenna to saying “How about just pointing me to a nearby laundry mat, and I can go from there”

With the two of them now finding themselves in the local laundromat, with Jenna now wearing Emma's hoodie as her sweater was being washed. Emma would very much take notice of Dakota in her hoodie. As Jenna then said to Jenna “So what about your hoodie here? Are you going to wash it next?” As Jenna just said to her “I’m not too worried about it. I have a dozen more at home, but I have to say that. You do sorta look kinda not like a princess in that hoodie there”

As Jenna then just stared at her saying “Oh jeez thanks, I guess” but with a smile Emma then said “That’s not exactly what I meant, what I meant was that you now look kinda cute” with Jenna now really staring at Jenna saying “Kinda!” With Emna now just laughing as she then said to Jenna “Look! To me, kinda cute is your cool to me, and don’t seem to princess like. But now you look like the cool girl”

Leaving Jenna sorta with a smile saying “Okay! I’m the cool girl now! So what is your story besides spilling your ice cream on kinda cute girls” leaving them now finding themselves settling there in a Photo Booth. Jenna continued making her way down the highway, looking out of her windshield to a starlit sky above her. But as Jenna drove on for a bit before coming to an exit as she then made her way to a nearby restaurant.

As she set there looking out of the window looking as the cars would pass by on the interstate. She thought about the two of them as they made their way down a dirt road with Emma driving. Driving like a bat out of hell to be precise as Jenna would say to her “How about slowing down before we find ourselves of in a ditch” as Emma then said “ Hey chill Besides I’m not driving that fast. You’re just not used to these back country roads. Being a city girl and all yourself”

With Jenna hanging on for dear life as she then said “Excuse me! But I may be a city girl but I know when driving fast is driving fast” As Jenna the just looked to her as Dakota then said “Hey how about you keep your eyes on the road” As Jenna then said with a smile “Relax! I know this road just like the back of my hand, and I’m not driving that fast. I swear you city girls just can’t handle these back country roads”

As Jenna then just looked to Emma before saying “Excuse me! What do you mean I can’t handle these back mountain roads! I think I know what I can handle” As Emma then just smiled and said “Oh! And what else can you handle?” Leaving Jenna to just kinda giving a smile herself before saying “What do you mean what else can I handle?”

As Emma then looked over to Jenna giving her a smile saying to her “Well you’re about to find out” As the two of them pulled into an open field as the sun was just beginning to set. As the two of them now

Found themselves settling on the back of a pickup truck looking up to the stars above them

As they sat there with Emma leaning her head up against Jenna's shoulder, saying to her “So do city girls like looking at the stars? Or is the big city lights all that everyone looks at” As Jenna then looks to Emma placing her hand on the side of Jenna's face saying to her “Yes and no! We also like to look at other girls that try to act like their cool” As Emna then jerked back, looking at Jenna Saying to her “Excuse me! I may not be a city girl! But I sure know what girl can do! Girls that try to look cool! Are you kidding me!”

Jenna then just looked to Emna as she said

“Oh really! Then maybe you will just have to show me then, cool girl” As Jenna then grabbed Emna pulling her close with both of her hands on Emma's face. As she then kissed her, just before saying to Jenna “Okay cool girl show me how a country girl does it” As the both of them laid there in the back of the pickup truck holding each other through the night

As the stars in the sky above shined down on them, setting together in a field that was theirs

Jenna was now finishing up her meal at the diner as she watched as the cars passed by as she then pulled out the photo. Just as a waitress walked over to her table, asking Jenna if everything was fine. As the waitress then looked down to the photo as she said to Jenna

“Why don’t you tell me about the photo” as Jenna then covered it up with her hands, holding it up next to her. As the waitress then said to her

“You know sometimes just a little conversation can help out a lot, but first, all you need to do is say something. So if you need me, I will be back shortly”

Dakota held the photo close to her a of Emna standing there when Emma first got her German Shepherd freckles. As Emma and Jenna were making their way down the road, making their way to their usual hangout. Just as they then passed by a dog pound as Emma then said to Jenna “Hey pull in there” As Jenna then asked why?

