Maybe

Maybe

I sit by the bedside table, hands tapping above the desk. The room is dark except for the faint light creeping from under the door. It’s 2 AM yet my heart and mind are still debating, “Should I ask you again?”

I look at my phone thinking maybe you’ll change your mind. Maybe you’ll remember the laughter.  Maybe you’ll remember the stories that we shared together in those five years. Maybe you’ll remember our small fights that turn to cuddles at night. Maybe you’ll remember the places we’ve been into and the places we wanted to go. Maybe you’ll remember me. Maybe you’ll remember us.

Maybe, just maybe, “we” still matter to you.

Most people would find this absurd— to keep on waiting for someone. To stare blankly at your phone, waiting for that one single text saying, “I still do.”

I know you might have woken up and decided you can’t do this anymore. So you stopped answering. Chances are I overwhelm you. Chances are I am a walking mistake to you.

But then this maybe that I cling to, might be an exception.

So, I waited.

Because maybe, somehow, we could start anew.

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

Photo Credits: Anna O. via Raspberry Dreams

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I find it a breath of fresh air listening to other people’s love story instead of mourning over mine. Lol. Love, I learned, is both beautiful and terrifying. But always, worth it. Here’s a little something I wrote for a friend whose love story is riding on a roller coaster. Today marks their 5th year anniversary. I wish to the stars that they’ll get through love’s bumpy ride.

What If?

What if we give “us” a chance? Ignore the “buts”, throw caution to the wind and forget our fears.  Just for a minute, try to be more than what we are now.

What if we stop biting back the feelings that we thought are better left unsaid? I know they are there. I know they’re real. And I know you feel what I feel. But why can’t we take the risk?

Why can’t we walk side-by-side instead of walking away from each other? Why can’t we say those three words? Why do we have wait on who should take the first step?

What if we just take those damn steps together and meet half-way?

I don’t know what lies ahead but neither do you—neither does the rest of the world know. So how about we finally give this what if a chance?

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

Image Source: Pinterest

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A little something written for a friend… Wishing you the courage to take that “what if”. ^^

To the man who thinks I’m drowning…

To the man who thinks I’m drowning…

I am not.

Let me sink to the deepest sea
Reach the pitch black ocean floor

I may run out of breath but
But leave me be

Don’t come to my rescue
Or grab my hands

For, maybe, I like the taste of the
Brackish ocean

And the touch of the arctic veil

Let me swim back to the surface
With my own hands and feet

Do not rush and breathe life
Back to me

Or lift my weight— drag it
To the shore

For, maybe, these lungs need to remember
How it needs the gulp of air

And the warmth of life again.

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

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In response to MindLoveMisery’s Menagerie’s photo challenge #131 . Photo credits goes to Mukti Echwantono.

Head over here to join the fun!

Pandemonium: Realm of Desolation

Pandemonium: Realm of Desolation

Beneath her skin are fragile bones,
veins darken with the sorrow that flows
Slice her open and her innards
desiccate into dust
as fast as fear pierces her heart
So she crack a smile to hide
the realm of desolation
she keeps inside

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

Photography by Anna O.

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In response to dVerse’s Quadrille– 16: Opening to the Muse

Tending the bar today is Victoria with her delicate poem,  Hibiscus. The challenge is to write a poem in exactly 44 words (excluding title) inspired by the word OPEN. I’ve written about Pandemonium last month for OLN and our current weather (thunderstorm) prompt me to write a follow-up.🙂

Head over here to join the fun:

Cheating Death

Cheating Death

“Will you take it, child?” The old woman held out a crystal, her eyes shifted from shades of the blue sky into a deep sea.

Does she really want this? Is she really willing to give up her youth, her beauty, her future and half of her life for good? Beads of sweat trickled down Lisa’s forehead as her fingers touched the stone. Her eyes closed and images of the past swirled in her mind. She remembered his dark eyes, his laughter and his voice and the way he say her name. His touch.

Eyes flew open and she was filled with panic, fear and resolve. She wanted him back—alive and breathing by her side.

A while ago, it was her blood that dripped on a clear crystal and stained it pink. A while ago, her skin was beautifully fair. A while ago, the love of her life was dead.

But not anymore.

“It is done.” The old woman said and the last thing she saw was her malevolent smile.

Word Count: 170

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

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Here is for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers prompt. This week’s photo prompt is provided by my awesome friend, Jade. Thanks PJ for hosting another fun prompt.😀

Enjoy more stories here:

Failed Experiment

Failed Experiment

Trial and error
Evaluate, assess
Which version of me
This society accepts
To conformity I succumbed
Conceded, gave in
Only to find it’s a
Failed experiment

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

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In response to dVerse’s Open Link Night and Shapeshifting 13 #70 KICKOFF: This week, in exactly 26 words, your challenge is to write a story or poem inspired by the image above (credits to Kahn & Selesnick).

                                             

Memories and Smoke

Adam settled into his favorite bench, took out his pipe and lit it, and then filled the afternoon with recollection of memories and stories, of smiles and tears.

Autumn has come around and the world is bathed into a crisp ocher and golden brown again. She had always loved this season, he thought. His mind wandered back to the time when he came home to find Eve nestled in the heap of tawny leaves like a bird curled at the core of its nest; her lips arched into a smile. He kissed her the way a prince would have kissed sleeping beauty—only that she never woke up. Eve lay cold and lifeless as he broke into tears and disbelief.

He’d never seen autumn that dreadful. Since then, part of him died each day when the leaves fell from the trees. Lost in memories and smoke, he waited for winter.

Word Count: 150

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

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Here is for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers prompt. This week’s photo prompt is provided by Phylor. Thanks PJ for hosting another fun prompt.

Enjoy more stories here:

 

Cassiopeia

The fires of the night danced from a distance as I walked languidly in the dimmed path of 6^th street with nothing but a pale light from a solitary street lamp to guide my way. Home. That’s where my feet were supposed to go but my heart refused to call it such. Nothing feels like home when you’re miles away. Nothing feels like home when the distance is heaven wide. Another day has passed and I stared at the infinite horizon of star-speckled sky; my eyes seeking for solace. I looked for the one thing that never failed to make my heart skip a beat, the one thing that the celestial gods must have hand-crafted for me alone—Cassiopeia. In the corner of the night sky, I found the distant gleam of five burning stars forming into a gorgeous constellation and I felt my restless heart calmed, my lips curved into a smile. Now that, my friend, is home.

Stars wink and glimmer,
A warm embrace of comfort
The starry sky brings

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

Image Source: Wikipedia

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In response to dVerse’s Haibun Monday: Twinkle, twinkle

Ghosts and Landmines

I tiptoed on cobbled streets
Afraid that I may set off landmines
Where your memories hide
For I fear the explosion of nostalgia
Right before my eyes
So I treaded the long roads
With a watchful heart
Praying that I won’t get to see
Ghosts of the past

© 2016 Maria. All Rights Reserved.

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In response to MindLoveMisery’s Menagerie’s photo challenge #126 and The Daily Post prompt: Ghost.

Head over here to join the fun!