C33
Cold. It’s cold here. Winter isn’t over yet. It clings to this place like a blanket, our tired bodies bowing under the weight of its lead-white folds. The walls of our cells are giants. Hyperboreans with rheumy eyes. The cold seeps, heavy and sluggish out from them like tears. There is a new inmate in the cell next to mine. As I lay in the dark I hear him weeping. I want to tell him that everyone cries here, even the walls. But instead I just lay here nursing my aching fingers, dreaming of spring.
Stella Karaptian, originally from California, enjoys anything mango flavored. After moving around quite a bit, Stella can confirm that she prefers the familiar mossy woods of the East Coast to the stark, lonely deserts of New Mexico, thank you very much. Some of her favorite creatives include Tamara De Lempicka, J.C. Leyendecker, Roald Dahl, Oscar Wilde, Claude Monet, and Lady Gaga. She is an English major at SUNY Geneseo and will graduate in 2026.