The sliver comes out in the wildfire days, but I feel its presence in the days preceding—cold spring turning to prairie sun, dry wind, absent rain, a sense of something in the trees. Later, I’ll wonder if it was always there, arms wrapped around a poplar, waiting. I’m an odd, impractical woman. At least that’s […]
February 7, 2042 Glen Ellyn It’s a Friday afternoon, that last day. There’s over a foot of week-old snow on the ground. The last several days have been bright and sunny — too cold for snow — but today the sky is gray and heavy. Naomi and I are having a late lunch when the […]
The motel curtains are the color of dried blood, and someone’s scratched a crucifix into the wall between the twin beds. I can’t stop looking at it. The longer I stare, the more it looks like a child did it—uneven arms, the nail marks gouged too deep, like someone didn’t know when to stop, or […]
Stepping into the glade is like stepping into another world. The landscape is desolate, painted crimson by the thousands of fruiting cranberry vines that claim the bog each fall as the other flora dies back. Their fruit bursts beneath the soles of your rubber boots as you walk across the spongy ground and you grimace, […]
Anna doused the dolls in lighter fluid and fed them to the flames. They burned quickly, spitting out toxic clouds of smoke as plastic warped and blackened. Beside her, Mary and Lily shifted and wrinkled their noses, edging upwind. They hunched into their coats, protection against December’s chill. Lily leaned into Mary, her sleek, dark […]
The bar is called Obsidian. With its narrow black on black storefront, one could mistake it for a mirage. Inside it’s long and dark with three doors in the back: one a storage room marked no admittance, another a women’s room with a leaky toilet, and finally a men’s room where it all ends. *** […]
Alembics line the walls, rounded and bulbous glasses blown in bubbly greens and creamy whites and swirling yellow-blues. Their contents shift and churn of their own accord, some in slow dancing waves, some in quick jerks, crashing against the walls of their vessels. There is a queue out the door, and August wishes they had […]
As she floated near the viewport of the Nautilus IV for the fourth day, Faye stared out at what looked like a giant sleep-deprived but pupil-less eye. In actuality, orange-red lines haphazardly scored the white surface of the moon. She had first seen pictures of Europa right after she turned ten in 2230—the same year she […]
“No, thank you.” The demon inclined her head graciously. “Pardon?” The knight blinked. He was not prepared for politeness from demons. It went against all his training. He swallowed the rising lump in his throat. “To be clear,” he said, “are you refusing to surrender? Or refusing to move yourself out of that good woman […]
They gathered around the body at midnight. All four members of Lilith Skulls—Amy, Petra, Ty, and Cat—hovered above the once pink face of their band manager, Jeff, who laid in a barren corn field outside a New Jersey dive bar. His corpse now illuminated by moonlight and the weak beam of Ty’s flashlight. There were […]
Liesel felt herself counting them, one, two, three. In and out. In and out. One two three. Counting the breaths made it feel less like waiting and more like expecting. “Is it sick?” Krista asked. Her little sister leaned close to her side. Liesel shrugged. “I think so.” She knew it wouldn’t be long. Moments, […]
The night before Grandaddy Burl died, Colly dreamed of a flathead catfish swallowing him whole. Summer storms had been rolling in since June; the mountain air sitting heavy like flannel on fevered skin. Splashes of sunbeams illuminated verdant pockets, but the inevitability of more rain coaxed the shadows out from crevices and caves to smother […]