No Fear

Holland made the clothes he wore that day. He made his own pants and shirt. He didn’t need to. His parents make enough money to buy him fresh clothes. For his birthday, he made a request. He asked for a sewing machine and for the materials he had dreamed about. He had the idea in … Continue reading No Fear →

Dress

She bought a dress to wear, in his favorite color — but she wore it only once.

The Ring

He has a dream where he is bound to a ring. The ring moves, but he can never tell if it advances forward, rolling along a path, or whether it simply spins around one point, taking him back again and again to the same point of space from which he started. In the dream, the … Continue reading The Ring →

“Letters,” Chapter 4

I've posted three excerpts from this work before: An Excerpt from Letters, or “After Her”; A Second Excerpt from “Letters”; and “Letters,” A Third Excerpt. I've also posted two entries that are related to, but not currently part of, that work: Dinner and An Entry from Birch’s Journal. “Do you want me to stay again tonight?” Birch asked. “I have to … Continue reading “Letters,” Chapter 4 →

Responsible

Today's entry is short, but it touches on delicate material. There is something she talks about to no-one. It is a thing that she did, or — a thing which was done to her. She makes no distinction between the two, most days. When she does, it is her who is responsible for the action. … Continue reading Responsible →

Puzzle Box

He opened his chest to show her his heart. She did not react as he expected. Among the line of people to whom he had revealed this part of himself, none had reacted in a positive manner. He was used to polite grimaces, or blank stares, or even disgust and irritation. Most of his partners … Continue reading Puzzle Box →

Help

I have to help. It’s not just a drive within myself. It’s not something altruistic inside me that sees a person in danger and says, Hey, you really should intervene. I don’t like to listen to that voice. I don’t often hear that voice at all. What I get, instead, is a voice that said, … Continue reading Help →

The Mask

His hands are driven by the fervor of obsession. It is the same unrelenting force that drives a drug addict to push the needle into his flesh and a gambler to hemorrhage her funds on the chance that he might, someday, see some benefit. It’s the same toxic pressure that forces an obsessive-compulsive to repeat … Continue reading The Mask →

Fractured

There is a girl in his life. He believes that he loves her. Or rather, he believes that he could love her, if only he could be a bit more sure of her. She lives on the other side of a wall of imperfect glass. It is clear, but in the way of a crystalline … Continue reading Fractured →

Pressure

“Focus. You can do it.” The course lay before him, illuminated brighter and whiter than day by the spotlights surrounding it. He could barely see the audience, though light fell upon them, too, since the cameras filmed them when the runners weren’t in action. All he could see was the course, and that should have … Continue reading Pressure →