FICTION Posted by Mai
It was a dream, but it didn’t feel like a dream.
She found herself walking a path that seemed like it stretched out to forever, but didn’t feel like forever, yet it promised forever; the candy-clouds of the sky and the emerald blades of grass softening the edges of the gravel road and making the journey pleasant.
The whole scenery was like one of the images usually found on Korean stationery, or on Japanese candy wrappers; cloyingly sweet but not quite tastefully done.
For a fleeting moment, she felt loved.
The path ended at the foot of a stone staircase, leading to a small house. The girl gingerly placed a small foot onto one of the stone steps, and her other foot followed suit. more…
FICTION by Rica
Book signing. Queue. Bookworms with my work in hand.
One smiling face approached me.
“You always sign with a red marker.”
“It’s my lucky charm.” I wink.
Besides, it’s easier to refill with red “ink”.
“Oh, it dries out easily.”
I take a snapshot of him beaming; he smiles even wider.
I smile back, take out my pad, and jot down notes.
Another bestseller on the way.
FICTION by Rica
That’s what you get for mocking me.
He insulted me with a genuine smile at my book signing.
But nobody’s smiled after reading me, ever.
Slit throat, gunshot, fall from an 8th floor balcony.
Only deepest hatred appears in my work.
But Nero smiled.
Now I smile genuinely, ogling police in and out of 23 New York, Cubao.
FICTION posted by Rica
She sits down, grabs pen and paper, reviews notes, pics about her plot.
Nero.
Wide smile.
Lips sewn together with red marker.
23 New York, Cubao.
Red gate.
Noose?
Hit-and-run.
Hm.
Asphyxiation.
Yes.
Gouged eyes.
Perfect.
She wipes the pen, starts writing another suspense novel as she throws away a blood-stained rag.
FICTION posted by Rio
I love you, said the SMS. My heart would have gone haywire right there and then, but I bit my lip and replied, “WTF. Wrong send, dude.”
“Ooooops! I’m sorry!” you quickly texted back.
I had been writing when my phone beeped, and when I turned back to what I was doing, I suddenly had a numbing feeling. “Fuck,” I spat at the half filled page.
I fumbled with my cigarette case. I stared at my half finished work as smoke swirled in front of the monitor and I reminded myself of my deadlines. Maybe I should start turning off my phone when I’m working. By the time I finished two cigarettes, I decided that it was hopeless. Both my assignment for the day and you.
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FICTION posted by Rio
Alam mo, naka mahigit sampung ulit na ata ako sa pagsusulat nito. Dun sa isang sulat, namutaktak ng salitang tanga. Dun naman sa isa, puro bwiset.
Bakit nga ba kita naisipang sulatan? Naalala lang kita at naisip kong marami-rami na rin akong naipong mga sasabihin sa’yo. At dahil hinding-hindi mo ‘to maririnig sa kin out loud, idadaan ko na lang sa sulat na walang address.
Tapang no? Pagdating sa mga bagay na to, duwag din ako no. Nagawa ko na naman dati ang emotional suicide at dahil alam kong di masaya yun–kung maiiwasan–iiwasan ko na talaga. Kaya eto, sisimulan at tatapusin ko na tong katangahang ito sa sulat na to.
Alam mo, pag naiisip kita at emotional suicide sa iisang sentence, natatawa ako. Kasi naman, para akong nabudol budol. Nananahimik ako (malamang, ikaw din), tapos boom! Napagtripan nanaman ako ni Miss Cosmos. Hindi ko alam kung pano at kung kelan nangyari, pero andun yung matinding feeling na ninakawan mo ako. Isama mo na din yung feeling na ang tanga-tanga ko. more…
FICTION posted by Karl
I spent the better part of the day looking for musical frog parts. All I really needed to complete the last LeGrand high gynerator was a lyric spleen, but it never hurts to have an ample stock of extra highstrings and xylobones. Allen would have been proud of me had he been there to see me expertly pluck each usable part from every frogthing I caught.
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FICTION posted by Rica
How does he do it?
When I look him in the eyes, he glances right through me and walks past me, suddenly disappearing in the crowd. And when I chance upon him in the train heading home, he’s taking in all of me, and I see his lips curl at both ends upward, a sign of amusement or bewilderment flashing across his homely face.
And when I get off the bus I see him in the corner of my eye, hiding behind another passenger. When I finally turn around to see if my mind’s playing tricks on me again, his amused face is nowhere to be seen.
I think I should get my eyes checked this time.
They talk about him through the walls of my tiny office, too. Cubicles housing drones seem to be talking nonstop all nine hours of my workday, and I can’t avoid my ears from catching bits and pieces of phrases and gossip jumping from one square compartment to another. more…
Posted by Mabie
over a century ago, rizal diagnosed the nation with the disease of cancer. entering into the first decade of the new millennium, i would have to beg to differ and give my own diagnosis, without, of course, precluding that i am in the same league as rizal. i say that it is not cancer that is beleaguering our society, it’s alzheimer’s, the forgetful’s disease.
we have forgotten that heroism is not necessarily exclusive to one individual alone, but with a people – a nation – working together.
we have forgotten that rising up as a nation against a dictatorship is not the end of the fight, but only the beginning of the struggles we need to overcome in order to patch up the cracks that infiltrated our subconsciousness.
we have forgotten that we are a young democracy, and as such we should not let it get to our heads and push the meaning of freedom to the fringes of extremeties. that the freedom we enjoy is not for free, even in its absolute sense, and must be worked hard for. that the government is not the only one responsible for ensuring that this is made secure and available for all. that we only got lucky that the heavens sided with us that one, fateful, yellow day two decades ago, and that we should not boast of knowing it all when it comes to democracy. more…
Posted by Nancy
Stir frying is not as hard as you think.
Buy the required ingredients, cut them up into small pieces, marinate the meat, stir fry it, remove it from the wok, stir fry the vegetables then combine together. That’s how simple it is.
I was tired of eating the same dishes over and over again. That is the main reason why I tried stir frying for a change. Here’s how it turned out…
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