But with Emma being persistent kept saying “Just pull in there, I got feeling about something” leaving Jenna feeling a little curious as she said

“We are at a dog pound, so why exactly are we at a dog pound?” With Emma just giving her a look before saying “Chill okay! I just got a feeling about something okay” As Jenna then, with a smile, then looked to Emma saying “So what are you looking for a companion or something”

And that is where Jenna had first met Emna's neighbor who worked at the dog pound while nit at his other job. A job where he worked as a security guard and was also Emma's neighbor

Now just Emma just giving her kinda of a smirk look before saying “So what are you looking for a companion! So what are you jealous or something? What kind of statement is that” leaving Jenna to saying “Chill okay! I’m just busting your balls” laughing while giving Emma a smile. Emma then just gave her a little look before saying “Busting my balls! Okay! I’m sure you were a ball buster” leaving Jenna then saying

“Excuse me! What do you mean you’re sure that was a ball buster!” Leaving Emma then laughing before saying “Well I’m sure I could bust some balls! But I would rather feel a cute little ball buster myself. If you know what I mean” With Jenna now just shaking her head at Emma before saying “Oh my God! Let’s just go in and get your new little companion” As Emma then just smiled to Jenna saying to her “You mean our little companion”

Jenna sat there looking at the photo of Emma with her new puppy German Shepherd that the two of them would name freckles. As Emma's neighbor, whose name was Billy, still dressed as a security guard, then walked up to Jenna  saying to her

“Hey now you be good to freckles, you see he likes you”

It was moments like that left Jenna new she was home as Jenna continued to set there in the diner looking at the photo as she then thought back to all three of them riding down a dirt road with Emma driving. As Emma then turned to freckles saying “I know that you ain’t scared of my driving”

With Jenna hanging on as usual saying “ ain’t scared he’s a dog! And I’m sure if he could talk, he would tell you to slow down” As Emma then turned to both of them just before saying

“ Ain’t scared! Are you? Cause freckles ain’t

scared are you, boy! He knows good country driving when he sees it” As Jenna  then just looked over to Emma saying “Good driving if you can call it that”

With the three of them later that night finding their selves back in their field, looking up to the stars above them

With Jenna and Emma setting there on the back of the pickup truck with freckles in between them. Setting there looking up to the stars above them as they would often find themselves doing on a quit country night. As Emma then looked to freckles as she was petting him, saying to him

“Would you just look at that! A city girl acting like she likes this quiet little country setting” looking over to Jenna giving her a smile

As Jenna would just look back saying “Oh so I’m still the city girl now! Well how you and freckles just set here and the two of you can just enjoy each others company then” As Emma then whispered to freckles saying to him “Hey I think that we may have made her mad, what do you think boy” rubbing her hand on freckles back as Dakota then looked over to Emma saying

“Well excuse me, but I think I can find my own way back from here” just before jumping off of the tailgate. Giving Emma a look before saying to her “Really! If you are going to be like that, then I can find my own way back. Thank you” As Jenna then started walking away as Emma then looked once again to freckles, he saying “You know boy! I think I may have really made her mad at me. So what do you think”

Just as Emma then jumped off the tailgate herself walking towards Jenna saying to

her “You know that I was kidding right, or if you like you could walk back if that is what you really want” As Jenna then turned back to Emma saying to her “What I want is for you to start being serious for once” As Emma then yelled back to freckles saying “You hear that boy she wants me to be serious for once”

Jenna then just stood there for a moment before saying “It’s shit like that! I want you to be serious, serious about us” As Jenna  then stood there looking at Emma as she then threw up her arms saying “Okay that’s it! I’m out of here so you and feckless can enjoy your evening together” As Emma then yelled out saying “Hey first off, I can be serious! A second freckles is ours” as Emma then looked back to freckles saying “She didn’t mean that boy! I’m sure she didn’t”

Jenna then just stood there for a moment, looking before saying “It’s stuff like that! I just want you to be serious for once! okay?” As Emma then slowly started walking towards Jenna as Emma then said “I can be serious! Believe me, I can be serious, I’m not just some country girl looking for a little fling” As Jenna then looked to Emma, saying to her “So then what are you looking for?”

