Short Fiction

For Her

Suzanne R. Klein

Thursday, January 25
Dear Mom,
College applications are due next week. Mr. Haven said my personal growth essay would be excellent for them. I told him I didn’t think college ... [+]

Short Fiction

Prisoner of War

Rachel Malmin

He was a soldier. He was confused and tired and homesick, or maybe lovesick, or maybe a cruel combination of the two. He made his way through the jungle, stumbling on the shards of broken sunlight ... [+]

Short Fiction

Three, Two...Speak

Ink

There were exactly five clocks in the room where I couldn’t talk.
Three of them were placed on the numerous walls and around corners where I couldn’t see, but the last two were on the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Dance With Fear

Falling Star

Old woman dreaming -
Things always come to hush you,
but dance anyway.
You are having the dream again. It is the one you have been dreaming your whole life - that dream you long to hold ... [+]

Short Fiction

Two Hearts of the Eagle Huntress

Jdevanney

Red mountains ring beneath the eternal blue sky. The echo of galloping hoofbeats drifts among them. The lonesome throatsong I hum is their only companion. The solitary sun hangs like a baubled incense ... [+]

Short Fiction

Happy

PSSandra

He walked away from the casket, his heart heavy and his spirit weary. Did he do the right thing?
“She is happy now.” Someone said to him last night at the viewing.
Yes, he thought ... [+]

Short Fiction

The Last Bat

Joe McGehee

It was the first time that I had ever hated the sound of my own name. "Tommy, you're up," the coach had yelled down from the entrance of the dugout. I was sitting on the end of the bench next to my ... [+]

Short Fiction

Fault Line

Jordan Leigh

The wind and rain pummeled him from all sides like a pack of street punks eager to humble an old man, but the world-weary veteran was undaunted by the blinding storm. Reaching through the gale, his ... [+]

Short Fiction

Act of Courage

Kmarch

She listened while he spoke. His voice was like a fuzzy caterpillar and barely audible against the glow of the holiday lights, sparkling blue and green, white and gold. Tiny bulbs like fireflies in ... [+]

Short Fiction

Your Kind of Courage

JohnO

“Funny thing isn’t? Courage, I mean.”
A man in a dark suit leans forward in a wooden chair. A single light bulb dangles from a cord above his head that casts a faint glow around the small ... [+]

Short Fiction

A Stone Marking a Happy End

Anthony

The sculptor was working when he died. There was dust under the his fingernails and sweat on his brow. Lines were carved in his face, though they were less delicate than the ones his skillful hands ... [+]

Short Fiction

Move Along

H.B.C.

The days couldn’t manage to become any more miserable or dour, could they? Drysalio Cervera sulked, swiping away the pile of expensive books that lay sprawled across his desk.
Books fo ... [+]

Short Fiction

Drowning in Syrup

KP DOWD

Lying in the dark, he whispered their names. The same names he whispered every morning.
“Spencer, Mack, Jones, and Cox.”
Luke Murphy woke up before the alarm, not because he was ... [+]

Short Fiction

The Swimmer

Madeleine Pron

They had been at the beach all morning, the three of them baking slowly, going into the water at different intervals and for different lengths of time. Their positions on the beach were similarly ... [+]

Short Fiction

Invisible

Jason Rickett

Another small town day, and he was still invisible. Further down the strip mall alleyway access where they leaned against the building, there were other invisibles, hiding behind their shopping carts ... [+]

Short Fiction

Prelude to a Confession

Tengu

Waiting at a lover’s door for courage to alight, who would think to call me a coward? For me, it’s wisdom that keeps me at bay, a nature well-versed in courtship and circumstance. In my case I ... [+]

Short Fiction

The Pinochle Game

mdneiger

It was 8 a.m. on an early St. Petersburg, Florida, morning. I always liked to get an early start on Saturdays. I grabbed my deck of Bicycle playing cards and a Beatles 8-track tape, “Sgt ... [+]