I want to be different...... different in a way that changes the world even if it’s just one persons world. I want to be different different in a way beyond my hair color, my skin color, or the way i walk. I want to be different different in the eyes of the those who love me best, who hate me most. I want to be different different in the eyes of the one looking at me, from the mirror. I want to be Different.

She bowed her head and lit her cigarette with a match. She let the match burn itself down to her fingertips before shaking it out and taking a deep drag of the filtered Marlboro. She ignored the tremble in her hands as easily as she ignored the tears welling up behind her eyes. She refused to cry. McCain women do not cry. They rage, they bitch, they nag and they brawl, but they most certainly do not cry. She took another drag. Her hair fell into her face and she impatiently rewound it into a ...

When Peyton ran, she tried not to think about her job. It never worked. No matter how hard she tried the doubts always found their way to the forefront. Peyton shook away the tears. She didn’t know why she was crying so damn much lately and it bothered her. Burn out was a major risk for firefighters, double for fire medics. Throw being a woman into the mix and it was almost a guarantee. Running back up her drive, she realized she only had time for a quick shower before work. It was okay, she’...

My partner, Ryan and I hear a gsw (gunshot wound) go out on the county fire radio. We jump the call and head out. We pull up and everyone is standing around. Standing around usually means a bullshit call or a call thats so serious the only things that can be done are the things that the paramedics do. This is one of those calls. The kid, who's young, maybe 20 years old, has no gang markings & no gang colors. He is sprawled in the street in the nicer side of Unincorporated Athens. With quite a...

Jason started his car but didn't put it in drive. He was thinking about Peyton. He loved her, he knew this for sure, as much as one person could love another. He loved her since that crazy day, more than five years ago, when he'd introduced himself and she had told him to fuck off. He smiled at the memory. They had both worked for an ambulance company and were assigned to work with each other. They couldn't remeber now why she had taken such an instant dislike of him, but all that had changed...

She bowed her head and lit her cigarette with a match. She let the match burn itself down to her fingertips before shaking it out and taking a deep drag of the filtered Malboro. She ignored the tremble in her hands as easily as she ignored the tears welling up behind her eyes. She refused to cry. McCain women do not cry. They rage, they bitch, they nag and they brawl, but they most certainly do not cry. She took another drag. Her hair fell into her face and she impatiently rewound it into a b...

here i am, holding a phonebook filled to overflow with useless numbers and empty names, blanks, department stores and pizza places crowding the lines, overlapping eachother, but where are you? what do i look under to find the number for that voice of reason, of love of hope and honesty on the other side of the dial tone?

i kiss you and its like coming home. i felt centered, safe with your arms tight, your lips anchoring mine. i am at ease with your body pressed against mine. you are so known to me, familiar. your touch, your taste, the way you skim your hand along my face before kissing my cheek. its as if i've known you before loved you before, been loved by you. its bittersweet this knowledge of you, of the you in a parallel world somewhere where she didnt exist and i do

like a brothers grimm tale as a prince you stand holding a dainty golden slipper, a one-size-fits-none standard that i vainly strive to meet. i cut off my toes, gouge my heels, grit my teeth through the pain destroying who i am, until it is what you seek. but the blood seeps over the sides, dripping onto the carpet like tears, betraying my desperation, shaming me into flight. and you laugh, because you knew all along that i wasn't your cinderella.