Tag: fiction

Sara Adams

Notes to the Last and Second to Last Lover by Sara Adams

Notes to the Last and Second to Last Lover Sara Adams One I slept bad with you. I lived unpleasantly. YOU WERE THE FIRST THING IN MY ENTIRE HISTORY OF ENCOUNTERING OBJECTS—AND I DO NOT RESTRICT THIS TO PHYSICAL OBJECTS; I MEAN TO INCLUDE CONCEPTS—THAT I SIMPLY WISH HAD NEVER EXISTED. I am not a…




Christie Wilson

Obsidian by Christie Wilson

Obsidian Christie Wilson I haunt the people we were before, visit them often, stand close enough to hear them whisper things I can’t remember having said. I have my favorite moments, little excerpts I revisit, like the night you spilled beer on the bed. It just tipped over and foamed out in a brown pool,…




Worse Things by Phoebe Reeves-Murray

Worse Things Phoebe Reeves-Murray Saltbush and prickly pear marched on the construction site, up to the cellar hole the previous class had dug. Here and there, a lemonade bush indicated a possible water source. But every time the students had dug it up, the ground yielded nothing but sand and dust. The sun was roasting…




Owls by Alina Stefanescu

Owls Alina Stefanescu 1 “The portents of things to come.” Her eyes glistened like brown slugs inching towards the bridge of her nose. Ion tried not to shudder. Why lament the disgrace of age on a woman’s face—the bad landscaping causing sunken pools where there should be smoothness? Mrs. McClenny is explaining the behavior of…




The Man Who Built Hell by Benjamin Schachtman

­The Man Who Built Hell Benjamin Schachtman The man who built hell is five-foot-six. His hair is graying and cut very short, covering his scalp like a dense patch of steel wool. His nose is bony and asymmetrical, broken in childhood—and several times since—and never quite set straight. His skin is light. His lips are…