Suitcase

She took a deep breath and began by folding her ma’s dream of her becoming a doctor and placing it in the suitcase. Then, she reverently folded all wishes and rules of other people she had lived her life by. Shutting the suitcase, she walked out of the house in search of her own dream.

Massacre

“Men poked out the eyes of the bulls and mascaraed the seals in Alaskan Islands so they could sell skins for money. Brutal savages!”
A tear slipped from Babushka’s eyes. The little boy heard the tale, hugged the threadbare blanket closer and glanced at the empty fireplace. Then, he curled up and started dreaming of money.

Redemption

He was the bastard of the only man his stepmother had ever loved. All his life he kept trying to erase the silent hatred in her eyes. When her kidney failed, he gave her one of his in a final attempt at redemption. She woke up and asked him why he had bothered saving her. 

Asylum

“What are you doing?” the nurse inquired.
“Peeling off my skin”
“Why?”
“She won’t have me in this skin; maybe she’ll love me in another.”
The nurse closed the door of the asylum shut.
Here was another victim of unrequited love. The asylum was filled with them.

Void

Motherhood can be fierce in its joys. Maybe that’s why it had caught her unsuspecting. All she knew was that as her baby’s tiny fist curled around her forefinger, the void of never being loved, a black hole that existed within her began to fill. 

Sanctuary

His fingers sifted through her semi wet hair. He leaned closer in, breathed the clean scent and then ever so slowly, began to knit them in a braid. He closed his eyes against the pain that surged through him. His wife, his love, his sanctuary from all the demons in life was doing slowly.

Hate

“She’s fragile, she’ll break.”
“I will equip her with her weakness, she’ll resurface.”
“Don’t do this,” she whispered brokenly “Don’t pretend to love her and walk away.”
“She’ll hate me for life. The hatred will give her a reason to live.”