By Joel Tomfohr

Today we make snow globes with jars, glitter, water, and glue. My glitter is blue and sparkly, and I use too much. These are my emotions: jealousy, regret, grief. Shake it up and they make a strange blue blizzard.

K leads our group, and she tells us that these things settle. K has white hair and neon orange nails. She has a nose ring. Her eyes are gentle, and she asks me how I am doing. My head is in my hands. My life is falling apart.

Now my snow globe is settling, and the blue glitter looks heavy. My life is no longer falling apart. My life has settled like a fine layer of blue glitter in a jar. I have made a blue snow globe and today my emotions are blue.

My older brother stands in the room with us. He sees me with my head in my hands while the blue glitter of the snow globe settles to the bottom of the jar, marking the time. We die in here while we pull our hair out in clumps. We are trapped inside of the hour. It holds us in its grip, and we will be trapped in its grip for the rest of our lives.

Cool air off the bay this morning. The marine layer settles in the Berkeley Hills. I sit on the couch, the outside now inside breathing on the nape of my neck. I sit on the couch waiting.

I wake up in the locker room of the gym. I can’t find my clothes. I can’t put them in my duffle bag. An old friend of mine dies in the night and I am too dysregulated to mourn. This is all a lie. This is a dream. It comes in through the window like the outside cool morning air.

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Joel Tomfohr is a writer living in the Bay Area. He is the author of the chapbook, A Blue Hour (Bottlecap Press). His short stories can be found in Short Beasts, Bending Genres, Joyland, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, X-R-A-Y, BULL, Hobart, and others. He teaches English to immigrants from around the world at Fremont High School in Oakland, CA. You can find him online at joeltomfohr.com