by Christine Holmstrom The smoke from the sergeant’s 25-cent cigar floated across the prison’s control room, a putrid cloud snaking around my head. It smelled worse than my cat’s dirty litter box. Swatting at the column of toxic air, I coughed into a strip of stiff gray state toilet paper…
by Robert Patrick Botchy People always ask me about my name. I’m gonna change it. When I was a kid, I loved it. Danny Duzzlemans. I sounded like I’d be anchoring the news. But now everybody says, “Duzzlemans? Like the cancer?” I’m not ashamed of my name per se, but…
by Morgan Shaver A man sits stolidly gazing out through the room’s singular window. Behind him fading stains intersperse white walls adorned with two gaudy floral paintings. Disinfectant permeates the air attempting to mask the scent of gradual decay. His doctor, authoritative and formal, makes the first punctual visit of…
by Michael C. Keith Some tortures are physical And some are mental But the one that is both Is dental. –Ogden Nash Amanda was new to Parkside Elementary and Stephen had paid little attention to her until she stood up to answer a question put to the class. It was…
by Phil Temples, John sat hunched over the ancient “mill” typewriter with uncomfortable headphones covering his ears. His receiving station occupied a corner of a small, underground bunker in a remote section of Landsberg Air Force Base, West Germany. The concrete bunker was designated as the Security Service Signals Post, but most people called it the…
A Colorful Allegory Explorer Louis Pantone found escape in his dreams wherein all living beings were of one color and pigmentation hatred did not exist. Unfortunately, his conscious world was very different from his dream world––mired as it was in rampant discrimination and hostility between contrasting skin tones. His particular…
by Phil Temples I was giddy with excitement the very first time I experienced the phenomena firsthand on that hot, humid summer morning on McKinney Road in Allison Park, Pennsylvania. Michael Slattery was my longest and dearest childhood friend. He claims he was the one to first discover it. Mikey,…
by Katherine Yoerg Ms. Geneva Pruitt greatly enjoyed her morning coffee and cinnamon roll at Wall Street Deli on her way in to work every morning. She enjoyed selecting a flavored creamer, sitting at the window, and stirring the creamer into each steaming cup. She enjoyed the way the steam…
by Haley Newlin I woke up irritated. The alarm was blaring in my ears, mocking me as I fought to stay hidden under my cheap, Walmart covers. Get up, I told myself. You have to get up. They’ll fire you if you’re late again. Get up. For a moment I…
by Carolyn Light Bell It was one of those bright winter days. Glorious! Sun dancing so hard on the snow, I thought I would burst. My eyes blinded by millions of crystalline mirrors, my lungs happily inhaling each fresh breath, my feet strong as I pounded down the snowy walk….