As Emma then walked up to Jenna, putting her hand on the side of Jenna's face before saying

“Believe me I can be serious” With Jenna just standing there looking to Chloe for a moment before saying “Then show me that you can be serious” As Emma then looked to Jenna giving her smile before yelling back to freckles saying

“Shut your eyes, boy! I don’t want your puppy eyes seeing this”

Jenna then just gave a look to Emma saying to her “Really Emma” as Jenna then just stood there with a grin saying “Really! Really I don’t think you could be serious if you even really wanted wanted to” As Emma then said “Sure I can be serious but you really have to get to know me first” With Jenna looking to Emma giving her a smile just before putting her arms around Emma pulling her closer to her.

Saying to her “Then show me” as she then kissed her. As Emma then said “Well if this is what you meant by being serious, then well, I can be serious” wrapping her arms back around Jenna as they stood there up underneath a starlit sky kissing away. As the both of them just laid there into the night holding one another laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Lying there in the field up underneath, looking up at a starlit sky as Emma just looked to Jenna  saying to her “Yeah this is my life”

As Jenna once again found herself back in her Jeep, making her way down the highway back to the Appalachian mountains. She looked to her dashboard at a photo of Emma as she drove on underneath a starlit sky.

Making her way back to a place where she fist met Emna looking over to her passenger seat to a photo. A photo that must have fell out of the glove box when she opened it up but Jenna looked at the photo while still trying to keep her eyes on the road. While looking at a photo of her and Emma setting at the local drive in getting ready to watch a movie. A drive-in now shut down as Jenna thought back to the three of them, setting there on the back of the pickup truck. Setting there with freckles in between them waiting for the movie to start a movie that Jenna was dying all summer to see.

It was a drive in where the entire community would gather to watch a movie

But Emma was more and less just there with her not really interested in the movie but finding herself becoming closer than ever to Dakota. As Emma then jumped down off from the tailgate as she then turned to Jenna saying “Hey I’m feeling like a snack or two before the movie starts how you” as Jenna then said “No thanks I’m good” As Emma then looked to freckle’s saying “How about you boy? You good as well”

Emma then made her way down to the confession stand, looking at the people setting there in their cars as she walked by them. Thinking about her and Jenna thinking about their future. As she then turned back to Jenna seeing her setting there talking to a guy that was standing there next to her. With Emma now making her way back, not really thinking about anything else.

But seeing Jenna setting there talking to a guy that she had seen her talking to on more than one occasion. Emma then made her way back to Jenns as Jenna then just looked to Emma saying to her “So where are your snacks at?” As Emma just stood there for a moment looking at Jenna just as she then looked to the guy standing there all in his jeans and jean jacket. Standing there with his brown curly hair. Looking at Jenna

As Emma then said “I just wanted to be sure that you didn’t want anything” as Jenna then just looked to Emma saying “Yes I already told you that I didn’t want anything” As Emma then just looked over to the guy standing there saying to him “Can we help you with something” as Emma then looked over to his buddies all setting on their motorcycle’s. Jenna then looked to Emma saying to her “Look if you are going to act like this, then I’m just going to find my own way home tonight”

As Emma stood there for a moment just looking at the two of them before saying to the guy “If you don’t mind I would like to enjoy our little evening together” As Jenna then suddenly jumped down from the tailgate walking over to Emma. Standing there for a moment before saying “Your right! You and freckles can enjoy your night together”

Leaving Emma stunned as she watched Jenna walk away with the guy as Emma then said

“Okay be that way! I don’t need you, then just go on with yourself! I’m sure me and freckles will be just fine on our own”

As Emma then just stood there watching as Jenna then rode off with the guy along with his buddies. As Emma then yelled out saying “Yeah you just go on! I will be fine on my own” As Emma then slowly made her way over to freckles, saying to him “Yeah! Me and you will be just fine on our own boy, just me and you”

Just as the couple on the drive-in screen was breaking up as well. Leaving Emma  setting there looking up to the stars in the sky above her. Thinking to herself “Yeah! I will be just fine on my own” As she sat there thinking back to the nights that her and Jenna would lay there together in the field that was theirs.

