Rebecca Otter

Rebecca Otter studies professional and creative writing at UNCW. She is a poetry editor and designer at semicolon literary journal. She likes the sound of rustling leaves, roads that point towards the sunset, and earthy-toned yarns. You can find her poetry and creative nonfiction in Entropy Magazine, Instant Literary Journal, and Atlantis Magazine.

ARMILUSTRIUM by Rebecca Otter

February 7, 2019 · Fiction

My dad plays chess like a mathematician. Each of his turns stretch on while he contemplates the board from every angle and I forget my grand strategy. To entertain myself in these gaps, I look where his gaze falls. When he mutters to himself, is he frustrated with my playing? Or is that another tactic meant to confuse me further? When he finally chooses one lucky piece with a heavy sigh, how that piece gleams in the TV light as he lifts it—slowly, as he does most things. My dad is okay at defense. But he’s ruthless at offense, felling…

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