Juxtapositions

by Evdoxia Maria Dimitriou

The lights were turned off and I opened my eyes. I saw black. But this time it was the same shade of black I see when my eyes are closed. I thought, "Strange." Then I started panicking. Was there a way out?

I never got to learn. Because you came. Your beauty was so bright I couldn't help my eyes looking at you. I didn't have the power to compete with your existence in the same room I was. Neither in the same thought. And I still can't.

But, you do. What am I even talking about? I am the one who saw light. You faced the darkness.

And I am sorry.

TO: FROM:

by Alexia Sextou

Here are some rain sounds from home Cell Phones Do Not Belong in Fiction read an article so here is the rain on paper

Can you hear it? Can you feel it? It swishes through the wind and makes our hair sticky It lulls us to sleep trickling gently whispering it hits the soil silently

Though I suppose all rain sounds the same the rain from years ago the rain you are yet to hear It falls in much the same way

Here is the rain that fell on our first night We sought shelter in the tall city walls and the rain on the castle that once stood must’ve sounded just like ours did

To think that rain is still the same as it was before you were even born I am sending you all rain there ever was or ever could be

Here are some rain sounds and droplets so you may know when the first tear of water stains the concrete you walk on It is not your rain but our own.

Wow, How Fast Did I Grow?

by Evdoxia Maria Dimitriou

I looked at the child. Then I felt what my mom used to describe as "Wow, how fast they grow!"

That child had changed a lot. The way she talks, how she acts and I bet that she even thinks differently. Oh, she used to be so pretty. What happened to her?

That child was me. And she is not a child anymore, typically.

I am not pretty either. My beauty left me when I chose to betray her for others' opinions.

And here is my question. When we see humans growing and years passing, are we nostalgic for the "good old years" or our "good" old selves?

So, what happened to us?