COME by Michael McSweeney
I listened to their conversation and paced a circle around the fire. Drank my beer. I didn't know who Dayna was but something sounded heavy and neglected in the other guy's voice.
THE BIRTHDAY by C. Connor Syrewicz
Sometimes, we talk. Sports, TV—that sort of thing. Every so often, he invites me for drinks, but I always make up an excuse.
EL LUCHADOR by Nico M.
You ain’t never punched nobody before. But you know how it’s done. You’ve seen enough movies.
BOMBING IN ALEPPO by Cory Bennet
Like the Ship of Theseus—was it the same skateboard if the deck was different? In my mind it was part of a lineage.
HOW TO TALK TO CATS by Emma Uriarte
Fall asleep. Wake up to darkness, the sound of tiny nails on cardboard. Find the mouse, dead for real this time, before work.
#FF073A (NEON RED) by Brenden Layte
You, waking from dreams of dinosaurs, exploring deep in the ocean, worlds where Care Bears and Popples are real, listening.
VAPOR TRAILS by SJ Han
Every hour or so, we fell silent to watch metal beasts bellow and tumble into the night sky, forgetting about the bug bites we collected on our ankles.
COUNTDOWN by Ash Kaul
You mutter “Fuck you” under your breath at his daily counting routine, for the apathy it shows for the hell the world is girdled in.
CHOPS by Keith Dromm
He would sometimes repeat it under his breath. Chops, have to have chops, have to have chops.
LEAVE IT by Abby Feden
I liked existing in peripheries. I imagined myself stuck deeply in mud and drowned and decaying but still there, still part of the river.