“It’s just confusing,” she said. I waited another minute as she fidgeted with her pink ribbon headband. As force of habit, she twirled the ribbon and then chewed on a chipped blue nail polished thumb. Not usually the careful thinker of the class, I almost wasn’t ready for the question for which she was trying… Continue reading Super Confusing Stories
A good story meets you in the midst of life. It tells you something true, something you can relate to. It abducts you. It takes your heart unexpectedly. It gives you the breath of another life as a character in the fairy tale. It becomes a reality you dream is yours. It paints a world… Continue reading Predictable Stories are the Worst
She hadn’t heard any screams. No crashes or anything out of the ordinary. Nothing jolted her awake as it should have. The air felt different, she remembered. Pillows and sheets and blankets, swaddled her with naivety that every thing was the same as when she sent to bed last night. Her mouth was sticky and… Continue reading It Ended With a Whisper
It looked like an old piece of paper, stuck to the bottom of the cardboard box in the attic. The kind of trash that most people wouldn’t even give a second look to. At the end of the cleaning day. When there was such an abundance of meaningless old papers that would have to journey… Continue reading When Words Meant Too Much
Pink flowers etched on to the couch. Faked a smile at the wilting flowers outside the window drenched by the grey. Velvet fabric mocking the outdoor fleshly petals crusting over. At one point in their life, couch and flower, they might have felt the same. But today they are not the same. Unnaturally preserved vibrant.… Continue reading Touch of Regret
Toe touches the bare floor. A drum beat pulses through bone skin blood. Currents of an unpredictable rhythm tickle the senses. And she begins to dance. Hair pouring over and under. Hips and thighs swivel too fast, too slow. A finger draws up lightly, feeling every sensation. Blur of a color, and swirls of many,… Continue reading Dangerous Dance
Sometimes she lost her mind. Rinsing, chopping. Gathering stirring. What did all of it mean. Emotions that should not be making her sick with every cut slice chop. Her knife pieced the soft flesh of a zucchini, marring the vibrant green skin to show its unimpressive white insides. Vegetable triangles scatted in the wake of… Continue reading Chopped Up
People love to love love. At least the idea of it. Caught up in dreams of bliss and ease, we desire a love that is desirable. A shadowy longing for a great love story that has been imprinted deep in our memories. A tale of love that lasts forever. People love to love an idea… Continue reading The Real Love Story
There were moments when she lay in the dark. Seconds that flashed that other life stuck in the edge of her brain. Sometimes she tried to keep it there, behind closed eyes. Looking for the warmth. Wondering if it was any better. Probably not. Thats when she had to open up, and look directly into… Continue reading Love Looks Abused
She did not know why she was there. Totally uncomfortable, this is not how she wanted to spend her morning. The faces looked nice enough, they smiled at her. But she got the sense that they were secretly making fun of her. That they knew she didn’t really belong here. Curling up their polite lips… Continue reading Choking
Cindy Koch 