by Tammy Ayers A gunshot, followed immediately by screaming and arguing in the alley, woke Krystal up in the middle of the night. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but her heart beat as hard as it did the first time she heard it. She sat up, clutching…
by DS Maolalai doing my aunt a favour; pulling wildflowers from her prize-winning beds. I’m careful – when I can I save the stem and some root, piling them on the pavement and pushing the dirt down around her petunias. my aunt’s front garden is filled with red flowers, like…
by Derek Reimers It was dark and pouring. Jeffrey increased the speed of the wiper blades to keep up with the rain, but they continued to lose ground. In the passenger seat Jeffrey’s father, Arthur, his sweater dimly lit by the by the LED lights of the center console, sat…
by Khristy L. Knudtson Willfully strong-willed, your hair is a field; stalks of tangled straw you force from your head freeing the strands from your fingersover and over and over. They eclipse the tile floor of the juvie centeryou’ve lost it, your center. You are a lit match—tossed.An apocalyptic comet of…
by DS Maolalai we were waiting for a train, under a shatterproof shelter. I was going into town and she to meet her godmother at the airport. both hungover; the sky in a rotten mood. the train-track and the station were suspended – up here you could see rooftops go…
by Ben Jackson “Love in the Cheap Seats” placed first in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2019 Fall Fiction Contest. On the last day of October, Al Fine sat with his wife in the shadow of the Budweiser sign. He had first purchased these tickets, high in the bleachers of Fenway…
by E. M. Francisco “The Thing in My Closet” placed second in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2019 Fall Fiction Contest. It’s like this every night. First, I open my closet to get my pajamas. I ignore the inhuman corpse hanging from the bar in between my shirts, despite the fact…
by Destiny Rinder “The Houses on the Sea” placed third in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2019 Fall Fiction Contest. “Where’s your mother, Mia?” “She went to the houses on the sea.” * * * Greyson Beach hasn’t changed much over the last ten years. Fiery red crabs still scurry across the large,…
by Clover Autrey “Forgotten Promise” placed fourth in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2019 Fall Fiction Contest. A grandfather should not outlive his grandchild. Hans squeezed the tiny stuffed lamb, no larger than his age-spotted hand, and brought it to his lips. Nadine’s scent of strawberry shampoo lingered in the plush…
by Dotty Weaver “The Dunes of Dawn” placed fifth in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2019 Fall Fiction Contest. Following the sun’s daily retreat to low western skies, the beach becomes a dark and ominous place. Purple shadows, then silky black curtains drift across the sand from the horizon, shrouding the…