Dani turned the key in her motorcycle, and the engine fell silent. She unsnapped her helmet and left it sitting on the handles. Despite the warm summer air, Dani was frozen solid. She couldn’t believe she was really back. She was really back in Briarwood. As Dani gazed up at the Whitman House, its two stories blocking out the moon and casting a shadow on the driveway, she couldn’t help feeling an overwhelming urge to kick...

Kenzie stares at herself in the mirror as I flit around, adjusting the ruffles of the wedding dress. It’s not at all her style, though she still looks absolutely radiant. Still, I can tell how uncomfortable the bride is. “This doesn’t have to be the dress, you know,” I remind her softly. “You just have to go out there, give them a little twirl, and tell everyone you’ll consider it.” Kenzie nods, staring at the hardwood fl...

It’s pathetic, really, that my parents still control me at eighteen years old. Instead of partying with my friends the summer before freshman year of college, I’m stuck in a bus packed full of thirteen to nineteen year old Bible Fuckers singing praise songs. Okay, it’s not that I have something against Christians. I really don’t. There are some that are cool, like the ones who respect differences and don’t take everything...

My feet drag across carpet as I slump into my apartment and shut the door behind me. The lights fizz like ginger ale when I flick the switch, and the crackling feeling they produce sends a delicious shiver up my spine. The sensation of electricity nearly distracts me from the exhaustion setting in, but not quite. The kitchen sink is filled with dishes. I only wash one bowl for tonight, leaving the rest to sit another day....

My heart pounds as I take the steps three at a time. I don’t know where I’m going except up. Out. I don’t stop running until I reach the heavy metal door at the top of the staircase and push past it. My chest is heaving, my pulse racing a mile a minute. The door shuts behind me with a loud clunk, and a sinking feeling melts through me. I try the door handle. Fuck. Fuck. Panic surges through me, and then disappears as an o...