In seventh grade, during the daily sixth-period lunch, hordes of 12-year-old girls would gather like bacteria clusters around two particular tables aligned along the central tiles of the cafeteria floor. What brought these girls — tall and short, blonde and brunette, outgoing and quiet —together in this cult-like fashion? The answer was simple: Korean Pop,…

Lilly was hoping for a great, wealthy, and free life when she agreed to marry and become Mrs. Rooh. Her one-month-long partner was a businessman who owned a lavish double-story house and expensive cars. It was a day of celebration and jubilee. Little did Lilly know that she was marrying a jackal-wearing sheepskin. A few…

Autumn Harvest Bookstore is where I call my home. Although I may only be a cat, I’m pretty observant of the people and the world around me. My name is Mocha, and I am a small brown American shorthair who always sticks her nose in other people’s business. I take the saying “Curiosity killed the…

This was written by our contributing writer, Karina Coghlan’s dear friend, Kathi Hinkle. He didn’t live here, and he didn’t live there. As a matter of fact, I don’t think he lived anywhere. But let me roll back the years and start near the beginning. I was born and raised in a metropolitan city. Thirty-five…

My heart and mind are forever scarred by indescribable sorrows. Memories of my sweet sixteen ignite a longing to be who I once was before. It seems like it has been a long time, yet yesterday, since I was an easygoing teenager. Lots of friends were constantly around me, and laughter beamed from my being.…

It’s a rainy and cold early morning.  It’s still dawn, and by six o’clock, I have to catch a bus to my grandparents’ house on the deep side of KwaZulu-Natal. By 5:45, my auntie had accompanied me to the bus stop. Our goodbyes were not so good because her last words were mainly about the…

The smell of the salty ocean, the cool breeze, and the warmth of the sun on my skin is what summer is all about. Spending long summer days at the beach has been my favorite thing ever since I was younger, and since I grew up in Florida, I’ve never known summers to be any…

She had arrived by morning flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport from Dublin that day in February, while he had taken a short transit through Berlin before taking a ride by a high-speed train to travel to Paris.  Orla was super excited to explore the city of her dreams, which she had heard so…

Living against the backdrop of increasingly destabilizing international relations, rising totalitarian regimes, political instability, and economic impoverishment made the people of Hamburg stare at a stark and uncertain future in Europe. A war was looming ahead, they feared. The ambiance in every house was filled with tense trepidation whenever there was an announcement on the…

The Frank family lived under a lot of insufficiency and poverty. Christmas time was the only time they got to eat luxurious food and goodies because the mother of the house would bring the groceries and snacks she gets from her employer, Mrs. Keys. Mrs Frank sometimes received an invitation from her employer to come…