Sylvia Luna

“Tired of Running” by Sylvia Luna

(sexual abuse) “Whatever or fine” Cassie’s standard answers anytime she’s asked an uncomfortable question. Uncomfortable for her could be, how’s your day going? She’s always been secretive, it’s one of her many traits that is not desirable for friends, lovers or new acquaintances. Many people mistake her avoidance for being aloof, a little mysterious, and for some, she’s a challenge. For those young men who meet her challenge and try to get close to her, find themselves beaten and by nothing else but by her own fear. Fear can be powerful, ...

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“Happy Birthday” by Sylvia Luna

She was only 17 when her daughter was born. She thinks back to that day as she measures out the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, baking powder. She sets out the butter and places it near the bourbon vanilla and chocolate. The recipe calls for a bit of espresso, but she always leaves that out because she does not want her daughter having espresso, it can’t be good for a child. The day her daughter floated into her life, it was gray and quiet; her very favorite kind of day. Maybe because she was so young on the day her daughter made her way ou...

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“The Road Back Home” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #138

“It’s red,” Henry said pointing to the sweater his wife purchased for him. His facial expression was candid, he didn’t even try to hide his dismay. “It’s really more of a magenta,” she pointed out matching his expression. “Why can’t you ever just acknowledge what I say, why do you have point out the inaccuracies or top it with something you know better?” To the world, Henry and Rita were always in sync, they were perfectly fitted like the words to a favorite song. They’d met by accident, Henry had been set up on a date with Rita’s sister, Ma...

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“School's In” by Sylvia Luna

When “they” walked into the lunchroom the chilliness was almost palpable. Sandra, known as Ms. Whitman in her fifth-grade class, was the leader of the group and she always sat at the top of the long rectangular table. Administration purchased all new furniture in the school’s faculty lunchroom over the past summer, it was far cozier than the previous furniture which could only be described as outdated and ratty. It seemed that when the new furniture arrived, Sandra made it known that the top of the table was her seat; from this spot, she cou...

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“Getting Home” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #108

Jeffrey could hear the sirens from two blocks away. The fire had a definite smell; it was raw and earthy…he peddled faster. The sirens were behind him now, he pulled the old brown Schwinn he’d borrowed over to allow the fire engines to pass. He wondered if he could get a ticket for halting their expedient passage to the fire. People were standing on the street, looking over towards the block where his house stood. Police were putting up barriers to stop traffic. He looked up into the sky and could see billowing smoke, it was a dark gray colo...

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“Lies Upon Lies” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #107

“It’s just a little lie, it barely has color” I firmly believed my justification as I spewed these words to my sister, Charlotte. “It’s not that I can’t hold a serious face when I’m in the middle of conducting a small lie, it’s that I don’t want to get caught…it’s embarrassing,” she confided. Whenever I think of a “white lie”, I remember a quote that I’d read on a church bulletin board, “When we tell white lies, we become progressively color blind”. I was only 11 years old when I read that quote and I can’t forget it, it’s like knowing all t...

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“La Lune” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #98

The Moon, it’s a planet and the Earth has just one. Other planets have several moons, Mars has two little moons. I wonder what that’s like? I can see in my imagination’s eye, Martians sitting on their verandas, sipping whatever it is that Martians drink. I envision a filmy grey smoke dancing above their cups filled with blue liquid, and they would be looking up into the sky at their twin moons wondering about the inhabitants on other planets. On the planets of Jupiter and Saturn who have dozens of moons, it must be a magical night, especiall...

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“After the Party” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #93

The confetti was strewn about the floor, chairs and tables. Spiraled ribbons hung from the ceiling attached to balloons that matched the confetti dots, pink, orange and white. Marcella already regretted her promise to Pam, her best friend, “I’ll have someone help you, please until I get back?” she all but offered to pay her. Reluctantly Marcella agreed, “Okay, but I’ll need help and you better hurry back,” she made her condition and was going to hold her to it. Pam had been planning her 40th birthday for six months. She booked the recreation...

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“What a Tangled Web We Weave...” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #92

Mother’s Day is coming soon. This particular holiday makes me feel as if I have to put on a show. A show that is completely phony. I do love my mother, but there’s things I don’t like. Growing up I saw the selfishness in her and the favoritism she displayed between me and my sisters. It was always expected that if someone had to sacrifice, be the mature one, or give in, it was me. Maybe because I was the oldest or the one who wanted to pacify each situation. I was told I was “mature” for my age. I did not know what mature meant at five years...

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“Never Too Late” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #91

The garage was so full of miscellaneous items, from a baby buggy, not a stroller, but an actual English Pram to a bird cage. Knick knacks, baskets, boxes, a sewing machine, old computers, a teeter totter, it was a collection of items so vast, so random that Simone did not know where to start. It was like falling into a deep hole and not knowing which way was up. This is so overwhelming, how did I get here? Her parents just wanted to be able to park her car inside the garage. Right now, a matchbox car couldn’t find space.Simone came up with a...

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“Breathe, Breathe, Breathe” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #90

The insurmountable feelings were climbing the walls of her brain. Breathe...breathe...breathe... pray...pray...pray. She could feel her heart pound, it’s as if she were a human drum and there were thin wooden sticks with round, marble sized tops and they were tapping, then pounding intermittently. Why won’t it stop, she clenched her teeth, each row upon each other, top and bottom, locked. She said to herself, if I can’t open my mouth, I can’t scream. The sounds have begun, it was like forced air, the familiar sound tell...

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“Changes” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #89

March 28th, Wanda fills in her calendar with the weeks’ appointments, work schedule and reminders. April 1st already, Spring has been officially here for a week and I have to remember to find time to get a pedicure since the weather is warming up, she reminds herself. She carefully uses her black pen for appointments, blue for her work notes and red for reminders and important information. She looks in her desk drawer for stickers to make her calendar look more colorful. Since I don’t have to work until late Tuesday, I’ll stop at the market ...

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“365 Days” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #87

April Fool’s Day 2019, the year before the pandemic was when it all began. Most of the people at The Examiner, a small, local newspaper, loved a good joke. Mark never had a problem with any of his co-workers, but one particular co-worker, Joel, made it his mission to make sure the whole office enjoyed his pranks above all. The morning began with vegetable tasting donuts, throughout the day there were whoopie cushions on a few seats and even fake, plastic ants scattered in the refrigerator. There were lots of chuckles, but one prank, for Mark...

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“333 Brighton Avenue” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #85

Alice 333 Brighton Avenue, Apartment #232. That was the only dwelling Alice ever known, she was born in the very bedroom she now occupied. The tiny three bedroom/one bath apartment would never be called large, upscale or luxurious and since it sat in a neighborhood known for its large and blue-collar families, it was not considered the hip side of town. The sheer white curtains slightly danced in the breeze on any given spring day; the elegant curtains were Alice’s idea and her favorite part of the bedroom she shared with her sister. Alice l...

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“Serendipity” by Sylvia Luna

Submitted to Contest #81

She walked into the room and there it was, in the time it takes a hummingbird to flap its wings, the memory was waiting for the right time to resurface, but he knew her in an instant. It was 15 years ago, a few weeks before his senior year, he and his friends were at a summer dance, it was the last one before school began. Josh didn’t have the courage to approach her, to ask her to dance or even her name. But when his best friend asked her to dance, and she accepted, he lost his dibs, as he and his friends often called when one of them spott...

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