An Honest Living

2026 Write Now Winner - Adult, University of Iowa Alumni

“Sardine Smile is absolutely essential to my dental routine,” Kira announced. “If you’re ready to ditch the government-funded fluoride for vitamin D-rich, ethically sourced whole fish tooth care, use promo code KIRA for 30% off your first tube. On the next episode, we’ll talk tapeworms for weight loss. You won’t believe what our expert has to say. Until then, this is Kira Adams signing off for Actually Honest Health.”

Kira yanked her headphones off and glared at her producer, Aaron, who held up his hand. She remained silent until he gave her a nod. 

“Tapeworms?” she said. “The sponsor better pay a half million for this.”  

“They’re not,” Aaron said. “They’re paying a million.”

Kira’s eyes bulged as she processed what he said. They’d never landed a sponsorship this huge.

“We meet with Earthceuticals at 8 am tomorrow to discuss the script and other requirements,” Aaron said, smiling as if he’d waited all day to drop this information. 

On her way home, Kira thought about her journey as a wellness influencer. What started as a series of viral Instagram posts documenting her 60-pound weight loss snowballed into Actually Honest Health, a podcast with a million subscribers that explored the…less evidence-based corners of the industry. 

She welcomed podcast guests who claimed essential oils eased anxiety, a fruit-only diet prevented aging and pig sperm cured diabetes. She shared the mic with conspiracy theorists, anti-government nutjobs and self-proclaimed “experts.” 

What her followers didn’t realize is that her weight loss was from grief over her mother’s death 3 years ago, and the products she supposedly “swore by” were paid statements. 

She was slammed as a grifter who preyed on people’s insecurities. She knew that was true but for a million bucks, she’d suck up the name calling.

“Tapeworms,” Kira pondered, as she popped a few sleeping pills. “I really am a snake oil salesman.”

A snake oil salesman who is raking it in, she smiled to herself as she nodded off to sleep.

Sometime later, Kira was woken by a booming voice. 

“WAKE UP.”

Kira shot up in bed, heart beating wildly as she looked for the source of the sound. 

Hovering above her was a soft glowing ball of light. It pulsed as it spoke. 

“You have been selected to receive an incredible gift,” the voice boomed. “You’ll enjoy 15 minutes to either go back in time to manipulate the future or meet with someone in the Great Beyond.”

Kira immediately thought of her mother, how she ached to see and speak with her one last time.

“I want to see my mother in the Great Beyond,” she said. 

“Your wish is granted,” the voice commanded. 

The light was sucked from the room and Kira felt the sensation of falling. Suddenly sparks of light erupted around her, spinning and flowing as she and everything around her was sucked through a vortex.  

Everything stopped, and she felt the ground beneath her head. She was lying on the grass by a bubbling stream. The sunlight poured around her. She was alone in a meadow. 

An oval mirror hanging in the middle of the air was the only clue that something weird was going on. She stood and looked in it, but didn’t see her reflection. Far in the distance, a person was walking toward her in the mirror. Kira watched as the person — a woman — came closer. As the woman approached, Kira stopped breathing. 

Kira gazed at her mother in the mirror. She looked just as Kira imagined her in her mind. 

“Mom,” Kira whispered. 

“I miss you so much, Kira,” her mom smiled at her, looking healthy, happy, alive.

Kira stared in awe at the woman she thought she’d never see again.

“I miss you, too,” Kira said. “I miss you every day. But I’m doing well. I host a podcast about health, and I’m successful. I know you would have been really proud of me.”

“I am proud of you, Kira,” her mom said. 

“Mom, are you OK? What’s the Great Beyond like? Do you ever see grandma? Did you meet God?,” Kira needed to pack as much into this conversation as possible. This would make a great episode topic.

Kira’s mom explained that the peace she felt in the afterlife went beyond description. Emotions and hardships that shackled you in life are gone forever. You appear as your greatest self in the Great Beyond. Your loved ones are always within reach, the world around you is in a perpetual state of peace. God is not a person or being, but an energy that envelopes you to the point where you cannot speak in its presence. 

“I miss you, Kira, but I am not sad,” her mom said. “I feel like —”

Suddenly, sharp lines cut across her mom’s face, flickering like a distorted television channel. Her voice became warped and unintelligible.  

“Mom? Mom, what’s happening,” Kira began to panic.   

The mirror glitched and went black. 

“It hasn’t been 15 minutes!” Kira screamed. “Come back, mom, I am still here!”

She gripped the mirror, trying to shake it, but it wouldn’t budge. 

Kira looked around hysterically and found a rock near the stream. She hurled it toward the mirror. 

“Was this even real?” she cried, as the mirror cracked and splintered. She dropped to the ground, her face in her hands and wept. It was all fake, a lie. 

As she cried, her life choices crushed upon her. She peddled lies for money, and maybe that wasn’t the right way to —

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. 

Kira whipped her arm around and grabbed her phone. She was in bed. 

Like a bubble hanging heavy in the air, the dream vanished.

She remembered why she set the early alarm: her meeting the tapeworm people. 

“I only have to pretend to have eaten one,” she reminded herself, heading to the bathroom.

As she waited for the shower to heat up, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Something was different.

It was cracked.