The shrill creaking noise fluttered into Martin’s left ear like a lost honeybee searching for its hive. He sat up in his La-Z-Boy, his eyes half-closed, a stream of drool making slow drips onto his crinkled yellow golf shirt. He yawned, then woke himself up by pinching his love handles, which in the last few … Continue reading
Category Archives: fiction 2019
Lecture—Christopher Linforth
Our father tells us the French word for peephole is judas. He bears down on us, angles his pinky toward his eye. The betrayer is the size of my pupil, he says. Sometimes smaller. We don’t reply. We let him drone on about the Bible, about respecting your father, staying out of his business. We … Continue reading
Lucky—Marissa Arrigoni
Chris didn’t even know what was going through his mind when he hit the ground. He knew that before he’d been struck, he’d been doing an awkwardly hunched shuffle-run, thinking about how miserable walking in the rain is as he switched his umbrella to his right hand in order to dig through his left pocket … Continue reading
Looking for Work—George Saitoh
It happened before, when I was in Morocco. I remember the scrambling from one half-hour or even quarter-hour of refuge to the next, in a café or on a public playground swing, until bedtime and, whether I had earned it or not, sleep. All animals have to sleep. It is nature’s first rule. … Continue reading
Screwed by Turns—Maya Alexandri
“Oh Lord, Miles, what happened? What happened?” Vicky clasped her son’s shoulders as she knelt to be level with him. Maroon-angry flesh ballooned from his left eye socket. The white of that eye bloomed carmine off the stem of a broken blood vessel. Miles’ expression was contorted. He made the face of keening, but … Continue reading
Ghost Hunt—Jasmine Barlow
About Ghost Hunt: I was inspired by my favorite genre of media, horror. Horror movies tend to be hilarious, and any show about ghosts is bound to be entertaining. Characters Joseph Gray: narrator for a ghost hunting podcast “Freaky Tales for Freaky People” Mark Lawson: co-host of podcast Max (Maxine) Baker: paranormal investigator Timothy Baker: … Continue reading
The Worst Play Synopsis—Jasmine Barlow
This is a tragic story of Chicago street violence. Victor is 17 years old and has lost his older brother to a rival gang. He stands center stage as the curtains opens and gives a long monologue about how awful it is to live in the hood. He emphasizes “the hood” while pulling his hood … Continue reading
Yonder Comes the Day—Astin Campbell
Ten years later, the carbon is moving. The carbon is always moving. The carbon is moving in the sucrose as the enzyme tears its sucrose apart, pulls it into a molecule of fructose. The fructose moves through the crop of the honeybee, proteins siphoning nutrients off to the side. The fructose moves through the crop, … Continue reading
Leo Flores—Luke Reynolds
LEO FLORES doesn’t want to be thinking about his ex-boyfriend, but the memories keep taunting him, and they make him want to gouge his eyes out, leave them bloody and glazed over in the palm of his hand: sneaking out during a school assembly to wreak havoc in the rain, smashing puddles beneath their feet … Continue reading
White Lies—Kevin Tosca
The first time Abraham Abraham called the Porters he was told by a delightful little girl her daddy couldn’t come to the phone because their doggy just died. “Oh… Oh…” Abraham Abraham stammered. “I’m so very sorry for you.” His dog, after twelve years of idyllic companionship and mutual love, recently passed as well. He … Continue reading