Memoir

Halloween Tricksters
My older cousins lived out the ridge from my grandparents. Every fall, they had a big Halloween party. On the day of the party, traffic was always heavy on the old gravel road. I don't know whose idea it was, but one fall, we decided to egg the vehicles when they left the party.
By Kassie3 days ago in Chapters
Birthday Boy
As my thirty-sixth birthday approached, I realized that once again, I wasn't going to have a special man to spend my day with; Zane had recently started seeing someone - good for him - and the already miniscule dating pool in my area seemed hellbent on excluding me. Whytt had initially requested a raincheck on our date but later admitted that he didn't have time for a relationship; after almost two months it became clear that that was a dead end. While it did make me sad to know that with each passing year, the chances of me finding a special someone were growing slimmer and slimmer, I had come to the point where I had begun to accept my fate. After all, would a life of solitude with my cats really be so bad? There would be no forced visits with my significant other's parents, no days I'd have to take off from work for things that I didn't particularly care about, and most importantly, there would be no sacrifice of my free time and I wouldn't have to miss out on any extra time with the true loves of my life: my cats.
By Gabriel Bradshaw 9 days ago in Chapters
Cycle
Cycle By Katherine Aguilar Year after year, we get older if we are blessed. If we are steadily blessed, we get to celebrate the moment that we entered this world. We are extremely blessed when others take the time to give or celebrate with us.
By Katherine Aguilar16 days ago in Chapters
Stitch: The lore of Sara Foxgrave
The morning sun fought its way through the grime-streaked window, but it offered no warmth to the small bedroom. For Sara, mornings were never a gentle transition from sleep to wakefulness; they were a battleground of orientation. She blinked heavily, her eyelids feeling like sandpaper against her eyes. Every single day began with the same disorienting fog , a heavy shroud of uncertainty that made her question the very reality of her surroundings. She rubbed her eyes aggressively, trying to clear the static from her vision, and forced herself to look around the room. She looked once, then blinked, and looked a second time. It was a mandatory ritual. She had to verify the geometry of the walls, the placement of the door, and the specific tilt of the ceiling before she could trust that she was exactly where she thought she was.
By Syl De'Vil19 days ago in Chapters
Trick-or-Treat . Content Warning.
Growing up, my cousins and I spent a lot of time playing in the horse pasture. Hidden deep within the thickest brush were marijuana plants growing in five gallon buckets. The plants were marked off with two strands of barbed wire to keep my papaw's workhorse from eating uncle Ronnie's crop. I stood at the base of the buckets, my head tilted back toward the sky as I looked up at those towering plants. Their wispy green leaves swayed in the breeze. Ronnie definitely had a green thumb; no matter what he grew, he raised nice, healthy plants.
By Kassie26 days ago in Chapters
Holidays in the Holler
Holidays were different in the holler. There were no Christmas shopping trips, no presents stacked high around the tree. The difficulty my grandparents experienced growing up influenced how they celebrated, making the focus of the holidays family and good food. They lived through the Great Depression. My mamaw was born in the 1920s. She told me a few stories about her life growing up. She was her daddy's favorite. When she spoke of him, I could hear the love shining through in her voice. Mamaw’s family worked farm fields. Being a little girl, she wasn't much help in the fields, but she cooked their dinner and supper. She was so small, she had to stand on a chair to reach the stove. Mamaw never talked about the Depression, although she lived through it.
By Kassie26 days ago in Chapters
Balanced Triads - Chapter 1
Greetings to the slepless and hopeless 🌙 Welcome to Balanced Triads. Genre: Dark Academia / Dystopian Sci-fi Schedule: A new chapter every Thursday , follow Matteo Andersson a behavioral scientist whose obsession turned human nature into a weapon. Now history books call him a villain, and he tries to defend himself in his memoir.
By Sellgren Stories29 days ago in Chapters
Happy are the Adaptable
My thoughts: I have never heard the word, meek, as to being able to "bend or adapt to God and life." The author* of this devotion* has imagined it. I think more along the lines of meekness being a "contained strength." The person who carried the character of that strength would have to also have to be full of patience to be able to keep their frustrations "contained." And then I think of patience being listed as a fruit of the Spirit. The author goes on to say we would need to be " strong enough on the inside to adapt to the outside ." The Bible said that if we could do that, we could inherit the earth.
By Shirley Belkabout a month ago in Chapters
Notes from the Mind Palace.
There are people you meet once and forget by morning, and then there are the ones who leave fingerprints on your nervous system. The ones your brain files under “important” even when your life is on fire and you’re too young to understand why something matters. I’ve been thinking about those people lately, the ones who slip out of your life but somehow stay lodged under your ribs like a splinter you never quite remove. Not painful enough to scream about, but impossible to ignore.
By Syl De'Vilabout a month ago in Chapters
Lightning
Papaw leased land to raise tobacco across the road from his property. He kept an old pony named Lightning to work the fields. Lightning was a gelded red pinto, and he was as big around as a barrel. He was a gentle horse, but if he knew someone was afraid of him, he would pick, chasing them any chance he got. He ran Mamaw when he got the chance. If he was loose and caught Mamaw in the yard, he would run her back into the house.
By Kassieabout a month ago in Chapters
Blocked Culverts, Clogged Ditches, and Family Feuds
When rain came down in the holler, it washed leaves and debris off the hills and into the creeks and ditches. Culverts would become blocked, and the water would back up, eventually running across the road and washing away the gravel. Papaw worked hard to keep the culverts cleared, sometimes working on them before the downpour had even stopped. He kept the ditches and creeks cleaned out from his house to the main road.
By Kassieabout a month ago in Chapters
The Livestock Pond
Growing up, I spent summers fishing at a livestock pond across the road from my grandparents’ house. I fished with hotdogs, bacon, and balls of smashed bread. I would not touch fishing worms. I raided Mamaw and Papaw’s fridge for bait, grabbed my fishing pole, and headed to the pond. The pond wasn’t much bigger than a mud hole, but we thought it was the best. My uncle Ronnie stocked it with fish he caught from the river, and he built a nice dock to fish from. It was always peaceful there. Woods enclosed the water on all sides, and the surrounding trees were decorated with fishing line and bobbers. My cousins, Joseph, Leslie, and I weren’t the best fishermen, but we had fun. Cattails grew thick along the water’s edge. Colorful dragonflies glided over the water’s surface and rested on the soft cattails. Big bullfrogs croaked from the water’s edge. Bass flashed in the sunlight as they darted in and out of the stalks. Occasionally, a large catfish tail slapped the water, sending ripples rolling across the pond. We all reeled in fast and cast back out in the direction of the catfish, most of the time getting tangled in each other’s lines.
By Kassie2 months ago in Chapters