Dark Across the Bay

by Ania Ahlborn

wonder if her mom’s annoyance had grown bigger than the size of her cell phone; if it had, perhaps, grown wide enough to swallow the entirety of her mother’s affection.

somehow sure that a hug was all he needed to right a tilted world.

But that was Lark’s Achilles heel. She told people too much. Trusted too quickly. Loved too hard.

Rain was, after all, one of the only things that seemed to quell the anxiety that constantly lurked beneath her skin.

One didn’t just shrug off such deeply ingrained familial trauma, didn’t forget such tough history.

But she let it go the way she always did, because it was easier to keep the peace than fight a hundred-years war.

A life on the internet wasn’t nearly as powerful as a life lived in real time.

Yet, it felt fresh; a deep cut created by a thousand small ones, torn open all over again.

Something was happening, and it made her want to scream.

Same

Attempting to calm her nerves, she’d tucked herself into the corner of the couch with a cup of tea and Stephen King’s latest release, but relaxation eluded her.

but she knew full well that Leo was going to do whatever he pleased. He was a Taurus.

Hell, if that’s all it took to get on His shit list, the Great and Heavenly Father could kiss her heavenly ass.

Her brain was trying to convince her heart that it was no longer right, that they no longer fit, that she had to let him go. Yet, her idiot heart continued to hold on.

The situation felt finite, as though it had been set into motion long ago.