An Ugly Fool

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…did she begin fearing the person she saw in the mirror? When did she start seeing herself as a monster? Susan wondered whether her obsession with her outside flaws automatically meant that she was hideous on the inside. Was the image she examined just a reflection of who she was as a person?

Susan had always hated her neck. She used to always look down to not reveal it. Susan’s father would yell at her in the car when she was sitting in the passenger seat because she was so used to concealing it that she wouldn't sit up upright. Susan…

By Cristina Collazo

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Inka's Curse Part 11: Ruth

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…you heard of what happened to ..." Ruth begins saying.

“I know already, and I have to go by there. So please no more tears. You’ve cried enough for me.”

“But a dreadful thing has just happened. So many innocent people are dead. There are even rumors that the most magnificent wizards can’t understand what had happened there.”

Her eyes were inflamed and red-rimmed. She had been crying. Now I’ve made things worse for her. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped by. I wonder how often I hadn’t made it home on time that she would assume I was…

By Cristina Collazo

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Venomous Repentance

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To anyone who has ever been sexually abused... you are not alone. You are not your wounds and I pray that you heal as best that you can.

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…invited you to come take a seat with me on this branch and for some reason you felt the need to push me. You shoved me and I know you believe that by doing so you released whatever demons that lay inside of you. Perhaps you thought that the words that came out of your mouth would somehow dissolve your actions into the night…

By Taylor Amber Rose

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The Berry Pickers

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A piece from my third novel, The Berry Pickers

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…wakes up early, squinting at sunlight raging through grimy windows and ripped white curtains, yellowed from years bathed in cigarette smoke.

The room was cold. The sticky sweat of summer faded too quickly to this frigid morning.

He reached down to the floor, found yesterday’s shirt, still buttoned halfway down, and pulled it on over his head. Reaching in the pocket he found his Lucky Strikes and his Zippo lighter.

Hacking and coughing, standing and stepping on an upturned beer bottle cap, cutting the bottom of his foot, he swears. From…

By William Lobb

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Inka's Curse Part 10: Home

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…get me started on what’s become of the forest. She just wants the forest for herself.”

“You’re wrong about her. Queen Ellen is a genuine hero. She’s our savior. Things have never been as peaceful as they are now.”

Herman isn’t as bad as I thought. He’s intriguing and so is Lilo. I need to pay them a visit after I return from my daunting journey.

I don’t have time for this, though. I’ll have to interrupt their endless back and forth argument. “Excuse me,” I said grimly. “I really have to go…

By Cristina Collazo

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Inka's Curse Part 9: Mixed Opinion

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…armor’s got on an impressive curse on it. It can make you invincible to almost anything, but it will also drain your life force. It’s not just magically, but the material is something completely different than anything I have ever seen.”

“Can you get rid of it?” I hope I’ve finally found someone that can actually help me out.

“No kid. You’ll need to go to the kingdom for that. Queen Ellen might be able to get rid of it.”

My forehead puckered. “My lifeforce. What exactly does that mean?”

“Your life is endangered. The longer you wear that thing the…

By Cristina Collazo

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Soccer Moms Do It With Style

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A girls night out, interrupted

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…will never forget the look on his face as my husband, Ted, stared at me from the other side of a smudged plate of plexiglass. It was a mix of comical bewilderment and admiration. I wiped the tears from my mascara smeared eyes, picked up the phone, and started at the beginning.

It was Soccer Club Night. No, I didn’t play soccer, I was part of a group of women who fit the “Soccer Mom” profile to a tee. Dedicated mothers, members of the PTA, and tenaciously driven to raise the perfect family. We…

By Tracey Koehler

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Universal Woman

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A Parable on Suffering

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…strolled around his garden in the cool of morning. Hearing a beautiful songbird nearby, he reached for her, and she lovingly responded. He caught and caged her.

Over time, she grew weary in her cage, using her lovely voice only to shriek about her circumstances. He mocked her weight gain and spent excessive amounts of time with other songbirds, instead of her. Not having the strength to bear another moment of mental torture, she fell to the bottom of the cage, begging for death to set her…

By L L Cartin

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Inka's Curse Part 8: Rumor Has It

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…been searching for you,” she says earnestly. She doesn’t move from any closer.

She stands still and attentively waits on my response, but she doesn’t launch another arrow.

“You’ve got the wrong person,” I say as I frantically struggle lifting myself out of the snow and grab the snake’s remains. While I extend my numb leg, I don’t look up at her. She’s too frightening to look at.

“At least hear me out. Please?” I don’t know what to do. She’s probably looking at me like I’m a snack. There’s no way I can trust her. It’s already dark, and…

By Cristina Collazo

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Blind Greed

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…placed a cup of tea on the table in the far corner of the super supermarket’s food court. She removed her sweater before sitting down. As one who was sensitive to invisible energies, there was never a perfect time to shop in public places, only a prayer that nothing too malevolent would attack her.

True to routine, she slowly sipped her warm, herbal drink while conducting a psychic scan of the interior building and its customers, a practice that typically takes thirty minutes, even more when the store is exceptionally crowded. There was nothing out of the ordinary that caught...

By L L Cartin

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