Fiction
Principal
At one point Chris swore he could see a shadow moving back and forward, skulking across the wall...
The Old Roads
I found myself wondering what child past toddler age manages to drown in a creek. The water ran clear and unconcerned, feigned innocence...
An Excerpt from Mr. Eternity
Key West, 2016. Sea levels are rising, coral reefs are dying. In short, everything is going to hell...
The Strongest Man in the World
He placed his hand on her hip, but she coiled herself more tightly and moved away from him. His nuts felt small and hard, like tiny fists.
The Trouble With Tom
There is a girl in Brooklyn with two toes conjoined. Well, four, to be precise – two on each foot. Her respective pointer toes are attached to her respective middle toes by a ribbon of flesh that runs two-thirds of the way up. Tom learned about this physical quirk of hers one spring afternoon in a city park when she had asked him to please not look at her feet. He looked at them anyway and she shuddered in the fresh air, but he smiled when he saw her Siamese toes, touched them and said they were special.
Mary, Mary
When Mary was executed, the first cut of the ax missed her neck and hit the back of her head. The second cut hit her neck, but didn’t slice all the way through. A stubborn strip of flesh held her together until the executioner sawed through it.
The doctor placed his hand on the top of my head. Be careful with this, he said. There’s really not so much holding it all together.
The next day, I packed up and left school. I knew that at some point I’d have to go back and finish, either this school or a different one, but it didn't matter. I already knew it would never feel over.
Central Florida, March
Grandma gets lost in Publix, forgets about the raisins for her Irish soda bread. Grandpa kills us on the way to dinner, twice...
Dissipate
I walked the dog when she was at work. She was a pilot. Well, an astronaut actually. An alternate for an alternate. She flew to Florida or Texas every few weeks for conditioning, in case a bunch of astronauts got the flu...
In This Story I am the Main Character
How does pleasure move if it isn’t in swell or burst? My boyfriend says it makes him feel bad when I can’t keep my pinching fingers away from what is swollen in him, but to that I say: How can you keep a bump unpunctured and still be happy being who you are?