Wax
Leah Browning
She bought a Colt .45 and hid it in a carved wooden box under her bed.There had been times, earlier in her life, when she’d looked forward to the night, the...
All Stories
The Worm Eater
Sarah Starr Murphy
“Whose birthday is this?” Lara asked, as Essie turned the wheel to back into a parallel parking space on the narrow residential street. A passing postal truck h...
Follicles
Barbara Barrow
Anthony wants to keep it classic. Traditional elm wood or, in a pinch, a chip board veneer. It looks just like the real thing. But Lewis wants Ho Chi Minh fanfa...
Persimmon
Raven Leilani
The first time she speaks to you, you are on the toilet. You are both at a party, and she is waiting for a polite time to go home. Underneath the stall, you see...
What They Know
Laura Valeri
Checking her face in the mirror, she feels him move behind her, his attention absorbing the space between them. “What?” she says. He doesn’t answer, turns to ...
Take Your Eye
Laura Moretz
We were walking along South Street after group therapy when Keith popped out his glass eye. I knew he had a glass eye, and that he could pop it out, but even if...
The Boots
Kelly Griffiths
A 1977 divorce was trailblazing, and a custodial father was positively extraterrestrial. I was six.A serpentine driveway tethered our farmhouse to the count...
Dossier, Regurgitation, Acid, Columbia
Lee Upton
They were so lucky to have drawn a ticket. So beyond lucky. For Lorraine it had been fifteen years and none of the younger children were even aware of what thin...
Ocean Beach, 1963
Sara Brody
My brother and I stood waist-deep in the Pacific on a cold day in November. Along the shoreline, signs screamed, People Swimming and Wading Have Drowned Here, b...
Gas
Frances Donnelly
Amy and Jasmine’s joy is hissing out into the dark bedroom like a gas leak.
*
Two floors below, Amy’s mum is sat in the kitchen, bare feet on the cold tiles, ...