Short Circuit - Short Circuit #20

Short Fiction

The Last Quagga

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 ... [+]

Short Fiction

Suspense & Mystery 4 min

Cave Party

T.L. Tomljanovic

The Cheese Grater scrapes my bare arms and legs. I squeeze through the limestone crevice and my skin goose pimples. Sucking in a breath, I exhale steam. It's a muggy, hot September, but the caves are ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life Nostalgia 2 min

Transported

Ed Teja

I found exactly what we needed, as it happened, on a Friday. It was a strange Friday, even as Fridays go. But we won't go into that. And I didn't like going out in all that snow, walking through it ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sci-Fi & Fantasy 1 min

37.4 Hours Before My Brother's Execution

Nico Martinez Nocito

One electric pulse can instantly suppress ten thousand digital signs, so before the protest begins, we scrounge for cardboard and cover it with bright colors and wild slogans. I tie the balaclava ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sci-Fi & Fantasy 5 min

Payment in Kind

Ian Li

Lana grinned upon hearing the cawing of her door chimes. Her days had grown dull with regularly scheduled client meetings, so she relished the thrill of unexpected guests. She tossed aside he ... [+]

Children's

Friendship & Family Slice of life 4 min

The Chrysanthemum Question

Dave Bachmann

He was leaving. His meager belongings tucked into his backpack, Makoto slipped down the hall. The morning sun was creeping into the house. Shadows lingered in the living room like quiet storm clouds ... [+]

Children's

Sci-Fi & Fantasy 4 min

The Elder Tree

Paula Thompson

The tree has moved. Clara is sure of it. She presses her nose to the classroom window. The elder tree stands at the edge of the playing fields, dark and gangly. Like it's watching them. Yesterday it ... [+]

Children's

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Tale 5 min

Trisha and the Bone House

C. Dan Castro

A harmless mouse scuttled along the forest path. Or at least, Trisha Leiferkus hoped she looked harmless. Then she could sneak through the woods to carry out her mission. Her mentor, the ... [+]

Creative Nonfiction

Reflection 3 min

We Still Sit Under That Tree

Evan Jyoti Borbora

The power in my town goes out at 2:15 p.m. every day, but it's not about the power. It's about what disappears with it. The whirr of the fan, the static of old FM radio, the illusion of time moving ... [+]

Creative Nonfiction

Society Reflection 3 min

Jogging Urayasu

Zary Fekete

The morning began with the pale, clean light that seems to belong uniquely to reclaimed land. I set out at a jog, keeping to the periphery of Urayasu's peninsula, circling the edge where land and ... [+]

Short Fiction

Magical Realism 5 min

If You Have an Orange to Spare

Tunvey Mou

Of the myriad of things my grandmother was afraid of, the actual spirit that haunted the orange tree in our backyard was shockingly not one of them. All of my friends and family had had terrifying ... [+]

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

The Last Quagga

Cave Party

Transported

37.4 Hours Before My Brother's Execution

Payment in Kind

The Chrysanthemum Question

The Elder Tree

Trisha and the Bone House

We Still Sit Under That Tree

Jogging Urayasu

If You Have an Orange to Spare