Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Humans.
A High School Lifetime Spent
High school sucks! Second Grade It started with hopes of new friendships and the excitement of what games we would be playing during recess today. My best friend was a boy named James and he would always show up a hour late because his mother would drive him to school when his brothers needed to be at school. During second grade I learned that I was really good at math/science and language arts and I was set on being a biochemist while other kids my age were set on being ballerinas and/or professional football players. I remember I was so excited when I got my addition and subtraction down, it was like I just solved world hunger but differently. I used to play soccer after school because I also wanted to be a famous soccer player, the goalie was my go to spot since I was always a oddly tall kid from day one. This meant I could block almost the whole tiny goal we used. The first thing that actually majorly impacted me was when I won my first school-wide art competition, in which my art piece was hung in the city hall building and I got to shake the hand of the mayor. In second grade I learned that I couldn't just stand by and wait for stuff to happen, I had to make it happen no matter the obstacles that were placed in my way.
By autumn katon9 years ago in Humans
A Promise of Improved Replies
The first time Jon called me nurturing, my heart shriveled like a grape left to dry. I felt my intestines inside my body as if someone were unraveling them to be placed in front of me to see. All my vulnerabilities, my softness, all my feminine tendencies that I had worked so hard to suppress in favor of a tough rind over my heart, they were all exposed and very much so real, no longer hidden. I sat on the carpet in the ninth floor hallway, the smell of which now sends me into a sort of hazy post-traumatic flashback, with his head in my chest trying to remember how to breathe. Nurturing was weak. Nurturing was needy and destitute and soft. I knew how nurturing got in the way of dreams. I watched my mother succumb to her maternity: she regretted missing her daughters grow up when she went to work, and she regretted falling behind in her passion when she stayed home. Every beat of my heart begged and screamed for me to fall to the opposite, to hurt and insult him and prove to him that I am not nurturing, I am strong. Trying to re-identify myself—as a nurturer, a caretaker, a lover, even, at only seventeen—was one of the hardest commitments I’ve ever made. And I am still coming to terms with the fact that I did it for us.
By Amelia Clare Wright9 years ago in Humans
Wounded Survivor
Do you ever think of me? I still think of you but I wish I didn’t. You still haunt my nightmares and have created a fear that is instilled inside me. I wish there was a drug that could erase your existence in my life. Then maybe I could revert back to the woman I use to be. To this day, there is still a fear that lurks inside my very being from what you did to me. It is a deep cloudy pool and every time I try to swim across or find a way around, all the nightmares start bubbling up again, engulfing me. There is no escape as I sink deeper and deeper into the dark water, begging if not praying, to be free.
By Ashley Star9 years ago in Humans
Out of the Woods
I pulled the covers over my bare shoulders and pulled a pillow to my naked breasts. I glanced over at the clock. It read 5:55. "He should be back soon," I thought. We lived on a farm somewhere in the middle of Texas. He was always getting up early to feed the cows and do some other farm chores. I rolled over and laid on my back as I started to think. "I hate it here," I would say to myself. But he loves it and I can’t take that away from him. I slowly sat up in bed as soon as he walked back into the room.
By Meredith Connell9 years ago in Humans
When Love Isn't Forever
It was the worst year of my life, other than the year I lost my father. I had acquired a case of trigger thumb in both hands, a condition that causes your thumbs to bend at the joint and they won't unbend. Repeating shingles had plagued me for the past year as well, and finally the shingles virus went up into the nerves in my face, causing facial paralysis on the left side. I couldn't blink and had to cover my eye with cellophane each night so it wouldn't dry out. If that wasn't bad enough, my husband chose this time to have an online affair with a married woman.
By Denise Willis9 years ago in Humans
A Movie to Remember
It was the Monday of December 16, 2013 when we agreed to set a second official date. After a week of texting and phone calls, which were weird and awkward, but beautiful, satisfying and filled with joy to talk to one another. There was a tornado of emotions we felt at that moment.
By Luis Guerra9 years ago in Humans
The One that Consumed Me
I don’t know if it was the city or the guy, but I was changed in as little as eight months. Who would have thought I of all people would drop out of college, giving up a once in a lifetime opportunity that some people only dreamed of having? Well, excuse me. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. I’m all for getting an education, but not like that. Not when I could barely make it out of my bed or lift my tired arms to brush the knots from my hair because the other voice in me was too overwhelming. Please tell me one more time that I should have stayed when I called my mother at least three times a week crying my eyes out over shit I couldn’t understand. I knew I’d never make it, so I packed my shit and I ran. I’m good at running. Would have done it a long time ago if it weren’t for the sake of my mom.
By Savanna Lingle9 years ago in Humans
Why Communication Is Everything
There aren't very many people who understand the power of words. In the short amount of time that I've been gifted with the opportunity to live and breathe on this planet, I've worked in various industries and lived in many shoes: From the food/service industry to transportation, the military, sales, even door-knocking. I've done enough to confidently say I got quite a bit under my belt of hands-on experience. However, all these years, I failed to notice the one thing that all of these professions had in common: Communication. I've never truly realized the effect that one simple word can have on someone's life. You can alter moods, completely change situations, you can earn that business contract, you can get that person's phone number, etc. When dealing with other human beings, you can do almost anything you wish to do if you are an effective communicator. To get to the point, many people don't see this. People are quick to assign the blame on other things that are outside their control for the negative results they encounter. However, we can't ignore the impact our words can have at the beginning of any sort of connection we attempt to make. Take a 911 operator for example. Aside from location services and actual units on the move, they rely primarily on their words to walk someone through a difficult scenario. I know this for a fact because I have been a 911 operator and still am from time to time. I work as a professional interpreter and I deal with many walks of life. There are some instances where anything and everything I say can make a life or death differences. Not only do I have to be very careful with the things I say, I have to be very careful how I say them. Your words have this same effect. I can now recognize that life is all about building relationships, and relationships are built on trust and communication. Even if someone is having a hard time trusting you, the way you carry yourself with the use of your words can determine whether you destroy that bridge or make it all the way across. I realized this when 99% of the doors that I knocked on were shut in my face because of something I said; not something I did. Can you imagine a 6ft, bearded, tattooed man knocking on your door trying to sell you windows at 11 am in the morning? Don't you think he would have to work extra hard to earn that respect from 100ft away? That was me at one point. That's what led me to be work on my words, despite my appearance. So what makes an effective communicator? Is it the tone of voice? The amount of words they know? Does it have anything to do with body language? Facial expressions? Is it even the things he or she doesn't notice, like the amount of times he or she blinks? The 'uhs' and 'umms' in between sentences? The answer is yes. Everything from the way you sound to the way your eyes are angled has a big effect on the way your message is interpreted. This should be common sense, right? It isn't. Different people have different standards when it comes to the way they communicate. While some opt for a direct and blunt approach, someone else may take that as a lack of tact. Some people prefer being reserved and minimal with their statements. Personally, I am one of those. In my short time here, I've met people from all over the world and mannerisms along with tones of voice change drastically from one continent to another. There are many things that fall just outside our reach when it comes to how people take the words we say. Nonetheless, if there is one thing we can control is how we say what we want to say.
By The Rogue Scribe9 years ago in Humans
