Find #forgiveness, her therapist said. She buries the bulbs deep in the #barren graveyard soil. Afterward, her hands itch and blister. Even if death, he causes her pain. The hyacinths bloom, violet stars, like the bruises on her neck. A bouquet for their daughter; one day she'll understand. #vss365

“Funny,” Lyn mused, “how flowers are suddenly growing through that stubborn #barren patch of soil in your garden. It’s as though the universe is showing you there’s hope Mike will be found alive.” “We can but pray,” said Val, praying she’d dug deep enough… #vss365

"The world is on a conveyer belt towards convenience. Sometimes it gets to me. Learning, creating - those things aren't valued." "Look around your mind," says my muse. I do. "What do you see?" "A garden." "#Diligence grew this garden. Keep learning. Keep creating." #vss365

"With #Diligence and Hard Work, you can achieve your dreams!" The new graduates, full of #unalloyed optimism, march to the exit, credit cards ready. Just $50 a month for two pills a day. Horse-pill Hard Work in the morning, bitter Diligence at night. A frictionless dream life forever. #vss365

"Now?" "Not yet." "Now?" "Okay." With a hoot, she joins the other goblins. She can't eat candy, but her ghoul's mask hides the scars inflicted by marauding daylight. "It burns, Mama!" she still screams in my nightmares. I can only give her cool #evenfall and once a year, this hallowed eve. #vss365

The slideshow flickers: In memoriam. My moment. I take the stage and my former classmates, with their wrinkles and gray hairs, scream with envy. And why not? I look good for 20 years as a #haunted corpse. Lock the doors. Rain down fire and blood. Youth is #fleeting, but revenge never ages. #vss365

Mona was lonely. People laughed at her purple trousers and orange jacket. She’d always been an oddball, a #misfit. But recently it was getting worse. Then Jake came into her life with his David Bowie eyes and pink hair. They were a match made in a red polka dotted heaven #vss365

Too small. Too tight. "Do you have this in a size 11?" The clerk laughs. But a sparkle in the #misfit bin catches her eye. The shoes don't even look worn; only small chip in the prismatic heel. Glass? And a perfect fit? "I'll take them." The cashier winks. "No returns after midnight." #vss365

"Looks like rain," he said. We need it, she thought. All this pollen and not so much as a #dewdrop. She'd been careful with the blood, but used the hose to wash away the yellow footprints, the tire tracks stamped in gold, leading to freshly dug earth. She'd plant azaleas; they'd love him. #vss365

One single #dove flees the crime scene. #VSS365

athens the one in georgia was chock full of #misfits ... she hit 3 coffeehouses in 6 hours and they threatened to call security simply because she was asking about a croissant after ten minutes waiting wtf? #vss365 graduates rolling on the grass making out

Dear John: It's over. Our holiday traditions are too different. The turtle #doves were sweet, and the hens and partridge delicious. But the blackbirds won't shut up—they call all night! And those vicious geese bit me. Too many birds! John pawns the gold rings, a broken heart in a pear tree. #vss365

"The #moonbeams hurt my eyes." When the doctor brought you back, I cried tears of joy. I thought you'd be joyful too. "Too bright," you moan from your shroud. I draw the blackout shades, turn off our phones, stuff blankets under the door. Until our room is as dark as a grave you long for. #vss365

The note was propped up on the kitchen table when he got home. “ #Dear John, By the time you read these lines, I’ll be gone. I’ve had enough. Your too pedantic. Jill.” John’s face crumpled. “You’re,” he cried, his knees buckling. “It’s ‘you’re!’” #vss365

#Dear Diary: Life has been crazy. Tell me about it, I reply. Human secrets are so mundane. Jealousy, petty spats, cheating on diets and spouses. I record every boring detail and sell the skeletons to the highest bidder. But they keep confessing to me, a blinking cursor, a blank screen. #vss365

Honeyed words, expensive jewels, surprise trips to Paris — how could I say no? He didn’t lie about everything. The estate is as grand as his gestures, as cold as a key in a lock. In winter, alone, I burn his letters, smoky #phantoms of his #affection. They keep me warmer than he ever did. #vss365

