Jubilee Forbess

“How I (Didn't) Meet Your Mother” by Jubilee Forbess

Emma  “Where’d you meet this one?”  “Oh, it’s a great story, you’ll never believe it. I was on the bus,” he settles into the chair, shuffling his feet in those loud brown shoes, “And all of a sudden this girl walks in. She’s got this,” hands above his head, miming tall hair, “Pink mess of all these braids and, man, the first thing I have to think is that her brains are coming out of her head and I’m like, woah, zombies!” “You thought this girl was a zombie?”  “No, of course not. Her hair just reminded me of those things....

28 likes 9 comments 9

Read story

“The Baby” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #105

“She’s very pretty, very small, very… much a baby. I didn’t realize how much a baby would be, you know, a baby. She can’t do anything. So tiny. I think both her hands make up, like, half my thumb.”  “In her defense, you have abnormally large thumbs.”  “Huh, that’s true. Do you want to hold her?”  Danika shook her head and took a few steps backwards. She thought it was strange that her best friend’s parents trusted her so easily with this infant, with this new sister of hers. Rogel was a large person, as Danika had noted esp...

43 likes 9 comments 9

Read story

“Tu(ths)Day” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #101

My, my, but Myreka doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into this time. Look at her, watch her, as she taps her feet along the pavement, one foot in front of the other like a merry schoolgirl, on her way to a class about baking or puppies or something otherwise pleasant. Ah, but Myreka is not on her way to learn about baby canines or pastries at all! She’s skipping, tapping, jolly-go-getting, straight down into a grave. My, my, you’re thinking, but that did escalate so quickly! No, pigeon, the story didn’t escalate, it de-escalated; it we...

39 likes 7 comments 7

Read story

“Commentary” by Jubilee Forbess

my second face, my damn reflection We always meet when I'm defeated You tear me up all of the time My second face, don't wanna listen We always meet without permission Hey, skinny skinny Don't you think about the future Hey, skinny skinny Too bad (too bad) Hey, skinny skinny Stop your thinking 'bout tomorrow You'll never make it like that (too bad) You tear me up all of the time skinny skinny, ashton irwin I’m pretty tired, you know, of people commenting.  The things they say…  One or two, well, that didn’t really get ...

23 likes 12 comments 12

Read story

“There Will Always Be More Fish in the Sea ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #98

Somedays, she really regretted the tail. It was shimmering and blue and honestly very magical, but it was also heavy, like the disappointed looks her parents gave her when they realized what she had done. To them, it seemed she had thrown away almost three whole years of a good, solid college education to go chase out her wildest dream, one she had had since she was a tiny girl, still wrapped up in her mermaid blanket and hopping around the first floor of her family’s home. To her parents, it seemed she had left their dream of a stable futur...

46 likes 51 comments 51

Read story

“calypse ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #97

she’s putting up her clothes when her brother walks into the room, but he doesn’t say anything, just picks up a hanger from her bed and twists it around and around until it’s not a hanger, not a shape at all, anymore. she wants to ask if he’s okay but she knows the answer is a solid no and so she chomps down over her bottom lip and her top teeth stick out like they belong to a rabbit, or a hamster, or a very old man named hector. her brother takes the hanger and wraps the wire, now wasted and outstretched, around his wrist once, twice, three...

40 likes 6 comments 6

Read story

“Sandrita” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #96

The smell of homemade fried chicken and small, microwaved okra wafted in through Sandrita’s window. She sat behind her curtain and watched her neighbors run from their apartment to the car. They were helping their mom get the groceries, and even though Sandrita knew it was a small thing in their day, she wished she could help someone carry food into the kitchen. She wished she could put on her mother’s big high heels, like the oldest neighbor boy had, and feel the crunch of soft gravel as she balanced plastic bags of orange juice and milk in...

55 likes 5 comments 5

Read story

“The Matchbreaker (part four <3) ” by Jubilee Forbess

Courtney and I haven’t spoken in over three days, and you’d think after a while the pain of cutting off such a close friend would slow, but it actually grows sharper with every passing hour. I see things she left at my house; a sweatshirt that matches the one I bought with her in Florida last summer, two CD’s, a blanket she brought one time so she wouldn’t be cold… there’s a pair of her earrings on my dresser and several bracelets in my sock drawer. Every time I turn around or look up or glance down, there’s a piece of someone who, if all si...

