OUR LADY COMFORTER OF THE AFFLICTED by Diana Kole
June 10, 2022
I watched a moth crawl toward me on the concrete. One of its wings was damaged; I had a strong impulse to crush it with my boot.
Short
GOOD LIGHT by Chris Ames
June 3, 2022
I pull up hard and dredge out a congealed braid of hair the length of an arm. Horrified, I keep pulling and it just keeps coming.
ONE EVENING IN APRIL AS A COLD FRONT COMES IN by Christopher Mohar
May 27, 2022
For one heartbeat, I wanted it to be true. I wanted to see my own father facedown on the tile, spattered in his own blood.
ÔM by Lily Thu Fierro
May 20, 2022
2:00 A.M. Tonight’s crowd is mostly gone. Good tips. No grabs. I did alright.
THE GROOM by Paul Ruta
May 13, 2022
I just work here, okay, so it weren’t my job to speak up when I dug the ring out of Prince’s hoof with my pick, packed into the groove there with the mud and manure. I stuck it in my pocket and said nothing cause they’d only take it away from me and they got no right. Anyhow it’s just a plain wedding band, but solid gold I reckon, so it’s gonna be worth something.
THE BOOK OF INTRACTICUS, THE SECOND PERSON TO BE SWALLOWED BY A WHALE by David K. Gibson
May 6, 2022
And lo, not fifteen minutes after the ship had cast off its ropes, a giant Phoenician dropped his last denarius into a brass bucket and Intracticus retired to the bar, where he proceeded to become loaded, even as unto the dice.
THE SUNSET MACHINE by Tamar Nachmany
April 29, 2022
But getting pregnant was highly unlikely under these circumstances. Etgar slept across town. And sexting couldn’t get you pregnant.
THE HUNDRED YEAR PERIOD by Leah Smolin
April 22, 2022
Today marks my one hundredth anniversary working at the waffle factory. They threw a little party for me in the breakroom—coffee in paper cups, a pink cake with ONE HUNDRED written on it in frosting. My friend Ellie mimed throwing up on the cake. I laughed and covered my mouth with my cup.
THE BEGINNING OF DUSK by Jon Berger
April 15, 2022
Back in high school Jared would come to our lunch table and say the craziest shit to get a laugh out of everyone. We would egg him on and tell him to go to other lunch tables and say the same vile shit.
SISY WUZ HERE by John Waterfall
April 8, 2022
The baby never wakes up, no matter how high he throws it, how far he punts it into the strange lunar twilight of Hell. No, it never stirs, despite the whirls and twirls. Through the chops and knocks, baby sleeps on.