Zainab Adam

Being a bookseller was more about noticing all of the quiet, and hushed fleeting moments, ones that lasted seconds but were cherished forever, the tiny pockets of beauty and joy hidden within the pages that is the love for books.

I realized my college experience didn’t have to be this epic story to tell as years pass. The choices, the leaps of faith and the small things were enough.

I smell the charred smell of flesh. The same one that flooded my nose, seared into my brain even now. The wheezing of her last breath being drawn. It sounded so hollow, like nails against a chalkboard And the fear in her voice. I can still hear those agonizing sounds of death, God that pain grasps at my heart and I feel like I may vomit.  I tell you all of this, because I beg you with every fiber of my being to believe me,  I’m innocent.  Sincerely,  -Your best friend

Robbery had never come to Amani’s mind when she thought back to her high school graduation speech she’d given almost two years ago. She surely hadn’t considered becoming a felon when she had talked about her dreams for a future of endless possibilities.

You are the magic of the pen, / the confessions of a soul broken and mended alike, / a hand to hold, / company to keep, / a precious bond that cannot be broken, you are- / Real to me.

She closes her eyes and imagines that the sauces that seep through are not sauces at all. She breaks the tender meat, and imagines blood pooling on the plate.

“Don’t make a spectacle out of Black violence so you can get a few hundred likes and feel good about yourself. I’m not another one of your little paintings that you can fix up to perfection and cloak in a lie of sincerity.”

Sometimes homes do not want to protect you. Sometimes they want to see you burn in the fires they light. / Sometimes homes rot, and they want to see you rot too.