Appetite

This story was originally published in Day One, a weekly literary journal dedicated to short fiction and poetry from emerging writers.

It’s a hot, humid summer. A teenage girl drifts through the muggy days with nothing to do, ignored by her absent drunk of a mother and exploring the boundaries of her budding sexuality. Her mom and sisters have taught her how to survive, but while these lessons put food in her belly, they also put an ache in her heart. She’d like the attention of the Buddhist monks at the local temple—one in particular, young and handsome—but they have other things to focus on. And even if they wanted to, they can’t help her find the thing that she craves most: meaning.

Dreamlike and provoking, Appetite is the story of a lost girl trying to find something that will give substance to a lonely and seemingly endless summer.