by Andy Demczuk — Phone calls used to scare me more than falling off a bike or being alone. My biggest fear was hearing a ring and knowing another human was somewhere waiting to speak with me. Whenever a caller gave up, “brilliant!” I’d think and smirk. Proud of my…
by Amy Covel Asleep at night, the darkness comes like a nightmare. I see it all again— chains around my wrists, a faceless phantom holding a bloody knife. Awake, I spring, ready to kill. But I see your face stained with tears. Last time it was stained with blood. What…
by P. b. Simpson “Yes, Walter, I know the game is going to start at one, but you know how you get when you forget to take your pill.” Margaret Smallwood always had a problem trying to open the pill bottles. She would go as far as stabbing the top…
by Khristy Knudtson Flying on frontage roads,sipping iced coffee,and carbonated water,thrift-store findsstuffed in the hatchback. Two 30-somethingsignored their latestexistential crisesfor a sunset, a summer high,singing Third Eye Blind and The Cardigans.
by Clayton Heilman The interpretive dance, fueled by some inner desire — a state of lowered inhibitions, allowing this fluid-mechanical motion. The body weaves noiselessly in-between the contrast of dark and light. Spinning across shadows, strobing flesh through light beams. The room lacks power, save that which gushes from deep…
by Michele Cunningham Christmas was the biggest holiday of the year for the Pride family. Normally, they gathered at their grandparents house for the big event. But this year they were breaking tradition. Monicha was hosting this year’s annual party. A tradition that had been in their family more than…
by Olivia Delgado In the metallic We washed ourWeeks’ worth of ache, As The boy played the coin machine like it was a savior.
by Joshua Jennings “Armed educators love our students and will protect them” – President Trump, Feb. 2018 Another little boy’s body lies broken,a cordless instrument,never to be strung again.Instead, the screams of his classmates will haunt the hallways- ballads of missed opportunity. Shells clatter against the floor,a chorus of solitude…
by Emily Marcason-Tolmie Their suitcases were stacked like puzzle pieces in the far reaches of the car. Bridget and her younger sister, Lucy, sat in the back seat with their heads slightly touching. Lucy flipped through one of her mother’s fashion magazines circling all the dresses she thought were pretty…
by Aviendha Francisco “You cannot have something for nothing.” It grinned at me, a smile devoid of emotion and full of teeth. It scratched its mangy fur and stared at me with eyes white as milk, wide as saucers. The green velvet divan underneath its cracked hooves provided an interesting…