Mikaela is writing a bunch of short stories for 13 Days 13 Shorts this year! To check out more stuff from Mikaela, visit www.mikaelamiyamoto.com Sweet Sweet Conflict My family doesn’t handle conflict very well. So, my grandmother’s gotten very creative when it comes to dealing with “negative” emotions. Anytime things get too heated or someone seems to be really down and upset, she breaks out “the conflict clown”. My sister and I have nicknamed it the “candy corn clown”. But t

it’s not a name, it’s a promise They’ve got it all wrong. All of them. They call her the Loch Ness Monster. Nessie for short. No one knows her real name.  No one knows her real self.  No one living anyway. Once, she was part of a beautiful family. Beasts that ruled this land, who called each other sister, brother, cousin, friend.  They’re gone now.  Only she remains. Her name is not Nessie, no matter what they say. The ones who inherited the world from her family. The ones wh

it started with a howl.  not from the creature, mind you,  but from the tiny black-and-white dog  whose usual mode was  yip-yip-yip not  awooooooooooo.  a bolting, shuffling,  staring moment later,  there was nothing to be  seen, just furry paws  patting the ground in  an anxious dance  and a wet chin pressing into my  hands.  i didn’t make the connection this time, but to be fair, the pup was often a bit  soggy. the second time,  i happened to be  closer,  scrambled in time