She turned to Sean one day, and in her raspy Brooklyn accent which drawled out vowels in a dark tone, she said, “You are gonna die young and nobody will notice.”

A waitress at 29 with her songs hidden under her mattress, dreams forgotten as she rubbed her feet each morning at three after work, feeling life leaving her bones. The only times she could ever remember being happy were the times spent singing with Sean, their two souls laced into the only hope they could ever find in the dark days pressed upon them.

WHAT LIES AT THE CORE BY MEIRA BIENSTOCK 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 57