Daffodils, snowdrops, green shoots and golden spring in the air. Persephone is home early! But I can only sniffle and cough, head aching. One cleansing tempest is all I need. So I steal her diary. Her icy #fury kills every bloom; she returns to the underworld, and I can breathe again. #vss365

Petite or tall? Slim or curvy? Blonde, brunette, redhead? Funny, sassy, sporty, smart — but not too smart. Cooks, cleans, takes care of the kids. $1599? More expensive than his last model, but it's time for an upgrade. Inserts his credit card, gives her his #name: Mrs. Smith. His new wife. #vss365

At a PM conference where they challenged us to write a limerick, and I love a bit of whimsy so: There was once a chicken named Chuck Who gambled away all her luck She tossed her eggs in a faulty basket Shattered shells, the farmer blew his gasket And wrung her neck, her last cluck. #limericks

I am naked, furred in moonlight, when the nosy child arrives. “Granny, are you ill?” One bite and my secret passes through the blood, red as her cloak. At night, she howls for home. Still a pup, she can’t see how the world forgets the old. How wild you become, free to run with the #wolves. #vss365

She combs the stubby hospital lawn on hands and knees. Another four-leaf clover. That made six. Plus the #jade bracelet, a rabbit's foot, a horseshoe. "The latest treatments," the doctors promise. "All we can do is wait and hope." She plucks lucky number seven. A sign. Mama will get well. #vss365

Scenes from today’s Banana Ball game. #bananaball #savannahbananas

Just a few highlights from our trip to Disney. The kid went off with his marching band friends, so we mostly got to explore the park on our own. I promise I loved Tiana’s Bayou adventure, even though I look terrified! #disney

“May I have a word?” He asked. I reached under the counter and drew one out at random. “I don’t like this one,” he said. “It’s too scary.” “Sorry,” I replied. “One word per customer. No refunds, returns, or exchanges.” #vss365

“Would you —?” “You’ve hit your #word count,” his comms device blared. “To continue, please insert more LinguaFrancs.” Muted, he picked at the coins in his palm. Not enough for vowels; double letters were extra too. Damn inflated vocab prices! So he slid the diamond on her finger and hoped. #vss365

Her phone #rings. Number unknown. These telemarketers never quit. She deletes the voicemail without listening. He shouldn’t be calling. She’ll think it’s an awful prank or cry; there have been enough tears. But he leaves a voicemail, just in case she needs to hear I love you one last time. #vss365

"Sign here. And here. And here." Over and over, I sign on the dotted line the mortgage agreement, thick as a Bible. The ten commandments of home ownership. Thou shalt not miss a payment. "I'm not signing my life away, am I?" I joke, as the #pen slips, bleeding dark red ink. "Sign here." #vss365

To great fanfare, they put a #man on the Moon. Then a woman. Soon, children arrived. We welcomed the families, showed them how to live in space. But they wanted the stars for themselves, save one. “You can have Earth. We’re done with it.” We do not float here but burn. Gravity buries us. #vss365

"Good riddance," the pallbearer says. "But I feel bad for his brother. He's a kind soul." As usual, my twin is #exalted for my good #conduct, and I'm punished. Parents, teachers, even our wives, mixed us up all the time. But you know the difference between dead and alive, don't you? #vss365

Fun shapes and phantom hands from trapeze yesterday #aerialdance 💪

We had an agreement. Milk and sweet cake at dusk; the washing done, house scrubbed, shoes mended by dawn. But those #illusive humans preferred fragile machines. A snap of #sprite fingers, and a smartphone smashes, a laptop dies. Nothing lasts anymore, they grumble, forgetting the old magic. #vss365

I spilled a bag of stars. They scattered like marbles, only twice as pretty. For a while I watched them tumble around the big black nothing, bringing it to life with their specks of light like dust in the Summer sun. One has a blue green ball #revolving around it. It looks cute from up here. #vss365

Only a summer job, a decade of summers ago. But the carousel's orbit is strong. Around me, the world #revolves. Chubby toddlers stretch into lanky teens. The painted horses fade and crack; I repair them. I fall asleep to the whistling calliope, my head spinning, moving but never forward. #vss365

