Stories - Long Story Short Award - 2022 - page 16 - all works

Short Fiction

4 min

Bloody Sky, Only Fifty

Nestled between two hills, the small capital city overlooked a vast plain of golden grass and the occasional thin redish tree. A series of small streams weaved their way between the trees like veins ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

Use Me, Holly

Payton Andreadakis

Normally Cayden would've been excited to take his little sister to Critter's Vintage to pick up her birthday present, but he wasn't at the moment. The day's activities had been very minimal. Serenity ... [+]

Poetry

1 min

Twenty Questions No One Can Seem To Answer

Haley McBride

Have you ever run away? Could you ever run away?
What if the only thing you want to escape is ... [+]

Poetry

1 min

worms

Brielle Williams

Whenever it rains,
I look for worms on the ground.
When I see one,
I like to pick it up and ... [+]

Poetry

1 min

Shouldn't Be

Nathan Burlett

How do you say words that shouldn't be spoken?
When a heart would speak its piece,
Yet that ... [+]

Poetry

1 min

The Morning Shift

Liza Craig

I work the morning shift at the park
It's cold enough to see my breath
And I watch as clouds ... [+]

Creative Nonfiction

1 min

Tick-Tock

Kylee Bergstresser

Tick-tock, tick-tock; the sound the clock would be making if it were actually working, but instead we're stuck at 5:47. It's only a practice test, but practice or not my pulse quickens and my body ... [+]

Poetry

1 min

pitch black highways

Lucy Smithwick

driving down pitch black highways
of rural north carolina is
a rite of passage.

no ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Old Friend

Lauren Fichten

October is my favorite month — and not just because it's the month of my birth. Maybe it has something to do with the crispness of the air contrasting the warmth of woolen hats and scarves, and the ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Like a Revelation

Ashley Figuera

Even while lying down, Junie feels like her body is on fire.

Maya runs her fingers through the surface of her skin, almost like Junie is a treasure to behold. Her hands follow the crevices of ... [+]

Poetry

1 min

Urban Rainstorm

Alexandria Bender

Upon the streets the rainstorm crackles
Like firecrackers along the pavement
The people run ... [+]

Poetry

1 min

January

Britney Hong

January holds me close like an embrace from an old friend

January calls me from a ... [+]

Creative Nonfiction

2 min

Humanity

Alexis Johansen

The red light has me squirming in my seat. My tight bladder makes waiting to pull into the gas station across the road an eternity. Just as I am sure that warm liquid will soon be streaming down my ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

The Impossibility of Sharing

David Xiang

It was cold on the rooftop when the meteor shower began. I had brought a blue fleece blanket, and through the veneer of excessive shivering I draped it over us. Our shoulders touched, and I looked ... [+]

Poetry

1 min

Facts of life

David Xiang

Curiously the day begins without you.
Not in a sudden fit of forgetfulness,
but in the way a ... [+]

Short Fiction

2 min

Dancer

Annika Carlson

Death was a surprisingly wonderful dancer.
He carried a haunting beauty about him as we moved across the floor, an etherealness of presence that went beyond his mantle. To call Death intimidating ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

The Yellow Leaf

Henry Ashworth

She looked at him from across the gallery; tall, athletic, light eyes and dark hair, well-kept but not overly so. He looked like the type that was probably here with an INGO or a government agency ... [+]

Short Fiction

1 min

Harvest

James Wicke

The woman lifted her mask up to her eyes, securing its extravagant form to her by tying the back behind her head. Her skirts swept the dirty streets as she stepped out from her hiding place. Just last ... [+]