40 likes 8 comments 8

Read story

“silly rabbit, murder's for dummies ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #94

You need me, Sport.  “I don’t need you. You’re nothing.”  You’re lying. You need me. You love me. I need you. I want you. Stay with me, Sport, and we’ll do such wonderful things. You’ve seen how much fun we’ve had, you know, before you decided you didn’t want to listen anymore. But you know what happens when I feel ignored, don’t you? Don’t you know? “Would you stop that? I said I’m done. I’m leaving and you’re staying and there’s nothing you can do about it. Goodbye.”  Don’t you dare.  “I will! I am daring. And what...

53 likes 28 comments 28

Read story

“after party ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #94

Candles lit  Rosaire: Romain! Where are you? And cake is done  Romain: I don’t know, I can’t see.  Part’s over Rosaire: Just keep saying my name, I’ll find you.  Now the fun is left to rot  Romain: I think something fell, I’m not sure.  The glass is shattered  Rosaire: Are you okay? On the sofa  Rosaire: Are you okay? I need to know you can hear me.  Folks are battered  Rosaire: Romain, please, can you hear me?  Worn from dancing  Romain: Yes, I’m sorry, I think I-  Blind of li...

50 likes 3 comments 3

Read story

“chuleta gets chopped ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #89

“I don’t care what she said, I care what she did to our family.”  “She didn’t do anything to this family, Chuleta, that was you. You’re the one who tore it apart, rib by rib and slice by slice. You took up your fork and smashed it down flat against our skulls. What choice do you think we had? Answer me that, and then I’ll believe it’s her fault.”  “I’ll kill her.” “You wouldn’t.”  “Yes, I would. And you know what, I’ll kill you too. I’m gonna kill everyone in this place, and I’m gonna smile while I do it. You hear me? You ...

55 likes 14 comments 14

Read story

“bye bye buddy ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #89

Goodbyes were never meant to be easy, but this one in particular is the worst one you’ve had yet. All morning long, you’ve been tapping your feet, dragging your hands, drinking too much milk and sipping it from your broken wine glasses because, after all, the rest of the dishes are sitting in a sticky pile by your sink. You can’t get up and get going but you know that if you don’t leave the house now, the heavy setting is going to choke you out and, as much as it’s hard in the moment, you like breathing. You want to be able to move on, even ...

46 likes 4 comments 4

Read story

“Signed, Sealed, Delivered ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #88

Blood pearled in small, bright beads at the base of her lips, dotting the edges of her mouth and staining her teeth the light color of strawberry jam. There was caution tape wrapped around her wrists. The bold black words against the Big Bird yellow background made her dizzy, but it didn’t matter. She was already sitting down. The chair underneath her was made of brittle peanut butter candy, the kind that you would find at any old grandma’s cabinet store. But this was no quaint shop in the woods. This was not the place you’d bring your child...

50 likes 9 comments 9

Read story

“the city called you, they want their angst back ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city. It gets inside your head, makes you think that for once in your life, you’re gonna do something great. It makes you think that every time you walk by a stranger on the street, that they could mean something to you, so every time you leave the house you dress up and you look nice and you run those streets as though you own them, and they don’t own you. In the city, you don’t think anything owns you till it’s too late, and you’re lying in your room and looking up at a ceiling that doubles as the floor for the ...

132 likes 81 comments 81

Read story

“chicken broth ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #83

“We have to stop them before they-” “Yes! I know we do. Would you stop pushing me? I know where we’re going.”  “I can’t let you quit moving now, Lia.”  She turned around and faced her partner, his face set in the moonlight and shining like the last Christmas ham at Kroger. There were smears of dirt and cheese ball dust, orange as the flickering fire in the torches they carried, caked under his eyes and in his nails. Lia knew she couldn’t stop moving, but it was hard not to stop when she hated the idea of her destination. She had...

56 likes 18 comments 18

Read story