Adeline froze. She gaped wide-eyed at the table cloth, her normally demure smile startled off her face, her jaw slightly dropped revealing perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth. Her usually sweet, sparkling eyes froze wide in wondrous horror, their grey hazel details attempting to also convey puzzlement. She was, in her entirety, frozen mid-step. Precariously balanced, with one foot too far ahead and an arm swung awkwardly to counter, she atrophied at the corner of the dining room table. She...

I woke completely disoriented, my cheek and nose planted firmly in the sand. Waves crashed upon the sandy shore, gently highlighted by dawn’s first light. That’s befuddling. I live nowhere near the beach and even further from any ocean. How had I gotten here?Over the horizon a lone figure appeared, walking toward me, his feet caressed by wave after soft wave. I quickly washed the sand off my face and stood watch as he approached, hoping I might recognize him or he could at least tell me where ...

Monica crossed the hospital’s threshold attempting to calm her shaking hands and relax her rigid shoulders. She slanted her eyes and gritted her teeth in determination. She hoped it did not show on her face, which she tried to make as passive as possible.Her mother had entered the hospital four days earlier complaining of dizziness and difficulty forming her words — early signs of a stroke. Monica had arrived at the hospital just a few minutes later and had briefly seen her mom. She looked so ...

“Frank?”The woman’s voice was distant, fearful, and urgent. Frank recognized it but had difficulty placing whose it was.“Frank!”Frank snapped back to reality, bizarre as it was. He had been in the car at a stoplight, driving his wife, Kate, and their children to Mass, but he was no longer in a car and neither was she. Neither was hurt. It was Kate’s voice calling his name. Of course! He recognized it now.They stood on a rocky ridge high over a forested valley, the wind biting cold as it ch...