Tina felt the bedsheet peel away from her skin as she sat up. She was covered in a sheen of sweat from head to toe. Her hair was damp and matted. Even at midnight with all the windows open and no clothing but panties, Tina could not seem to beat the heat. It was making sleep more and more difficult all the time. For days, the city had been caught in a heatwave. The temperature had cracked thirty degrees Celsius on each of...

Before the creak of keys in the door, came the cacophony of jeers. It swelled in volume until almost painful on the ears, dying to a faded moan after a few long minutes.The man, in the end cell, closed his eyes in the hope that it would soften the assault on his ears. It did not. Four times a day the yelling occurred, never was it necessary. Animals they were, not men, snarling and howling for their supper. Supper! A gran...

"Ayyyy?"Abigail gritted her teeth. Why couldn't her father ever, not once, manage her full name? She was simply a sound, a noise emitted from between filthy lips when he needed to refer to her. The screech of her first initial was his calling-cry when he wanted her, or a whine when she wasn't good enough."Coming, Father." She picked up the tray, heavy with ale and meat, curling her skeletal fingers around the oak handles...

My mind is racing, With every word my brain spews on the page I feel part of my sanity come back. Part of my pain is lifted, Part of my heart mends itself, But only for a moment, Because once this poem is over, I get thrown into the darkest part of my head. In this place, I am told I am worthless, stupid, not worthy of life. I argue with voices inside me. Voices, so many voices circling me! I scream and scream, But no one...

Why does it have to be me? You lie in bed asleep, While I sit in a dark corner,Petrified of my own thoughts. I can't sleep because you'll be there.  Slowly I slip into madness. Pounding my head against the wall, Screaming at the shadows in my closet. Why can't anyone hear me?! Why will no one listen?! I just want to sleep. I just want to live my life without the fear of seeing you again. Then everything goes silent. I'm s...

“What’s in cell 119?” Albertson looked up at me for the first time since I’d sat down. I’d been building up the courage to ask about 119 for ten minutes, but his expression made me wish I’d kept my mouth shut. He leaned across the desk, examining me closely. I felt suddenly nervous, was I about to be fired before my probation period was even up? “What did you say James?” “It’s just, I was running over some of the blueprin...

His name was Robert. He’d just gotten out of prison on parole after doing 6 years time. While he’d been there he’d had his throat cut. He showed me the scar. Sometimes you just have a feel for when someone is scamming you. His story rang true. He was hanging out at a Chevron station on Saturday night because the shelter wouldn’t have a place from him until Monday. “I’m trying to do the adult thing, here,” he told me. “Try...

It was an anomaly of nature that housed nature’s anomalies. Jutting hundreds of feet out of the cold North Atlantic was an island pillar of jagged rock forming a platform above the frigid waves. Sitting on top was a true hell on Earth. A relic of the Cold War, once a fort used by the Americans to watch for Russian ships that would dare attempt sailing the glacier filled waters, has since been turned into a prison they cal...

Part 2 picks up the story directly ehere Part 1 ended.Afternoon came and with it a gentle breeze. As they drove, the cloudless sky looked to Josef bluer than he could ever remember seeing it. As their Daimler passed by, the trees that lined the roadway seemed almost to bow to them, each offering its shade and inviting them to stop. The rolling hills too seemed somehow more welcoming while the blooms grew in greater profus...