awake_touches_sleep's profile

Jason, the man behind the pharmacy’s counter, was in over his head. Two years ago, he walked into Damon’s Drug and applied for a job. It wasn’t a joke, but he never expected to get a call back. He had always figured he would need some kind of training or experience to get a respectable career like that. Not even a week passed before they called. After the best interview of his life, the only hurdle left was a drug test, and although he was once a user, he’d been clean for close to a decade. A...

An entire city would need to burn to recreate the hue of Emma’s red hair. Through the hotel room window, I could see the nimbus clouds swelling with rain. They soared across the sky much more quickly than the breezes on the ground. In the distance, the tungsten streetlights of the city reflected off of the low hanging clouds, lighting the horizon an ominous orange color. I imagined it all burning to ashes. Springtime always brought weather like that. “Remind me again why we do this,” I asked....

INT Day Charlie’s bedroom An ear piercing alarm repeats over and over. V.O. Charlie. If only I had a little time. If only. Charlie wakes up violently in a nearly empty room. No drapes. A bare light bulb hangs from the ceiling, gently and slowly swinging back and forth. He is gripping tightly to a body pillow in a fetal position. Only a sweat soaked sheet covers him. The alarm is still repeating. A small wooden table sits next to the bed. A digital wristwatch, the source of the alarm, sits on ...

I was 16 when god touched me. The raindrops traced every detail of her beautiful face. I watched in awe as they exploded delicately on her forehead and trickled slowly down the bridge of her nose. All the drops gathered again at the tip, and hesitated before falling away. The rain would not let go. Time had escaped us, and the storm had followed in its wake. There was no more “Be back before the rain comes.” Emma knew she was in trouble. So was I. A vast field separated us from the neighborho...