Stories
Short pieces. Rooted in truth. The kind of moment you almost missed.
Someone Else Entirely
It’s 2 am.
I rolled out of bed to take a dump, and now I’m staring at the wall, wondering if I had slept or if I am currently sleeping. I didn’t plan this—to be up at some ungodly hour questioning my reality. But I didn’t not plan this either.
Let me explain.
Steady
I closed the apartment door behind me and turned the key to lock it. A letter in a reddish pink envelope attached with a piece of tape above my peephole fluttered and flapped against the door as I closed it.
I sighed and looked around as I pulled the letter off my door to see if I was alone. How long had this been here? I didn’t even hear anyone come up to my door, and these walls are paper-thin. I took a quick peek. Not that I didn’t already know what it said. This was the third one.
Flecks of Light
Jalen loved how the sunlight spilled through the doors and windows in the morning and onto the floors. He liked walking through it with his eyes closed, feeling its warmth on his cheeks. Every few steps, he’d open his eyes, wave his hands in the light, and catch the flecks that filled the air. Sometimes kids would stare as they walked down the hall, or a teacher would tell him to stop stimming. But he didn’t care.
Paté
“Paté, paté, paté!”
The woman selling Fritay and Paté shouted as she walked in the streets below. I quickly shot up from my seat and ran to the front of the building, looking below. The night air was still, lukewarm, and loud with insects, laughter, and casual passersby. The rooftop kept us high enough to find solace in the intermittent breeze under the moonlight.