Just as Billy, the security guard, then walked up to Jenna asking her if everything was okay saying to her

“Hey is everything okay? I saw those three over here with you. I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay”

With Jenna now looking down to the photo of Emma, thinking back to Lying there holding each other, looking up to the stars above them

Aa Jenna continued making her way down the highway, making her way back to a place that she had left several years ago. She made her way back as she continued to look at the photo of her Emma and freckles. Thinking of Emma saying to her “Why can’t this last forever?” As a tear wound fell from her eye for as she now found herself driving back down the same dirt road that they would often find themselves on.

For in a letter that she had received from Emma a couple of weeks ago, a letter telling her that she just wanted to see and talk to her again. With Jenna knowing how much that she had meant to Emma. With Emma Knowing that this meet up would only be as friends for even though they had not been together. Emma still sent photos of her and freckles to Jenna for freckles, and she was still also her dog. But by them keeping in touch always kept Emma going.

But as Jenna drove on down the dirt road, making her way to Emma's house, thinking about what she would say to Emma. After not seeing her in two years. Thinking to herself, what would Emms say? But as she drove on until pulling up into her driveway, making her way to the door. Just as Jenna looked over to a table on the front porch, looking at a picture of her Emma and freckles all settling there on the front porch steps.

I left Jenna to think back on that day with Emma setting there with her favorite ice cream. Setting there trying to take a lick of it just as freckles had the same idea, the only thing was he just didn’t want some ice cream he wanted it all to himself. Just as Emma then looked to Jenna, saying to her

“Look this is our life! This is the life that I want, me you and freckles, so what’s  it been four years since we first met? I mean it’s like I just can’t believe how time has gone by since then”

Just as Emma then turned to freckles saying to him “You remember don’t you boy the day that we got you out, I do, I most certainly do giving you the home that you deserved”

As Emma then reached over, giving freckles a hug “The three of us together forever buddy” forgetting all about her ice cream. Leaving both her and freckles covered all in ice cream as Emna then laughed out loud. Before turning back to Jenna, he said

“What is not to like about this? Yeah, I remember the first day that we got you boy, yeah! I certainly remember driving back home that day.” As Emna then turned to Jenna saying to her “Yeah this is the life that I want” As Jenna stood there on the front porch continuing  to look at the picture of them sitting there on the steps together continuing to think back on that day when they first had brought freckles home.

With Jenna hanging on for dear life yelling over to Emma saying “For crying out loud can you show down” As Emma then turned to freckles saying to him “Well gee I don’t see freckles complaining about my driving are you boy. I think it’s just city girls like her that just ain’t used to these country roads”

As Jenna then just looked at both Emma and freckles saying “Look I may not be used to driving on these back country roads, but I certainly do know when someone is going way to fast” Just as Emma then looked over to Jenna giving her a smile as she said

“Hey how about before we head home, how about going for some ice cream I’m sure freckles sure wouldn’t mind” With Jenna still hanging on for dear life as freckles were but all enjoying himself. Jenna then said “You and your ice cream, well if you promise to drive like you have some sense then yeah!” As Emna then looked to freckles saying “How about you boy would you like some ice cream?”

As Jenna stood there on the front porch, knowing that It was the last photo of them together before Jenna left. But as Jenna knocked on the door with no answer, he was now starting to worry. Only to remember the field in which they had spent many off nights with Jenna now making her way to the field.

Only to see Emms setting there beside of freckles looking up to the stars above them in the same spot. The same spot that they had used to set together her Emma and freckles as Jenna then made her way over to her. With freckles greeting her first as Jenna reached down, petting him as she said to him. “Hey good buddy, how have you been”

As Emma then turned to Dakota saying to her “Do you remember the two of us setting here together” As Jenna then sat down beside of Emma saying to her “Yes I remember the nights that we sat here together those were the nights wasn’t they”

As Emma then pulled out a photo of them, the very first photo of them setting together in the Photo Booth. Handing it to Jenna as she said to her “This was the life that I wanted. Do you remember that day? With me not being serious at all” As Jenna then looked over to Emma saying “In a way, that is what brought me closer to you, but I’m here now with you”

