“Only if you know how to." I heard that as I saw him wipe those tears away. I stopped dead in my tracks momentarily forgetting why I was in that empty hallway again. I longingly watched his back disappear into the men’s room with drooping shoulders, seemingly carrying the weight of the world. Could a heart become whole and crumble into pieces all at the same time over and over? It’s been what? Two or three months? I’ve lo...

Funny how the mind protects us from trauma and stress by shutting off memories and emotions. I did not understand why I have been so on edge about the MRI my doctor ordered for the pain in my shoulder. They gave me earplugs, strapped me down, covered me in a blanket and started sucking me into that tight tube with only a panic button in my hand. As I lay there, gripped by the claustrophobic panic, the technician told me t...

All Hearts Come Home for Christmas The small window afforded little in the way of a view. Not that there was much to see; it was snowing like crazy outside. As I settled back into my seat with a sigh, the thought that some icy catastrophe would result in the plane crashing crossed my mind. It didn’t make me any happier about the vacation that had been imposed upon me. A glance down at my hand caused another frown. The rin...

In the summer of 1970, an engaged, Jewish, student nurse and a wounded Vietnam vet from the south met in a New York VA hospital. This chapter marks the end of the beginning of their story. Mark Cahill’s body tensed at the familiar, rhythmic click of Gwen Kaplan’s footsteps approached his room. Not for the first time, he flashed back to their fight the day before he left town to spend Christmas with his family. He still co...

Outside, a scattering of forlorn leaves clung to the dark, wet limbs of trees bordering the deserted playground and half-empty parking lot behind the red brick apartment building. Cold, misty rain and swirling winds hastened the inevitable outcome of this doomed struggle. For Gwen, watching from inside her snug bedroom, it was a beautiful scene. The nasty, late-December weather had given her a great excuse to spend the en...

Coming up to meet you and hearing your questions of silence, wondering if you will catch me when I fall or get lost in a storm? I remember when we stood there looking out at the skyline, and it felt like there was no turning back down the road that led to this moment we shared. Feeling the years go by as if I have been racing against the clock and been hearing the ticking of that false clock that just distracts us from al...

They say that home, is where the heart is, and it seems as though I am just looking for another chance to be allowed to breathe free again, and make me feel young again too. As I stand here w atching and waiting for the rain to come from that storm out on the streets, which I have never run from. And I know that my words said will never keep anyone dry, or be able to wipe tears as they flow freely from an open sky. As the...

They might be spending more money on dates and making love instead of making out, but some things, such as Johnny, never seemed to change.  The imperative, female voice boomed down the hallway. “Gwen, pick up the phone, already! It’s your friend Robin.” Gwen put down her nail polish and reached for the phone her father had installed in the bedroom she shared with her kid sister. “Hey, Robin. Where are you? Is everything a...

They say that home, is where the heart is, and it seems as though I am just looking for another chance to be allowed to breathe free again, and make me feel young again too. As I stand here watching and waiting for the rain to come from that storm out on the streets, which I have never run from. And I know that my words said will never keep anyone dry, or be able to wipe tears as they flow freely from an open sky. As the...

Chapter I- Hiro -She flicked her hair to the side and looked up from her work, stretching out her sore arms as she glanced around the room. The members of the student council sat at different corners of the room, scribbling ferociously into binders and folders in order to meet the deadline tomorrow. She sank back into her chair and looked over to the President. “Pres,” she announced, startling him out of his concentration...

"Well, I've got good news and I've got bad news. Which do you want first?" Gwen had just walked into Mark's hospital room and was taking off her damp raincoat. "Since I'm still standing," she said, "give me the good news first." "I've wrangled a three day pass for this weekend," he announced with a triumphal grin. "That means I won't have to report back here until Monday morning. Do you think you can handle that situation...

Once again not needing anyone crying if they find the story sad, as I once again make my way through all of those tired and worn out places. Moving against the tide of the evening’s faces which go by both unrecognized and un-registered, and taking all in play by play, and trying not to be held back by a sense of mission yet I wish I were elsewhere, with that psychological feeling being powerful, very powerful and can over...

Minutes after her fiance’ stormed away, pouting over not getting his way during their time alone, she decided to test how a certain other man would act in a similar situation. Gwen Kaplan stood in the doorway of the familiar hospital room, studying the man who had so disrupted her once well-ordered life. Mark Cahill lay stretched out in bed with his eyes closed, using earphones to listen to a recording of, “A Farewell to...

She had two lovers: the fiance’ she’d loved for years and wanted to marry, and this new man, the one she couldn’t stop seeing... Gwen Kaplan sat in one of the small, doorless cubicles that lined the back wall of the lobby of her all-female dorm. It might be 1970, but these so-called ‘beau parlors were the only sanctioned spot for what the school conduct manual still referred to as, “entertaining gentleman callers.” As she...

I wake up because ‘Overrated’ by Tim McGraw is playing as my wake up alarm for school. I grab my phone as I start singing along, I`ve been in an over-happy, elated mood since Sir had said goodbye. After he had kissed my forehead, he got into his car and drove off, hanging his arm out the window, waving goodbye. I smile to myself as I recall the event. My parents had asked how my day went when they got home; I told them ev...