I was born with a birthmark that looked like a bruised flower. It trailed along the left side of my face, from hairline to where neck and shoulder met. I grew accustomed to open stares, sidelong glances, and children being chastised for pointing.
short story
The Deceased’s Wife by Charles Milton Lee
Three elderly women stood huddled in a corner of the funeral home, whispering and glaring at the deceased’s wife.
Monday the 28th of August
Today is the worst day I have ever experienced. But it’s not over yet. It’s not going to end for thousands of seconds. Thousands of raw, grating seconds. I know, I’m the one with the problem. Not you. You have coping mechanisms. Your brain has worked out that to experience every second of every day would quickly lead to
Night of Fire and Glass by Justin Bendell
The freaks are out again tonight. I hear them howling. I hear branches cracking off trees. There were out last night, too. It has been warm and heat draws them to the streets. It’s been like this since the war, or since the raids, but really it started with the slave ships.
Footloose by E. W. Farnsworth
It was dark, and the party was going to start on the other side of the freshly-plowed south pasture anytime. Bob impatiently stomped through the damp earth toward the Thompson Farm.
Telekinesis for Beginners by Michelle Lee
At the ripe age of 21, Ariel lives in failure of that first step. She’s filing papers now, an administrative assistant at the Dropbox headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley. She watches the computer engineers check in and out behind the front desk on the third floor, and all day this plagues her with a sense of inadequacy. She thinks about her upbringing in an upper-middle class
Escape by Murdock O’Mooney
Escape by Murdock O’Mooney “We got to get out of here,” I tell her. She tells me she knows and that she’s waiting for the right time. “You saw what he did to Johnny- he’s got a black eye and fat lip… he’s all beat up.” She says that it’s none of our business. I…
Chasing Zero by Jean Ryan
Garret has a head cold. Naturally he’s in a foul mood. His world has stopped
Glance of a Lifetime by Frank Powers
Once upon a time, there lived an average family. The patriarch, Joe, had an average job making average money with an average company. The matriarch,
Heart by David Gruber
I lay on the table, waiting for the Ultra sound technician to come and look at my heart. It has a hole in it—somewhere on the Septum. My dad told me once
Santa Fe Cabbie by Michael Backus
“This doctor new guy says to me about the tumor….”
Our Last Encounter by Brian Burmeister
“What are you doing?”
The patio door swung open. I panicked and jumped about ten feet. She was near me, a car’s length to my left.
Winnebago by Chase Cline
I sat across from Sarah in the kitchen, her dark brown hair held to one side with a scrunchy. She was wearing a pink robe, faded from years of wear. It was now past twelve on a chilly October night.
Winner: Death into the Heart by Jesse Chapin
Dead?” she asked the officer standing at the door. Martha wore a shocked look.
Hello There by Cecil Wilde
You know those horror stories that start out with a line something like ‘it was a dark and stormy night’? This isn’t one of those.