By Alec Montalvo I don’t know about the others, but my Grandma once told me how God stares back at us through the starsand when they fall, or runacross the night sky, it means you might have done something wrong. So follow it up with three Hail Marysand get to…
By Hannah Canon Quiet. One word that summed up Amy Holmes’ life quite well these days. It was quiet when she went to bed at night, and it was quiet when she woke up in the morning. She rode quietly in her car on her way to work every morning,…
By Tommy Vollman I met Joe Nuxhall a few weeks after my fifteenth birthday. His hands were gnarled, and he spoke as though his mouth was half full of marbles, but he was sharp and funny as hell. I was only a few months younger than he was when he…
By Kristal Peace This old house has plenty of room For misunderstandingsPlenty of space forThe silent treatment: There are four elegant bedrooms that lend comfortTo each person nursing a grudge;The spacious, sunlit kitchen accommodates everyoneAs they take their meals alone.The living room is a cozy gathering placeFor insults, accusations, evasions,…
By James Cato I met the Tooth Fairy at a bar-club called Revolution. I sat alone with an IPA, letting the bitterness pinch my cheeks and heeding the cartoonish scene of three college kids dancing to a pulsing beat on an otherwise empty floor. In the opposite corner, a floating…
by Sue Ellen Snape She has blood on hands, blood down her bodice, the stench of blood up her nose. The hem of her skirt is drenched a dark sticky red. She’s not one to shrink from the sight of blood, oh no. Lopping the head off a chicken comes…
by Michael Horton “What scares you most?” She is hugging her knees with both arms, her head slung back so far it looks like it should hurt. After thinking and looking at her for any hint, he says, “Dying.” “No,” she says and waves one arm like she is erasing…
by Virginia Winters-Troche I last autumn i was watching the leaves fall and i was thinking if leaves could do it so could i, so i decided to fall in love give myself away like the sun, I could make someone less lonely even if that someone wasn’t me, thinking…
by Isidra Mencos It was turquoise green with black side panels—a simple sheath in stretchy nylon that fit in a fist. When I tried it on I instantly knew it was mine. I stepped out from behind the folding screen and into the main room where my friend Marisa and…
by Bob Beach Shift change at the Ford plant was the usual Chinese fire drill. Second shift regulars coming off the line poured out the doors and surged into The Altered State, a boxy little bar and grill just past the parking lot. Ready to rock, they fanned out across…