Short Fictions - Short Édition - page 5 - all works

Short Fiction

Slice of Life 2 min

Eldest

The phone buzzes.
Mona sends $101 to her younger brother who needs new glasses.
He bought blue frames that sparkled against his brown eyes.
The phone rings and Mona turns back from the hallway ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life 3 min

Owners, Soon

Jin Kim

It was finally enough. Pablo's bank account finally had the minimum for a down payment for a 30-year mortgage for an outer-borough co-op apartment. "We'll finally own a place," he told his wife ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait 4 min

Cutouts

Marcie Roman

My mother started cutting when I was nine. On Sunday afternoons, she'd sit at the kitchen table arranging coupons into what looked like a coupon-themed game of Solitaire. She'd tuck a few under he ... [+]

Short Fiction

3 min

Planting Instructions

Cameron Walker

Dig a hole the depth of your open palm. The hole needs to be this deep because coins are shiny, and crows like shiny things. Holes should be placed at least 12 inches apart, with three coins per hole ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait 5 min

Evaporation

Lucy Zhang

Last performance review cycle, I got a "barely meets expectations"—something I could've avoided if I slept with my VP, but I liked to believe I had an unshakeable moral ground. I wouldn't be too sad ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life Love & Loss 2 min

Projector

Alfie Farrow

"Can I get you anything?" Granny Marion asked from the kitchen. "I'm afraid I don't have much here."

"I'm alright," I called back to her, tugging at the neck of my varsity jumper. I'd realised on ... [+]

Short Fiction

Love & Loss Portrait 4 min Mature Audience

Pinecone

Katherine Davis

The sisters had walked these trails many times when they were little. But this time, the older sister was walking with her boyfriend. The younger sister stayed in front, pretending not to be bothered ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Suspense & Mystery 1 min

The Sweet Striper

Rolli .

The children don't understand.

The sweets they pine for are not squeezed from the machine with stripes intact. No—they must be painted on, by hand, with so much care. It is almost unimaginable, the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Quirky Humor Magical Realism 4 min Mature Audience

A Demon’s Guide to Slowly Seducing a Seminarian

Ej Sidle

"Three of hearts," the demon says. He's lounging on Joseph's bed, deck of cards in his hands and shirt riding up over his stomach. He glances up, fangs flashing in a bright grin as if he can feel ... [+]

Short Fiction

Quirky 4 min Mature Audience

motherese

Joel Shoemaker

The brand-new baby is screaming. In French.
In German.
No, in French. It's definitely in French.
It isn't obvious, at first. It's not like she's screaming for a Weiner schnitzel or demanding a ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life Portrait 4 min

Knox

Jason Schwartzman

Knox had been hanging around 8th street since before they put in the ATMs. We didn't know where he lived, but that's where he'd been ever since I'd moved here about ten years ago. He used a cracked ... [+]

Short Fiction

Love & Loss Nostalgia Magical Realism 4 min Mature Audience

Two More

Ben Briggs

My friend used to ride the midnight bus so he could spend time with his dead sister.
He had been doing this for about five years, right after she was killed. Her boyfriend shot her one night ove ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life Modern Love 5 min Mature Audience

Long Way Home

Sarena Kuhn

My mother told me I should never date a guy who didn't have his own car. She said that it set some bad precedent, mixed up the lines between provider and provided-for. There's nothing more ladylike ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life Portrait 4 min

Counting on the Waves

Tighe Flatley

He didn't see the woman standing next to him until her face, white and round as the moon, was peering into the car. Her gray hair, long and thin, danced in the wind.
Her hand moved in circles ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life Portrait Love & Loss 5 min Mature Audience

Birds, Circling, Everywhere

Matthew Hose

Tomorrow will mark a year since I had my stroke. It's an occasion that, according to my daughter, Ginny, I should view as important. But I've spent enough time staring at death; I don't want to think ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Young Adult 5 min

Always Be Prepared

Ophelia Guerdad

The sword bounced against Petra's hip as she entered the BART train. The passengers didn't give her much thought, too used to the sight of Knights these days to care. Petra was relieved; she didn't ... [+]

Short Fiction

Nostalgia Love & Loss Portrait 4 min Mature Audience

My Horse of a Different Color

FC Pierce

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

Young Adult 4 min

Of Sunflowers and Stars

Alex Grehy

A long time ago, when the world was new, the night sky was a dark void absent of moon or stars. By day, Helios, the Sun God, filled the sky with light as he raced his chariot around the heavens ... [+]

Short Fiction

Humor 4 min Mature Audience

Re: Your Chinchilla

K. J. Khan

Dear Editor,
Attached is my short story, "Lovestruck." Please publish it in your magazine as I see it becoming a runaway success.
Best,
Nancy
(P.S. It's allegorical.) ... [+]

Short Fiction

Love & Loss Nostalgia Magical Realism 4 min Mature Audience

While We're Yet Remembered

Deborah L. Davitt

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 ... [+]

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Eldest

Owners, Soon

Cutouts

Planting Instructions

Evaporation

Projector

Pinecone

The Sweet Striper

A Demon’s Guide to Slowly Seducing a Seminarian

motherese

Knox

Two More

Long Way Home

Counting on the Waves

Birds, Circling, Everywhere

Always Be Prepared

My Horse of a Different Color

Of Sunflowers and Stars

Re: Your Chinchilla

While We're Yet Remembered