literature

Whether written centuries ago or just last year, literary couples show that love is timeless.

The Mock Life
Characteristically you deal with situations the way that has come before, the circular relationship between a child’s actions and the actions of the parents. If your father is an asshole, this leads to the assumption that you will eventually become an asshole yourself. I’m sure Freud suggested that we long for our parents in our romantic lives, but I believe we do not long to love them but long to become them, because familiarity breeds content and we as human truly only strive to be content. Maybe the world has made us this way, our lives dictated and regimented by the world we live in. The cavemen and the explorers strived for more; it never ended well. Explores killed civilizations with a simple sneeze and the cavemen were often killed or eaten alive. Why challenge your destiny, destiny will always claim its reward. Maybe because why strive for more, because we know subconsciously that the ones who strive for more become outsiders, the free spirit in a prison of contentment. You inevitably become the characters that guide you, you become not quite replicas but copies of what came before, you will never break the circle, because inevitably we all live in a circle of destiny and life. Second to the debilitating fate that your parents unknowingly cast upon you, you’re a creature of your circumstances, you live in a dead end town, then that dead end is all your fated for. Your father is an investment banker, then you inevitably will become an investment banker, this is obviously if you’ve chosen not to become a "boy of the world"; a term coined to represent the rich boy (but not exclusively male) that chooses to cast his good fortune on the children of Africa, believing that his "generosity" will help them in there eternal struggle. Until he ultimately gets bored and goes back to table service in Mayfair. I myself fall somewhere between the two, not quite terminally unemployed but nowhere above a solid office job that will make me redundant at the tender age of 43, where I fall into crippling debt but refuse to sell the Mercedes that I bought second hand five years before. We’re all destined for a fate predetermined by the great all mighty lord or by the bank, characteristically limited to a life we know that will be unrewarding but will keep a roof above our heads and food in out stomachs.
By Ellen Brooking8 years ago in Humans
The Great Dive
I sat on the smooth, flat edge of the cliff and gazed out into the sea. My bronze hair tumbled haphazardly in the cool breeze. It was an unseasonably cold day for early July, and I could feel the goosebumps rising off my skin. The clouds were a deep silver gray, a colour that I would have fallen in love with if it didn’t so perfectly match my mood. I could appreciate nothing in this state of mind.
By Athena Maverick8 years ago in Humans
The Urban Sleeplessness
The city, Toronto, never sleeps. In the darkest hours of the night it breathes and lives like an animal. But at night life takes on a new image, shadowed and mysterious. The darkness fills in the city, like a plague, giving it an entirely new sense of existence. It is as if stepping into a parallel universe.
By Amanda Rose8 years ago in Humans
The Back Door
If I were to write a story, I would write about the safé on the corner of Lupus and Flitcroft Street. It probably has an actual name but I don’t know what it is. I don’t like it all that much. Its walls are of a sickly lime green colour and the chairs are hard, modern and white. I also don’t drink coffee, but if I did, I certainly wouldn’t drink it there. They always buy the cheapest brand and then the whole café stinks like someone died in there. But no one really cares. I usually drink orange juice. The oranges are good; they get them from a nearby market, so it’s not some cheap stuff out of a box.
By Felicity Jade Lawrence8 years ago in Humans
Autumn and Winter Romance
I met Robert on Halloween in 2015. I was dressed head-to-toe in early twentieth century clothing as a vampire who could not bring herself to dress in modern fashion. I was particularly proud of myself because I had managed to spend less than five hundred dollars on the costume, which I could use for multiple purposes outside of Halloween. I was also the most fancily dressed at the Halloween party — that was, until Robert walked in the room.
By Colleen Sweeney8 years ago in Humans
The Hamiltons: Epilogue
The letter had been placed on Eliza's dresser while she was asleep. She noticed it when she sat down to brush her hair. Cracking open the seal, she recognized Alexander's handwriting.
By Rachel Lesch8 years ago in Humans
Ghost Story
There’s a breeze coming in off the ocean. The fog is rolling in like ghosts, reminding me of the specter the man I slept beside last night will soon be. Gooseflesh coils up my arms like a forest fire. It’s the 8th day of counselor training, I walk into the dining hall some kind of seven am, red eyed, black coffee awful. I’m wearing a tasseled crop top, bleached booty shorts. My shoulder length hair is done up some kind of backwoods beauty queen. Discount mascara is painted over my infected eye. A mosquito bit me on my eyelid yesterday. The man from the night before told me that it’s because the insects thought my eyes were pretty too. He told me some things were too beautiful to resist. I’m more sunburnt than tan, my face looks like I’m always anime blushing, so when I walk in and the entire dining hall goes silent, none of the other counselors can see the blood rushing to my face. They stare anyways.
By Aliza Dube8 years ago in Humans
Was It Meant to Be?
How do you lay next to the guy you fell head-over-heels for, knowing that he treats you like a friend or sometimes not even like you're the most important thing in his life? Yeah, I know, you can't answer that. They always say that true love never fails, it may bend at some points in time, but it will never break. So why does it feel like your heart is in a million pieces? Moral point is that you never know how the other person feels for you. They can tell you a thousand times but if they don’t show you then what’s its really worth?
By Kelsey Hollingsworth8 years ago in Humans
The Fire Sparked Part 2
At this very moment all I can think is, "Is this really going to happen?" I mean like I said I was very content just being by myself, I didn't want a relationship. But was that going to change if I said yes?
By Dani Keegan8 years ago in Humans
Only Charles and I
At first, we thought the black liquid was oil, that we'd struck it rich and that we'd be able to retire and live in leisure. After working for so many months in the same fields, we've finally reached our goal. We actually started writing down all the ways we'd spend the money.
By Mensur Hamzabegović8 years ago in Humans
Finding Ronnie
Blue or purple skies. It’s better when the sun has gone down and the moon is slowly rising. The deep purple, mixing with the dark blue; coexisting with one another. Pink lines streaming through like a river. Hint of orange from the sun disappearing behind the buildings. The stars never show themselves at night in the city. Too many lights; way too many lights. Every now and again a black dot soars through the clouds, naming themselves bats. The moon was completely full like the roundness and paleness of a fat man’s belly.
By Queen Fae8 years ago in Humans
A Man and The Man
Roger Paul Jameson, III meticulously pulled the shaving cream from his face as he stared into his large mirror. He saw that no piece of his hair had stayed on, and he nodded at this sight. He then put down his razor and reached for his toothbrush, which already had the toothpaste on its bristles.
By Alex Maurice8 years ago in Humans