By Meaghan Kelly Cassidy, in her short nightgown with her tired eyes, drowsily stumbled through her tiny kitchen, really only a length of counter space. Her hair was wild and frizzy, crowning her round face in a wreath of gold as some strands caught the early sun.
With a groan, she remembered that she hadn’t brewed coffee the day before, so with her head slumped down she set on making a pot of tea. Her white, flowery nightgown brushed against her legs as the AC kicked in. She then had a strong desire to wear pants for a month. Moments later, after a couple of sips of blistering hot tea, changing into dark jeans and a loose black top, Cassidy was more awake. She had settled into the soft, pale cushions of her lengthy couch while she found comfort listening to the early morning. She could hear the birds in their nest on the building across the street, her neighbor’s cat rustling around, the water turning on for someone’s shower, the neighbor across the hall padding around, and her other adjacent neighbor mumbling nonsense in his sleep as he dreamt about an old break-up that was still eating him up. She could hear the dream, she realized in a muddled, quiet thought. She could hear windows opening and doors creaking, dog’s collars jingling, the shower turning off, milk being poured and then the rustling of a cereal box. This is two floors down, she realized as she focused on the sound. As she tuned into an early morning argument on the first floor, she adjusted on her couch and thought about the pale light of the rising sun flooding through her room; she could only really hear the building creaking in the strong wind and her neighbor’s cat pestering for food. Her tea had grown cold but she finished it as she thought about what to do with her hair, as she tried to forget the memory of hearing so far. She had straightened it, dyed it black, and was waiting for it to dry when she heard Dorrin stomping down her hall. As he knocked, she heard her across-the-hall neighbor turn on her radio- the crackle and smooth talking host put her in a state of calm as Dorrin burst through the door, keys jingling loudly in the lock. Dorrin was generally in a state of anger with the way he went through life: shouting orders to his construction crew like a general, stomping through homes, flinging perpetual glares and sharp comments. Because of this, he didn’t have many friends, all of whom consisted of Cassidy Cieszki. With her chirpy remarks and resilience against insults, she seemed to be the only one to stay with him. “Cass, something’s happening,” Dorrin stated with a strong, stony voice. From the way he spoke and acted, Cassidy got truly concerned, because yes, he was right, she heard people on the first floor, but it was truly that Dorrin was scared and shaken with his voice trying to conceal his fear and his reckless arrival. What truly scared her, though, was that he addressed it almost immediately (she had noticed early on in their friendship that Dorrin was stubborn and absolutely unwilling to address a problem outright unless it proved to be a dangerous and immediate issue). Her neighbor’s radio crackled again, the feed suddenly became clear, and the host’s new song slipped out of the speakers, soon after she heard her neighbor snoring softly. “Cass, listen to me-” thunder rumbled outside, the impatience of a large storm staining the swath of clouds. “- we have to leave. Wait. Did something weird happen to you, too?” Cassidy sat up on her couch, curious by the drastic change in weather. She nodded soundlessly- soundless to Dorrin, she could hear her hair brush against her shirt, her shirt against her bra, the quiet creak of her bra as her shoulder moved subtly. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she heard Dorrin whisper over and over. He never swore and when she looked over at him, his lips weren’t moving. “Very weird,” she said. It was her normal speaking voice, soft but echoing a quiet storm, and now it was booming in her head like a large bass drum. Dorrin saw her flinch, and his mantra grew louder. Dorrin had messily- and obviously hastily- parked his large black truck in the apartment’s lot. They got in and slammed the somewhat heavy doors, then he pressed the ignition button. Cassidy could hear the chain reactions of the car starting: electric shocks, gears turning, machinery coming alive, and the explosions of the pistons in the engine. It was all too much and collectively it hurt more than hearing the repetitive thunder outside. Dorrin drove them out of the garage and down the road, where things were being tossed about in the gales of the sudden storm. She could hear the hard thumping of a trash can tumbling down the sidewalk, an umbrella being inverted with a quick and slightly metallic thwoop, and a tree branch cracking. All the while, she could hear Dorrin’s mantra along with, “This is me. I’m doing this.” “Calm down,” she whispered, it still achingly echoed in her skull. “Calm down!” Louder this time. “Dorrin. Calm. Down,” she said with steel in her voice, like a booming crack of thunder in her head. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel but this time he heard her. He loosened his hands and inhaled deep and long, gathering his calm. The thunder grew quieter and the wind grew calmer. A swinging street sign slowed down and settled in a tilt like the Tower of Pisa. The trash can rolled to a stop and a plastic bag went from floating in the air to skittering in the street. The truck came up on a yellow light and slowed to a stop as the light turned red. “What can you do?” Dorrin said with a tremble in his voice and crazed, panicked look in his eyes. “Hear really frickin’ well,” Cassidy said in a quiet voice. Dorrin nodded and she distantly heard him- what she figured to be his thoughts- say “Yeah, I thought so.” She could hear a woman’s heels click-clack on the sidewalk a couple of yards farther along the street. “I think I can hear your thoughts.” At this, Dorrin whipped his head towards her. She heard some of his hair’s locks hit his temples and the click of the lightbulbs in the stoplight as it switched to green. She pointed out the change and the truck went on. She heard “huh” in Dorrin’s voice both in his head and out loud. As they came up behind a car waiting to get on the highway, Cassidy overheard the indie-rock on their radio and started quietly dancing to the song playing: Ain’t it funny how I wanted this all my life? Ain’t it funny how I got it here and it don’t seem right? Ain’t it funny how we all want to be someone new? Ain’t it funny how I fell in love and then came June? Cassidy sang quietly, her voice echoing in her head quietly, like a fading storm. Comments are closed.
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LRHS Literary Magazine StaffEditor-in-Chief:
Alejandra Jones Senior Editors: Sariah Meeker Lee McCormack (fall) Artistic Editor: Bryson I. White (senior) Instagram Editor: Rania Brown (senior) Editors & Staff: Sophia George Blase Harriss Meaghan Kelly Chloe Meeker Adrian McCall Liliana Palermo Estefania Quintino(spring) Katelyn Ranheim Maria Rodriguez (spring) Mario Rodriguez (spring) Livia Weekley Spring 2024 Table of ContentsArtworkPoetryFictionFall 2023 Table of ContentsArtwork~"Jellies" by William Lemaster
~"Mini Landscape" by Richard Bui ~"Leesville Lion" by Bryson White ~"Zuzus bday 4 skool" by Rose Van den Troost ~"A Study in Winter" by Chloe Meeker ~"Les Plaines Liminales et Étranges" by Bryson White ~"Night Sky" by Richard Bui ~"Sunrise" by Elizabeth Cawley Fiction~"Retribution Through Strife" by Nikholas Svajlenka
~"To a New Frontier" by Nikholas Svajlenka ~The Storm's Echo" by Meaghan Kelly ~"Lines" by Meaghan Kelly Poetry~"Sailor" by Caitlyn Kiefer
~"Walk-on" by Caitlyn Kiefer ~"Connection" by Riley Butler ~"The Sun Rises in the West for it Falls in The East on Many" by Nikholas Svajlenka ~"What if" by Sariah Meeker ~"Dark Cold Alone" by Jeanne Baker ~"Deceiving Heart" by Jayana Russell ~"The Life of a Wave" by Sophia George ~"The Melting Snow" by Sophia George |