Pandora's Ink Digital Magazine

Written by Y. W. from Canada Every July 12th, she bakes chocolate cake.  His favorite.  The same recipe.  The same chipped plate.  She...

Written by Liesl Ma from Massachusetts, USA One night quite recently, I scrolled through Snapchat, layering filter after filter onto my face. My nose looked smaller, my skin impossibly smooth, my lips fuller. When I finally posted the picture, I realized something unsettling—I had shared a photo of a girl who didn’t even exist. It hit me then just how deeply beauty standards had wormed their way into my mind, making me feel like my real face needed embellishing in order to be

Written by Iris Zhu from California, USA One blazing summer after the school year ended, I left America and returned to my mother's hometown in Changsha, China. Along the Xiang River and capital of the Hunan Province, Changsha comes from a Mandarin word meaning “a long sandy place,” and it is average-sized. In China, this means around 10 million inhabitants. The city is known for its local, spicy cuisine and small, meandering alleyways teaming with bustling stores and restaur

Written by Liesl Ma from Massachusetts, USA Dear Kim Kardashian,  You are a beautiful person, and teenage girls like me admire your ambition and success. You’ve built a billion-dollar empire, redefined celebrity influence, and shaped modern beauty trends. Yet with such power comes responsibility. You are in a position that very few women will ever be in: you can define the global beauty standard. I follow you on social media. I use your products, but I can’t shake the feeling

Written by Anabia Imran from Australia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia The [shams] sun rises into the inky black [sama] sky ;  its light colors the black [qumash] canvas , spreading through the [dunya] world turning cities on; the air buzzing with [taqa] energy . When the big, bright ball reaches the top, it shines down, its diamond refractions the kind that hurts your eyes, makes you see shapes that aren’t real, but doesn’t let you look away. The sun lowers, shifting the above,  

Written by from Liu Yiduo   In 4040 AD, the Gengchen year of the Chinese lunar calendar, the Flying Dragon soared in the heavens. Silicon-based alien warships tore through the atmosphere, unleashing biochemical capsules carrying corrosive agents—all intercepted by the "Dongfeng" Type 1 nanometer nuclear bombs. Yet acid rain continued to gnaw at our world. Once-crystal-blue oceans churned with murky foam; lush forests withered into charred wastelands. The blue planet that once

Written by Iris Zhu from California, USA Beyond the elderberry bushes, across from the old gymnasium at the elementary school, lies a small creek that runs beneath bowed willows and moss-covered boulders. We didn’t know where it flowed from nor where it led to, but the little stream became a gathering place for the second graders every recess. We would abandon our sock-stuffed shoes at the shore, splashing ankle deep until soft pebbles pillowed our feet, to wonder at the flee

Written by Justin Tai from Texas, USA In 2070, five billionaires joined to create a corporation called Horizon. Their aim? To create and monopolize cutting-edge technology through whatever means necessary. Each of them held the title of Overseer, giving them absolute power within the hierarchy of the firm. Three years after its creation, Horizon would fund an experiment to create a new, stronger version of humans to support the efforts of war globally. Their work, kept top se

Written by Christine Wang from California, USA I want to go back to the bathtub  from when I was seven and honest,  when the water was always too hot  and I said so, loudly,  before I learned that discomfort  could be swallowed like bitter medicine. Back then my skin was rough  as sandpaper from summer sun  and scraped knees, and I wore  that texture like a badge— proof that I had touched the world  and let it poke me back. The bathtub held my small body  like a porcelain con

Written by Coco Song from Maryland, USA Twenty-second videos you watch for ten,  ten-page stories you swipe at five.  Nibble-size content you chew up and spit out; the left-over sugar corrodes your teeth, leaving worms to squirm in the roots.  With rotten teeth you feast on  war, the one social media feeds you.  “Oh, but don’t you worry,  it has been twice processed and thrice filtered. You’ll taste what we want you to taste.”  Teeth eater and brain rotter, a parasite  in a p

Written by Eric Wu from Washington, USA My father’s hands shook, struggling to hold the bouquet of impeccably red roses in full bloom. He hoped that the sharp, thorny flowers could act as a needle and stitch up the hole in his heart.  I followed closely behind, holding a transparent turquoise ring neatly tucked into its velvet cushion, ready to initiate the handoff just as we had meticulously perfected the day before.  My heart pounded as the plan of my own orchestration had

Written by Vanessa Cheung from Hong Kong, China Dipped in honey, sweet, warm gold Tell me, tell me, why that’s so                        And if I move away, let my gaze turn cold,   Extinguishing our radiant light of old. Starlit lustre, tarnished time, Waxed poetic by the gods Reflects refulgent light–silvern swansdown shine– To shed my sins upon your altar stone. When your fingers brush over mine, Live electric light does arise; From lidded eyes, bereaved, comes a hymn of c

Written by Coco Song from Maryland, USA It’s the fins on my naked body while I writhe.  It’s the air in my lungs and the sky in my eyes. It’s the sero-mela-tonin in my brain,  and in my heart, the eternal infestation.  Words pump against the flesh that binds me, so I bleed  into the grey ocean that consumes me,  into plastic-litter sand, and wrinkling reefs.  In these waters of hazy grayness,  nothing remains for long – carry on, carry on – only the abysmal depths that haunt

Written by Cindy Miao from Maryland, USA you’re wearing the yellow jacket your daughter lent you  despite her protests, you say, it’s my...

Written by Kay Budka-Fox from London, UK hey kid, I'm sorry you're confused  I'm sorry your heart was torn up and it was used  I really never meant for us to be abused  or stuck in a game where we had no choice but to lose I'm sorry your skies could never stay blue,  and that your eyes were exposed too early to the truth, but kid, what I know now is that it's possible to get through, the pain never goes away but what grows around it is up to you, so now I'll nurture better th

Written by Justin Tai from Texas, USA It was a nice, warm day on the Indebted College Campus. The sun shone, birds sang, and debts rose. Billy stood at his locker when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to find his friend’s face beaming behind him.  “Tomorrow is the day when we leave college and finally get what we’ve been preparing for: a lifetime  of debt.” Frank smiled proudly. Billy stood up just a little taller. “We got really lucky getting into Indebted. Th

Written by Yusra Ali from London, United Kingdom   Life. Death.   The smallest space and the largest expanse of sand. Impermeable rubble- its shattered edges in my hand. Leaking and flowing   the smallest space to do nothing. Loneliness, Selfishness, in the pursuit of longevity. Last Tuesday’s orange with a mix of green   American Chai- the tea of soulless glass on the other side of the phone, screaming alone, alone alone.   A bright orange dot meandering with nowhere to go.

Written by Yusra Ali from London, United Kingdom The Birth of Athena Daughter. Wisdom. War itself was once a child sprung from the misery of man with sagacity forged into her vambraces, enlightenment malleable in her hand. Daughter. Wisdom. War itself knows she is the sunken eye of Tiresias. Her footsteps, a form of divination thundering into the  rockland of Zeus’ mind, his headache shifted as ire to the world Daughter. Wisdom. War itself watches

Written by Albert Wang from Washington, USA The Washington Hoax Opinions For a Price Published: November 11, 2024 Controversy stirred...

Written by Andrew Duval from California, USA The midnight sea sparkled in the moonlight. Along the beach, turbulent waves crashed against boulders dotting the shoreline. The stars of the milky way, free from the chains of city lights, shone defiantly, splattering the night sky with speckles of gold and blue. I gazed at the brightest star from the mound of sand that my head rested on, marvelling at its beauty. The star grew larger and larger until it exploded into the beam of