Fiction - Year V - Number 42 - November 2020

            It was quiet under the water.             The tepid bathwater made Mina feel weightless. Her hands bobbed next to her, not touching her skin, not feeling the shape of her stomach or her hips...

The Site The Metro North train lurched from side to side as it accelerated, wheels squealing, out of Grand Central station and into the dark tunnel. She, Essie, was accustomed to the rattling banshee scream...

Gone with a Trace by Ashley Jones    “Ahh!”, I said. A piercing scream escapes my mouth.    My fate is sealed just like Monica. It all started with that damn box. Time stopped. Dusty orange strawberry...

Against All Odds By Michael Emeka The first time I saw Chetachi after she moved into our house, she was in the backyard, brushing her teeth. Even through the toothpaste foam, I could tell she had...

Her Pink Rose Teacup Steve was just another in a long line of men. But he was kinder somehow. So Gemma married him. She felt nothing on their wedding day and just went through the...

Pulpit Rock: A Reverie in Three Acts Roger McKnight                I Hank Standish saved his and Hanna’s serving cup after City bus 12 rammed a curb, but nothing stopped the chocolate sundae from swishing onto her white...

Skeletons in the Closet Sometimes families have secrets.  And sometimes curiosity gets the better of folks.  I was maybe eight or nine. One thing for sure, the age of reason hadn’t kicked in yet. In...

The Two-Tailed Monster Cat The hauntings began three days after Ishani moved from India to Kyoto. She moved through narrow straight roads, with traditional Machiya-style houses, adorned with paper-lanterns. She was running away from something—...

The Deathwatch Wood termites gnaw away at the womb of the furniture. Underneath the smooth surface lies a labyrinth of endlessly long narrow tunnels. Black columns within. They tap away in the throes of...

Barista Bob had gotten so used to people of Cape Misty calling him Barista Bob, he sometimes forgot he had any other names. So, when Detective Peters asked him for his full legal name for...