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...
flash fiction
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 ...
The Arc of the Birch
Mary Hannah Terzino
I have fallen in love with a birch tree. Tomorrow my husband will remove it, a killing he presented as a fait accompli last weekend after plying me with cocktai...
bill
Vivian Zenari
i want to buy a peking duck but i need some money i need to get a receipt for the duck because i am hungryi have to buy a duck because i am hungry for it
...
In the Jade City
Mary Crawford
The Red RopeThe abortionist lives in the jade city, in a maisonette tucked beneath the jasper bridge. A red rope hangs from the doorknob. After school, her ...
Custom / Conditional
Zach VandeZande
The Rodeo Queen disappeared. This happened during the parade. She felt so wonderful, everyone in town watching, she deer-legged and waving from the back of a Fo...
A Search
Lindsey Baker
Susan’s computer pulls up acronyms. Message-Oriented Middleware. Metal-on-Metal, as in hip surgery. Milk of Magnesia. Made of Money. She puts her finger to her ...
Sapphires
Melissa Goodrich
You realize suddenly that you are made of sapphires.It is the middle of the night and the wind shuffles across the complex lawn and the fridge hums and the ...
Bloody But Unbowed: Belfast, 1998
John Herbert
You look in the mirror at your bent face, feel the side of it numb where, when they fixed you, they damaged the nerves. A year later the side is swollen still, ...