ZERO IS THE SUM • by Rebecca Roland
Four is the number of gunmen who enter the library where she’s taken her son for story time. Four is the age of her son, who will soon be five, if he lives through this day. Four is the number… Continue Reading
Stories
HAPPENS ALL THE TIME • by Melissa Ostrom
Colleen woke to a fog blooming over the snow. The whiteness, wafting and voluptuous, billowed by her bedroom window — or rather Sarah’s window. Her daughter, back at college for the spring semester, wouldn’t be home anytime soon, and Colleen… Continue Reading
ALYRI • by E.D.E. Bell
She’d been looking forward to this date all week. With a glance at her reflection in the microwave, she confirmed what she already knew: she looked good. Violet poured two glasses of wine, smiling as she held one out. With… Continue Reading
THE MORE WE KNOW • by Karl Lykken
I was standing in my kitchen, straining to watch my neighbors arguing through their living room window. It occurred to me how cool it would be if my AR headset could zoom in and analyze their lips, giving me some… Continue Reading
THE READER • by Pat Hart
“I’m just saying, it seems fucked up to tell her, she doesn’t even know who he is anymore,” Jenny said. “It’s more fucked up not to tell her,” Susan said. The sisters were continuing the argument they’d been having via… Continue Reading
CRANKING THE WHEEL • by Rex Caleval
“Sorry, buddy,” said a gray-haired man in a suit, bumping me as he tried to reach the bar. “Fridays are always crowded here. Everybody ducks out of work early for a pint before they head home.” He noticed that he’d… Continue Reading
POUR OUT YOUR SONG • by Alex Sventeckis
Nestled into his red clay divot, Sebastian aimed the green laser pointer high into the clear night, and a rocket ship of light launched from the desert scrub. He squinted as he followed the rocket’s luminescent green contrail up to… Continue Reading
WOLVES • by Cat Cotsell
Ophelia indulged in anger and in grief. Those emotions were sublime and transcended beyond sorrow into morbid delight. It was important to her to enjoy distress. Plant your feet, her girlfriend said, but she never said what to plant them… Continue Reading
SOLDIER REASSEMBLING • by Clint Lowe
If he were to die, it seemed wrong he had to do so on the dirt. But he did. Nolan died on Iraq sand, leg blown off from a landmine. “My leg. My leg’s gone, John,” he said, eyes so… Continue Reading
THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE GUNNER • by Ananyo Bhattacharya
They would have said it was divine justice. For what we did. Sitting in an armchair far away, playing games, while their blood gushed onto the sand. But what happened to Kathy…. If that was karma, some god had tipped… Continue Reading