by Elise Swanson Ochoa I pay these bastards every week because someone told me it was good for me. I pay her too. I pay my monthly subscriptions. I hate taillights, tire screeches, and my tight neck. “Mongolia was a dream.” “I feel your gratitude.” “Embrace it; your aura is…
by Paige Medlock This story contains mentions of suicide. The craving for memories and emotions burned my throat with desperation in an almost insanity-like frenzy. In the darkness, I paced and contemplated taking the life of a man who wanted nothing more than to take his own. I questioned myself…
by Christian Velilla (This story contains attempted suicide.) I find myself in that icy corner of my room, with my body lost in inaudible sobs and tears that I only feel running down my cheeks, but they are nothing more than vivid flashes of my imagination; like little diamonds that…
by Phil Temples Hear it? No, of course you don’t. That’s because it’s in my head. I’m not crazy or hallucinating. It’s the damned tinnitus! But with a new twist. I’ve had this ringing in my ears for as long as I can remember. Normally I just live with it….
by Sarah Toney (This story contains suicide.) The air was thin and icy. Breathing it in felt like swallowing shattered glass. The city was beautiful from this height and the boy wanted to reach out and feel the warmth of the setting sun. The heaviness in his chest felt a…
by Parker Fendler After spending an hour at the computer, Eddie saw only his reflection on the screen. He slumped in his chair. Screw this. It was early enough in the semester that he could drop the class and register for a different one. Who needed creative writing anyway? He…
by René Zadoorian This short story was originally published in Qafiyah Review. Forty nine and freshly single, Aram sat in his dimly lit living room with a plastic container resting on the coffee table. The container’s lid was covered in unevenly spaced holes, punctured with the tip of a knife,…
by Jennifer Predny “Janet! The SuperShuttle is going to be here any minute. We gotta go, or they’ll leave without us.” The words barely penetrate the fog that encompasses my brain. I know he said something. I know that the words have meaning. They mean something…something. I continue watching the…
by Claude Chabot Lily had found the powder room in haste, and rapidly finishing her customary ablutions before the start of the feature, hurried to the stairs. This was her ritual before every picture she had seen, and though she could resist it, she felt fully at ease only when…
by Kimberly Kozubovska The railway ticket, now worn around the edges from handling, had been Leah’s only way to her destination. Sighing, she slid down to sit on a hard wooden bench outside the cloakroom and unpinned her hat. She ignored the impulse to feel the coins in her change…