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Short Story: The Trapeze
“There’s blood in my mouth,” she realized suddenly. Her eyes shot open, the vibrant stripes of the big tent overhead sparkling with the bright lights of her concussion. The trapeze swung without her like an empty taunt, hypnotizing the audience as they held their breath, craning their necks to see if her limp body might…
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Short story: Left, Right, Left.
| With each step, his heavy feet moved left, left, left, right, left. The shrapnel just below the muscle on his side ached, a sign of impending rain. The “oblique,” the physical therapist had called it, though nowadays it was more oblong, or overgrown, a landscape of blood, muscle, and bone encompassing that remaining piece…
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Feeling Love this Holiday Season, or Like Pinocchio, We All Want to be Real.
The holidays are fast approaching and, for many of us, this means great food, lots of alcohol, awkward political discussions (especially this year), and the dynamic family drama that seems unique to our clan and yet tends to be thematic across all of humanity. Maybe it’s always been this way, but it feels like somewhere…
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Pulse.
There’s a phone ringing somewhere in the room, followed by another, and another. The constant chirping and buzzing, the occasional song chosen by the owner to represent their own or the caller’s personality, all just noise amidst the chaos. Echos of “Where are you,” “Are you okay,” and “Please, just call me back,” vibrate through…
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Blurred Lines
In light of all of the online comments I’ve seen recently regarding the upcoming presidential elections, what to do with refugees, and Target bathrooms, I’ve been meditating a lot on the sense of power and anonymity that accompanies an “online presence.” Studies show that people are more outspoken from behind the keyboard and that, naturally,…
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Patience
With my birthday fast approaching, it’s near time for my annual self-inventory, a ritual which began for me the night before my 10th birthday. Then, 9-year-old me lay in bed, pondering my seemingly long existence, and cried because I felt like a chapter of my life was ending. I was entering the double-digits. Nothing would ever be…
Illegibly K.M. West 