She has a smile like a firetruck siren – sharp, quick, electrifying to anyone able to catch it. She was taking vicodin before House was, though what for no one really knows. In any case, we believe her. It’s impossible to even entertain the notion that she might be lying. She speaks of her mother [...]
While watching the Discovery Channel’s In The Womb series, I was completely and totally struck by the fact that human beings develop gills and a tail while in utero. Gills! Tails! TAILS! There’s a bone at the base of our vertebral column from which a tail once extended. Like wisdom teeth and goosebumps, tails are [...]
The problem is thus: there are no words. How many times have I been left warbling, over-thinking, fingers fluttering awkwardly, panicking in a slipshoddy kind of way, chasing after that one word, dammit? Belying several millennia of enhanced evolution with my verbal inability? Attempting to coerce my disjointed brain into cooperation? The blackout lull left between me [...]
I am seven, eight maybe. I’m taking advantage of the fact that my father is upstairs to come closer than the recommended six feet towards the television. If my mother is with me, she does not comment. She will be tucking the sofa cover in at the edges, reprimanding me for not leaving my mug [...]
hells to the yes, emma! I can’t wait to be an adult. not to drink or have sex or smoke. (i can do all of those things now and not get caught anyway LOL) but because i think life will be better because im actually living in the world. not the little bubble we call [...]
When I was six years old, my mother sent me to Bible School. Whether this was an attempt to convert me or to fulfill the notion that she was obligated to submit her offspring to some sort of Christian institution, I am not entirely sure. I’m inclined to believe she just wanted some other argument [...]
It’s funny how now, in retrospect, I think was that really me? I read through diary entries penned in pink marker and marvel at my own ignorance. I flatten the corners of Polaroid pictures and am unable to recognize my face in those snippets of paper. I hear, again and again, childhood anecdotes my mother [...]
We open the doors and in blasts Micheal Jackson’s Thriller, at full volume. Apparently, the children down the hall are preparing their end of year festival. I chew the end of my pencil and try (in vain) to still my sudden foot tapping. I’m in an exam. It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking [...]
I am sick as a dog. It is all I can do to half-drag myself out of bed, clutching a roll of toilet paper to my chest, dripping artificial tears, more in need of an “EPIC FAIL” t-shirt than ever. Preferably fire truck red. I find myself cranking up the radio for really no reason [...]
Last night I draped my limbs off the bed and the tips of my fingers came in contact with a small, yellow Post-It underneath the headboard. Fishing it out from among the dust bunnies, I turned on the light and stared at it. – box of poptarts (weapon) – someone biting their toenails – rubber [...]