A Million Dollars
A Million Dollars
Peyton Gallagher
I was given a million dollars, my choices were unlimited. Images flash of my deepest desires. How am I supposed to know where to start? “I can’t possibly narrow down my options” I said to myself. All I can think about is the good that could come. Suddenly all of my pre-existing issues wash away. I know what I want and now I have what I need to achieve it. I suddenly felt a new sense of calm. I am going to buy a big white house on an enormous plot of land full of animals and my children running around. The golden rays of sun will be beaming, the breeze flowing. I see my features in my children, parts of my husband too. I can’t help but think of how much my life will change; to some, one million dollars bought a house, but to me it brings my spark. Our family dogs run freely in the yard, the acres continue to grow, the land never seems to end.
I have it all.
I am a great mom. I remember when I was a young girl, I practiced ferociously various hairstyles on my dolls, whether it was pigtails or ponytails, braids,french and dutch style. I had it nailed down, and I was ready to be a mom at a young age. I knew I could raise girls into powerful women just as I was. My little girls and I; that was all I needed. We loved to do makeup, dress up, paint our nails, just as I had dreamed. My days are filled with smiles and laughter. Our day to day routine is always the same; there is nothing I would change.
I wake up in a bed surrounded by my own family including our puppies. the rays of sun awaken me and I feel the warmth graze my face. Suddenly the coldness returns. Those golden rays of light dim to complete darkness, and a deafening silence swallows me whole. My body drenched in a cold sweat–it was only a dream. I lay back down. I squeeze my eyes shut yearning to return to my life that did not exist. For what feels like hours, I try again and again to go back to sleep. My blinds begin to let in a faint light of grey; another day of clouds. My alarm sounds: 6 o’clock on the dot. While I must return to reality, I cannot forget. All I’m left with is a gutting feeling of nostalgia for a life that I never lived.
Ceramics & Textiles – 2025
Photography – Spring 2025
Painting & Drawing – Spring 2025
2025 Storytellers Competition Art Winners
Michai Sanders – Fern Wrapped Wonder (1st Place)
Cashier Brooks – Into the Realm (2nd Place)
Isaac Freeman – Sunset Tsunami (3rd Place)
If I Went to Space
Women In Air – Janice Jeong
If I Went to Space
Anabelle Meigs
If I went to space, I would first get on a rocket made just the previous year, 2115. I would double-check, triple-check, making sure everything was working properly. I would walk up to the platform connecting the rocket to the stairs, stand up there, and take in the cool air as I looked down.
If I looked down, I would see flocks of people coming to see me off. I would wave to my tearful mother and father, knowing I would not be returning. I would hear the command to enter the rocket, take a breath, and head inside. I would see the seats, the dashboard, and my seat, which was separated from the rest. The pilots would buckle me in, and I would feel the rocket vibrate.
If I felt the rocket vibrating, I would know that the time had come for me to leave and see my new home. I would look out the window and watch the land begin to fade out of view, as I was squished against my seat. The sky would slowly fade into a darker and darker blue as we entered what was soon to be my new home. As I thought about my old home, I would cry.
If I cried, I would be crying because I am leaving my family behind, as well as my favorite spots on Earth, and my dog. However, it is my choice. I remind myself this as I dry my tears and come back to the present. No use crying. They’re gone anyway, all of them. As we continued through space, I would look out the window and take in the view of the bright stars against the dark sky. I would remember the last time I saw my friends’ beautiful faces. My thoughts would be interrupted by a jolt.
If I felt a jolt, I would know we were at our destination. I would be unbuckled from my seat and begin to float. My jaw would drop. I had only heard stories about this before. I would twirl around and around until the two pilots grabbed each of my arms and pulled me inside, ruining my fun. I would look around the space station.
If I looked around the space station, I would see that I was not the only one who was chosen to leave Earth. There are other people, each with their room. This is not where my new home will be, but it is a waiting place for going there. I would be placed in a room and given a piece of paper. This paper would be for writing whatever I wanted to say to my family, I would write.
If I wrote, I would write about how much they mean to me, and how grateful I am for everything they have done for me. It would be kind of awkward though, because they probably don’t want to hear that. They probably don’t want any reminders of me. I would finally write “Goodbye”. I would neatly fold it and hand it back to the guard, who would take it and leave me to my thoughts, I would think.
