I woke up before you, looking down at your peaceful, sleeping face. You were curled into me, your breaths warm against my collarbone. I wanted to lean down and kiss you, but you needed the rest.
I ... [+]
I ... [+]
Short Fiction
Short Fiction
Roping in the Wind
Olivier Brossard had been hanging men for the best part of a decade, and he'd never seen the rope break. It wasn't uncommon for folk to try, usually magicians spitting fire and brimstone as they
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Finding Hope
My wife went to bed fifteen days ago, and she's been there ever since.
We came home from the hospital dazed and empty-handed. Eleanor climbed the stairs, rushed past the freshly painted second ... [+]
We came home from the hospital dazed and empty-handed. Eleanor climbed the stairs, rushed past the freshly painted second ... [+]
Short Fiction
Across the Board of Time
Lena walked through the soccer field and to the edge of the woods. The large oak greeted her, outstretched branches bursting green with the early spring. "Hello," she said, patting its trunk. She
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Dreams on the interstate of forests and mountains
The house takes a day to dismantle. Goodwill gets the furniture. Meghan sets a ground rule for the rest: George is allowed three seconds to decide where each thing should go: in the car (to be driven
...
[+]
Short Fiction
What Happened That Night
Josh is gone, but I see him everywhere. Even now, it's his reflection I see in the puddle as the storm brings me back to reality. I shiver. Seems I'm always cold these days. I need to get my shit
...
[+]
Short Fiction
The Cancelled Holiday and Other Secrets
Your baby is due in two weeks. Naturally, I'm over the moon about this, but I'm also feeling a bit sentimental . . . hence this letter.
So here I am at the kitchen table, thinking about you and ... [+]
So here I am at the kitchen table, thinking about you and ... [+]
Short Fiction
Last Breath
They always say the final sense to go is hearing, but touch lasts right 'til the end. Not over the whole body, though; I can't feel Dot's hand in mine, but this fucking diaper itches like blazes. I
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Good Bones
The realtor moves from room to room in silence. Charlotte and I follow, anxiously awaiting his verdict.
Through the kitchen, the living room, the study. Upstairs, in and out of bedrooms. He ... [+]
Through the kitchen, the living room, the study. Upstairs, in and out of bedrooms. He ... [+]
Short Fiction
Some Meat on Those Bones
Terrydale was a hamlet much too small to be located on any map, and so war came to it as it comes to such places—not through the trampling of armies over its quaint town square, or the burning of
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Unwrapping
The DeliverBot drops the box at my feet and wheezes out a metallic "Happy Birthday" before flying away. At first, I think it's a mistake, because it isn't my birthday. At least, I don't think it is
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Would You Like My Jacket?
I had just gotten out of the gas station and bought what I usually bought on my little Sunday night trips—a pack of reds, a water bottle (one of the purified waters. Spring water is quite gross to me
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Oceans Between Us
My daughters run across the hard-packed sand, their blonde hair—Maureen's hair—streaming out behind them. They are three little replicas of my wife.
As always, the worry grips my heart with icy ... [+]
As always, the worry grips my heart with icy ... [+]
Short Fiction
My Horse of a Different Color
It was the summer of '82, my first year at Saint Vincent's. I'd just arrived in the city, a newly minted nurse from the Midwest, and taken an apartment on Perry Street with three other nurses. He was
...
[+]
Short Fiction
While We're Yet Remembered
It was the splatter of liquid on my face that woke me. Shitty-quality beer, with a taste of loam. Awareness returned as it puddled beneath me, where the tree roots grew against my back. Feet on the
...
[+]