My flash essay got rejected in a contest and I don’t want it to stay in my drafts so here it is!!!

It’s called “A Reddit Thread on Bookmarks”

r/crafts – 6 years ago 

@AvidReader227

What can I use as a bookmark? 

I lost my favorite one the other day and my heart breaks every time I dog-ear a page. 

Any recommendations? 

@MsNostalgia – 6 years ago

Try a thrifted postcard, the stranger’s cursive to a ghost softly fading. Or a stub from your first concert, headbanging to Twenty One Pilots cut short since your sister naively wore flip-flops. Maybe a photo strip from the night you gave a speech at your best friend’s wedding, the sparkles on your custom-made lehenga catching the eye of a stranger.

Or even a receipt, a declaration of ingredients for kheer thatyou made for the first time under your mother’s watchful eye before the sun even broke free from the horizon: whole milk, basmati rice, and cardamom pods bubbling on the stove, threatening to spill over the moment you look away. 

And if you were ever a boba addict, dig in your bedside drawer: you may find an old stamp card from your local tea shop, all ten circles completed over a decade ago. The reward will never be redeemed anyways, because why exchange a permanent artifact for the temporary bliss of a sugary drink?

@AvidReader227 – 6 years ago

Ummmm… okay. Maybe I’ll just get another bookmark from Amazon.