Niall Doherty 1 It’s a white-walled room with three beds covered in tiger print and stains on the ceiling tiles. But I don’t notice all that as I’m busy hyperventilating, feeling like my heart is being crushed with each inhalation. Nurse to my right gets me lying down and covers my groans with an oxygen mask. Nurse …
1 Almost three and a half years since the last one. I’m not proud to have caved, and it’s especially hard to admit it was all for a girl. Fuck, thinking back, I don’t know what came over me. She wasn’t even my type. Dragged me off the dance floor and into a booth, pulled …
1 Fifteen days and six thousand-plus kilometers later, we arrive in Mexico. For two hours I stand on the bridge of the beast and watch our approach. It’s after dark, skies clear and stars brilliant. Two tugs and a pilot guide us into the sleepless port. Monster ships and monster cranes controlled by tiny humans. …
1 I’m not seeing the reflection of a happy man. These past few days have taken their toll. Thought I had it all figured out, only to have everything come undone. Out of the bathroom, I start putting my clothes back on. There’s a heavy silence, me resisting the urge to apologize yet again. Once …
1 Five years ago today, I walked alone into the oldest movie theater in New Orleans. An old man tore my ticket in half, slipped one piece into a little wooden box, handed back the other, and then he said to me, “Enjoy the movie, young man.” What followed was the most magical movie experience …
1 It’s all too apparent when Richard pulls up a chair. Good dude, I should be happy to break from the screen and chat for a bit. But my mind is elsewhere. I should never have taken this on. How fast I forgot my resolution. Now I’m stressed, distracted, and a little resentful. And feeling …
1 Feeling social with no takers for the talking, I wait out front for a bus to come whisk me away from V-town. Boots and a backpack go by and I catch gorgeous eyes above them. A minute later she walks back along and the conversation strikes. From a place familiar, banter flows easy. Flash …
1 Grasping invisible grocery bags, I listen carefully to the lady at left. There are chuckles as she finishes speaking, then hands over a card and leaves me standing all alone. I take a breath and glance down to check the words. You’re at a party when a cute girl comes over and pukes on you. …
1 I hear from one mate who’s just had his first threesome, and another who thinks I’m crazy for passing up all the ass on offer here in Hong Kong. But I’m just not feeling it, no interest right now. And it’s nice in a way, not feeling that urge. I’ve often been a slave …
1 Traffic flows around us as we cross the street and head into the market, streams of scooters giving way to the smell of a million spices. Out back we find tubs of live crab and eel alongside a young man chopping toads with a meat cleaver. A short time later we’re back on the …