Don't Cry, Mishalariah: A Memoir

In a 1989 journal entry, I poured out my dashed dreams to God. Those few precious moments became a watershed event in an unfolding narrative that began over ten years before when I turned my back on God. Turning my back on God did many things, most of them sad, but foremost it made me forget who I was. But there was someone who never forgot. Someone who never gave up on me.

Don’t cry, Mishalariah. I know who I am now.

Don't Cry, Mishalariah: Chapter One

Kim Hardy

January 4, 2024

Spirit sat hunched in the blue velvet chair with his back to the open doorway. Outside, in the darkness, it was pitch black. Inside, it was not much brighter. Golden sparks sporadically traversing the chamber walls were the only source of light. Well, that and the strange glowing disk that held Spirit’s rapt attention.

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Don't Cry, Mishalariah: Chapter Two

Kim Hardy

January 11, 2024

My first romance ended when Donnie died. It began five years before when I was twelve and he was fourteen. He was the most popular boy in our neighborhood, so I was ecstatic when he asked me to sit on the crossbar of his bike. His dark brown eyes were so dreamy. I melted as he moved in for a kiss. The sweetest kiss ever—though there was not much to com…

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Don't Cry, Mishalariah: Chapter Three

Kim Hardy

January 17, 2024

Mishalariah leaped onto her couch at the first sign of cold and drew her knees to her chin. She hugged her arms around her legs and watched in horror as the violent, bitter wind rushed in through the open door. Her voice was a hoarse whisper. “Is that you, Spirit?” she asked, shivering.

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Don't Cry, Mishalariah: Chapter Nine

Kim Hardy

January 18, 2024

It was like almost any other summer day. On July 11th, 1989, my dad tended the yard of my childhood home. He trimmed the six-foot boxwood hedges, shaping their sides into flat green planes. He mowed the city-sized plot of grass that once had been home to a swing set where my siblings, Cyndi, Denise, and Chucky, and I had competed to see who could prope…

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Don't Cry, Mishalariah: The Last Chapter

Kim Hardy

January 25, 2024

Don't Cry, Mishalariah: The Last Chapter

Behind the wheel, Tawmi was stoic, and the only sound was humming wheels on smooth pavement. I looked in the backseat. Sidnee was asleep. Her baby mouth hung open as her tiny chest rose and fell with each unlabored breath. And Sterling, at last left to his thoughts, sat mesmerized by the scenery that hurtled past his window. At 80 miles per hour, the bu…

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