If I thought, I would think about all the times I took my life for granted, thinking everything good would just come to me. All the times I thought my actions wouldn’t amount to anything. How I am the reason I am where I am today, and it’s no one else’s fault. I would sit there, trying to process that. I would remember all my friends, and how it is my fault they aren’t here anymore, because of me and my stupid fun, and moving here is the best thing for all of Earth. I would think about that but would be interrupted by a knock at the door.
If I was interrupted by a knock at the door, I would know it was time for me to leave. To go to where my soul will spend the rest of its life. I would be walking down a long corridor, with nothing to hear but me and the person who would be the final human to see me. “The final human to see me,” I thought. I would suddenly be frightened.
If I was suddenly frightened, I would collapse on the ground and take shallow breaths. What if this isn’t for the best? What if I had a future ahead of me on Earth? “No”, I remind myself. Deep breaths. “You belong out here. You crashed the car”. I would let the guard drag me to my feet and would keep walking. I would look around.
If I looked around, I would see other people going to their new homes. It would make me feel a tad bit more at ease, knowing that their souls would be in the same place mine was going. I would watch as they all left, one by one from a different room. I would see mine, straight ahead. I would not resist, no point anyway, and I would walk in.
If I walked in, I would be greeted with absolutely nothing. Just a room with four walls and two doors parallel to each other. I would stand in the middle, as instructed, and the guard would ask me a question. “Any last words?” I would think for a moment. That’s a rather heavy question to put on someone on the spot. I would think for one more moment before shrugging and simply saying “goodbye”. The guard would smirk and close the door, and as he pushed a button, I would be sucked into space.
If I was sucked into space, I would feel the cold, but then slowly, I would feel nothing. I would be at peace as I watched the space station go further and further away from my eyeline. I would look at the other people and smile. “This is my home now”. I thought to myself, as my eyes slowly shut, and I would remember everything.
If I remembered everything, I would think about my friends, my family, and everyone else who used to care about me. I would remind myself that I am the reason my friends do not have a future, all because I thought it would be fun to drive fast. I’m the reason my parents are ashamed to call me their child, because I’m responsible for the deaths of four people that didn’t deserve to die. And everyone else? They are pretending they don’t know who I am. The worst part? I deserve it. So I would say goodbye, as I float in my never ending home.
The Way You Love
Under the Cherry Moon – Bella Weeks
The Way You Love
Shirley Yang
If only I could love you the way you love me.
You love in gentle smiles, like the touch of a rose petal.
You love in attentive eyes, always following mine
and twinkling like stars.
You love in kind words, soft spoken and uncertain,
pouring from your lips like sweet honey.
You love in all the ways I cannot.
I can’t love in words. They always come out
too harsh and sharp and jagged.
Sometimes, on a bad day, they hurl at you
and leave you spending sleepless nights wondering
what you did wrong.
You could never do anything wrong.
I can’t love in affections. When you put your hand
on my face, all I feel is burning,
a sting from a previous lover who cut and carved
into me until there was nothing left.
I flee from touch as much as you long for it,
as much as a bird longs to fly.
I can’t love in time. While you desire for company,
I relish in the company of solitude.
The noises of the world chip away at me,
tossing me around like a ship in a storm.
I can only spend small amounts of time with others
before I must retreat to the calm, quiet port
of my mind.
I can’t love you selflessly, the way you love me.
You let me love another, silently holding back your pain
with another soft smile plastered on your face.
You let me forget about you, so caught up in
the whirlwind of a first love, that I never
noticed you were there as well.
You let me, because you only wanted to
see me happy.
I can only provide a shoulder to cry on,
but never soothing words.
I can provide a solution to your problem,
but never the one you’re looking for.
I can be there to speak up when you’re unable to,
but can’t give the support you need to do it yourself.
Perhaps it’s less that I can’t love,
and more that I’m too scared to.
After my first foray into it ended so badly,
could you blame me for regarding it
with only suspicion from then on?
You welcome it so warmly, so eager to be
caught up in the embrace of love,
while I build a fortress around myself,
lest another fraud sneaks their way into
my heart, only to shatter it in the end.
No I, shrewd, cold, with nothing left to give,
cannot love you the way you love me.
I cannot love you the way you deserve to be loved.
An Ode to My Cat
Daisy – Caroline Thompson
An Ode to My Cat
Julia Burnette
Marbled blue eyes, no judgement
Of my smeared slash lipstick and sweaty straw hair.
