Document Type

Honors Project - Open Access

Comments

Advised by Peter Bognanni

Abstract

This project is a short story collection featuring four independent stories that each explore what it means to embrace the chaotic independence of adulthood and to confront, often for the first time, an inescapable sense of self-awareness. The first story, “Ghost Town,” follows a 19-year-old ghost confined to the Airbnb where she died, forced to face the self-destructive behavior that led to her death. Next, “Camilla” depicts the volatile friendship of college student Lexi and her best friend Camilla as it forms, shifts, and inevitably implodes as the years pass. The third piece, “A Slight Pinch,” explores the complexities of sisterhood and social class through the fantastical lens of impending vampirism. Finally, “Water for the Fish” is a direct-address piece from college senior Izzy to her mother, both an apology and explanation of her actions after learning her mother’s cancer is returning. As a whole, this collection seeks to address the second wave of growing up that happens in our late-teens and early-twenties—how it manifests itself in all relationships, but most intimately in the one we have with ourselves. A Slight Pinch, the project’s title, is typically what is said just before the pain comes, which is at the heart of each of the four stories.

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