When Cleo had been in music school, she’d always struggled with lyrics over melodies. A lot of times, she would have a full melody finished before she’d even started considering lyrics. Her professors had been patient with her, but a few had made some pointed comments that if she wanted to focus on songwriting, she […]

Andrew shifted the stack of books in his arms as he tried the doorknob of Iris’s shop again. And again, it stayed locked. Did he have the wrong night? No, he’d written it down in his planner. Iris, six pm. They were supposed to try yet another energy directing technique that he was pretty sure […]

“You know you were going about it all wrong, right?” Once again, Iris was trying to work. And once again, Vivien was made a dramatic entrance as she slipped in the door of the sitting room. Iris looked up from the Harbinger, which she was reading for a third time in hopes of even of […]

Cleo meant to be writing a song, but instead she was sitting on the living room sofa with her guitar in her lap, staring blankly out the window. Instead of the busy city street she was used to, she could see the small parking lot of Edie’s building, then a scattering of trees. Not quite […]

The next morning, Andrew woke up alone at the house. Olivia was working the day shift and, despite his offer to watch her, Mia was over at her grandmother’s. So he had the flat to himself as he headed to the shower. As he scrubbed himself in the lukewarm shower spray, Andrew considered how his […]

Noah had fully intended to show everyone that he was back to his old self he was when he got out of the meetings that night. But instead, by the time he got home he was physically and emotionally exhausted. Olivia had invited him back down for pizza after he got home, so as soon […]

Noah woke up early, looking up in an unfamiliar morning light. Wakeup time at the clinic had been seven-thirty am and by the end of his stay there, Noah had been getting up even earlier. So he wasn’t surprised to glance at his watch and see it was six forty-five. What did surprise him was […]

Noah slept on Olivia’s couch that first night home, not ready to be alone in his own apartment yet. He lay awake for a long time, staring up at the ceiling. After six weeks of the noise in the clinic, the quiet living room just felt too silent. Olivia’s door was closed. He knew Mia […]

The crack of thunder and water flooding his ears…his eyes…rushing down his throat and spilling into his lungs as he tried to scream around it. A sick gurgle escaped him, but nothing more as he silently screamed and screamed and- Noah’s eyes snapped open as he took in a gasping breath. For a split second […]

Halloween afternoon, Andrew tried not to keep glancing out the window. It was an hour drive to Worcester, so there was no way Olivia was anywhere near New Winslow yet. It had been a little under two hours since she’d left to pick up Noah. Even if she’d met him in the parking lot and […]