I step into the comfort of the ancient woods. I push deeper into their tangled darkness. I need to be lost, to be far away from the world, my home, my family. Somewhere I cannot be found, somewhere I can… Continue Reading
The front door creaks open as Cole leads Mother into PetMonster Market. An oppressive humidity smacks them in the face followed quickly by the scent of cedar chips, piss, and rotting fish. Now that Cole is thirteen, Mother has finally… Continue Reading
In the morning, the flowers are dead again. The bright red of the roses has turned to a dark maroon. Their necks have been snapped, the heads hang over the sides of my mother’s antique vase. Ron doesn’t like to… Continue Reading
A million walking corpses migrated on foot to that arid, dusty hellhole, forced from their huts and rural hovels by persistent drought and growing famine. They were ragged, unwashed. To my newly-arrived colleagues, the stench was overwhelming. But then personal… Continue Reading
The flasks and beakers looked boring now, even though they had fixed most of mankind’s problems. The glassware and cheap centrifuges looked as unremarkable as they did on the day they arrived by mail. Spencer paced in vague celebration among… Continue Reading
We are told: these are not children. So we treat them accordingly. We don’t wave to them, or smile or ask them to join in with our games. Of course they don’t ask us to join in with their games… Continue Reading
In a box of mixed up secondhand books, something needs to stand out. This one did. Its title, How to Disappear; Vanishment Made Easy, caught my eye at once, mixed in with cheap novels from the Fifties and various “How… Continue Reading
After the service, everyone came up to console me. Women enfolded me in scented hugs, cooing like so many mourning doves, “Deepest sympathy,” “So sorry for your loss,” and “She’s in a better place now.” The men patted my shoulder… Continue Reading
The day my mom was admitted into the psych ward at Mass General I decided to lose my virginity. I was almost seventeen, and past all romantic notions of sex. It was not my plan from the get-go. I was… Continue Reading
Todd Benway is out in his backyard, assembling the swing set he and his wife bought for their daughter Lexy’s birthday. Todd’s wife, Angela, is by the patio weeding her rose garden. They exchange a smile and a wave. Lexy,… Continue Reading