She knew that she would find him here. It was his escape, the place he came to find peace. It was quiet and he was rolling up alone, up and down the rink. first with the jack, then with his favourite woods, he never tired of it.

'Dad!' she called.

'Hello, Nicola. I won't be a moment.'

She watched as he bent slowly and lifted his woods, tucking them into the crook of his arm. he slipped the jack into his pocket and patted is to make sure it was safe. According to Dad, you couldn't leave a jack lying...

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100 feet away. She had only been 100 feet away.
I could have caught up with her, stopped her maybe, but my feet were rooted to the one spot, and hers were just about to float out over the edge.
She turned and smiled and waved just a little, her hand moving from side to side, like we saw the Queen do once on television.
Then she jumped.
Then my feet decided they were free to move as I wanted them to and I ran to the edge. I looked out and saw her head break the surface of the...

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He’d always thought of Malory as a cat person. She referred to cats in conversation energetically and often, so when he visited her apartment he expected to meet a few. Malory set him straight. She was two when her parents gave Bo and Greco away. Mama and Dad, three children under four, an ailing dog and two cats were too much. They could not all be borne. Rip was on meds for anxiety, his pee pooling in the old floorboards. The cats threw his kibble at him and shed disdainful tufts. When Rip and the baby both stopped sleeping through...

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I was my own villain my own devastating ending

The back of the car has not been cleaned very well, candy wrappers, a dogs toy. None of it speaks to me today none of it means anything. I lie here and imagine stars, the smell of campfires, oceans, sex.

I was my own Hero

The parking brake sticks sometimes the left turn signal works but you can't tell from inside. Let it drift down the big hills, brake pads aren't free.

Run your finger on the fake wood grain, pray for rain, pray for peace. The trick is to let...

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He ran into the room, his heart pounding, and his clothes soaking wet.

"What's wrong?!" she asked him.

He ducked into a side room away from the windows in the door. "The police are looking for me. They think I killed someone," he said.

"Oh my god! Why do they think that?"

"I don't know, but I didn't do anything."

"What happened?"

"I was our for a walk when the storm started, and I knocked on the door of the nearest house where I saw lights on. There was no answer, so I opened the door to see if anyone...

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A dry, sandy summer like this one. I had met him just a mile down, by the Shell gas station, his cowboy boots kicking up a torrid storm as he leaned against an electric pole and kicked a Pepsi can out of his way -- it rolled like a tumbling weed before coming to a halt at my sandal-wrapped toes.

I picked it up, sand and dust whirling around me, forcing themselves into the slits of my eyes. "Hey cowboy."

He looked at me and said nothing. He lured me in with absolutely nothing but an intense blue stare as...

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I read a story today, a true one, about a young man who hung himself at the age of twenty-three.

His story was horrific. The abuse he received as a child ruined him both physically and mentally and, apparently, emotionally.

It is so sad to hear about loss of young, talented people; even more so when it's the result of unspeakable evil done to them by pieces of shit that deserve a hell that Dante couldn't possibly imagine.

Hug your kids.

Listen to your friends.

Be kind. Always be kind. There is help out there, but you might not think...

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Cleanliness was a virtue. They told him that.

"Who are they?" The others would ask. The others didn't believe in they. But they are there. They must be. Or else, why they tell him that?

They also told him of the magical properties of the string. The others didn't believe in the string, but he convinced them.

you must try the ritual of the string, or it will not work it is powered by nonbelievers

The others were intrigued. Still, they did not believe, but, perhaps, what harm is it to see where this leads?

Of course, the ritual of...

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Fish meant for market was found dumped in a bin outside the school. The mother believed the rotting smell would disguise her hidden bundle beneath. Her post-birth addled brain forgetting only papers were supposed to be in that container and what she tried to dispose would be eventually found.

Margarita wasn't a bad person. She did what she thought best at the time. Took her baby to the church and left her on the steps timing so the priest would find it. The bloody towels, rags, her own clothing stuffed below the fish. She kept the umbilical cord and placenta....

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"Everyone is a sun," he insisted, but no one was arguing.

"Every dog has his drug," he affirmed, and they all agreed.

"He's an unusual kid," I decided, and they all agreed.

"Everyone is a sun," he repeated, adding, "but not you," and he pointed his peanut butter fist at me.

The sky was hazy and blue, like the sun in a balloon, and the road was cold and icy.

I uncoiled my hand-knit scarf and decided to wait for the moon.

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