Tatiana’s alarm went off at 6:45 every Monday. The kitchen smelled like oatmeal—grandma was up. Everything seemed normal: ninth grade, lessons, homework, and occasional friend hangouts. Everything seemed right. However, things were different within. Tatiana had been told her father was a hero who died before she was born from childhood. She always heard her mother say that. Her grandmother stated that. Easy to believe. They revered him and told the narrative with minimum detail but a gentle voice, as if it were a sacred secret not to be questioned. Her father was “real man,” who “left too soon,” and…
Author: World Wide
I knew I had to do something when my new neighbors put up a camera in my garden. What began as a simple plan to teach them a lesson about privacy turned into a crazy show that got the attention of the police, which had effects I could not have imagined. It’s funny how life can take you by surprise. I never thought I’d become an amateur actress to teach my nosy neighbors a lesson. Carla and Frank moving in next door was the start of it all. At first, they seemed nice, if a little… off. I gave…
To Nancy, her son Henry was everything. She could never picture her life without him. It had been 23 years since Henry’s death in the terrible accident. One day a year, she brought his favorite pie to his grave to remember him. Things were going to change this year, though. Nancy, who is now 61 years old, has never missed a day on this date for 23 years. Every year since then, she baked her late son’s favorite pie and brings it to his grave. Henry’s favorite pie since he was a child. It was made with apples and cinnamon…
No one could have known that fifty bikers would show up at the funeral for my son. Most certainly not the four teens who killed him. It’s never been my thing to cry. Working as a high school cleaner for 26 years made me tough and taught me how to hold everything in. The first Harley pulled into the graveyard lot, then another, and another, until the whole place shook with their roar. That’s when I finally lost it. Mikey, my 14-year-old son, killed himself in our garage. Four of his peers were named in his suicide note. “This is…
When Tom’s eyes locked on the empty room in our living room, he got a scared look on his face. He began to say, “Please tell me you didn’t…” but it was too late. For months, I’d been telling Tom to get rid of that old couch. I would ask Tom, “When are you going to take the couch out?” It’s almost completely falling apart!” He would say “tomorrow” and not look up from his phone. Sometimes they say, “Next weekend.” “This time is real,” they said. Let me tell you a secret: tomorrow never came. I finally lost it…
Clean the picture on my gravestone a year after I die. You alone. “Promise me,” my grandmother said in a dying voice. I went to her grave with some tools a year after I buried her to keep my promise. I couldn’t breathe when I saw what was behind her worn-out picture frame. My grandmother Patricia, who everyone who knew her called “Patty,” was my world. She doesn’t like how quiet her house is now; it’s like a song is missing its tune. I sometimes reach for the phone to call her and forget for a second that she’s not…
Mike’s need for money made their marriage very unhappy, so Nicole is shocked when she agrees to give him everything when they get divorced. But while Mike is celebrating his “victory,” Nicole’s laughter shows that she is working on a secret plan. Mike doesn’t know that she’s about to make the last move. When I left the lawyer’s office, I had a blank look on my face and my shoulders were slouched, making me look like a beaten ex-wife. It was really raining, and the gray sky fit my mood, or at least the mood I wanted other people to…
When I found my husband with another lady in an airport terminal, it broke my heart. But a chance meeting with a good-looking and charming airplane pilot sent me on a quick love trip to Paris. Still, something about that made my heart doubt whether it could last. I wasn’t fully aware that Brian and I were at a turning point in our marriage. But I still had hope for us, so I walked through the busy local international airport with my Paris ticket in my hand, trying to calm my jitters. I was going to surprise Brian while he…
I thought my dreams were over when my stepmom burned my college acceptance letter in the fireplace. But then a stranger came to our door with a pink suitcase and a word from my mother, who had died. That day, everything changed. I’m 18 years old, but I remember everything about it like it was yesterday. It changed my life and showed me how strong I was. It was early 2000s April and very warm. It was one of those days in the South when the sun feels like it will melt your skin. I had a bag of treats…