What pulls me:
A swirling galaxy that welcomes me
As you patter, figure eights around my legs.
My worries melt with
Bird wing beats of your tiny finite heart.
Your liquid body, the weight
nooked into the nest of my arms,
And cadenced purr
That shimmies into my cells and soul.
In the heavy dark of the night,
Bad-breath love bites sting.
A forever scar on my nose.
I don’t love:
The unapologetically spewed supper;
Raw chicken livers wreaking havoc on my unfinished homework;
Sharp sour iron gruel masking the smell
Of my old gym shoes.
The droning, restless pleas outside my bedroom door
That keeps the veil of sleep away.
And yet…
What I wouldn’t give to keep you next to me.
Your static fur, soft sponge belly,
Soaking the salt of my sorrows.
And still…
You vibrate your purr, the quiet rhythmic rumble.
Paw in my hand, your head pressed to mine,
Holding my heartbreak.
My Days With Him
Street Lights – Payton Earwood
My Days With Him
Caroline Thompson
Day 1,826
Today marks our 5th year living together. Every day I thank the universe for giving me a man like Fin. He is kind, funny, generous, and pretty much everything a girl could ever ask for. Every day together is the same and I really couldn’t wish for more. I wake up every morning in our big comfy bedroom overlooking the city at 7am and take our australian shepherd Benji out for his morning walk. I walk down to the river a few blocks from our apartment because Benji loves the sound of the water and I love the subtle morning breeze that carries the small water droplets to my skin. I walk the same route every morning and I pass by the same people, like Gabby and Jared that live across the hall who go out for coffee every morning down the street at our favorite coffee shop. They’re always smiling ear to ear and I find it quite endearing. Sometimes, though, I notice Gabby’s stare lingering a little longer than normal—but I don’t think too much about it.
When I get home I go to the bedroom to wake my angel with coffee from the coffee maker he gave me for our move-in-aversary last year. He always wakes up with the same goofy smile that made me fall in love with him all those years ago. It really has been so long most of the time I can’t even remember how it all started. Fin sits up to sip the coffee and kisses me on the cheek and we usually talk about our plans for the day, even though they’re always the same.
Fin works in the busiest part of the city about 15 minutes away. He works in finance or accounting or something boring like that so I don’t really ask about it. I go to my mid-day shift at the bakery across from our regular place at 12pm where I bake bread and different pastries, usually for the other women in the area whose husbands and boyfriends also work in the city. They come in to get their usual treats and coffees and we chat about little things like when we want to have kids and all the adorable things we’d dress them in. Time always seems to escape us and before we know it the sun has gone down and it’s time to close up.
I get home at 6:15 every night and Fin follows shortly behind, usually with chocolate or a bouquet of flowers from the cute flower shop down by the river. My love knows me more than anyone else and always gets me my favorite daisies or a box of the best white chocolate. I always smile and laugh like a girl getting flowers from a boy for the first time, even though I’ve experienced it hundreds of times with Fin. We take turns making dinner and sometimes we go out to this nice Italian place on the corner when Fin gets a promotion or whatever else he’s celebrating at work.
My favorite part of the day is when we get comfy with Benji on our big white sofa with all of our fluffy pillows and blankets wrapped around us. It feels like being on a cloud and with my little family it’s all I could ever ask for. We turn off all the lights and turn on 2 lamps to really set a calm mood. Fin turns on a movie we’ve probably watched so many times already and we fall asleep snuggled up in our big soft bundle. I really couldn’t ask for a better life. This is everything I’ve ever wanted and more.
Day 1,827
The day starts amazing as always, as the sun subtly peers through our bedroom curtains. Benji, our Australian shepherd, wakes me up at 7am every day to go for a walk by the river and I always kiss my perfect boyfriend Fin on the forehead before I go. Everything is the same as it always is. Fin goes to work in the city and I go to work at the bakery down the street while Benji is probably sleeping or chewing on one of the hundreds of toys we’ve bought for him over time. Another woman on our street comes in to get some coffee and a treat and we’ll talk endlessly about our happy relationships and all else. I think we talk about the same types of things every day but I’m a little bad with my memory-although it doesn’t worry me much. Gabby, our neighbor, will usually come in and get loaves of bread once a week and then run out without saying anything more than “hello” and “thank you”. I always smile at her and try to start a conversation but for some reason she just ignores me. I ask Fin about it but he always tells me to stay away from her, he thinks she’s a “bad influence”, and I don’t ask many questions these days so I just go with it.
