TO LIVE AGAIN • by Clint Lowe
I glance at the photograph of my wife, then step outside ready to meet the other woman. Rain pours onto the roof of my porch sounding an accusing hum. Rain. Is that a sign? It was raining the day I… Continue Reading
death of a spouse
SELFIE • by Rollin T. Gentry
I’ll readily admit that I was drunk the first time I saw my wife’s ghost. My friends had taken me to O’Shaughnessy’s after Karen’s funeral, and yes, I was planning on getting solid, blackout drunk. What I wasn’t planning on,… Continue Reading
BASTION • by Robert L. Perrine
Thunder rumbled overhead as Beaumont Whitley sat reclined in his chair, enjoying a pipe and a good book. Glancing up, he noticed a shadowed figure creep past the window. Beaumont closed the novel and set his Meerschaum aside. Would it… Continue Reading
THE WEAK FORCE • by Adam R. Shannon
Cara just left and already the house is in ruins. Dishes rise in tetris piles on every countertop. Mark doesn’t remember eating off them. The fridge hums to itself, dumb and empty. “I’m the fastidious one,” he tells the cat,… Continue Reading
A PICNIC ON THE BEACH • by Owen Archlimb
I didn’t like to see her go like that, but perhaps it was for the best. Drowning’s meant to be a good way, but I don’t see how. All that salt water up the nose, and the panic. Though she… Continue Reading
SPLIT HOLLANDAISE • by Tara Brabazon
I still walk. Breathe. Eat. I am a corpse in clothes. Want nothing. Numb. Since my husband died, I just don’t want to be here. Here. Anywhere. I poke my emotional ash-heap of a self with sharpened sticks to confirm… Continue Reading
WE WILL WORK IT OUT • by Karen R. Arbogast
There you are, standing atop the Natural Bridge at Red River Gorge, Kentucky hugging a pine tree, pretending to be afraid to let go. But you aren’t pretending. You’re afraid of heights. It is mid-September, 1984. This picture was taken… Continue Reading
SHELBY • by Joshua Joseph Barella
It’s the little things. Those that you have to be still to value. Silent. Like the swirling of dust in a shard of light. Or the melting of snow on a windowpane and the bead of water it leaves behind. … Continue Reading
A FUNERAL IN WINTER • by Cyndeth K. Allison
It was a big hole, deep, long, narrow. The dirt that had come out of it mounded some distance away, nearly black against the equal mounds of snow plowed from the roadway. He stood at its edge, just outside the… Continue Reading
KICKED OUT OF DANCE CLASS • by Kelly Castillo
We sit in the car as long as possible. Dance class is the longest hour of the week and I see no reason to spend more time inside than necessary. Noelle latches on to my ring and pinky finger as… Continue Reading