They say challenges are meant to help you grow emotionally and mentally. They show strength beneath pain and mark the growth of character. I remind myself of this whenever I confront the cracked wall deep within my mind – A barrier of depression traps me in past mistakes and regrets, as if they are proof ...

Music played through the wide-open doors of the cafeteria and bright-colored lights flickered on the walls. The announcement echoed as “Low” by Flo Rida played. Balloons and silver paper stars decorate the entryway. They didn’t shine bright as the stars above, highlighted by a full moon, along a desert landscape. Tonight was prom; the night ...

Content warning: This story contains mentions of suicide, self-harm, and trauma. This story is written for an adult audience. Midnight-black shadows cascaded over the bright blue-painted walls of a studio-apartment-sized home. Crickets chirped outside a barely cracked open window that displayed an open, blanketed heavenly sky. The stars themselves twinkled like gems across a desert ...

Like shattered glass, the scattered pieces can’t be put back together– or so I thought… I was stranded in the sea then felt lost on the shore amongst the loneliness, and hopelessness. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, so long so deep and hopeless– or so I thought…  Then he came ...

The reality of the human experience is often draining. Hopelessness expands like gas in a room without you realizing it. Despair is accessible and easy to notice. There’s direct access to the news at your fingertips, enough to make anybody anxious. Therefore, hopefulness isn’t uninvolved; it’s intentional. You scratch, claw, and fight your way to ...

I hold on tightly to the hope that this moment doesn’t fade. As you trace your fingers through my hair, I ponder on this possibility, but I can’t bear it. So, I wrap myself in the sheets, bracing for the pain in case this moment slips away- nothing but a dream.  Editor: Michelle Naragon & ...

“Did Biden just start World War Three to sabotage Trump?” the people exclaim in hushed silence, shaking their heads in astonishment. If only it were that simple. I do not have the answers any more than my fellow human beings about what is truth or pure bias. Life is essentially a mystery, the fog leaving ...

Another day passes by while bloodshed reigns upon our fellow brothers at arms,trying their hardest to serve our country at any price.Another day passes by as we march toward our graves.We cross the jungles of ‘Nam,but what has that gotten us?One by one, the bullets zip past our sight,one by one, a brother falls with ...

sometimes things happenthat brings out the sadnessbut there is always a silver lininga path at first hard to find when one door closes, another opensdifficult to see, blinded by our emotionsthe promise of something better is always therethough sometimes hidden you might have to look for a whilebut you’ll eventually find that doorand when you ...

The shimmer, the dazzle, and the lightshine so brightly at the tunnel’s endI stare eagerly at my sore feet‘The journey’s almost over,’ I think aloud A step ahead, then twoThe light’s getting closer but the path’s not shorteningMy arms stretch out in a bid to pull illumination closeAlbeit, hope’s still miles from me Life sometimes ...