breakups
When it comes to breakups, pain is inevitable, but Humans thinks that suffering is optional.
A Crazy Idea
Addis was a man full of passion. Being full of passion leads to being full of emotion. Thus, we can say Addis is an emotional man. Incredibly emotional. Weather doesn’t seem to help the situation, especially when it starts to rain. And it’s dark out. And your girlfriend has left you.
By Deylan Dean6 years ago in Humans
Dumb Luck
Dumb Luck Beth, newly unengaged and a little bit more reckless than usual, wore exactly the wrong dress to the casino cruise. Over watery margaritas at an oceanfront dive in Vero Beach the night before, ensconced in a wraparound booth with a bachelorette party consisting of eight of her new best friends, Beth had clinked her tumbler into theirs in the glittering, restless dim and agreed: why wouldn’t she hit the cruise the next night with them, try her luck? Emboldened by the false confidence of four or five cocktails, having successfully (if temporarily) corralled the shrieking, bereft part of herself still reeling from the dissolution of her own engagement, Beth had become part of this group of keyed-up strangers. She was in coastal Florida, alone, on what should have been a honeymoon. She liked their cheerleader intensity, their giddiness that had likely been forced at the beginning of the evening but, with the continual administration of pump-up pop songs and tequila shots, had transformed into something that looked very much like joy.
By Stephanie Pushaw6 years ago in Humans
Blackest Sheep
Three stood in photos that have crossed the feed of the past. Blank in the meaning of a missing figure standing in a line with the rest. Each picture plays a part in the way that a life is played out, left out and unwanted. Three supporting the others while looking down on the rest, or speaking behind their back.
By Alexandrea Justine6 years ago in Humans
Mindset Matters
"Why are you still here? Useless b***h!" he mumbled as he stumbled in the front door. At that moment, she knew what she had to do. "I'm moving out," she said to herself in a low voice, knowing he wouldn't hear. But he had already gone back out the front door, leaving the door wide open and slamming the gate.
By Elisabeth Thompson6 years ago in Humans
Indelible
I have the worst habit of playing things over and over again in my mind; the same memory, shifted and permuted and warped with each recall as I try to think about what I might have done differently. How my life may have turned out if I had said something a little more smooth, stopped fiddling with my jacket zipper, or even just reached out to hold her. Ruminating. Apparently this is called ruminating. The reason this is bad is because you can never change the past. Do you know that? I don’t know if I fully do.
By J. W. Kennelly6 years ago in Humans
Tokyo
The key turned slowly. My hand was moist. The key slipped a little. I took a deep breath. I was careful not to drop the tightly packed brown paper bags of organic food I’d just carried three blocks and seventeen flights of stairs. We paid top dollar for a penthouse in central Tokyo, yet today of all days the elevator decides to stop. I could feel my shirt sticking to me, my hair was soaked. The humidity was higher than the midday sun.
By Stephen Johansson 6 years ago in Humans
The Ring
"Don't forget me," she says "Not that you could" she adds, laughing. I stop writing and look up from the notebook. She's smiling, but looks concerned. I nod my head, and try to reassure her "You're on the first page." It doesn't work. She's worried, but trying to hide it. I can tell. She always plays with the ring when she's worried.
By Jan Smolaga6 years ago in Humans
Strangers
On the train alone at midnight, I found Johnny Brown’s notebook. It was underneath the seat across from mine, forgotten like a gum wrapper. I know you should never touch things on the subway, let alone on the grimy floor. But I felt compelled to at least see what it was.
By Kelly Anderson6 years ago in Humans
Dear Charlotte
As a child, Charlie loved spending time in freshwater creeks while her father looked on. In the mudbanks along the Catawba River, she dug through dirty snow to pull out earthworms in winter and hunted for rocks flecked with pyrite in summer. She waded into the streams to look for the black, beady eyes of a crayfish shimmering two inches beneath the surface of the water. From atop moss-covered rocks, she watched the minnows flit around her feet until her legs got numb from cold and her father called from the side to tell her it was time.
By Jonathan Riedel6 years ago in Humans
The Next Chapter
She could still feel it. The words, a gut punch still gasping for breath. “I think we should break up.” “I’m going to to need you to move out.” Her mind still tried to wrap around the words spinning in her brain. Bursting out the building doors, feet swerving at the ground she turned left up the sidewalk, barely viewing the people she passed. Were there tears streaming down her face? Was she audibly sobbing? She honestly couldn’t tell, and for a brief moment she wished she had brought sunglasses as cover, despite the weather. But the thought dissipated as fast as it came.
By Alyssa McKeever6 years ago in Humans
