Bodhi
By Stephen Ground Phil was dying. He called Sunday morning, when he knew he’d wake me, catch me sleeping, so I couldn’t lie about doing something else. Said to come … Continue Reading Bodhi
Burnt
By Coffee and Horror Contest Second Place Winner, Aislinn Forbes It smelled like coffee. Like my mother on late Sunday mornings and college cafes. Like comfort. Which didn’t make any … Continue Reading Burnt
Broken
By Michael Sutton The alarm screams but I’m already awake. I lie quiet in the tangled sheets, the aftermath of another sleepless night. My feet trace their routine course to … Continue Reading Broken
M’s Awakening
By J L Higgs The screen door slammed, shaking the whole house. Dad was breathing fire. He’d been out front planting rose bushes. Now dirt was strewn on Mom’s freshly … Continue Reading M’s Awakening
Throw Away the Key
By Katrina Johnston In right field, shallow, lonely, melting in the sun, Sarah Jackson struggles to keep her head in the game. She monitors each pitch and strains to hear … Continue Reading Throw Away the Key
Unlucky
By Eileen Herbert-Goodall Perched on the edge of the highway, we sit in the car, the hum of the engine grinding at the silence. Outside, trees sway, their limbs bent … Continue Reading Unlucky
In South Africa, a Prayer for My Marriage
by Kyra Wiens The sun was just now rising over the savannah and the tracker had found a trail. Her husband was amped up, leaning forward in his seat and … Continue Reading In South Africa, a Prayer for My Marriage
XYZ
Some day. It’s what we all want really, to believe that that kind of love is more than a campfire story. Sometimes, we want to believe in ghosts.
The Club
Jeffery Higgs
How much fish can a river hold? How many could it expel? With their dull gray pallor, frozen unseeing eyes and shredded spider web fins, they covered the entire shoreline. It was impossible to set down a foot without crushing innards that squirted out a putrid odor of death.
What He Lived For
Stephen O’Connor
“It was my last trip of that summer that I recall most vividly. I locked my bike to the sidewalk side of a guard rail on Route 126. After a ten-minute hike through the woods, I arrived at the site of Thoreau’s cabin, where I paid my homage and meditated for a while in silent reverence.”
Country Man
Terry Barr
“He had to be 70 if he was a day, but then I learned long ago that older Southern people often hide their aging, or have already aged beyond their years. Somewhere in there.”
To Insecurity in Sexuality
By Faith Diaz She sat in class the first day. Black choker, red hair licking her neck like flames only attempting to be contained with a single black hair tie. … Continue Reading To Insecurity in Sexuality
Dark Night, Bright Sky
by Tamar Anolic It was winter when Father Cillian O’Leary realized he had lost his faith. He spent the morning in penance, trying to get his whip across … Continue Reading Dark Night, Bright Sky
A User’s Guide to Escaping the Chimney
by Jonathan Sload Admit that you’re stuck in the chimney. Stop using the phrases “sliding down” and “squeezing through.” You stopped doing those ten minutes ago. Stop … Continue Reading A User’s Guide to Escaping the Chimney
Meditating
By Z.Z. Boone
Except for the blood pressure, Parisi is a healthy seventy-five-year-old. He swims at the Y four mornings a week, his spine is straight, he maintains the 34-inch waist he carried through college. His mind is sharp; he reads historical novels and sees an occasional play, and he can still knock out the Sunday Times crossword without having to wait a week for the solution.
Aluminum and Gold
By Elizabeth Kane
[This story is the official winner of the Fall 2017 Flash Fiction contest, “200 in 2 Weeks”]
She would’ve gone anywhere. Her tap shoes scraped the pebbly sidewalk, the tulle on her skirt fluffing in the cool wind. The light from her dance studio blinked out down the street as her teacher locked the door.