Juliana believed in monsters. She believed in the one under her bed, the one in the closet, and the one under the stairs. Happily, she also had a mother who could knew how to handle monsters. “Juliana,” she said. “Give all of the monsters names, and then they can’t hurt you.” Juliana named the monster under the bed Mr. Scaredy-cat, the one in the closet Mr. Snagglepuss, and her sister,
Caves, shadows, and rings. In his 1955 article for his high school newspaper, The Spectrum, Hunter S. Thompson wrote that “Security” was “another word for rut.” From what I have seen in my 10 years of higher education and 3+ years of teaching anywhere from 11 year-olds to 65 year-olds, I have found the most common “rut” is not in the secure job, nor the secure, boring middle class life, but
Welcome to Emily’s Corner. This is a corner of the world you have not seen before because it only exists in my head: a place my inner Mom sends me when my thoughts are too much to handle and I need a time-out. While it’s not a hard corner you’d be afraid to bump into every time you come into the living room, and it’s not a corner you turn where something
←Chapter Thirty-three May 19, 1985: Isaak and I moved to Wyoming recently, away from Lucy and the Counsel’s reach. I have masked my absence from the core with feigned grief. I just want to raise my son away from those people…I went to Haven to see Margaret, and Victoria told me I need to minimize my contact with her, stick to birthdays and holidays-of which Otherworlders have four: Yule, Ostara,
←Chapter Thirty-Two March 4, 1983: They came and took her away. They took my little girl. I was so weak, and when I got up to stop them-I couldn’t stop the bleeding. I passed out. When I woke up, she was gone. Mother and Victoria told me Margaret is one of the children prophesied to be the hybrid. I screamed until they brought in Isaak. When he saw me crying, he began
←Chapter Thirty-One July 27, 1978: I returned from Montana today and immediately found myself part of a ceremony. My wedding ceremony. It looked so much like the pictures I remember from visiting my grandmother’s house. My mom was married here, too. Have I, now, become one of the unlucky? It’s the way it feels…July 29, 1978: The wedding night was so awkward. Kenneth has an uncanny ability for make-believe. I
