Make-Shift Stories

If Mom was still alive, Mara would have told her. She wondered if James had given her a deathbed confession of everything he hid from her as a kid. What he was hiding from her now, still, even though Mom couldn’t say anything. There were always words left unsaid with James and Mara knew, here in her brother’s room surrounded by his childhood, that there was some reason he wouldn’t come help her pack.

Those last few days, Mara had spilled everything through faulty breaths. James had been silent.

And here Mara was, without her family, having to decide what parts of their lives were important. It wasn’t the first time she’d cried, God the funeral had been a nightmare, but she could feel her throat closing up. Could feel the heat in her face, hot tears behind eyes. Something spilling out of her so loud. So loud. And in the aching bones of the house, no one could hear her.

(Working) Title: Atlantis

A Summary: Mara spent her summers growing up in her family’s Long Island beach house. She hasn’t been there in years, but when her mom passes away, she has to go back and clean it out. It should only be a two-day job, but then Mara runs into her nighbour and childhood friend, Gabi Valdez. Suddenly, selling the house and leaving the beach forever seems like a bad idea.

Tags: LGBT+ fiction, coming of age, romance, angst with a happy ending, emotional hurt/comfort, grief, mutual pining, friends to lovers

Where the Story is at: currently i am writing my first draft through a mixture of planning and pantsing, this blog will give you updates about the story, excerpts and insight into the narrative. i’m currently unsure about publishing prospects, though it will probably be published for free online before anything else

It was better than old times.

They sat on the sandy sofas, barely an inch between them as they caught up. Talking about high school and how it ended, how neither of them wanted to stay in contact with their old friends. How nobody really got it, they didn’t understand that Mara didn’t want to go to college. All of her friends were spread around the country and she stayed in New York to write for different blogs.

“Are you happy?” Gabi asked her, tilting her mug of rosé in Mara’s direction.

“I think I am,” she replied. “I’m only taking freelance jobs until I get a publishing deal.” As if that wasn’t the plight of every author in the country.

“And I’m sure you’ll get it!”

This is a new blog for my original fiction. The piece I am working on at the minute is called Atlantis, and is an LGBT+ coming of age story. You can find out more about both me and my story here