Fiction

            Descent Pulling the rip cord, it failed to work. Same with the rip cord for the escape  chute.  Spiraling down, I quickly deduced that my parachutes were not supposed to open. As I glanced...

OBITBy Marc Simon I never read the obituaries, but last Thursday was an exception.   For some reason, they were mixed in at the end of the sports section.  I scanned them with morbid curiosity, and...

He walks away to prep. Coming back with the stenciled tattoo. “It looks awesome!” He places it on my right side. The rose surrounded by thorns was an awesome idea. The tattoo looks more...

SEE YOU NEXT TIME John stayed over Tuesday and Wednesday. I gave him a couple of stickers for his car so he could park on the street. I called in sick from work when he...

SANCTUARYBy Heide Arbitter They took the birds away.  That was the last hint.  They were unattractive birds, loud and sad looking, with feathers plucked bloody and wings hanging helplessly. But, these birds were his joy,...

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...

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...

FROSTby Phil Mershon For the next nine years he wandered from one ranch to the next. The old man had long ago gone to whatever final rewards he'd had coming, leaving George to embrace solitude...

“Stop pressing all the god damn buttons, that’s not going to get us out of here any sooner.” said Richard. “I can’t help it; you know I hate enclosed spaces.” said Jamie. I wish we...

GOODWILLBy  Tony D’Aloisio  I remember laying there for a few minutes right after waking up that morning, feeling all hazy and out of it.  Like that was all I could do once I'd kicked off...