Fiction from Melissa Ostrom
Photo: Matt Artz She’ll Deal Quickly One, from their first week, the red shirt drawn from his shoulders, worn home a next-morning to rub and breathe. She plans to keep it. Two, the key to the side door. Hers. Three, wind. It scrapes leaves off the grass, flings them at the window, as if to […]
Fiction from Michael Czyzniejewski
Photo: Chirag Saini Maintenance Simonson saw me walking and changed course to intercept me. I was dragging a second bike rack to the candy stand—too many bikes had been left lying in the dirt. People were tripping. The rack wasn’t heavy but was long and awkward. I was using a little red wagon to pull […]
Fiction from Claudia Monpere
Photo: Chris Barbalis Solar Flare You interrupt your husband doing the crosswords to show him how much the sun weighs: 4,385,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds (1,989,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg). You don’t know how to say these numbers, so you point to your tablet. He grunts, then asks you for a five-letter word that’s part of a ship’s hull under the […]
Fiction from Elliott Gish
Photo: Kostiantyn Vierkieiev Nestling They called a curfew in Laherty after Rufus Orville got snatched. By 6 PM, all the kids in the neighborhood had to be inside. That damn near killed us, since it was summer. We’d watch the blazing sun from the shadows of our bedrooms, thinking of all the fun we could […]
Fiction from Debbie Graber
Photo: Liam Briese My Thesis Hypothesis: Googling “Online Master’s degree programs in Psychology” can have life-changing consequences. Preface: I’ve almost completed my Master’s degree in Psychology. This program has definitely been “super challenging.” (citation: Guam Online University YouTube infomercial). Re: 2nd Hypothesis: I’m not sure what my thesis topic is exactly. But I have to […]
Fiction from Sarina Bosco
Photo: Paolo Chiabrando Somnolence The last of the snow melted over a week ago and when I go outside to give the yard and garden a once-over, I can see Will’s knuckles sticking up out of the dirt. Curled under like the translucent Indian Pipe that ruptures out from the blankets of pine needles back […]
Fiction from Julia Ruth Smith
Photo: Justine Camacho A Quiet Turning Back Lonely running, your breath trails bitter. A single egret bursts from the riverbank then settles further upstream, seeming to urge you on, saying ‘not now, not yet,’ but he’s white as heavens and you know. The smell of piss in train station toilets, your fear that it will […]
Fiction from Anita Goveas
Photo: Harpreet Singh Pluck, scrub, crush In the morning, we heat leftover rotis, roll them up like swaddled babies, and chew, chew, chew until we can choke them down. The little one dreams of the velvety feel of fresh coriander, its pungent citrus scent, gathered from the flourishing plant, but nothing green thrives here, nothing […]
Fiction from Suzanne Hicks
Photo: DeltaWorks My Sincerest Apologies First off, I just want to say that I know you might think it’s odd to hear from me since we haven’t talked in years, but I was so happy to find you on Facebook. I wanted you to know that I’m sorry I stole your Swatch watch in third […]
Fiction from Tommy Dean
Photo: Heather McKean Fastened to the Curve of the Earth The sand fastened to her body, invading the spaces between limbs, magnifying the sound of her heart in her ears, matching the crush of the waves. Faith is old enough to worry about death, but young enough not to notice the boys looking at her […]
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