loss

Story·Anushka Trivedi — A child locked in a room with a menacing broom confronts grief after his mother's death, while his father and sister struggle to reach him.

Poetry·Maya Ruben — A speaker flees with something precious that transforms from innocent to dangerous, until pursuers take it away, leaving emptiness.

Poetry·Yuli Zucker — A speaker confronts someone who abandoned something precious, comparing the forsaken object to a wilting flower and a stray dog, questioning their conscience.

Story·Christine Wang — Wind personified as a destructive force tears through a forest, damaging willow, birch, and reeds while warning of fighting spirits.

Story·Alice Pak — A Ukrainian boy and his mother flee their war-torn town for Russia, leaving behind his best friend Varya, and later he begins writing her a letter about rebuilding their home.

Personal Narrative·Mark Chen — A boy leaves his childhood apartment and playground behind, struggling with loss before slowly transforming his sterile new home into a place that holds his memories.

Story·Callia Rodgers — After her mother dies in childbirth, a girl defies orders to stay out of the forest and discovers she's inherited magical powers to protect it from shadow creatures.

Poetry·Amity Doyle — A tree alone in a honeysuckle field becomes a meditation on loneliness and loss, its reaching branches mirroring human grief.

Story·Alice Pak — In war-torn Avdiivka, two best friends navigate the chaos of Russian-Ukrainian conflict as buildings collapse, threatening letters arrive, and families prepare to flee their homeland.

Story·Beatrix Mackil — A man awakens with no memory in a desolate landscape, recovers fragments of his past through visions, and discovers he has been dead for decades.