Only Roses

  The letter you’re writing is a farewell letter to your loved ones in the event if you were to die in the line of duty and as your final wish, you ask your family to seek forgiveness for the killer. Hello family and friends, if you are reading this letter then you probably know by now that I have died in the line of duty. Please know that my death is not in vain, for I have touched the lives of many during my tenure as a Police Officer, from helping troubled youth find the right path to protecting men and women from vicious family/spousal abuse. Please do not be angry at my killer for he does not understand what he has done, only God can judge and condemn him but I do not wish that. As I’m writing this letter, I pray that you’ll forgive him and that God will burden his heart for the deeds he has committed and pray that he’ll be a changed man in time. To mom and dad, please do not grieve the loss of your son for he is reunited with God. Be joyful and remember the time you spent rai...

   First person:   As I arrived at the restaurant, I saw him sitting at our table; the boy that asked me out for my first date. I could immediately feel my heart in my throat, every fiber in my body vibrating to its rhythm. When he approached me with his wide smile and arms wide open. I donned an awkward smile and waved nonchalantly. My head started to feel lightheaded and my knees were weak at the joint, it felt as if I could fall or trip at any given moment. Fear started to creep into my mind, I thought if I was presentable for this occasion and I started to lightly sweat and repeatedly twiddle my fingers, at the end of it all. I felt warm. Third person:           During the date Allison felt unsure of the night. “Is he a good guy?” she thought, but those thoughts were forcibly pushed aside as she sat down at the table with him. During the first couple minutes she felt as if she was about to puke due to the nervousness. The man took notice and t...

            My buddies and I are on a simple foot patrol in the city of Fallujah in Iraq. Everything is utter chaos with constant gunfire, explosions, and worst of all is the complete paranoia of it all. We have no idea where the next shot could come from, be it in the next house over, a sniper half a block away, or a machine gunner perched in an alleyway just waiting for us. As we’re going compound through compound there is a sudden and violent explosion and, in my daze, I hear my squad lead shouting something about contacts on a roof with a green awning, then every single man in our platoon started to shoot their guns at the building, completely defacing the entire structure. We hear someone shout man down and I look to my best friend, Webley, and he is completely unrecognizable. His skin is scorched black, his face is not even there, and there’s not much left of him anyway save for some muscle holding him together           I wak...

            “About damn time that you decide to join us, Cutter!”            Cutter tiredly looks to the left of the room and sees his partner, Officer Hale. Cutter says in response, “morning Hale. My bad but central took their sweet time getting my keys and sending the elevator down. Say where’s Langston?”            “Langston is out on COVID that which means she won’t be getting back till the 19th. It’ll just be the two of us until then.” Hale replies.           Cutter pinches the bridge of his nose and states, “Dang, that’ll make things slightly harder, but luckily we only have to do change out on level 13 and 2 today. So, are we going to 2 or 13 first?”            Hale gets up off his chair and points two fingers upwards, indicating to Cutter that they’ll be working on the 2nd floor first. As Hale and Cutter arrive at the laundry, they noti...

“This can’t be happening; this really can’t be happening!” Jan screams internally.   Jan looks at his phone to see that the month is June and that the temperature should be rising but it’s only declining. Jan, a historian of Scandinavian culture immediately recognizes one of the signs of the end of the world, Ragnarök, happening right before his eyes. As he came to this realization, he calls his ex-wife in a panic induced state to warn anyone and everyone of the coming catastrophe. “Come on Ingrid, pick up!” he shouts to himself. Suddenly Ingrid answers the phone, “What do you want Jan?” “Listen to me Ingrid, the myths are true! Ragnarök is happening, winter never cut into summer before!”  Ingrid cuts off Jan, “Jan, this is the effect of global weather changing. It’s normal! This is why you lost your job, believing in fairy tales and obsessed with myths. You’re crazy Jan.” Ingrid suddenly hangs up on Jan as he slowly lets his phone drop down to his side while he l...

     Rosa is kneeling in front of the living room walls, she sighs while pinning her bleach dyed dreads back away from her face. The dull box cutter will suffice as she begins sawing the edges of the carpet that lay snug next to the baseboard of her walls.   This carpet is old , she thinks trying to convince herself that it must be removed, with that she starts to tear it up from the floor. The carpet is old, and it should have been replaced years ago but she could never bring herself to do it. She is slightly sentimental to the stained carpet that involves most of her adult life. For Rosa, she saw it for much more than what it is. She saw it as an inspiration, where she would often find creativity because of the endless nights staring at the ground. Rosa begins to realize how much of her life revolved around this carpet, she spent most of her waking hours standing or sitting on it. There’s not much carpet does for people, but her carpet added personality to her home...