That letter I almost-wrote? I almost told you today through a text. It wouldn't have come out the same. The "Hey I almost wrote you a letter saying..." text... I can't imagine the response I would have gotten.

Instead you told me to runaway. Runaway to see you. To LIVE with you. To leave my life behind that I'm apparently messing up and too young to be living. Live with you in a state I've never visited to an apartment I've never even seen in pictures. To an address I've never sent a letter to...

What to do, what to...

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Ridiculous. I've tried to write to you probably 30 times since you moved away. I have unfinished letters, words stuck in my head, of a million different ways to say the same thing.

In April I wrote a letter to you in my head on the car ride home from the mountains. Then I went home and typed it up; deleted it, then pulled it out of the 'recycle bin' on my desktop.

Now it's January, the only thing I ever sent was an 'I Miss You' card with a dog on it that looked incredibly sad and I have...

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"I can't sleep with her next to me," I'd protested.

And, predictably, Elsa had looked wounded and said, "Love me, love my cat."

So I loved her cat. I mean, how could I not?

And a few days later:

"I can't sleep with the TV on," I said. "I'm sorry. I've tried."

"Okay, Julie," said Elsa reasonably. "That's fair."

And she turned the TV off, even though that got her to sleep quickets.

And a few days later:

"I can't sleep," I said. "It's just a thing. Go back to bed."

And she looked at me, and then she went...

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It was within reach.

She just had to keep walking.

The key was to never stop.

Her heart was beating.

Her breath caught in her throat and she choked back a sob.

It had to be here.

Her arms were outstretched as she fumbled through the forest, moving as quickly as she dared over the treacherous ground.

Her shoulders shook as a her fear racked her whole body.

Her back stayed straight and her chin stayed strong, even as her spirit faltered.

They would not have lied to her surely.

They wouldn't have been that cruel.

They couldn't have been....

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She'd always come running when I called. I couldn't resist her blonde hair and silky skin, or the fact she was always willing to sleep with me on summer and winter breaks from school. I'd come over in the morning; sometimes she had just woken up. We'd go up to her room, with lime-colored walls and rainbow-striped sheets. Entangled, entranced, and full of ecstasy. She'd get me a glass of water after we kissed after sleeping together. I hid my bike behind her house in case her mom came home unexpectedly. Our first time she was 15, and I was...

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I couldn't sleep with her next to me, he said. She was tossing and turning, not to mention I couldn't stop looking at her. Her blonde hair rolled up onto her head in a knot, my college t-shirt, and her Superman underwear- I just couldn't take my eyes off of her. She was beautiful.

In the morning when I was still looking at her she smiled wide, loving that I was already (well, still), awake. She kissed my forehead and slid closer.

"Dude, what are you doing, you said you didn't love her."
"I can't help it, the way she...

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She didn't look at him. She couldn't. He was standing there, and she didn't recognize him. Alex hurt Keri. Beyond hurt. Four years of sleeping together during summer and winter breaks from his Catholic college in Ohio HAD to mean something. Didn't they?

Not to him. Not anymore. He wasn't in it for the same reasons. Maybe he knew Keri loved Zak, too. Maybe Alex knew that deep inside Keri really loved them both (she hoped neither of them knew about each other, at least). Maybe he hoped that Zak would love her back so she wouldn't be so hurt...

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The only thing that felt worse than being left alone was being left alone at nighttime.

It was 2004 and Keri was 18; visiting Zak's downtown apartment after he finally kept a promise and picked her up to see him.

On his mattress on the floor - crumpled blankets, the two of them in t-shirts and underwear.

He got high, they watched MTV until 4am; in between he ate Cheetos and asked Keri to marry him. He always, always, talked about how beautiful their children would be. How could Keri say yes when she was 18? How could she say...

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She opened the envelope and screamed.

"He's coming to get me!" Keri shouted, "Zachary's coming to get me!"
Keri wanted nothing more than to leave her life in New York and move South to be with Zachary.They dated briefly, he proposed, she said no, and that was it. It wasn't just that she said no, he wasn't entirely serious and she was only 18.

Keri married Jack a few days before her 25th birthday, and she was completely in love with him. She never forgot Zachary, even on their wedding day. Zachary, or Zak as she called him, was her...

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"I hope he gets it - thanks Alex, talk soon." Keri hung up the phone, and I hoped I did the right thing. Keri and I were together off-and-on for 4 years or so. She loved me, I knew that. Not until after I broke promises and left her alone, only for her to be so hurt she went to be with my brother, who hurt her even more.

I haven't spoken to Keri since the time I promised her I'd take a Greyhound to visit her in Niagara Falls, and I didn't go and she never forgave me. That...

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