Crippling Anxiety

The idea enters my head one day while walking along a trail: this would be a perfect place to be completely naked outdoors. I'm not an exhibitionist, I don't want to be seen undressed -- but to risk being seen undressed, well -- that, that is a thrilling feeling. And this is an ideal combination of public and private to take that chance. Walking the well-maintained loop trail, I notice a small beaten path cutting in to the centre, and taking it, I find that it meets up with the main trail again perhaps a half-kilometre later. But partway in there's a clearing, a sunny spot within the forest, and there's evidence of an old campfire, even a few small stumps used as seating -- probably made by kids from the nearby high school. Kids I'd have thought of as, well, "bad" is a social construct and probably unfair, but still, the bad ones, the ones who drank or smoked or had sex, the ones who did all the things I didn't do in high school. I can hear voices so

I first saw her in my local coffee shop, she was serving when I called in for my to-go morning brew. The regular server was a college age guy with a hipster beard and glasses so the greeting from the new staff member was welcome. Her name tag told me her name was Zuri, and I guessed her age as mid- twenties. She was as tall as me and had a model figure, displayed in tight jeans and company T-shirt. Over the next few mornings I chatted with her if there was no queue of customers while my coffee was getting fixed and found out she was a college grad. hoping for a job in the financial sector and filling in at the coffee shop until the right opening came along. Monday of her second week we chatted about our weekend activities and found we'd both been hiking, within 10 miles of each other, but on different trails. I grabbed the chance to suggest we might get together the following weekend and hit the outdoors together. She was hesitant but agreed to let me know her plans by Thursday m

It wasn't the most comfortable spot for viewing, but the cedar tree behind me gave cover. I peered through the window studying them. My wife, Lily, was stirring the Bolognese sauce on the range top with one hand, while balancing a full glass of wine in the other. Smiling in between sips, she repeatedly turned to engage her companion. Quite closely, and also fully attentive, stood Stephen, at right angles to Lily, his butt against the bullnose of the tile counter, with his right hand also holding a wine glass. He was talking, gesturing with his left, and frequently touching Lily on her shoulder, and sometimes on her back. Lily was smiling, obviously enchanted by Stephen's stories. My dog curled at my feet, more interested in listening to the evening sounds than in taking a walk, which was what I was asked to do while they volunteered to slave away in the hot kitchen making the supper. Now I understood what Stephen meant by "hot" kitchen. Their shapes were very simila

Veronica could feel her chest tightening as breathing became a chore, then transitioned into impossible. Her hands felt hot despite the cold chill of the fall wind. They shook violently, she didn't know if she could walk another step. "Get it together." Taking deep breaths she managed to shakily take a seat on the marble fountain edge in the center of the secluded park, it was small and intimate, usually relaxing. It was also along the way to her new job. But today also marked the day of the 5th anniversary of her pneumonia diagnosis and scare. She caught it fighting off the flu which took a toll on her due to a weak immune system. She fought off both feeling like she was dealt the bad hand in life. The memory of her time there was following in the form of significant debt from her stay and treatment. She took slow deep breaths pushing away the thoughts that waited in the corners of her mind and looked at the fountain. The fleeting idea of climbing in to scoop up the coi