THE WHELP • by Christopher Owen
Hiking in the woods I found an abandoned baby animal so young I couldn’t fathom what sort of creature it was. It looked a bit like a miniature cow in that way that a new, gangly pup might, but it… Continue Reading
Literary
HOW HE LIKES ME TO DRESS • by Sarah Salway
It’s backless, green, thick thick satin. It’s how I’ve always wanted you to look, he told me in the shop. And I knew it was true. The dress is that bright emerald green film stars wear to contrast with red… Continue Reading
WEIRD GIRL • by Rasmenia Massoud
The sweat makes him itch. Under his arms. Inside the elbows. It tickles his scalp and back. His ass and neck. He pinches the front of his shirt and fluffs some air on his chest. Fawn squirms in her chair.… Continue Reading
NIGHT STALKING • by Milo James Fowler
He’d never seen anyone so disappointed in him. She appeared out of nowhere, a stranger ten years older than any of his students. It hadn’t been shock or fear on her face, frozen white in the headlights of his sedan.… Continue Reading
THE TEDDY BEAR WHO WAS HITLER • by Carl Steiger
The teddy bear was Hitler. Josh knew that for a fact. Why else would Josh be holding the gun at the bear’s head? Josh didn’t know how Hitler had got into his run-down house. He couldn’t have snuck over with… Continue Reading
THE ORCHID • by Lillian Duggan
I worry ‘bout that boy. Now that I know what he did. I’d been thinkin’ bout goin’ to the hospital and seein’ the father — sorta like investigatin’, ya know? Then I could maybe tell if whatever was done to… Continue Reading
THE INDIAN • by Melody Feldman
The Indian jutted from the bow of the skeletal remains of a British whaling ship. His surface cracked and the once bright colors of his headdress faded. I swam up to him, touched the wooden surface of his face, the… Continue Reading
TONIGHT THE WORLD ENDS • by Rohini Gupta
As soon as her husband went into the sitting room, Meera slipped out of the back door. Today of all days, he had come back early, complained he was unwell, shouted, slapped her once and finally gone, grumbling, to watch… Continue Reading
THE ONLY GIFTS WE GIVE • by Ian Florida
She keeps the sun inside her pocket, front right, just underneath the Moon and Mars. If you ask to see it, she’ll smile and tell you to be careful and hold out her palm. They won’t look that big, really,… Continue Reading
EMPTY HANGERS • by Joanne R. Fritz
“This house is too big,” Nora said at breakfast. Craig turned away from the TV, puffy eyes magnified by his bifocals. “Those retirement communities are maintenance-free. We should think about moving.” Moving? She meant hiring a cleaning service. “Oh, please,… Continue Reading