(walks into the room)

”Mom im going over to lans can i spend the night.” -”come in here and talk to me before you leave i havent seen you all week”

I was excited to be going over to lans house like I always am. I started hanging out with him a few months ago. The girl I liked then introduced me to him because they had been friends and we seemed to hit it off surprisingly enough. It was obvous to me that he came from a different place than i. ( I hadn’t much experience being in the world without parents much, and he had, but we shared the same deliorious, 7th-grade-shit-disturber-energy I guess you could call it.>>delete maybe) Anyway, I was excited, everytime we hang out it feels as like I go deeper into the world than I had before, places probably lan had already seen. But we always managed to get out of whatever we got into. I feel invincible with him, its possibly because we are so young, you cant get in much trouble for stuff. I am scarred to go along with him sometimes, things happen fast, but somehow I am always able to let myself go.

It’s a perfectly dreary Sunday afternoon, rain splattering across the streets, drenching everything outside of the cozy spot where I have situated myself on my front porch. The drops from the rain individually fall from the roof, dripping down the panels, posts, and flora that encompass my house. I am comfortably nestled into the cushion of my lounge chair, unperturbed by the slight mist of the rain moistening my dry, wan skin.  My visage reflects the same countenance I wore to my husband’s funeral a month and a half ago. Life, as I see it, is washed away from my mind, my body, my home, and all other places I must endure without Mitchell’s presence, his earthly existence. Now, I stare out onto the wet, barren streets in search of the hope, life, and familiarity I once had 5 weeks ago.

laboratory that he was awarded with after being exalted as on of the nation’s most acclaimed geneticists.

e used to take care of their cat while they went off to Russia, their motherland. These trips usually occurred often so we were very well acquainted with Sherman, the Zacharov’s inquisitive, green-eyed Maltese cat.

crows

My face becomes hot with rage.  I couldn’t help but think how she would feel, when she woke up alone.  How had all the other girls felt when they realized they were no longer wanted?  I would not let him do that to Melissa.  I wouldn’t be able to stand it if he corrupted her, made her cry, made her hate the world.  How dare he go after Melissa, the paragon of all that is innocent and beautiful in the world.

I quickly divert my eyes from him and mumble “Whatever.”

I began regretting the plastic cover slip my mom had placed on the carpeted stairs to keep them clean

Before I was introduced into this life of fear, shame, and guilt. My lifecame to a point where I had been treated as guilty for such a long time, I began to feel as if my very presence was shameful.  Blending in proved to be impossible.  If I wore slacks and a collared shirt, I was acting too white. If I wore shorts and a t-shirt, I was a thug.  Even when I tried blending in with the walls, the white paint gave my dark skin away.

The dewy grass left wet imprints on our pajamas.

Nell looked at her best friend across the room, tears in her eyes but hope in her soul. 

Darkness is encroaching upon the smiling faces of the family sitting on the picnic bench in the park, food spread out like a feast behind them.

when on the piece of paper in front of them there’s a math problem that they wouldn’t even know how to begin on.

Rich is there passed out as I expected. I then look across the room to see Mike also passed out, which was also no surprise.

The breakfast of champions

I had managed to waste four minutes getting to the Room 412

You always hear stories about how doctors told some celebrity or other that they would not live past five years old, that they would never sing again, that they would never walk again. I guess they fixed that, because they were spot on about Grandma.

My phone had been confiscated earlier that morning, and I only got it back after school and after standing in line to the principal’s office. She was the slow deliberate kind with the long emphatic pauses in her speech. Great for oration, sure, but not very efficient for someone who needs to talk to a couple dozen students each day. I considered making a run for it; I knew where they kept the phones. Everyone did, anyway. She didn’t know how to turn them off, so the other students make sure to call them and let them ring until their batteries died. Choosing one’s ringtone was less a personal choice and more a strategical battle decision in that war. In any case, I had to go in and explain to her the entire situation before getting my phone back. She tried to keep on the cold mask of lawmakers and law enforcers, but it slipped a couple of times, especially certain words. Hospital, cancer, dying. At times it was like she wanted to tell me something, offer one of her stories in return.

stop in

And they did.

accommodate a sumo wrestler, or two Americans. Maybe three Frenchmen.

Because we lived on a island, all the roads occupied the narrow band mountain and sea, and there were two ways to get anywhere. Usually that meant a short way and a long way, except when one was unluckily enough to be as far away as possible from his or her destination. The way I took to the local primary school was the long way. That was even though the classes were always on Saturday mornings. I left home early, to catch an early bus to a busy station where I could catch an early train to a desolate station. We met at Meeting Point C of Chai Wan station, the last stop of the yellow line, which I never took except to get to HKUGA. I never learnt what the school’s name actually stood for, but that would never strike me as odd. In a place where in the local language each character is a word, a fondness for acronyms is universal. Even the country’s name did not escape that fondness: HK, SAR of PRC was infinitely more common than Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.

I never figured out my reason until the program was over.

hack and hinder

dodged

Peregrine asked to his father

“Live the dream, son, live thedream,” he said between glasses of scotch.

that were

cutie picture of the say and I quickly clicked the ‘x’ in the top right corner and decided 3am was an appropriate time to hit go to bed.

I awakened the next morning and found myself back on myspace

She was not a beautiful woman.

Like so many other of man’s possession

the wrench, the rusty razor or the empty beer can

She was not a beautiful woman.

“Well I don’t think that is possible.  You see, I just work here and I don’t think the Muchnick family is willing to give it up.  Their family has been in this business for over seventy years.  See on the wall over there?  That’s Mr. and Mrs. Ed Muchnick, they were the first owners of Cuckoo for Cupcakes and ever since then, it has been passed down through the family.  I have been working here for two years and I won’t ever be able to own it,” said the cashier.

“You see Janey, there is another issue, the Muchnick family went on vacation last week and are out for the next three weeks.  I’m in charge of the store.  And even if I could sell you the store, I wouldn’t.  You do not deserve it over me.  I have been working my butt off for the last two years of my life at this place.  It’s my favorite place to be.  It seems to be the only place that makes me happy recently.”

Starting high school is always a difficult task. First you have to figure out where your classes are, and try to make it to them on time, while trying not to get in the way of the seniors. Then you have to attempt to understand what the teacher is talking about while your parents constantly remind you that getting straight A’s was easy while they were in school. Next you have to get involved in an activity because you hear it looks good on your college resume; however, you do not see what the big deal is because you are only a freshman. Finally, if you some how live through this, you have to magically develop a social life and try to find out where to sit in the lunch room with out tripping over your shoe strings, because you were staring at the Varsity quarterbacks girlfriend.

the cheap kind.

depend

the goal was to him at that all the practice would pay off

I squeeze my way through the crowded hallway and run down towards Michael screaming his name.  Panting, I stop short right in front of him.  He finally seems me and knows I need help.  Before I even speak,

Out of luck with four minutes left to get to class

Drool.  On my pillow. Again.

all I see is metal with alternating neon color

’silent and listen are spelled with the same letters’. ’the only way out is through’ ’learn and succeed’.