There was nothing quite as joyful as the laughter of a child. His son had the ball in his hands and tossed it off the back wall of their home. His wife held Mahdi close, and they both watched their son bounce the red ball, the cat was chasing it Read more…
A stiff breeze whipped around the edge of the building, and dark clouds hung ominously above. Greg lowered his ropes into place for his next set of windows. Three hundred fifty feet of line dangled below him. He looked up and hoped the rain would hold off a while longer. Read more…
Mahdi thought back to the day he escaped Syria in the fall of 2014. Mahdi held on for dear life as the van roared down the highway. Farron drove like a man possessed. He glanced at Karim and saw the grin on his face. He’s actually enjoying this. Thought Mahdi. Read more…
It’s cold enough to freeze a person’s toes right off their feet. That’s what happened to Jim. Mary didn’t want it to happen to her. So she grabbed another piece of the broken chair and threw it on the fire. Snowflakes drifted down and coated her with another layer of Read more…
Mahdi sat in the passenger seat and thought about the body in the trunk. How did he end up in this place? He thought he was done with dead bodies when he came to Canada. He stared out the window and memories of Syria five years ago flooded back into Read more…
Ralph pushed his shopping cart across the snow-filled street. It was everything he had inside for him to make it to the other side. He didn’t have a destination, he only needed to keep moving. Keep his circulation going. It was as cold as he could remember it being in Read more…
Mahdi Al Asheer ducked his head as he felt the rumble of the explosion. Debris fell from the ceiling, and he saw the glass shake. It was 3 am and the bombings were getting closer. So far, he was safe enough where he was. His wife and young child looked Read more…
Brian’s feet were cold. He could feel the ground through the holes in the soles of his boots as he stood on the frozen ground. He wished his soul didn’t feel so cold. He watched the people walk by in their warm coats and new boots. They headed toward the Read more…
Pots stood and stared at the chaos. The camp where he’d been living for the last few months was being dismantled before his eyes. Police, bylaw, and park workers had arrived and cleaned up and cleared out. They even had a backhoe. Did they know how much it hurt the Read more…
Tim heard a buzzing inside his dream, a small rush of air fluttered by his cheek. There it was, that incessant buzz again. He peeled open his eyes and saw the little fly swoop over his nose. He tried to swat it with his hands, but they were held back Read more…