I get home around 6 every night and Fin follows around 6:30. We hug and kiss and he always has a little gift for me which I really enjoy. I’m not really sure how he has time, though, with all of the work he does—whatever he does. I’m pretty fuzzy on the details and his work stories always seem to escape my mind but he thinks it’s for the best, seeing as apparently it’s all boring.
I make dinner and we end the day on our big soft couch with a glass of wine and Benji to cuddle with. Every day is the same and I really love that. However, I sometimes have doubts about some things here and there. Fin tells me how my day goes sometimes because I can be very forgetful. But thinking about it now, he told me that too. Fin doesn’t tell me what he does, or at least I don’t remember what he says. I don’t know why I go through every day doing the exact same things, and I honestly don’t know why anyone would. I seem to not remember how we met or if I have a family. I faintly remember asking Fin about a camera I found in the ceiling of our bedroom but I don’t remember anything after that. I think I ask him a lot of questions but I don’t ever remember any of the answers, if he ever does answer. I don’t know much more about Fin than the fact that I love him, and I think that’s enough? At least I think I love him. Everythings becoming unclear now, and I decide to take a breath and look outside, slowly getting up as to not wake Fin. I stand by the window and look out at the street and suddenly Gabby comes to mind. We’ve barely interacted over the years we’ve been neighbors but I’ve always felt somehow attached to her—a mysterious familiarity felt through every smile or wave. I try to think back to where I first met her and I realize I don’t even remember what was happening this time last week, let alone 5 years ago. A far off memory flashes in my head; me running and another girl following shortly after. I look back and I see Gabby’s face. Before I can stop to think, it all comes rushing back to me.
The drive into the city from my little country house in Tennessee where I lived with my little sister and my mom. I remember Gabby’s face now, not from our apartment building or the bakery, but from that little country house and that field we used to play tag in every day before dinner time. I remember being driven here by my dad, who left when I was young to work here in the city, but I don’t remember anything after that. The oldest memory I have in the city that I can seem to remember is waking up in a shower, being bathed by a man I had never seen before, not being able to stand up on my own for some reason. I find it hard to remember who this man was. My heart races at a speed I never knew was possible. My vision gets blurry and I feel sick to my stomach. And then I realized—-the man I had been living with for 5 years, the man who I had loved with all my heart, the man sleeping peacefully behind me on the couch of our apartment. I turn back in disbelief and fear, tears welling in my eyes, and I find Fin is no longer there. My eyes struggle to adjust and I get increasingly dizzy as it all sets in. I stagger to the end of the couch and catch onto the back of it as I start to lose feeling in my legs, looking all around the apartment to see where my capture had gone. I look everywhere but he is nowhere to be seen, so I force myself up off of the couch and push through my horror and shock to run out of the apartment to escape. As I open the door, I am greeted by Fin as well as my dad, who I hadn’t seen since that night 5 years ago. Before I know it my eyes get heavy and I lose control of my entire body, falling into Fin’s arms and losing consciousness. All of my thoughts immediately drift away and my mind goes blank.
Dear Audrey
Late Night – Hannah Mason
Dear Audrey
Claudia Lloyd
Verse 1:
Late night talks and inside jokes,
With you, Audrey, my spirits never broke
Thick or thin, we’ve been through it all
But I’ll always know you’ll answer my call
You’re the light I find when I’ve lost my way
With you, I’ll always be okay
Chorus:
Through laughter or tears
You’ve been with me during all these years
Forever and always, our love will stay strong
With you, my sister, I finally belong
Verse 2:
Since we were kids, I’ve looked up to you
I see your strength, always shining through
You’ve taught me grace in all that you do
Even in hard times, your love only grew
You’ve held me close when I fell apart
No matter where you are, or time or heart
Chorus:
Through laughter or tears
You’ve been with me during all these years
Forever and always, our love will stay strong
With you, my sister, I finally belong.
Bridge:
You calm the chaos, at any cost
I find my peace in your presence
With you, I could never feel lost
Verse 3:
Between us, there is unspoken understanding
Through everything, our love’s expanding
You’re my best friend, everything feels so right
Even when we’re distant, or caught in a fight
I couldn’t ask for a better sister
You fix my problems, and life feels richer
Chorus:
Through laughter or tears
You’ve been with me during all these years
Forever and always, our love will stay strong
With you, my sister, I finally belong.