A shiver crept up my spine as we walked into the haunted graveyard. Although it was broad daylight, there was something existentially eerie about walking amongst the dead remains in concrete tombs. We had come to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but after enjoying the festive Krewe of Zulu parade earlier that morning, I’d gotten sucked into the tour after visiting Voodoo Authentica on Dumaine Street. “Come on,” my friend, Dian...

“Of all the carnal powers; and the blessings of the Shrove of Man; Grant me this small mercy. By the Saints and martyrs - beyond, before, within my blood rite, and without. Guard and protect my soul tonight. I ask all this as your humble servant. E Nomine Patri. Et Fili. E Spiritu Sancti. Amen.” As the prayer was uttered, the flame flickered. Once the seal was said, the flame was hushed into smoke. William got up from his...

Focus on the beauty, the geometrical phenomenon of frozen water in spectacular crystallized form. Each one appears different from the next and captivating to behold. And while these minuscule bits of ice appear white due to the diffuse reflection of the whole spectrum of light through each tiny facet, they are actually quite clear. As she sat staring out the window into the great expanse of snow, she allowed herself to dr...

My big brother Jon packed a snowball with mittened hands. “It’s fake.” “What’s fake?” I knew what he was about to say. Sometimes when it’s your brother you just have to listen. He threw the snowball at me. “The snow. Fake. Made of plastic.” He started making another snowball. I wondered how much he’d had to drink. I hadn’t seen many bottles, but sometimes he hid the bottles. He’d been going downhill since his wife left hi...

"If jumping to conclusions was an Olympic event, you’d take the gold.” "Seriously?" "Shut up!" an exasperated Maeve shot back. "Don't mock me. I'm not good at this." Kerri glared at her soon-to-be, in-a-long-line of ex-girlfriends, girlfriend, reading CHEATER! she'd carved with candy apple red lipstick onto Maeve's forehead. Forcefully dotting the exclamation mark was what intentionally woke Maeve. “I would never, ever......

Yet another scribbled entry in this diary of lies, Paralysed, in this pseudo world of one. Whispers, whispers of near-naked misunderstandings, Sometimes hard to breathe through invisible tears. Safe, warm worlds under cold silken sheets equals, Dream. Curled uptight, yet tap-tapping on the smeared glass. Morning shadows flicker through swollen tear stained eyes, To enlighten, or darken, my first thought, On this, the firs...

I know a quiet girl so shy, Head down, she rarely speaks. She fears the world around her— Anxiety's technique. ♡♡♡ Her salty tears shroud bright blue eyes, But no one sees her cry. The corner is her friend for now; She prays pain says, “Goodbye.” ♡♡♡ No hope in sight, her eyes snap shut; She dreams a little dream. Creating worlds where she'll belong— A rainbow-colored scheme. ♡♡♡ She'll dance on clouds and find her voice;...

I walk alone by crystal stream, Beneath a canopy of green, In hopes that I can find a place, To gaze up at the sky and dream. Can my heart find solace there Within the realm of Nature fair, Where Peace is found in such sweet space, So far from any human care. For in my heart a shadow lies, And in my soul, my true self cries. For without Love, all hope is lost, And our sad soul within us dies. Can even Nature bring back Li...

It was just another New Year’s Eve for Melody. Her thirteenth one to be exact and completely unremarkable. Her mother stuffed her into a dress two sizes too small, accompanied by the furrowed brows of disapproval and invasive pokes and prods over her tummy. “Have you been stealing chocolate from the candy jar again?” The accusation stung quick and sharp. Trying not to furrow her brows in anger in response, Melody sucked i...

It was between him and her, and her and her, and like always I was caught in between, a bottle of bourbon trapped between my thighs while I nursed the glass—the alcohol burned fresh paths down my throat, drawing parallels with the scars that ran down my arms. This was the way things would always be and the clock constantly ticked at the back of my mind, because this was it—this was my last chance. "I love you." To my whis...

The old man sat at the table, watching the couples dance. He stared into his glass of Schnapps. The taste did nothing for him. Nothing did anything for him anymore. He wasn’t sure why he’d come. The lecturers and professors got younger every year. He felt they only invited him because they knew he had nowhere else to go. He doubted they’d even notice if he slipped away before the bells rang out. He wondered if many of the...

We all make poor life choices. Mine just happens to be pizza. You’d think working at the nostalgia-laden Wally World would be a dream come true. Maybe for kid me, with all the arcade games that spat out tickets like confetti, ball pits, and colorful characters straight from a children’s book, it was. I used to wrap myself up in tickets like a mummy when I won big, then walk proudly down the soda-stained carpet like royalt...

Her yelling annoyed me. It always did. Helicopter moms. Can’t live with them. Dad certainly couldn’t. But until I finished university, I couldn’t live without. Her house. Her rules. Mom’s nagging, she claimed, was always in everyone's best interest. Dad begged to differ. Reason one hundred and fifty-six for their separation, he’d say. I’m sure that number was significantly higher. But every time I asked, he’d spew a few r...

Present day Ron – the closest thing I had to a friend in school – had disappeared. That's not all. It was much worse than the simple disappearance of one boy. Much worse, trust me. What's left of their families still seek answers, but they won't find any – only I know what really happened. A pity no one believes me. Oh … wait. Shame on me for jumping ahead. I've been somewhat stressed, you see. The events of my childhood...

This numerology thing is cool, but thematically unrelated, but I lead with it anyway. If you add the first twenty even numbers, starting with two and ending with forty, the sum of those twenty numbers equals four hundred and twenty. Go ahead. Try it. Or not. Whatever.If the Waldos knew that sparking up after school would have inspired an annual world-wide celebration of smoking weed at 4:20, which coincidentally occurs on...