Best athlete we ever had, that Westhead kid. Wasn’t no bigger than you or me but all muscle and hit like napalm. Like cancer. Like he didn’t care who you were or if you might be armed. Four-year letterman at fullback and ended up walking on at Nebraska. Dressed all but one game for that […]
“Ah, Bridget, I’m liking those rainbow socks,” Simon says, pointing at the bright stripes peeking out between the bottom of my pants and the top of my clogs. “What about my socks?” Carla asks, hiking up her bellbottoms to show a brown sock. “Brown! Brown! Me favorite color!” Simon enthuses. “You American girls have got […]
David Carter walks down the street when the building overlooking him says, “Fuck off.” He tells it sorry, drops his eyes to the ground, and keeps walking. The sidewalk asks what he’s looking at so David Carter closes his eyes and tries to cross the street. A car hits him. His head splits. He dies. […]
Sgt. Tulley squinted at his watch, equal parts curio and cipher. He studied the obstinate object until it finally relinquished meaning. It meant 0600, and 0600 meant 0600 should have happened at least five mikes ago. He duly made the morning rounds, rousing his squad, which was tasked to detainee guard detail. […]
I walked into Wilcox’s hotel room and there was a man tied up on the bed, hands roped behind his back, legs bound so tightly together his bare feet had started to turn purple. He lay atop the sheets in his underwear, twisting back and forth, flopping like a landlocked fish, until he saw me […]
My brother loved bones. George collected pictures of skeletons from archaeological digs, some cobbled together like a child’s art project, some whole and more recent. He’d curated hundreds—cut from magazines, copied from library books, printed from the internet—and carried them everywhere. He could tell you where the largest human skeleton was found (Bulgaria) and the […]
I thought I was falling in love one summer, but I was only getting addicted to cigarettes. The guy, he gave me a Parliament every time we took a break at the restaurant where we both worked. All the ways I got excited when he’d catch my eye and tilt his head toward the back […]
Characters: HOOD: A teenage girl. Wearing a big, impressive red cloak, has lots of daggers strapped all over her, complete with a sword in a sheath at her side, and a shield. Has a piercing or two in her lip. BRICK: A teenage boy. Wears lots of pink and reddish brown. Wears overalls with a […]
It happens like it does in old movies. Milo walks home down some winding country road, humming the appropriate John Denver song. Then, something moves in the sky. A shimmer. A burst of brilliant, cornea-scorching light. Next he knows, four metal walls surround him. He screamed for what seemed like days, naked flesh against cold […]
My sister and her second husband are screaming on the front lawn. She’s drunk, he’s drunk, and it’s Christmas—the season, not the day. The sky is its angry shade of Philadelphia wintertime gray and as the snow falls, it’s turning to rain. Outside, lit up by green and red and yellow Christmas lights, Lizzie is […]
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