My Brother

By Audrey Lambert, TIWP Student Be honest with me. Where can I go from here? A girl with no parents loses her brother. A girl with no friends loses everything. I still haven’t cleared out his room. I can’t bring myself to do so. Our apartment is so quiet, so empty. I wouldn’t have admitted […]

Legends

By Alexia Tzortzis, TIWP Student Icarus flew too close to the sun on purpose—and laughed as the wax burned down his back and he plummeted into the ocean. The sun painted everything in shades of gold, and set the feathers around him a flame. There is a certain beauty in setting the world on fire […]

Walls

By Ashley Larson, TIWP Student These walls know me better than my family. Inside, these walls hold our secrets, our past lives, our differences and similarities. Inside, these walls hold our screams, tears, radiating smiles and our world. Inside, these walls hold our true beings, our fantasies, our realities. Inside, these walls hold everything we’ve […]

If I Die Before My Sister

By Neena Grewal, TIWP Student If I die before my sister, tell her to paint my coffin. Get her canary yellow, burnt sienna, bloody red, and beg her to cover the black lid in color—so bright it almost seems silly to cry over it. Tell her to paint the ocean we visited, the lavender that […]

The Unknown

By Katerina Bonderud, TIWP Student I broke through the glass which most people call the atmosphere. My bones squished under the power of gravity as I didn’t fall, but was thrown to the earth. I was slapped by the harsh wind that gave no forgiveness. This place was no where near like my planet. My […]

To My Friend On The Other Side

By Neena Grewal, TIWP Student Hello. I’m not really sure how to write a letter, I only learned to write a few minutes ago. Maybe if you told me your name, I could call you that. For now, you’re just person. I’ve seen you for a while, but I’m not sure how long. Years for […]

#MeToo

By Blaise Harrison, TIWP student at SiTY The story that follows is a work of fiction. The men always thought my smile was blinding. They’d say, “C’mon pretty lady, be happy for me.” And I would. I’d give out my smiles freely and gladly and flash those pearly whites without a care in the world. […]

The Girl, The Scream, The Pen

By Audrey Lambert, TIWP Student The girl sat on the bench, staring straight ahead, grinding her teeth. She just couldn’t take that goddamned party anymore. She ran her fingers through her hair and adjusted her velvet dress. Why had they forced her to come here? Forced her to wear a dress? Forced her to be […]

Numbers

By Ashley Larson, TIWP Student A​ ​9​ ​year​ ​old​ ​girl​ ​was​ ​sat​ ​down​ ​by​ ​her​ ​grandmother​ ​on​ ​the​ ​blue​ ​satin​ ​couch​ ​as​ ​she slumped​ ​over​ ​in​ ​the​ ​pink​ ​shirt​ ​and​ ​looked​ ​up​ ​with​ ​curiosity.​ ​Grandma​ ​told​ ​her​ ​that​ ​everyone​ ​gets into​ ​habits​ ​and​ ​those​ ​habits​ ​happen​ ​at​ ​ages​ ​you​ ​cannot​ ​control.​ ​Those​ ​are​ ​the​ ​ages […]

Club Limbo

By Audrey Lambert, TIWP Student The wind whipped my hair as I swayed back and forth, trying not to lose my balance along the rail. The ocean to my left and the freeway to my right created a contrasting song of peace and chaos. The music pumping through my headphones drowned most of the noise […]