The Remaking of Corbin Wale

by Roan Parrish

The promise of loneliness wasn’t the same as loneliness itself. Corbin knew, because it was the promise of loneliness that descended that day. It was loneliness itself that he’d felt over the last few years. Loneliness that ached with the throb of a thousand hearts. Loneliness that turned certain parts of himself to stone to stop that throbbing ache because it was easier to cut some things off than to feel the pain of them.

That joy has the power to do remarkable things. Joy can drive out the darkness. Even though we were never religious, she and my dad had a Chanukah party every year because they wanted to celebrate joy.

Bakers bake, and writers write, and you draw. Each of us puts something of ourselves into our work.”

“You were so gorgeous,” he murmured. “And your mind. It’s beautiful.” Alex brushed his hair back. “You remake the world a hundred times a day.”