Small spaces made her feel less alone. In bigger spaces she was too conscious that she didn’t have anything or anyone to fill them with.

She logged simultaneously into her email and onto her favorite social networking site, where she learned that Brett Rosen, whom she hadn’t spoken to since Ms Bellingham’s class twenty-one years earlier, was now single, and someone she’d never met named Ellen Randolph was super-pumped about the $1.99-two-donuts-and-a-coffee deal that Donut World offers every Saturday.

LEORA, FULL AND EMPTY BY SARA M DEGREGORIA 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 21

After having pressed snooze fifteen times, which Leora promised herself not to do every Saturday yet always did anyway, except for the times when she pressed snooze twenty or even twenty-five times, she forced herself to get up. Her brain felt swollen, her body sluggish. She sat on the edge of the bed and blinked at the floor.

It’s Saturday, Leora thought to justify her over-sleeping, and it’s not as if I have any plans.

Leora plodded into the bathroom. She stared in the mirror for a moment, hoping to see some hint of beauty that she’d failed to notice…