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 […]
There’s a crowd. At least fifty people gathered in the car park outside St Werburgh’s Church. They’re all talking. Reminiscing. Like we’re at a wedding. Aunt Kate hugs Uncle Charlie. “Oh look how tall you are now,” he says to Carl, Kate’s son. He’s fourteen now, I think. Dad’s boasting to the distant family members […]
The first day of school was always a major event in Miss Agnes Smith’s calendar. This is a moment of renewal, a fresh start, as much for teachers like me as for the pupils, Miss Smith thought to herself, as she did each year at this time. The carefree days of summer were over, and […]
Miriam pressed a sweaty Diet Coke can to her cheek and shifted in the lawn chair. Her jaws popped and clicked as they clenched, her sore face muscles the victims of TMJ. The yellow glow of fireflies dotted the backyard, and she wished she was young enough to catch them in her hands, smoosh their […]
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