Who are we to tell anyone their pain isn't worthy?

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

When I explained it to her, she went silent and turned her face to the wall, still as the sky before a lightning strike.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

She didn't tell him the whole of it. She didn't tell him that she was lonely, that she was overwhelmed some days with all the responsibilities that were set before her. That she sometimes wanted to be held and listened to and touched, that she wanted to be with someone who challenged her, sharpened her, made her laugh. Someone she could trust.

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

The sun greeted me each morning whether I'd watched it rise or not.

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

She was looking at herself in the little gold mirror we had hanging near the entrance. It was something I’d come to love about her, in time. It wasn’t narcissism, the way she was always looking at herself. I recognized later there was a kind of wonder in it, running her fingers over her smile lines, the skin of her forehead, as if to say, “Where did you come from? This skin, what a strange envelope!

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Grief, I'd come to realize was like dust, When you're in the thick of a dust storm, you're completely disoriented by the onslaught, struggling to see or breathe. But as the force recedes, and you slowly find your bearing and see a path forward, the dust begins to settle into the crevices. And it will never disappear completely- as the years pass, you'll find it in unexpected places at unexpected moments.

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

She wanted a cure for grief and she wanted someone to tell her where to find it.

The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane

'A weed is just a plant out of place,' her grandmother had once said to her. 'Treat them kindly, even if they are a nuisance, for they can make a faithful ally amongst the spirits.'

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

I am freer than you and that is worth all of the things I don't have.

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

What is laughter but a moment of release where pain and memory are washed away? When we laugh, we are stronger. When we laugh, we heal the world.

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

I do not have a purpose any more than a mouse or a slug or a thornbush does. Why do you have to have one in order to feel content?

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

They fought and disagreed, of course, but they always came back together like a binary star, dancing with each other through life.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

'All this time when I felt alone,' she whispered to the earth, 'you were with me. And yet I couldn’t see you, because my pain clouded my sight.'

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

Because loneliness was the kind of ghost that haunted you long after you were dead. It stood over your plot in the cemetery where a lone name sat carved in marble. It sat with your urn. It was the wind that carried your ashes when no one claimed your body.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

I wander. Until I disappear. Then I usually just come back somewhere near you.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Our illusions weave roses around us, and when we try to escape, we are met with thorns.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

Opportunities are like little seeds floating in the wind. Your life is there. Some people have a big net to collect them all. Other people need to pray that the right seeds, the best ones, make their way to them with just enough bad ones to appreciate the good.

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu