By Teresa M Fish “You’re probably not, but even if you are, I’ll take care of you both,” he said. I looked down at the test, two blue perpendicular lines, and before I lifted my tear-filled eyes back to his I heard the tires screech down the road and forever out of our lives.

By Natalie Carig I woke up in the middle of the night to my first child kicking in the womb. I then realized she had passed away three years ago due to a stillbirth.

By Violet Yeaton I heard the clang of dishes of breakfast being prepared in the kitchen. Excited, I ran downstairs to find no one was there.

By Zoe May “3, 2, 1” cheers to the New Year and the end of 2020! The clock read 11:60 pm.

By Grace Schultz  Sometimes I dangle my foot off the end of the bed, hoping the monster underneath will grab it. I don’t know what to tell you, quarantine has been lonely. 

By Grace Schultz  One day I was in Costa Rica, yelling, “It’s Corona time,” drinking Jaeger bombs and champagne, and celebrating the new year with a bunch of people at a bar. Then, spring break came and it was actually Corona time–not the same vibe. 

By Grace Schultz  Natural disasters can create beautiful things–new opportunities for life, new landscape, even music. Nothing says percussion music like a graveyard during an earthquake *shake shake.*

By Grace Schultz My recently widowed neighbor always joked about how pigs were the best way to get rid of a dead body quickly and that she may have used it a time or two—accompanied by a short laugh and wink—every time I came over to give her animals a check-up. I always thought she was kidding until one of her pigs suffered from a gastro-obstruction: a gold wedding band and a small money clip. 

By Sara Hinojosa I heard my mother call me from the kitchen. As I walked in her direction to respond, I heard the same voice whisper from the other side of her closed bedroom door: “Don’t go over there, I heard it too.”

By Zoe May As I touched the other side of the river, I shouted in excitement, as it was the first time I’ve ever beat him across! Until I turned around and saw he wasn’t behind me.