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thomasrhughes · 3 days
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Unrequited
Lying motionless in bed, the soft hum of her A/C gently pushed air around her small room, a restless night ensnared her. The pale moonlight sneaking through the half-opened window, the distant buzz from cars passing on the nearby highway melded with the hum of the A/C. Under the weight of the covers, her mind raced, fixated on her unspoken love – each painful, heart-aching thought expressing her…
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thomasrhughes · 3 days
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Fading Breath
With strained breaths, his lungs struggle to take in air. His chest rises with great effort, the cold air scratching his throat with each inhalation. Air passing through the jagged wound in his chest casts a ghastly sucking noise—a wet, bubbling hiss that echoes from within him. With every inhale, the hissing of escaping air mocks his plight. He tilts his head backward to stare at the sky. The…
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thomasrhughes · 19 days
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The Pistoleer: New in Town
“You must be the famous pistoleer that has graced our town. William Morrow,” a gravely voice calls out. Morrow turns to see a man down at the other end of the hotel hallway from whom the voice came from—gristly, black hair, a tan weathered face with a crooked smile revealing stained teeth, complemented by an unkempt mustache. The man’s clothes, grimy and unwashed, as if he just rolled in mud. “I…
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thomasrhughes · 20 days
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What Do You Want
“What are you looking for in a relationship?” Ashlie asked. Her question caught Wyatt off guard. “Well, what I’m looking for is…” Wyatt pauses, realizing he does not truly know. His eyes look down and his brow furrowed in deep contemplation. He searches within his heart for the answer. He has never been asked such a question before. Wyatt places his elbows on the table and clasps his hands in…
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thomasrhughes · 20 days
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Hopeful for Love
Seated in lawn chairs atop a roof, with a cooler of beer partially depleted, Matt asked Ryan, “How are you feeling?” Ryan fell silent, searching within himself. Despite the feeling of a still tender broken heart, he felt the strangest sense of hope. In spite of constant failed attempts at love, he still searched for it amidst a sea of heartache. “Somehow hopeful,” Ryan responded with a…
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thomasrhughes · 22 days
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Unspoken
Alone, the weight on his chest feels unbearable. Staring at the blank wall before him, he questions how much longer he can hold onto his frustrations, his anger, his sadness. How much longer will he keep his emotions bundled inside, with no valve to release? How much longer can he maintain this charade, a smile plastered over a crumbling façade, masking his pain? How much further in life can he…
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thomasrhughes · 1 month
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38 Miles
Rain slowly patters against puddles, filling the holes left behind by explosions in the ground. A light breeze brushes the air, leaving it chilled. The grey sky dims slowly as nightfall begins to settle in. Behind the front damaged façade of a crippled office building, a squad of men take refuge. Warmed by only their coats, they dare not start a fire. Worn and beaten down by the loss of the day’s…
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thomasrhughes · 1 month
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Memory of Love
A worn, bent, faded picture is held firmly with tender care in the grasp of a calloused finger. Long, deep breaths of remembrance are drawn in, filling the lungs with fervor—eyes filled with hiraeth, locked into a long, anchored stare. A heart brimmed with ardor; a love separated by vast distance. A woman with chestnut brown hair reminiscent of cascading autumn leaves, cool soft fair skin like…
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thomasrhughes · 2 months
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Mistimed Love
As the sun set in the west, cascading rays of yellows and oranges, pinks and purples intertwined with each other, the last light of day dimmed, making way for the embrace of night’s darkness. In this moment of serene transition, Matt asked his longtime friend, Ryan, a question that seemed as vast as the twilight sky. “Who did you love the most?”
Ryan paused, not for pondering—he already knew the answer—but because he was lost in thought about her. “Eleanor,” he said softly, his voice carrying the weight of unspoken stories. “She was the one I was most happy with. She was the one I saw my future with.”
“What happened?” Matt prodded gently, aware of the layers of emotions that this conversation could unravel.
Again, Ryan paused, the emotions he had felt that day returning to him. There was no anger, only the same sorrow, the same sense of loss he felt those years ago. He struggled to articulate his feelings, even though he knew why things had ended the way they did. “Poor timing,” he finally said, the words barely scratching the surface of the truth.
Matt nodded, taking another sip from his beer. He was satisfied with the answer, not because he believed it to be the whole truth, but because he knew that prying further would cause too much pain. Matt understood the depth of Ryan’s love for Eleanor—that she was with another when Ryan finally expressed his feelings, and it simply wasn’t the right time.
Ryan always wondered how things would be if he had kept his feelings to himself. If she never knew, would they still be in each other’s lives? Would she be his better half if he had chosen a better time? The sorrow was evident on Ryan’s face, a testament to the heartache of what could have been.
Seeing his friend’s pain, Matt placed a comforting hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright, man. One day you’ll find the courage to get out there and find someone.”
In this moment, against the backdrop of a fading sky, two friends navigated the complexities of love, loss, and the unspoken truths that bond them. The setting sun mirrored the closing of one chapter and the hopeful wait for another, capturing the poignant journey of moving forward, even when the heart yearns to look back.
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