Explore scripted stories.
I don’t know how I got here. One minute I was at the police station, the next minute I’m standing on a bridge. Cars are passing behind me, people are driving home, somebody is laughing somewhere, and life is still happening. How strange, the world didn’t stop. It should have. Mine did but everybody else’s […]
I wake up smiling, the kind of smile that happens before you even open your eyes. For a few seconds, I don’t know where I am. The sheets feel too soft, the room smells expensive, the air-conditioning is so cold that I pull the duvet closer and then I remember. My smile grows wider.Oh, right.
I have changed my clothes three times already. The black dress is lying on the bed, then on the chair and then back on the bed again. I don’t know why I’m pretending the dress is the problem. The problem isn’t the dress, the problem is where I’m going. A funeral.His funeral. Even writing those
I can’t hear them anymore, at least I think I can’t. The pounding inside my chest is too loud, every heartbeat sounds like somebody banging on a metal door.My lungs hurt.My legs hurt.Everything hurts. I crouch behind a stack of cement blocks and press my body against the cold concrete.Please.Please don’t come this way. I
People think journalism is glamorous.It isn’t. Nobody tells you that most investigative reporting involves sitting in uncomfortable places for unreasonable amounts of time while questioning your life choices. For instance: At the moment I am writing this, it is 2:17 a.m. Mosquitoes have declared war on my existence. My back hurts. My phone battery is
Most people don’t expect to die on a Tuesday.Especially not before lunch.I certainly didn’t. The day started the way most of my weekdays start: with disappointment.Specifically, disappointment in myself. My alarm rang at 6:00 a.m.I ignored it.It rang again at 6:15.I ignored it with even greater confidence.By 6:30, my alarm and I were no longer
People say honesty is the best policy.Personally, I think honesty is expensive. Honesty gets you into trouble.Honesty starts difficult conversations.Honesty forces you to explain things. Lies, on the other hand, are efficient.Elegant.Convenient.Like shortcuts. At least that’s what I believed until last Thursday.Now I’m not so sure. The funny thing is that I’ve never considered myself
I used to have festivals.Let us begin there. Because if I begin with my current circumstances, I may become emotional. And gods should not become emotional. It ruins the image. Three hundred years ago, people crossed rivers for me.Entire villages prepared for my arrival weeks in advance.Drums echoed through forests.Goats disappeared mysteriously.Priests suddenly became very
Dear Diary, I have always believed that most crises are avoidable.Not all. Just most. The problem is that people confuse preparation with pessimism. When you ask difficult questions before something goes wrong, people call you negative. When the thing eventually goes wrong, those same people schedule emergency meetings and suddenly discover the value of planning.