“Stay on the trail and don’t talk to anyone,” Mommy says. “And for god’s sake,Elizabeth, take off that stupid red hoodie! It’s one hundred degrees today!”Mommy’s always talking, always worrying, always pestering me.“I can take care of myself!” I’d scream.I wasn’t some dumb little girl who could fall for tricks. I knew better than that. …

Now would be a good time to stop drinking I thought. Was this my home?I knew the door and the path that led to it but what lay on the other side was no moremy house than a cave. That’s what my eyes had shown me. A cave that descendeddeep into the earth with calcite …

At first, I waited for a phone call from him. A YouTube video advised me toallow seven days of no contact and not to contact him first. That I should wait, if he caredenough, he would call the video advised me. Everything was white then. Our first snow of January had fallen, crushing ourfragile Texas …

Lenore stood at the fire, watching the log engulfed in flames dance playfully against the grate. She couldno longer see her feet, and her due date was near.“A baby.” She murmured low, rubbing her round belly. Although the thought of a baby made her smile,she couldn’t forget the first baby. And how could she? The …

I’m intruding on the night, the stench of it all. I can smell the skunk, cat’s piss, wet dog,and spider webs catching my knees going down the stairs. The mosquitos fly away from me, andI am unwanted in their domain. I beg for a decent bite to swell my flesh and turn me intosomething else. …

I’m inspired by Jamaica Kincaid, Girl. I was recalled back to my time growing up with mygrandparents and their regimented schedules. Its 5 am and my papa is already up and has moved the grass and planted collardgreens; By 7am he tells me that I have slept half the day away; my grandmother hitsthe base …

After my divorce and my grandmother’s death, my little daughter Savannah and I had few options and dollars in finding a place of our own. Depression and medication were like my second and third children. After my grandmother’s death, I inherited my father’s childhood home and my grandmother’s collection of dolls. The collection is famous in …