Kate Gratton

“The Flip Side” by Kate Gratton

It was my regular Friday routine: I would come home from school, take my glsses of to wipe my tears, then erupted into a smile as my fifteen-year-old dog Max would jump up and try to knock me over while carrying his leash. No matter how crappy my day was, or how many new inventive ways my friends found to insult me, he was always there to cheer me up every single time I cried. He was my birthday present the year I turned twelve. When he was given to us, he was a nine year old rescue. Now, he was no more, and I was 18. And also going through ...

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“Without You” by Kate Gratton

Note: this story is a mashup between my experiences with two different people and what I went through each time. In other words, it is based off true stories, however, I changed their names for privacy’s sake. “Today’s the day I change,” I thought as I looked in the mirror, at the shy blond girl in glasses that peered back it my. It was difficult on its own. My hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. No makeup (despite the fact that I was fifteen and in a school where it was frowned open), and I was in sweat pants and a loose sweatshirt. My o...

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“The Wall Of Sister” by Kate Gratton

Submitted to Contest #96

Note: Jay (Jaime) typically uses both pronouns. He is referred to as ‘he’ and ‘his’, but is called Cara’s sister. Jay I looked both ways down the empty yard before dropping my backpack, grabbing a few tools and slinking to the side of the house in complete darkness of the shadows it was casting in the late afternoon. My parents and my sister had left a few minutes ago. I hadn’t been welcome here for years, not since I told my parents I was transgender. They didn’t give me the ‘we still love you and it matters but we don’t really care’ spe...

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“When Did I Know You?” by Kate Gratton

“WHERE is Ellis and WHY isn’t he here RIGHT NOW?” Amanda demanded as she held on to the banister so she could some-what stomp down the stairs in seven inch gold heels and a tight (not to mention tiny) midnight purple dress without breaking her face. Her sister, Jane, was sitting on the couch eating chips while watching the reruns of some movie their mother had introduced them to when they were younger. Jane shrugged and she stuffed a rather large handful of chips in her mouth. Amanda recoiled, somewhat disgusted, as she reached for the bowl ...

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“GEOMETRIC” by Kate Gratton

Submitted to Contest #93

Dear my faithful readers, Hey. It’s Avril here. My next album, entitled Cinderella’s Nightmares, is coming out by next week (hopefully!) if I have time to get to the studio, and I have time to find a decent ending to the song I don’t drink (sneak peek link in the comments section). Apparently, there is some party being thrown in my honour tonight. My friends said something about the media being there to try and find out who I am, but I think that won’t be happening, because it’s a college party. And they will be too drunk to understand anyth...

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“Under The Spotlight” by Kate Gratton

Submitted to Contest #92

“This is absolute hell,” Nate mumbled under his breath, shivering, as he sat on a wooden bench pressed up against the brick wall of the school in the courtyard. He scrolled through old instagram posts of the girls in his grade, completely bored out of his mind, and he pulled the hood of his navy blue hoodie tightly around his face in an attempt to block out the cold december wind from chilling him to the bone. Not like he wasn’t freezing already. Like most of the boys at his high school (except the nerds who actually wore ties), he wasn’t dr...

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“Twisted Shadows” by Kate Gratton

Submitted to Contest #92

Natasha flung open her old, wooden shutters on her bedroom window. She used the thick white satin ribbons hanging uselessly by the side to tie the red-blue-and-black gingham curtains back so she could see outside. Smiling at the sunny bright blue sky and the light breeze, the perfect weather for her plans that day, she walked over the newly polished hardwood floor panels and gently tugged open her mother’s old armoire. She sighed and ran her fingers over the rough carvings of letters and digits - the names and phone numbers of Natasha’s mom’...

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“Night and Day” by Kate Gratton

Submitted to Contest #92

Anataisia screamed as her alarm went off - twenty minutes late. She flung herself at the wall, in only satin pyjama shorts and a black tank top, and reached for the back of her door, where her all-black housecoat with a hood was hanging. She yanked it on, then skimpered quickly over her creaky wooden floor boards to the window, where she pulled shut her blinds. Sighing, Anastaisia flipped on the light switch as she sank to her bed, so as to not be left in total darkness. There she lay in silence until her phone binged with a text message fro...

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