As soon as the bus doors flew open at her stop, Helen would put her legs to the test and run home like a deer fleeing from the twisted red crunch of a wolf’s bite. There was no way in hell the bus driver gave a damn about what was…

Lena made a beeline from the garage to her bedroom. Without thinking, she opened her closet door and pulled down a large box of miscellaneous items she kept stored on the top shelf. After rummaging through its contents for a few seconds, she found it: her old tape player! Just…

Sometime late that summer evening, Lena found herself in her mother’s dusty garage, rummaging through old boxes that had been taped and stacked and stored away indefinitely. Nothing was labeled. And Lena couldn’t remember exactly why she was tearing all the boxes open. Her mother hadn’t asked her to do…

Jim was absentmindedly wiping down the bar when she flooded into the room. The second he glanced lazily in her direction, he was awestruck. The dark and dingy hole-in-the-wall bar this newcomer discovered was thick with stale sourness, lost hopes and runways. And when she walked in, the crisp mid-morning…

Written sometime back in April 2020. Originally posted on HitRECord. It’s almost summer time here in Oman. I can tell because we have to keep the AC units on in the house for longer periods in the day. And it’s getting to the point where it’s pretty unbearable to sleep…

…to the unwaveringly faithful. Doubting Thomas There is this story in the Bible, immediately following Jesus’s death and resurrection. He’s been sighted. People are talking about it. They are in a fervour because he has indeed kept his promises. He’s the freaking Messiah, and he overcame death on the cross. …

…to three mothers. The Past If you’ve read anything I’ve written, there’s definitely an underlying theme to what I write about: my mother. Even now that she’s gone, her influence surrounds me in almost every way. Sometimes, it’s a positive, nurturing feeling; most times, it’s a bit disappointing. Our relationship was often…

…to a friend who is listening to me but not really hearing me. Listening vs. Hearing in Friend-Talk People say a lot of things, especially to those with whom they are the closest. Most of it is probably innocuous or inconsequential; however, there are moments when it is particularly crucial for the other person to…

…to an emotionally immature person What do I actually want to say? Over the course of about 6–8 months, I wrote five pieces in a series entitled, “What I Should Have Said…” to a former friend, to my mother, to an unrequited love, to a former colleague and about a gross form of sexual misconduct. …