The little boy was alone, playing Cowboys-and-Indians outside, when the deputies came. He was six years old. He was pretending to be a cowboy, an outlaw, taking life and land from the Indians, from the innocent. The white jeep came… Continue Reading
I can’t explain to you what I see. I don’t know what you see when you close your eyes, but when I close mine I see the same thing as when they’re open. Nothing. I don’t think it’s black, or… Continue Reading
A hand. That is what I remember. Its warmth on my skin. The soft skin hidden within the curve of my thigh. The place I like to fold my own hand at night. It’s cosy there. Warm. Comforting. It feels… Continue Reading
Andrew timed it perfect: he opened the front door just at the moment Mama’s thrown picture frame hit the wall right behind Daddy. Neither of them heard him leave. He learned early to get out unnoticed when he wasn’t the… Continue Reading
Carina, darling, Someday you will want to know why. People will ask you: What was I like? Was I weird? Forgetting that you were only three and cannot be expected to remember your father. I cannot write to you because… Continue Reading
(trigger warning for sexual assault involving children/minors) The ceiling is white, the walls are white, the curtains are white. They swell and recede in unison like lungs. On the breeze, Mina can smell frangipani and chlorine. She is pinned to… Continue Reading
I had my first mystical experience when I was seven. I was at my grandfather’s. We were on the sofa together watching cartoons, when all of a sudden the screen went black. In the cartoon’s place appeared a photo of… Continue Reading
On my twelfth birthday, a puppy drowned in our pool. On that cicada-buzzing Sunday afternoon, I lay on a half-deflated raft, my fingertips skimming the warm water. Thunderclouds pressed down, trapping stagnant, rotten-fish-smelling air. Pinhole rays of sun burst through… Continue Reading
The crack of the baseball bat against Jason’s knees incites power I’ve never felt, but I should have smashed his jaw. He drops to the floor, profanity spewing from his mouth. My grip tightens on the bat. I know what… Continue Reading
Everyone is tied down to something, Nicole thought as she regarded the demon from across the greasy, downtown cafe. It was a small demon as demons go, hardly noticeable really as its needle sharp teeth sank into the crimson tendril… Continue Reading