Category Archives: Prose

Letter to My Younger Self

0 Comment
Marina as a young child, representing her younger self in the letter

Dear Younger Me, Take a deep breath before you read this, because some of it will hurt. You’ve always thought you had time — time to visit, time to talk, time to say the things that matter. You don’t. Time runs faster than you imagine, and one day you’ll look back and realize that love …

The Plastic Chair

0 Comment
An empty plastic chair in the courtyard of an apartment block in Uzbekistan

Short Story “The Plastic Chair”: A Lonely Witness to Courtyard Life At first, they placed it near the sandbox. White, plastic, with a crack along the backrest. Grandma Gulchehra used to sit on it every evening, in her knitted hat — even in summer. She would watch the kids digging in the sand, throwing yogurt …