By E. M. Francisco “Over the Beyond” placed fourth in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2020 Fall Fiction Contest. Florence’s plane is bright. It streaks through the sky like a shooting star, a cigarette carelessly tossed aside. Her breaths are heavy as she fights with the stick. Clouds whip past her…
by Katie Stavick 8:05 a.m. I shut off the alarm and lay in my bed, contemplating calling in sick. I mean, seriously, what’s the point? I already submitted my notice, which sucked. “It’s not that we don’t like you or think you could handle the job. We know you could. But the person we…
by Sarah Ockershausen Delp The table is set for company. The florescent shine off the faucet is deafening. She’ll teeter in, whisking the tiles in tiny steps. Click clacking in her vintage heels as soon as the bell ting-tings on the oven. I’m cooking inside. It smells of rosemary and thyme, roasted…
by Amanda Lightner My mother called one gray February morning. “Hi, Mom. What’s up?” Pinching the phone between my ear and shoulder, I scraped cereal from my son’s bib. “Mom? You there?” She cleared her throat. “Yes. Yes, I’m here. Sorry to call so early, but I have a favor…
by Sara Carey The twinkling lights in the restaurant were beginning to blur together. Emily’s cheeks were warm, her hair falling in soft tendrils around her face. She couldn’t believe she was sitting across such a handsome man, and she knew that she was way out of her league when…
By Deborah Foster In a private care facility in the mountains, there resided one who seemed to everyone to be off her rocker, but all is not what it seems. She was a diminutive lady who always wore her snowy white hair in a bun on top of her head….
By Joyce Hurd For International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the daily impact women have on our lives. This essay honors a grandmother who met all of the challenges life threw at her with hard work, faith and love. My grandmother, Eva, immigrated from Canada as a girl and married another…
By Katelynn Smith For International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the daily impact women have on our lives. This essay honors a dedicated social worker who puts the needs of her students and colleagues above all else. We all know an unsung hero. Maybe it’s a parent or caretaker who’s unnoticed…
By Matthew Corsi A survival rate does not exist this morning.The wind levies her threat my God, what a mess.A coral reef of death swarms the sky, veins entwined, a single unit of red plushcreates a landscape of rush. Everywhere, everywhere, it becomesthe unit of fatigue. Life is Done for.
by Amy Southard I walked into the room, The hardwood floors creaking Beneath my feet. I thought I was alone again, As I gracefully stepped over My fluffy white feline friend. The air felt a little chilled And there was a draft Blowing the sheer turquoise curtains Into a beautiful…