(The Saturday Evening Post, 1950) “George, I wish you’d look at the nursery.” “What’s wrong with it?” “I don’t know.” “Well, then.” “I just want you to look at it, is all, or call a psychologist in to look at it.” “What would a psychologist want with a nursery?” “You know very well what he’d want.” His wife paused in the middle of the kitchen and watched the stove busy humming to itself, making supper for four. “It’s just that the nursery is different now than it was.” “All right, let’s have a look.” They walked down the hall of their soundproofed Happylife Home, which had cost them thirty t ..read more

When my mom would fall asleep on the couch, on a Sunday, I’d put a blanket over her and do my best to keep quiet. She never fell asleep at TV or in a week day, because those situations required her attention. Most of the time, she would wake up, startled and ask what happened. Was the house on fire or the kids unfed? Noup. Were the animals going crazy, starving? No. But her reaction would (almost) never change. What would make her this worried, to jump out of bed at the slightest move or sound? It was her ongoing care for her home. Her family and her home. To be fair, she did raise two small k ..read more

Life in the Realm of Fantasy Authors who are just starting out need to learn the craft. We humans find it easy to remember simple sayings, little proverbs, if you will. The commonly bandied proverbs of writing are meant to encourage us to write lean, descriptive prose and craft engaging conversations. These sayings exist because the craft of writing involves learning the rules of grammar, developing a broader vocabulary, developing characters, building worlds, etc., etc. The truth is, we can’t know everything about the craft just by learning a few common proverbs. They help, but we could spe ..read more

… and it got me thinking about time. About my self and my life, my decisions. In the last couple of years, a few days prior to April the 19th, I would take a seat and flip through my life album. It’s not a real album, that I could share with somebody else, is more of an oneiric one. (Image by C B from Pixabay) So I start with 5 years ago – sort of a 5-year plan, am I right? – and walk myself back. What happened in 2018? Where was I? What decisions had I taken at that time and where did they lead me? I was in Netherlands, with my life heading towards an exciting direction. I was independent, ha ..read more

Alice was analyzing her own reflection, in the fogged bathroom mirror. She had just taken a shower, one of those when the water felt like an embrace, allowing her to reflect over the day’s events. The night before, Alice didn’t have these thoughts! She was on her 19th day in a row regime, following her routine; starting with her double cleanse. Then an acne prone skin toner and serums, maybe also a face mask if skin asked for. She was too distracted now to give attention to anything. Maybe Zoe was right – maybe she was too self obsessed to pay so much attention to a stranger. The idea that the ..read more

‘Did – did you see that woman?’, Alice asked the barista. ‘What? What woman?’ Alice muttered something under her breath and ran outside the door. As she pushed it, her mind was racing, trying to find a valid explanation for why was another woman wearing her face? She looked around for the dark color blazer and red, wavy hair. Hurried her pace to the corner of the street – nobody that fit the description. ‘Where could she disappear in such short time?’ When her heart was pounding the hardest, her phone rang. ‘Fuck!’ ‘Alice, where are you?’ Her work wife was as impatient as always, especial ..read more

It takes 26 days to make a new habit. Today was Alice’s 20th day in a row, of her new routine. She had seen on Pinterest that if you want to improve yourself, your mind set, you have to create more “healthy habits”. Waking up just 20 minutes before you need o leave home, was not going to work anymore. So now she wakes up by 6 o’clock, 6:10 tops, and follows a strict routine she had stolen – all by herself – from the content creators she follows online. After she brushed her teeth, she began her skin care routine. It was her first month using face cream, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid or even sunsc ..read more

(The next chapter will contain subject that may be triggering for some readers, such as: self-harm) What… what do I… do now? Sunali was leaning against the cold hallway, his legs resting on the endless pile of magazines around him. The laughing faces from their covers were smeared with his own blood. They looked deranged, like in the scary movies, where the psychotic murderer was covered in the victim’s blood. In front of Sunali, the bathroom was the only part of his “home” that didn’t look like a murderer went loose in there. His look was fixated on the bathroom tiles in front of him. On one ..read more

When was the last time he felt the sun on his body? How long has it been since the warmth of the spring sun embraced him? A week? A month? A day?! His mind couldn’t make a difference between days and nights, clearly not on the time itself. Could it be summer outside? Winter? His scrabbled brain still fought with the idea that so much time had passed. Suna was rocking his body, in the same place he was hours ago, in the side corner of the room, close to that fake window he hated. He looked nowhere in particular, his eyelids half open. If there was something he missed, was the sun that he usuall ..read more

Helen’s dress was that white floral-fruity type that makes you think of summer. The cherry print had a special kick and she knew it. She might have been 7-8 years older than the girls who wore it, but you had to give it to her, she looked good. After mentally ticking every box on her list, Helen had just one more thing to do before leaving the apartment: to put on her large, green, hand-made earrings she just bought. She took her purse and was on her way to meet Sunali. That story he had told her a few weeks back, of when he got lost as a child, really got to her. Or did she just allow it to a ..read more