Top Stories
Stories in Psyche that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.
The Empty Nest. Runner-up in Small Kindness Challenge.
I like it here. Big trees. There’s the wood, I like it there as well, but I like it here. Gaps between the trees. Grass and soil and the bird bath. I like it best when they’re not here. The people. The dog. There’s a cat, sometimes, on his way elsewhere. I like him least of all. And squirrels. Bothersome squirrels.
By Hannah Moore2 years ago in Psyche
Hope in the Darkness
I trudged through the supermarket aisles, my three children holding together. Jake, my eldest at 10, was trying his best to keep his younger siblings, Emma (7) and Liam (4), from creating chaos. I should have been grateful for his help, but all I felt was a deep, gnawing emptiness. I wanted to feel love for my kids, but instead there was void, which was sucking me into it, slowly, feeling a pressure and a loss of breath at the same time.
By Gabriela Trofin-Tatár2 years ago in Psyche
Portrait of a Finder of Lost Things. First Place in Small Kindness Challenge.
During a youth basketball game in the early 1980’s, according to some physics I do not understand, my Rolex watch slipped from my wrist and fell beneath the bleachers. I didn’t even notice until after the game, when the announcer alerted the departing crowd to the lost watch. Cursing my lack of attention, I rushed to the scorer’s table to retrieve my precious timepiece. A five year old boy, exploring beneath the crowd’s feet, had found it, but I would never know this. Grateful for its return, but far too busy and important to actually offer thanks, I snatched the proffered watch from the scorekeeper without a word, or so much as a glance at the child, and departed. The boy’s mother commented on the rudeness of the exchange and assured him that such impoliteness was an exception to the norm.
By J. Otis Haas2 years ago in Psyche
Faith in Humanity
Sharon nervously tapped on her knee as she waited for one of the employees to call her name. She tried to keep herself calm, to tell herself that it wouldn’t be that bad, that she just needed to be patient. But as the minutes passed, and other names were called instead of hers, Sharon was finding it harder and harder to do that.
By Rebecca Patton2 years ago in Psyche
Though I Do Not Know You
You could never know how much of a difference you made, how could you? Not until I made it clear, anyway. Two strangers. We never met, you don’t even know what I look like, or even my name. All I know of you is from your words and the picture you included. That is all.
By Elizabeth Butler2 years ago in Psyche
Heaven in the Voice Room
This will not be an official report. I will be keeping this in my private files. And I will remain anonymous. Mr. Defoe was one of the newer staff members, but he had already proven himself to be a very valuable asset at the school, covering for other absent teachers, finding lost files (actually discovered one behind a filing cabinet that was so old it was in one of the colours I had not seen in almost a decade), and creating his own lesson plans. With all of that work, the decision to put him in charge of our Voice Room seemed easy enough (the other teachers simply did not want the job, and he was too polite to say no).
By Kendall Defoe 2 years ago in Psyche
Seen
I was sitting there on the step, and she drove up in a big, dusty, red truck. I was surprised when she stepped down and walked right toward me, without even a little hesitation. She didn't look away like most folks -- not even the "look-away" thing they do like they are checking their purse or pocket, or like they see something in the other direction. No, she looked right at me, and smiled, saying "Hello!" like I was someone she knew.
By Leslie Staven2 years ago in Psyche
Keeping the Ticket
With the ticket in my hand, it felt like a diamond album. He had given it to me. Just right there with his medium brown hand into mine. I knew this was his only ticket and that he wouldn’t be able to go to Firefly. Just to grasp the ticket made me remember him forever. This was 2013. The festival would rise and swell with the rhythms and vibrations of the various bands and performers.
By Skyler Saunders2 years ago in Psyche