As Emma then placed her head on Jenna's shoulder saying to Jenna “This was supposed to be our life, this was supposed to our time,” gripping her hands tighter onto Jenna saying to her “Hold me like you once did” As Jenna then placed her arm around Emma as they sat there the two looking up to the stars above them. As they sat there with Emna's head on Jenna's shoulder, Jenna then turned to Emma saying to her

“Hey! I what if I were to stay here in town with you for bit if you don’t mind, and just maybe the two of us can go from there” As Dakota could feel Emma's hand tightening up on hers as they set there. As Emma then said to Jenna “Don’t leave me, promise me that you want leave me”As Jenna then looked to Emma once more giving her a smile as the two of them sat there as Jenna slowly slid her hand through Emma's Hair as Jenna then whispered to Chloe saying

“You remember when we would set here until sunrise having no care about anything else, just me and you” As Jenna then felt Emma's hand tightening up once more on her hand. As they sat there until the first light of the sun beginning to come up over the mountains just in front of them.

But as Emma sat there leaning up against Dakota, I was not saying anything back to her. Jenna then gently rub her hand through Emma's hair. Jenna then wrapped her arms around Emma, saying to her “Emma look the sun is coming up on us” With Emma not saying nothing back. Jenna then once again said to Emma “Hey it’s me, your little city girl here with you” But as Emma would lay there silent on Jenna's shoulder.

Jenna then said “Emma don’t you leave me like this! Come on Emma don’t you leave me like this”

As the Emma sat there with her arms wrapped around Emma as the tears fell from her eyes. Saying to Emma “I promise you that I won’t ever leave you again, just don’t leave me now! Don’t you leave me Emma” As Jenna then laid back on the ground with Emma lying there with her holding tightly onto her. As Jenna then once again said “Emma Don’t you leave me like this”

As they lay there with Jenna now holding onto Emma looking to the sun rising over the mountains just in front of them. Jenna knew that her and Emma had spent their final night together

Setting in the field that was theirs looking up to the stars above for Emma had passed right before the morning sunrise.

Just as Billy then walked up to Emma, he said to her

“You know that sure is a lovely sunrise there”

He then bent down, picking up the photo of Jenna handing it back to Emma just right before Emma's high school teacher then walked up to them. He then started taking Emma back in as Billy then said

“Hey Doc Is he going to be alright? I mean, he never really says anything at all to anyone no more”

As the Doc just looked to the security guard as he said “And who’s to say if Jenna was ever even a real girl herself” As he then slowly pushed Emma back into the room a room that was now his doorway to being her.

A doorway from deep within his mind kept him trapped there slowly draining him of his life as he lived another within his own mind being Emma. In a room where the ceiling was all painted with the stars on it

I'm an aspiring writer and marketer who's building a rough creative portfolio. I decided to draft a little short story about Blitzcrank -- my favorite character in League of Legends. I blitzed (heh) through this in a few hours, so it definitely needs improvements. And note, I am a beginner artist... I hope you enjoy!!

Caustic

Hey everyone,
I (39F) have dabbled in writing since childhood. I’ve had single poems or stories published randomly throughout the years. I’m here to share my work and get your input please.
I took several years away from writing but am slowly getting involved again. Enjoy!
My Name
What is my name?
Great question,
Something I was once ashamed by
Something that parents fell in love with
Something once popular
Something I thought I would change.
Over time, I grew.
I grew in my confidence.
I grew to feel pride.
I grew to know I’m one of a kind.
I hear my name on my fiancé’s tongue.
I hear passion, support and unyielding love.
My name is Stephanie.

Is there any free tool to download articles or newsletters? I want to read them in my free time, anywhere I go, without needing to have internet.

Prologue

You may read books about different universes, with magic and things that wouldn’t make sense in your world—well, our world. I came from Earth, that’s where I lived for 14 years of my life. But now everything is different… Let's start from the beginning.

From the beginning of time, there were seven guardians. They were spirits with no bodies, but when someone disturbed them and tried to open portals to other worlds beyond their own—and when that person tried to destroy the guardians—the guardians combined themselves into one body: a child.

That child was sent down to one of the worlds. They did not remember anything. That child did not know it was the key to save or destroy the world.