SNHU Student Posts

Everything Must Go

by Shane Plassenthal Everything had to go. All of it. Those were the rules. So, I put it all out in the driveway. I put the stuff she left in the spot where she used to park. I figured that would be best. Besides, there wasn’t a whole lot left….

read more...

An open math book with a pen and gridded paper.

Math Solutions

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…

read more...

Stock Characters

by Sarah Marquez Dear, you are a fuzzy image on surveillance cameras, in a black skullcap, a hollow-mask. We stand close in clogged checkout aisles, suck hot air. You pay cash, rub a flat silver clip, coins jingle & jangle in your pocket. I want to be them, tucked away….

read more...

Jeffrey and Arthur

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…

read more...

We Forget You’re Fifteen

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…

read more...

Four old baseballs in the grass.

Love in the Cheap Seats

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…

read more...

Clothes hanging in a dingy closet.

The Thing in My Closet

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…

read more...

Rocky coast

The Houses on the Sea

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,…

read more...

The back of a stuffed animal bear sitting on a bed.

Forgotten Promise

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…

read more...

Beach dunes at sunrise

The Dunes of Dawn

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…

read more...