Work

The Complex – Chapter VII: “Oh, For the Love of God!”

The stairwell was silent except for his keys, which jangled and clinked as he strode quickly down the stairs, taking them two-at-a-time. The hallway was different, humming with a vitality unexpected at such a late hour. Walking through the dimly-lit corridor, the dull thump of his footprints could only be faintly heard. They were eclipsed…Read more The Complex – Chapter VII: “Oh, For the Love of God!”

The Complex – Chapter V: The Application 

At 11 p.m., the night felt different than it did at 2 a.m., just like how 2 a.m. felt different from 3. Sitting in the office, he tried to savor the fleeting nature of the night's beginning, something only possible because he knew it would end. The first thing to set in was almost always…Read more The Complex – Chapter V: The Application 

The Complex – Chapter III: The Circle

The office was located inside a three bedroom apartment that was shared with two clients. Stepping inside, he sighed with relief at how much better the apartment looked at night. The late evening darkness cloaked the room, which masked much of its generally disheveled nature. He walked down the hallway of the apartment towards the office,…Read more The Complex – Chapter III: The Circle

Stanchions

When I was 18 years old I moved to Chicago for college. Naive and impetuous I gave the decision little consideration. There was no deep ruminating, no incessant deliberating - simply put: no "pros and cons" lists were drawn up. In a way this was good. My lack of foresight gave me the requisite gumption…Read more Stanchions

The Complex – Chapter I: The Night Shift

Six months had passed since he had accepted the job, a part-time position working nights. The apartment complex where the job was located was one of those relics erected at the height of suburban sprawl, resting on an isolated campus amidst freeways and thoroughfares like a mid-Atlantic island, catering solely to the automobile crowd. There…Read more The Complex – Chapter I: The Night Shift

To Live

Standing wearily in the small, dingy bathroom, with its chalk-white walls and uncleaned mirror, Darren studied his reflection. Sharp angular features, populated by freckles, and flecked with whiskers stared back at him. Sighing heavily, his chocolate-colored eyes drifted towards his bathroom's tub, an unassuming, utterly normal piece of porcelain, its milky color broken only by…Read more To Live

Film Review: Sweet Sixteen (2002)

Adolescence has rarely looked bleaker than in Ken Loach‘s grimy, grim coming of age film from 2002, the ironically titled Sweet Sixteen. Bizarrely described on its Netflix casing as a “…heartwarming…” story, Loach’s film is a powerful albeit somewhat conventional portrait of blighted lives, hopelessness and the allure of criminality in a crumbling, washed-out Scotland.…Read more Film Review: Sweet Sixteen (2002)