Madison Marvin

“In the Ashes of What We’ve Burned” by Madison Marvin

In the Ashes of What We’ve Burned It’s a wicked thing with teeth, his smile. Emil had always thought so when he bothered to think of Bellamy Blackwood. Bellamy wasn’t the type of person Emil spent much time on, but when he did, disgust curled inside him like a poisonous snake. He remembered how Bellamy’s grin could slice through silence like a blade—the crooked edge, the daring smirk that always seemed just a little too knowing, too dangerous. The kind of smile that suggested the world could be burned down and rebuilt in the ashes, fuelled ...

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“Leaving, Staying, Going” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #265

Leaving, Staying, Going The first thing I noticed when we arrived in China was that it was hot. Not just summer hot, or even sauna hot, but sweltering, boiling, melt your face off hot. I’d never felt a heat so intense in my life, it was like my whole body was put in an oven set to 400 degrees. The second thing that I noticed about China was that all the people were… Chinese. Now I know this might sound obvious, but to me, the only time I saw people who looked like me was at the Panda Bear Adoption Group meetings my mom had us attend. An...

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“The Wedding Crasher's Guide to Kissing Your Sister's Ex ” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #264

The Wedding Crasher's Guide to Kissing Your Sister's Ex I was never the main character of my story. I was always the background character, sitting in the back of the classroom, Stella's little sister who followed her like a shadow. When we’d be out with our mom, people would always say Stella looked just like her. Then they’d turn to me, if they noticed I was there at all, and ask if I was a school friend. Mom made us take ballet lessons when we were kids. I was Snowflake Number 7 in the Nutcracker (Stella was Clara), an unnamed or...

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“The Toast: a series of wedding speeches that led to a divorce ” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #264

The Toast: a series of wedding speeches that led to a divorce “To the groom! As the best man, I’ve known Evan since we were in diapers. Well actually, he was in diapers, I was already potty-trained by three months. Doctors said it was a modern miracle. But that's neither here nor there. Ah, look at me, using these big words, who do I think I am? Eve?! Ha! Just kidding, just kidding. Eve, you're great, sweetie. For real though, Eve and Evan, you two were made for each other! The perfect match! I mean, Evan’s like this fun-loving, fr...

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“The Life Of A Setting Sun” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #195

Growing up, I always thought that my best friend, Lucas, was like the sun. Bright, loud, invincible. He could fall off his bike with barely a scratch, and get away with stealing gum from the convenience store, and survive several punches to the face after standing up to the school bully, Chase Miller. Lucas was my hero. Then he got hit by a semi-truck on the freeway. And survived. That’s when I realised maybe he really was indestructible. “Watch this,” Lucas said with a grin, two days after he got out of the hospital, fully recovered af...

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“Red String” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #161

My favourite Chinese myth is the one about how we all have red strings of fate connecting us to our loved ones, and that no matter what, no matter where we are, we are always tied together. The threads can tangle but will never break, and will keep us connected even through death. I’ve always loved that idea, of fate. It’s comforting. It makes me think that maybe I still have ties somewhere to my birth family. It makes me feel like maybe I have been connected to my adopted family from the beginning, like I was always meant to be theirs and t...

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“jiāoqiǎnyánshēn ” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #161

jiāoqiǎnyánshēn (交浅言深) Chinese, v. - to have a deep and intimate conversation with a stranger. The phone had been ringing nonstop for the past twenty minutes from an unknown number. Even when I denied the call, or put my phone on silent, I couldn’t get it to stop ringing. Despite knowing that this was definitely the first five minutes of a horror movie, I answered it. And as soon as the voice on the other end spoke, I knew who it was.  My birth mother. “Hello?” I called out, and she answered me. I didn’t think she would answer me. Didn’...

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“Seer” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #152

I believe in miracles simply because one hasn’t happened to me. It’s easy to believe in something that no one is sure exists—there is no evidence to prove it doesn’t, after all. Hope is like that. It’s easy to have hope when the future is unknown, unfolding like the crumpled wings of a newborn bird. It’s like oxygen and clouds and the space between fingertips—something we can’t always see or touch, but know is there. I’ve always believed in the inherent unknowable mysteries of the world. I’m not so naive or egotistical to say that I have a G...

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“Pangea” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #151

In the beginning, there was only me and darkness. And in the end, there will be only darkness and me. The oldest of friends. Hand in hand we age eternally. Time is so lonely, or don’t you know. And we can all use a lifelong friend. For I will outlive even nothingness itself. I was not born from life nor will I die with death. I don’t know if I will ever die. Don’t know if I’m alive to begin with. But I suspect that I am ever so old. Older than technology, than humanity, than sin. I am as old as time itself. Perhaps even older. I have seen em...

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“Pygmalion ” by Madison Marvin

Submitted to Contest #150

Unit 8X doesn’t know how long it’s been waiting. It’s easy to measure the passage of time, but the experience of its passing is often unreliable and susceptible to error. Hours bleed into days, which bleed into weeks, which bleed into months. It’s a good thing Unit 8X doesn’t bleed or feel pain. It doesn't feel anything at all. According to its logs, Unit 8X has been waiting in Cargo Hold C for 6 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes, and 24 seconds, 25 seconds, 26 seconds…. However, it doesn’t seem so long ago that Creator had told ...

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