She twists the radio dial, #fascinated, as she tracks the #tempest across counties, storms in her blood. "A tornado brought you," Nan says. "Dropped you right in the cornfield." When the clouds part, another visitor. Dress blue as the Kansas sky, shoes like silver dimes. "Where's Aunt Em?" #vss365

Extra, extra, read all about it. No one does. Pages molder, minds go missing. At least people still buy cigarettes and gum. The paper boy doesn't #endorse smoking, but those small addictions pay the bills, so he may feed on charcoal words, #frustrated by a never-ending hunger for more. #vss365

"This boat is full. No third class." "Have mercy," she #entreats. The other passengers, faces like #overcast skies, pockets heavy with jewels, don't step in to #mediate. She crosses the #divide, seawater in her lungs. "I have no coin." The ferryman #wavers. "This boat is full. Go back." #vss365

After the funeral, she #partakes of the entire Waffle House menu, scattered, smothered, and covered. Hunger #surpasses every grief, every memory. She must feed, fill the empty space. "Eating for two?" the waitress jokes. She belches Chanel No. 5, her twin's perfume. "More coffee, please." #vss365

She did everything right: Rich soil, plenty of water, fertilizer. Last year, he grew like a weed, tall and spindly. But winter was long. Bare branches. No green shoots. Alive but not thriving. A weak #warmth in the air #assures her spring is near. If he'd only turn to the sun, he'd bloom. #vss365

I am a secret. I linger in dark #corners, fade into the wallpaper. But he finds me. His #bonny lass, his #precious love. Our hearts beat in #harmony until the money vanishes. His fury is a storm, his fists #lightning. He can't find me now. No one can. I am a secret, under the floorboards. #vss365

She twirls the #jewelry chain in the sunlight, #spellbound by an iridescent memory. Diamonds turned to glass, not fine enough to sell for food or rent. But she traveled a rainbow road once, from her green home to here. She spins the prism again, searching for the colors to point her home. #vss365

"You have a lovely library." "It's yours." I shrink from the #magnanimous gesture. "I couldn't—it's too much. We've only been courting a few—" "I insist." He leaves me with the books for a blissful hour. When my stomach growls for dinner, I tug on the door. Locked, from the inside. No key. #vss365

Prime rib, roast potatoes, homemade bread and butter. Salad, charcuterie and three kinds of cheese. Such a #bountiful feast. I slurp my nutrition shake, beige sludge that tastes of all of these things and none of them, and enter a prompt for dessert. Brown sludge. Almost chocolate cake. #vss365

Mom pours the leftover daylight into a jar. "Time for bed." Brother dozes in his crib, fat limbs limp with #lethargy. Mom's head drops to her chest. Dad snores through the TV news. But I'm not tired. I sneak to the kitchen, gulp the citrus sun and join the stars, shining through the night. #vss365

She turns the dusty scrying stone in her palms. Cloudy, like Nana's #cataracts. Though blind, her mind's eye remained sharp until the end. "You have the sight too," Nana swore. But she sees nothing, only fog, as she packs the glass ball away in the attic. Outside, storm clouds gather. #vss365

It's an old house, we tell our guests. You'll get used to the moans and groans, the drafts and chills. The wandering eyes in paintings and the old dowager who paces the attic? All part of the restored Victorian #splendor. Suitable for children? Absolutely! Ghosts love hide and seek. #vss365

On the coldest day in January, #timid and shivering, he finds a home. Brings the wife and kids. There’s chocolate, crackers, spiced nuts. They feast like kings. On the warmest day in January, the children go missing. His wife won’t wake. Peanut butter. She loves that. He’ll get some— SNAP! #vss365

Me: The library is having a book sale this weekend! I know I don't need more books but— My husband: Of course we can get more books you goober. This is why we're married. ❤️ #lovelanguage #booksky

Excited to receive an honorable mention in this Critique Match contest for the first chapter of my YA fantasy crossover novel. ✍️ 🎉 The feedback from the judges was very helpful and encouraging. #amwriting #writingcommunity