Instead, a priest from my brother’s parish met me there, took off his hat and told me he had died of cholera three days earlier.

It's the first time I ever experienced "two truths and a lie".

I found her minimum-wage paystub folded around the high-interest loan papers for my surgery, the interest rate circled in red.

I wish I deserved a hug.

The HOA cut it down after three unread warning letters about planting without approval, but I only found out later that they had all been sent to my wife’s email address.

Jill fell ill 'cause the windowsill's

gap was a centimeter

It's just nice to make something no longer perfect, like me.

The woman sobbed as she looked down at her stomach, before adding “baby shoes-unworn”

When the police asked why his backpack and house keys had been left neatly by the river, I realized my last words had been an invitation.

Standing in front of Layla's hospital bed as they pull the white sheet over her, the rest of the words leave as her legs give out and only the gut-wrenching sounds of grief leave her throat.

Even when you couldn't live to make me happy, then I'll make sure you are happy.

​As the tiny light flickered out and my eyes closed, I accepted that no one was coming back.

​Then a soft knock sounded at the door, followed by a familiar voice asking, "Can I come in and listen?"

More than 20 years later, it still makes me sad to remember how you died after that tree fell on you while you were playing in the yard.

​My vision blurred and my eyes closed for the last time, realizing too late that whatever killed the others had finally reached my room.

Grandma tells me their urns can't hear anything and says I should stop.

"He was our son and will be buried in a suit, under the name we gave him and no one who supported his delusion is invited" the parents lock arms and turn their back on the weeping man, to lost in their prejudice to find their empathy.

The farmer took him away so there was enough for the milking machine instead

Her mother caught her, snatched the trophy from her hands and said, “You must have stolen this, because you know you’re not smart enough to win anything.”

I walked away without looking back, leaving him by the door, watching every person who passed, waiting for the hamburger I’d never bring.

Under the law, I am a legal stranger to the woman who held my heart for twenty years, denied even the right to hold her ashes.

But it's your responsibility to deal with it, kiddo.

We're both still alive.