The first time I spotted the Countdown Man was on the bus to school when I was in 7th grade. I’d never seen an adult on my bus before, much less one dressed in a black suit, but no one else said anything, so I figured he belonged there. Then, as we drove around the…
My biology class was packed to the brim for the first time since the beginning of the semester. I looked around to see several faces who hadn’t been present for the majority of my lectures, and yet they had all decided to join the class today. No surprise there. The entire Science Department was abuzz…
When I was seventeen and reckless, I dated a boy who feared nothing. Together, we discovered every vice, and after school we’d slip away into a haze of smoke and wine coolers and explore each others’ bodies until dark. One day, he told me about a secret garden where fruit grew even in the winter….
I was there when he bought the damn thing. We went to a garage sale just out of town; an old woman’s house that had the driveway filled to the very edge with hand-me-downs and knick-knacks. My sister Angie and I were waving through a selection of old dresses when he surprised us with it….
Have you noticed that NewPLUG engagement has been dropping over the years? It’s only a slight downward slope. Almost imperceptible. It’s not that Redditors have been engaging any less frequently with the subreddit. It’s simply that there are fewer members alive. And I just found out why. The moderators have been eating them. I don’t know how many of…
Yes, I know, who in their right mind uses TikTok? I was always starkly opposed to Social Media, especially TikTok. That cesspit of stupidity and regurgitated jokes should’ve never become a thing, and not one as huge as it is today. I wish I’d never downloaded the damn thing. I really wish. Or maybe… maybe…
There was a new girl at the group home. I didn’t see her, but I could hear her talking to Denny outside my room. She sounded annoying, like everyone else who lived here. There were four of us, five now I guess. We were all in our early twenties and got kicked out once we…
My husband, Lawrence, is a food critic for a respected publication. It’s ironic that he would end up with someone like me; I’m a terrible cook. I could butcher cheese on toast! But fortunately that wasn’t a deal breaker for him. We’ve been happily married for almost 20 years. Lawrence came home from reviewing a…
When my sister, Amy, was in 9th grade, her favorite math teacher, Mr. Marris, leapt from the top story of the humanities building and exploded on the pavement. He did it right as the lunch bell rang when the main quad was at its busiest. Later, everyone would have a story: a description of the…
My mother always made me play hide and seek with her. It was just her and me, and we played at nine. Each time, without failure, she told me to ignore her during the game. She told me that she would purposefully try to trick me, but, you know, if you really wanted to trick…