What's in Your Car?

The collection of items in her hands falls in front of the cashier in a tumble of plastic that crinkles when it hits the hard surface. The boy behind the counter wears a blue baseball cap backwards, and is swallowed in a large yellow sweatshirt. She wears baggy clothes too, but it isn’t cool in the same way the cashier dresses. He looks ready to be photographed in magazines, and she looks like her clothes aren't her own. He chomps loudly on a piece of gum, and each time he pops a bubble, her jaw twitches. She tries to ignore the sound and motions to the stands behind him. He points to the cheapest pack. He doesn’t even turn around, one hand sliding across a brightly colored screen and the other grabbing blindly behind him. She stuffs her hands into the pocket of her cargo pants, and when she pulls them out, her nails are black and broken, her wallet matching the tips of her fingers. The beep of the scanner makes her twitch, and she swears she only has, at most, five things, but the sound keeps playing in her head relentlessly. Beep, beep, beep. 

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Rebirth

I’ve been breathing for a while. I can feel the wood against my back, and taste the air. But my heart hasn’t started beating. It’s an odd feeling. I can tell that time has passed, and I can tell that my consciousness has returned, but my internal clock is still broken and my life hasn’t come back.

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Little Baby

She doesn’t give the baby another look and leaves the room on swift feet, passing the maternity ward and not stopping till she exits the swiveling doors and collapses in the spiky grass outside the horrid walls that reek of death, even around life. There are light pink peonies, like the baby's hat, growing out of a small patch near a hospital garden sign. A monarch butterfly flaps its wings and floats in front of her and a gentle breeze wipes the tears from her face with a soothing whisper. It’s cruel how beautiful it is. As if nature itself refused to give her another look, to even regard her pain with a gray cloud or drop of rain. The flowers would keep growing; the flowers would keep living.

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Trastavere

As he finished cleaning up the mess, he realized he was late to lunch with a woman. There had been a lot of blood, and accumulated overuse apparently clogged the drain that was strategically placed in the center of the room. He turned red just thinking about the whole debacle. His victim, Gina, had put up more of a fight than he had expected.

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