Stories Archive - Page 18 of 30

Latest Stories

the one thing

Shari Green

the world is on fire and my mother is planting tomatoes we sit down to dinner—like a proper family my mother says, even though we are mismatched, even though my so-called brother is rarely proper; my step-dad turns on the tv news scoops up beans, meat, corn while catastrophes blare from across the room, […]

Day-Clean to First Dark

Jonathan Kincade

Dirt crawled under Zuzi’s fingernail as she traced another letter into the shack floor, her secret game. When the door swung open, she hastily smoothed away the evidence. It could put her and Mama in danger. She couldn’t say why, but she certainly felt it. A mass, tangled as her hair, stuck in her throat. […]

Demonym

Mathew Lebowitz

“I know what you’re thinking,” says Jake softly in my ear, his voice tentative and hopeful. We’re pushed close together in the lively crowd that lines the lower wharf, and I know if I turn he’ll give me an eyebrow lift or a conspiratorial wink to show we’re on the same page. Jake very much […]

The Zee

Tim Lees

He’s pumped. Forty press-ups, right before the camera rolls. Body-shirt and bulging arms, slicked-back hair, unblinking eyes — but out of shot, he’s quivering with nerves, pacing, smoking, trying out his lines a dozen different ways. And that swagger he puts up on screen? It’s not even skin deep. “I’m Kurt Carter. I’m here to […]

Touching the Morning

Susan L. Lin

(red) On the outskirts of the city lies a sleepy town I’ve given everything to: first breaths, first birthdays, first broken bones. I can’t see everything from my bedroom window. Not the pair of tracks that snake through town like the skeletal remains of a serpent and its former lover, always running in perfect parallel, […]

Hyphemata, or Seeing Underwater Above

Ra'Niqua Lee

I told my love to meet me inside of a pearl Chevy, backseat amputated from the body of a 1955 Bel Air. A bench and lunch table sit in place of the front half. Lights line walls slick with fry grease as thick as sinking. ** In between town and nowhere, this super-niche restaurant with […]

The Pull

Kyle Tolan

My younger half-sister fell thirty-seven feet from the Canyon River Bridge sometime between 11:30 PM and 1:30 AM on a Thursday in early January, and I, being the coroner’s assistant, would have watched her autopsy if Dr. Stevens hadn’t led me into the stale, frigid morning, under a monochrome sky with its heart ripped out. […]

Reforestation

Marisa Gearin

Content warning: This poem contains discussions of risky behavior that could be upsetting for someone with a history of self-harm. . I tried skipping half the chapters in that book but I still couldn’t get through it and eventually you took out the bookmark and said, “You don’t have to do this, I’m making the […]

THE FACES OF GHOSTS

George Lockett

When my date smiles at me from across the table, I find myself looking into the face of a ghost. Her blonde hair isn’t quite a match, but her cheeks dimple in just the right places, and her blue eyes sparkle like precious gems. Like missed opportunities. It’s been a nice evening. For someone who […]

The Prince Who Wouldn’t Laugh

Evan Purcell

Jenn and I sat at the table in the corner and drank our punch. It was so, so bad. The punch, not the table. Our table was fine, I guess. We were far enough away from the dance floor to avoid getting bumped into, but we were close enough to get a good view of […]

SELF-PRESERVATION

Rob Nisbet

Phyllis and Davina lived at the superior end of Almiston Green, furthest from the cricket pitch and the little houses that so cluttered the lower slopes. Their homes were large, detached and sprawling, commanding chocolate-box views of the church, the war memorial and, across the green, the thatched Duke of Almiston public house. So much […]

A Thousand Miles Away

Joseph Walker

Game six of the 1982 World Series had been a damp affair, and the skies in St. Louis were opening again as the tarp came out for yet another rain delay. In his basement workshop, Kevin Watts grimaced but did not actually look up at the small TV in the corner as the announcers settled […]

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