SUCCOUR • by Dave Alcock
Doug was in the living room with his mum. “Did you come in your truck?” she asked. Doug nodded. “Wasn’t that truck a gift from a friend?” “Hugh,” said Doug. “He left it to me, eight years ago, when he… Continue Reading
Literary
MCMLXXX • by Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek
Terrified, Bodie summons me to his cavernous office. “They want me out,” he says, scrutinizing all those dazzling backstabbers and hangers-on through thick glass panes. “Calm down,” I say. “Calm down? Are you shitting me? You hear what I’m saying?”… Continue Reading
COMBUSTIBLES • by L.E. Duchin
It’s a clean, warm morning in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The air is cool and fragrant, smelling of flowers and bread baking. After the clouds float off, the day will grow hot. But a breeze blows gently through the palms that wave… Continue Reading
GOLD DIGGER • by Nikki Martinez
He was young once, I remind myself, searching for an outline of youth beneath the sagging maroon paunches underneath his eyes. He reaches for my hand, and I make an effort to imagine away the wrinkles and tan-colored liver spots… Continue Reading
THINK • by Tricia Snell
Just this? Just gathering up your things and moving out? Is it really as simple as 1) longitude and latitude and 2) your possessions, your stuff, your paraphernalia, your crap, your endless boxes of things? And what kind of generosity… Continue Reading
THE FIRE • by Liz Betz
By mid-afternoon there is nothing left of the garage but charred wood and heat-warped tin. Three firefighters, her mother and four neighbors speak of how lucky no one is hurt and that the fire hadn’t spread and that someone spotted… Continue Reading
SEPARATION IS BALANCE • by Mark Jedrzejczyk
Tyler turned six shortly before his mother read an article about the benefits of camping. She pressured her husband to borrow $300 from his parents to buy a faded 1968 PleasureMate 12-foot popup camper from a classified ad. The camper’s… Continue Reading
MY BAD • by Mike Pemberton
Bob bent down on one knee and popped the tops on the last two cans of paint. He flipped the lids of “Royal Lavender” onto the canvas drop cloth and stared at a muddled mess of grey and white satin.… Continue Reading
ANNALISE (AVOIDS HER PROBLEMS AND) IS PERFECTLY FINE • by M. J. Ryan
Annalise (avoids her problems and) is perfectly fine. She has a(n un)fulfilling job (that doesn’t use her degree). She works hard (because she can’t make it more than two weeks without a paycheck), arrives early (because her anxiety wakes her… Continue Reading
THE GAME IS ON • by L.H. Maxwell
Ding-Dong! Ugh, I think to myself while walking, head cocked, to the front door. I lean back for one last glimpse of the television before reaching forward and turning the knob. “Trick or treat,” the children holler before the door… Continue Reading