Drabble Corner

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Drabble Corner

Michelle Swisz

Our Drabble for this month, on Questionable Truths, is called The World in Which She Lives, by Jessica Michaan.

The World in Which She Lives

“Jazmineland”, he calls it—the reality in which she lives. And she thinks it’s very appropriate, it fits perfectly.

Jasmine has always shielded herself from reality. She knows bad things happen, just not in her world, not in “Jazmineland”.

But when three family members died in three years… she had to question it. At first, she found excuses… One was old, one was sick, but what about the boy!? He had absolutely no reason to leave this world; to leave us behind.

And as she walked away from the cemetery, she took one look back and said goodbye… to “Jazmineland”.

My life is mysterious lately. Recently, a good male friend and I were discussing our love lives. It was an intense conversation in which I told him just how I wanted to feel in any new relationship that might come along. For some reason, I was particularly sure of how it was that I wanted to feel, and also very passionate about that. The old relationship, which had ended a couple of years ago, had since gone to just friends, and the person I was speaking with was this same friend.

Sometimes you're in a relationship that at the beginning, as my old relationship had, and even maybe for awhile afterward, felt so absolutely right—but then went mysteriously sour. He/she loved only you, and you only him/her, and life, the universe, and everything was beautiful. Later, he/she still loves you, but loves someone else, too. You hurt. Or he/she finds that your now having a child together is more responsibility than they can fathom handling, and freaks out and runs out. You want a new relationship—one that feels almost any other way. But have you ever thought, in detail, of just how you really do want it to feel? Compare and contrast how you feel now, with what you want to feel like. Old relationship—hurting. New relationship—cherished. Or challenged. Or both. Really get into this exercise—this image you're creating is what you're telling the universe that you want! Tell it with passion, to push the message out there. And tell it in a Drabble! That's exactly 100 words, excluding title, in story form. Maybe you will meet someone with whom you feel just that way, as I recently have. So be very careful—you may get what you wish for!

In your submission, please put the word Drabble somewhere in the subject line. Here are the Guidelines. Send your Drabble to drabble@wvu.org. It's due by the 10th of June for consideration for July. See you next time.

About the Author
Hello, and welcome to Drabbles. I'm Michelle, your Drabbles editor. I live south of San Francisco, with four spoiled cats, near the sea where I love to walk every day. I've tutored English in workshops, classrooms, and individually at San Jose State University, and have worked on the Fiction Panel here at Writers' Village. Comments and questions are always welcome!