Doubra Akika

“Our Undoing” by Doubra Akika

We take and we take until there is nothing left. And now, we have broken the world with our selfishness. Because the sky is shattering. Because the sun is too hot. Because the sun is too hot and the rain is still falling. And it’s falling and it does not stop. Because God is angry with us, with the world. Because by the time I step out, the leaves will be on fire and it will be too late. Because the world is coming to an end. Because the world has come to an end and I’m still here. And the windows are open and the wind is so fierce, it’s...

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“Where the Sea Meets The Stars” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #83

Stuck in a world of our own, Humanity was always a world away, It was just the sea, my mother and me. I should have listened, The sea has destroyed us. They say water has memory. Imagine what a gigantic body of water could hold; the deception of sailors against their wives, the tears of a child from fear of the water, and even the smiles of a mother sharing a day on the beach with her daughter. I always was the observant one. All my life, I couldn’t help but notice the odd shapes of leaves when stepped on, the way water seemed to...

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“The Opposite of Forever” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #59

I wondered if they knew.They looked so happy, like in that moment, they were infinite. I wondered if they knew it wouldn't last for very long. If they did, they didn’t show it. They reveled in the moment. They were okay that something was going on now. Noisy children, dogs and laughter.Human beings don’t fascinate me. At least they don’t anymore. We’re predictable creatures, all of the time.I knew how this was going to end. I was too blind to accept it. Flickering images. Memories I should let go of are the ones I cling to the most.Is it lon...

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“Shattered” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #58

**Trigger warning: self-harm “Perhaps the greatest risk any of us will ever take is to be seen as we really are-” Cinderella. The prettiest people are the most pretentious. That’s the difference between me and them. I know I’m broken. I know I need fixing. But the world isn’t a wish-granting fountain. We don’t wish for things and they magically happen. That’s the difference between fairy tales and the real world. Most people’s lives are fairy tales. I wished I had parents who would fight over me and a best friend that didn’t burn. A best fri...

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“Remember Who You Are” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #56

"She remembered who she was, and the game changed-" Lalah Delia.“I told you to come back home, Adanna. You’ll never be good enough there.”My mother. The woman I know loves me so much, but times like this, I'm not so sure. I’ll never be good enough for her. It doesn’t matter what part of the world I am.“I’m not coming home, Mum. I can’t.” I could. I know that, but coming home means accepting defeat. It would mean I had failed and while I have, a couple of times actually, I don’t believe failure means total defeat. I refuse to go down.“Igá fu ...

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“Hope For The Girl In Pieces” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #55

"Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness-" Colleen Hoover."Would you like to tell me why you're here, Miss Valencia?"Try therapy, they said. It would help, they said. I didn't need therapy; I needed to talk to someone.It was sad that I had to pay someone to listen to me.People suck."Can you keep a secret, Doc?"I expect her to look intrigued. Sadly, it doesn't seem like it's the first time she's heard that line. She gives me a blank look and I roll my eyes. She could have at least tried to...

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“The Brightest Stars” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #54

“Maybe we just lived between hurting and healing-” Benjamin Alire SáenzPeople do bad things, but some people make one mistake that changes everything. The mistake consumes them. I am some people.Scars were a sign that you had been hurt, but you had healed. Scars fade, but they remind you of what had happened. She didn’t have scars because her wound was fresh. It never got time to heal. Three years had passed, but it didn’t matter how much time had passed when her wound was cut open so frequently.…….“Davina, would you like to explain the assi...

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“For My Truth, Would You Set Me Free?” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #53

“I hate you. I hate you so much,” I scowled at her, looking directly into her eyes. She taught me not to believe the words of other people if they were afraid to meet your eyes. She said it meant they were lying. I lied.When she grabbed those car keys, I should have stopped her. If I had known what would have happened, I would have stopped her but, who knows anything? We think we do, and then we realize we don’t know. Not even close.If only there was a way to go back in time, to prevent me from shouting those words. If only there was a way t...

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“All The Things We Should Have Said” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #52

The moral of the story is that you never fall for who you’re supposed to.To you, the one who took everything that was once mine, the one I’m still learning to forgive.People want to be good, but the world we live in won’t let them. You were the one who taught me that. You told me to learn to give people second chances because everyone deserved to feel loved.You called me a pathological liar once. You were right; I am but, so are you.You taught me that family is the most important thing but, I didn’t understand that until I didn’t have you gu...

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“What Feels Like Foreign Territory ” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #51

I waited for maybe a minute before I opened the taxi door. I had momentarily forgotten where I was until the taxi driver looked at me through the glass and communicated everything that I could almost hear it come out of his mouth: “Why you de look me? You no get hand?” I was now in Lagos, a place where doors weren’t opened for you if it wasn’t the person’s job to. I sighed.As I opened the taxi door and my feet hit the ground, I was hit almost instantly with the Lagosian air I had once loved and now grown to resent. I had no luggage because t...

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“Recreating Memories” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #50

The thing about cancer is that it doesn’t come with a warning. There’s no way to prepare for it before it happens. Like most things in life anyway, cancer ambushes you in many forms and sometimes it feels like there’s no way you can hold it back because there really is no way so, it consumes you and you can’t fight it. Sometimes though, the cancer gives you space to breathe, like just for one moment of your life, you can pretend you don’t have it. The thing is that you don’t know how many moments you’ll have like that before it destroys you ...

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“Redemptions and Promises I Can't Make” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #50

Have you ever seen a movie where the good guys don’t win? I’d bet anything you haven’t. But, I’m certain you’ve seen one where you’re so sure the main character can’t die, but everyone else can. In those movies, the main character isn’t always the classic definition of ‘good’, and the movie is usually about their redemption and when their time to be redeemed does come, they die because everyone dies, eventually. Movies just don’t tell us that every time. But death is something fantasy and reality have in common, it just seems prettier in the...

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“An Untold Truth” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #49

"Time heals all wounds." Joseph is hoping this quote really is the truth because if not, he's wasting his time and hers. Immediately after he left prison, he promised himself that he would come to see her. All his attempts had been futile though because she didn't want to come near him and that was understandable. In her eyes, he would always be a monster. Yet, he wondered if there was a way to change all that when she had requested he attend this meeting. The very one she's late for.Jacqueline, a woman now in her thirties, has not gone a da...

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