LEILA • by Meagan Chandler
When Nurse asks if I want an epidural, I nod my head. Why hurt any more than I have to? I’ve dreaded this part for months. Those nights I laid awake with little feet striking my ribcage and wondering if… Continue Reading
marriage
WHERE MULBERRIES FALL • by Odile Mori
In summer, the soles of Eva’s feet were permanently stained crimson from playing barefoot under the huge mulberry tree that to her ten-year-old eyes seemed to take up a full half of her backyard. Every day she ran outside, squashing… Continue Reading
HAMMER TIME • by Jan Allen
For three years I’ve been thinking about divorcing my husband. Google tells me there are trillions of nerves in my body, and Barry has gotten under every last one. The scary thing is I’ve never lived alone, not once in… Continue Reading
GATHER THE DARKNESS • by Quinn
The snap of the twig was always the best part. The scent of the dried wood, dead for months now, would rise to her nose. She would inhale its scent, drinking in lost memories of seasons long since passed. The… Continue Reading
FOUND IN THE FLOOD • by Nina Miller
Before daybreak, the rising tide breached the top steps as Manjula opened the basement door. Murky brown water lapped gently amongst schools of Legos and drowned Barbies. Her screams woke the household, whose night had been disturbed by the ravaging… Continue Reading
HER MARVELOUS MASQUERADE • by Rebecca Buller
At 6:42 a.m. she steps barefoot onto the bathroom scale. In two months, she gained five pounds. She presses a fist to her mouth and pretends not to cry. Underneath the sink she keeps her special pills for this type… Continue Reading
FLIGHT • by Annabelle Smith
Caesar Learns to Juggle Caesar is born in Kansas, 1932, where there is nothing and will never be anything. His future is limited to the dustbowl of the country, where he will die with a lungful of dirt and empty… Continue Reading
FATHER’S DAY • by Linda Mary Guyette
The years have been kind when I see George again. I’m wandering the carnival alone, licking the last bit of cotton candy stickiness from my fingers. It’s Father’s Day weekend, and Daniel and I have made the trek back to… Continue Reading
HURRICANES TAKE EVERYTHING • by Prarthana J A
Tegan and Raul. They kissed a lot. They were that kind of couple. The ones that lonely house wives fantasize about while they scrub piles of dirty dishes over their kitchen sinks. They talked a lot, joked a lot too,… Continue Reading
THE IDES OF MARCH ARE COME • by Kathy Sherwood
Caesar sat up, gasping, his shoulder hitting Calpurnia in the chin. The semi-familiar setting of his wife’s room made it more difficult to gain his bearings. And he still had a phantom pain in his chest and back from the… Continue Reading