Theodore had always been the talk of the town. A prodigy in many ways, he was a dreamer of grand adventures, and of course, very handsome. He learned to read and write before he turned three. By the time he was five, he could already play classical tunes on the piano. At seven, he was…
The wind carried the warm, familiar scent of sugar and mint, making Sarah pause mid-stroke as she polished her nails. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, a soft smile tugging at her lips. It was that time of year again. Her neighbor, Lola Tina, always baked mint chocolate cakes for Christmas—a cherished tradition she’d…
“Why do you put so much care into the jams?” The question, spoken in a melodic, lilting voice, startled Leo. He nearly dropped the knife he was using to dice mangoes. Turning, he saw a petite woman standing in his kitchen doorway, her long, yellow hair catching the golden afternoon light. Her dress was strange,…
The sky was unusually bright, a deep velvet canvas speckled with shimmering stars, and Jeremy could not have been happier. With his telescope in hand, he dashed across the dew-kissed meadow behind his house, eager to lose himself in the constellations once more. His father had been an astronomer. So had his grandfather, and his…
If the guava tree was a man, he’d look really good, Issa thought as she stared out her window. Outside stood a guava tree older than her—tall, but not too tall—with a smooth trunk the color of overmilked coffee. “Tall and lanky… green hair or pink?” she wondered. Issa had always had an active imagination,…
Juno wore her lopsided earrings as if they were the most expensive jewelry in all creation. But in reality, they were thrifted for a staggering price of fifty cents. Who cares, right? No one would know. No one was supposed to know. But someone did. The man wearing a trench coat in the middle of…
Christina twisted the ornate gold ring on her little finger, each turn feeling like a small attempt to slow time, to stretch the minutes into hours, or maybe even escape them entirely. Across the café, Evan watched her with quiet curiosity, his book forgotten in his hands. The rhythmic motion of her fingers caught his…
Ishmael was utterly smitten with clocks, though he had yet to learn how to tell the time. He loved tinkering with them, even if his efforts often led to happy little accidents. There was something enchanting about the steady movement of a clock’s hands, each tick and tock a melody to his ears. Ishmael and…
There was something about the sky that made Elena stop in her tracks. It was sunset as usual in the middle of the farm where she lived, red and blue painting the vast expanse, the same as always. Puffy clouds dotted the horizon while others rolled along like loaves of bread. Everything was ordinary. Except…
The train rumbled along the tracks, its steady rhythm lulling most of the passengers into a quiet stupor. Among them sat Lena, her headphones snug over her ears as she stared out the window. She wasn’t listening to anything, just the hum of her thoughts. Rain streaked the glass in winding rivulets, smearing the city…