THE DOORKEEPER by Allissa Barker
The red-nosed boy stole half of my soul. His dark, empty eyes stared up at me, unblinking. He had dark circles underneath his unmoving eyes and a scar trailing down his pale, bony...
DOG DAYS by Julia Gross
Dog Days
by
J. F. Gross
First her dog died, then her mother. Truth be told, it was the dog Beth missed. He had been so easy. She adopted Mac, a yellow Lab, between her first...
A SUBTERRANEAN PURGATORY by Mitchell Near
A Subterranean Purgatory
by
Mitchell Near
When I was a boy, I took the bus to school. I had no other choice. Too far to walk; too far to bicycle. Both my parents worked long hours, Dad...
REMEMBER HAWAII by Mickki Garrity
Remember Hawaii
Thud, thud, thud, thud. The sound reaches through my dreamless sleep and I struggle to open my eyes against the brightness of the windows.
“Amanda!” yells Greg through the front door. Sigh. How long...
RETURNING by Audrey Renner
Returning
By Audrey Renner
Felicity examines the halls of The Great’s Garden Museum one last time. Her footsteps echo through the dark, empty museum. She enters the Dutch Room and stops. A lone woman stands...
JUNKYARD DOG by Henry Alan Paper
JUNKYARD DOG
I was fifteen and rabid, roaming the streets of Los Angeles like a wild dog, watching videogames on TV, old boxing matches on YouTube, Tik-Tok and Instagram on my phone, listening to...
HUNGRY by Liz Shine
Hungry
It’s a typical boring Saturday. Susie woke two hours ago, but is still lying in bed, thinking. She stares at the top-bunk ceiling, breathing the air of her shared bedroom. One of those leftover-hot...
THE FIG TREE by Peter Roxburgh
Izabela’s earliest memory is of picking fruit from the fig tree that bordered the stream which ran along the bottom of her garden. She was probably four or five years old; it was before...
437 WILTON STREET by Zach Murphy
437 Wilton Street (A Brick Story)
Charlie’s wistful heart tingles as he pulls up to 437 Wilton Street, the apartment building from his childhood. Everything is gone but the skeleton of a structure and the...
LOST by Michael Emeka
Lost
By Michael Emeka
Night had fallen by the time I returned from hawking banana for Mummy. I stood the large steel tray against the wall and handed her the cash I’d made. Looking stern, she...