Meredith Clinton

31 Jul 202016 Aug 2022Short story

Cautiously Optimistic

She opened her eyes and shot up. She’d been preparing for weeks…months…it might as well have been years, for all she could tell. Time was hard to fathom still at her age. Each week felt like a lifetime. Waiting for Christmas day felt like centuries. But waiting for today, this was worth it.

29 May 202016 Aug 2022Short story

Keep the Faith

Every morning when Ethan wakes up, he brushes his teeth, washes his face, and puts on the clothes his mom laid out for him four hours earlier. Then he goes out to the kitchen, grabs whatever box of cereal is on the counter and pours it into a bowl with some milk, if there is […]

1 May 202016 Aug 2022Short story

The Interrupter

My thoughts are jumbled. They never seem to come out clean, in a straight line. Is that how they’re supposed to go? I don’t even know. Too many distractions. Even now. Especially now. Ugh. What’s this on the internet? There must be an article I haven’t read. Or a meme I haven’t seen. The

7 Apr 202016 Aug 2022Observations.Stories told in my head

New York in the Time of Corona

There’s still people out. More than she would’ve expected considering the city is on lockdown. Essential workers, the only ones allowed out for any length of time. Everyone else, supposedly only for grocery shopping or a quick walk around the block. No loitering. No getting closer than 6 feet

15 Oct 201916 Aug 2022Observations.Stories told in my head

Goswell Road Coffee

It’s a Tuesday morning. And she finally gets to do this. Just sit in a café and write and sip a cappuccino with chocolate sprinkled on top. How many times she’s walked by her own favorite café on her way to work…longing for a time when she could be so carefree as to just stop, […]

1 Jul 201816 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

The Fae

She opened her eyes after what felt like years of sleep. Frozen in place, she looked around, taking in…whatever or wherever this was. It must still be a dream. A light dew covered her skin. It was starting to get light. But she couldn’t tell from where. There was no sun here. Maybe

20 Feb 201616 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Jaded

“I’m jaded, but I think I like it.” She stood outside in the cold just to feel something. One hand holding a joint, the other shoved in her pocket flicking a penny back and forth. An owl hooted in the distance. Other than that, it was quiet save for the wind whistling in and

13 Feb 201616 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Ghost Town, Part 2

Read Ghost Town, Part 1. A shopkeeper opened his door with a loud screech and started sweeping away invisible debris. Startled back to reality, her plans for retreat were momentarily interrupted. Feeling silly for being scared, she flashed the smile that never failed her and added a nod for

16 Aug 201516 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Neverland

If I never left, I wouldn’t know how to miss her. Instead, here I am…longing for a place as unforgiving as she is magnificent. A place who can’t be understood by those who don’t know her. By those who haven’t lived (and loved) her. I drudge up memories of the

18 Jul 201516 Aug 2022Observations.Stories told in my head

Four Seasons, Beverly Hills

It’s dark. The bright sunlight is sneaking in the windows behind the bar. It hits off the wine glasses parked in the window and sparkles. Glitter and glamour are in the DNA of this place. It’s soft and tranquil. The couches are comfy. I feel glamorous just being here for a moment.

16 Jun 201516 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Ocean Beach

There’s something about the sound of the ocean; the smell of the salt water; the ebb and flow of the waves — it’s calming in a way that can’t be replicated. The air inevitably attaches itself to skin, hair and clothes, leaving beach-goers relaxed and salty. Airplanes fly overhead, but

29 Mar 201516 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Up Is Down

She wondered if anyone else ever stopped for a second to say, “what the fuck?” As in, what the fuck is happening right now? Part of her mind was trying to pretend that everything was fine…fine and normal. But the other part, the one that was fighting to the surface, was

6 Sep 201416 Aug 2022Short story

Ghost Town, Part 1

The town seemed as if it’d been asleep for hours — days, even — but a lone bed & breakfast still had its front light on. The plan was for it to be a one-night stay. They’d get up at dawn, perhaps grab a cup of coffee if it was offered, and be on their […]

25 Mar 201416 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Nowhere to Hide

She’d always felt like she had something to prove…ever since she was little. Some people would kill for a face that made you look innocent. Not her. She spent years running from it, showing herself and anyone in her way that she could not be controlled. No way. No how. At some point

17 Nov 201316 Aug 2022Observations.Stories told in my head

A New Beginning

The buzz of the city wasn’t as loud as the quiet out here in the country. Between the birds outside her window, always chirping, and the farm animals doing who knows what across the way, she couldn’t sleep. She longed for her old bed, now safely tucked in a 5′ x 5′

9 Nov 201316 Aug 2022Observations.Stories told in my head

One Last Night in NYC

She sat under the Oaks in Union Square, pondering the direction her night would take. It was the last one. Her last night as a resident. It was as if she looked back at a dream seven, no 27, years in the making. Her dream of surviving and thriving in the Big Apple. A city […]

23 Oct 201316 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Brooklyn, Part 2

7 Aug 201316 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Brooklyn, Part 1

25 Jul 201316 Aug 2022Observations.Stories told in my head

Scenes from a Coffee Shop

18 Jul 201316 Aug 2022Observations.Stories told in my head

A Secret Club

26 Jun 201316 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

Time Travel at Governors Island

Stepping off the boat was like stepping into another world. Leaving behind a metropolis filled with honking taxis and speeding sirens, she touched new ground — with ne’er an automobile in sight. “What is this place?” she thought as she took it in…soaked in the smells,

10 Jun 201316 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

A Silent Subway Ride

With no book, no headphones, and having learned long ago to sleep anywhere, she fades in and out at each stop…checking with one eye to see the latest pair of shoes to hop on. Silently taking it all in as she feigns indifference and displeasure, she inwardly rejoices at this life. Her

8 Jun 201316 Aug 2022Stories told in my head

The stories I tell in my head as life happens…

Sometimes to amuse myself I live in a story. Growing up in Massachusetts I often read about how fabulous people lived fabulous lives in New York City. And here I am. I get to live those stories now, and it’s all fabulous in its own way. Perhaps to remind myself from whence my dream to

Short Stories