Steph Ondrusek (she)

I'm here with my knees dirty, less #angel than I used to be, miles more divine.
#vss365

I see her #scowl in front of the claw machine with the #charm that comes from not giving up on what you think you want. I go to tell her, the Universe sometimes feels like a cheap game, rigged against you, but it's guiding you in ways you can't imagine, all for your good.
#vss365

I finally found peace among the ancient. I've been walking for ages, aching to be found. #Elm trees cradle me under a #sapphire sky, and all the tension drains from my body. We are held by the earth around us.
#vss365

Dawn starts to rub sleep out of its eyes, & I'm wide awake. I've been up with the #sparrows, carried to the waking world on the wings of birdsong, coaxed into consciousness gently & deliberately.

You find me waiting when you wake up, too, one last warm brush with the sun.
#vss365

Thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻

I should be past this by now. It's not news: the disappointment tastes bitter every time, as consistent as my morning coffee. And my heart is strong, the blood runs deep #crimson, and it's never stopped bleeding for what we decide to love.
#vss365

It's so much work to keep it #together. I hear the foundation groan, asking if we could step out of the way and let it all fall apart.
#vss365

Thank you 🙏🏻

The sun sets, and the sky goes from blue to orange to purple, and finally deep #violet and navy. I let the summer warmth pool on my skin, learning to say goodbye even when I've stayed far too long.
#vss365

Thank you!!

It's easy to mistake them for a million things they're not (because, so often, they are, aren't they?), but please know these #tears aren't sadness or fear or desperation; they're a #promise to myself of where I will never go again.
#vss365

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

At the bottom of everything—when amd where I found myself crumpled, lost, broken, and discarded—it would have been easy to lose myself too. Yet a sense of #purpose was tattooed on me from the beginning of time; I have no room to give up, no choice but to keep going.
#vss365

I'm a thread wrapped tightly around a shoddy spool, and I've been spinning all day. The winds pick up by the minute. We're all caught in the whirlwind.

Just before we break, I head outside. A summer breeze holds me, asks me to #mellow. I melt, and the storm calms.
#vss365

Lava flows just beneath my skin, burning hotter with every word you speak. You wear #innocence like a tiara and your voice goes up an octave every time. That's how I know it's an act.

I meant to keep it in, but my sigh turns to flames, and we're all torn apart.
#vss365

You burrowed deep into my soul: I have a #wormhole scar to prove it. It hurt more digging you out than letting you in.
#vss365

I finally joined you atop the pedastal on which I'd placed you. That's when things really began to shift. Some might call it #idolatry, even when it includes our divinity made human, but I now know it as love.
#vss365

The silence of your words, led me to you.
The do don’ts yes and no thoughts of you, led me to you.
The waves of distance led me to you.
The image of you in my minds eye soul and heart led me to you.
If love is a religion of #idolatry, then I'm a disciple led by you.

#vss365

The #skirmishes became so frequent I was certain they were part of a larger war plan. I couldn't see clearly through the haze you created, but I learned. Retreat isn't always cowardice; sometimes it's the only way to survive.
#vss365

I wanna go back to bed

Thank you!!!

5 faves, 5 tags:

Food: moussaka
Season: fall
Drink: Fresca
Color: cerulean
Anime: OnePiece

@lena1370.bsky.social @jangoeswriting.bsky.social @aspenbrave.bsky.social @arliden.bsky.social @daletudgehumor.bsky.social

I'm up before the sun thinking of you. Can you feel me across time and space? Right as I'm beginning to wonder if I've made it all up, a #rook lands on my table and stares right at me, daring me to say you're in my imagination, daring me to move.
#vss365

I feel the sun before I see it. My right cheek warms as I lift it closer to the light with a smile. My hands wrap around my morning #masala and I hum, balmy with the kind of rooted warmth, a plumb line, connected above and below.
#vss365

Right when you think you've found your strength, the plates shift, and you find the very key to your survival becomes #hamartia—your undoing. Let it never be said the universe has no sense of humor.
#vss365

Thank you!! 🙏🏻♥️

Scary Story Challenge — nycmidnight The Scary Story Challenge is a creative writing competition that challenges writers worldwide to create scary short stories based on assigned prompts in 48 hours.

We're happy to announce our inaugural Scary Story Challenge, which kicks off on October 31st and will challenge writers worldwide to create scary short stories in 48 hours. Learn more, register, & read some examples of scary stories at nycmidnight.com/scary. Good luck, writers!

I close the books on yet another day and slide down the wall exhausted. I let the #heel of my hands meet my eyes, compressing and bringing me back to the boundaries of myself, collecting all the pieces of me that scattered throughout time and space all day—
decompression.
#vss365

Thank you!

Screams clang against the walls and fall to the ground unanswered. What is a #patriot in a nation eating itself alive?
#vss365