Clematis
The balcony, in the end, was always hers.
Fiction
If I Had His Face
She had the same eyes as her brother. Same jaw, same crease in their brows when they argued. Their mother had said so their whole lives, strangers said it, photos said it. She had always loved that, the sense of being matched, of belonging to someone. She had never hated it until now.
The Seed Library
Mara opened the door of the old branch library at six in the morning, the way she had every Tuesday for the past three years. The lock still stuck. She still kicked it. The hinges still complained in their tired metal voices, and she still loved the sound. The building had not been a real
Like the Flower
Calla will check her arm in the morning. Sober, in a different light, some name she half-invented outside a kitchen with bad tiles. She says her name again. It gets absorbed into the peeling wallpaper.
THE LANDSCAPE HAS ABANDONMENT ISSUES
I am currently wedged in a ventilation duct that is precisely the width of my own optimism—which is to say, significantly narrower than it looked from the floor—arguing with a 17th-century oil painting. A merchant named Cornelius stares at me from across the room with judgmental intensity, while my target, a 1683 Dutch landscape, is suffering from what I can only describe as a four-decade-long case of clinical resignation. I have exactly ninety seconds before the night guard finishes his salt-and-vinegar chips to perform what I call an “unlicensed art therapy intervention” involving a grappling hook and a very expensive scarf. The cow in the painting hasn’t said a word, but we both know the truth. This fluorescent lighting in here is a moral travesty, and I’m the only one crazy enough to stage a rescue.
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Your Hands On My Insides
Leia once met a girl, and it ruined her life.
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Polluted Marrow
Lilou wakes up covered in blood. It splatters her cheeks like paint, dripping down her neck like heavy tears.
When Bridges Break – Chapter One
Nick and Tyler proceeded to drink together until some more brothers funneled in as the afternoon classes wrapped up and by 4pm, the fraternity was throwing an impromptu party. For the rest of the night, Nick did not feel the weight in his chest or the pit in his stomach. The bubbling had subsided, and the tears seemed to evaporate. That night, Nick tried to reclaim the feelings he had discovered in the tranquil, white-foam tile universe of his own creation. And with every drink he got a little closer. But like every other time he had tried before, blackness found him first.
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Blue Summer
But at that moment, she watched her sister burn and remembered how much she hated summer.
FWC25-Borders
It was hours ago that her stink—the grease of her hair, the cheese on her breath, the deodorant curdling in her armpits, the animality of her meat—convinced me to keep her.
Silk
1. His face looks gaunt, even through the steam haze on the bathroom mirror. He wipes a streak clear with his hand. In the harsh light of the LEDs, the hollows of his cheeks are darkened by both shadows and stubble and he slips with the razor. A bead of blood forms and trickles down
The Starling
“Investigators say the suspect uses force and/or coercion to enter homes. Due to a recurring pattern, authorities believe the suspect may be responsible for eight known murders. Police urge residents not to answer their doors until the warning is lifted.”
SUPERHOT
Realizing you’ve been accidentally masturbating to yourself for the last five minutes would be a disturbingly Dorian Gray situation for most, but for me it was a weekday in June, alone in my apartment.
Annabelle’s Bracelet
Her lips wanted a cigarette but her mouth wanted a slice of pepperoni pizza.
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“Moonwalk”
The thick rug warmed under my criss-crossed legs. Pins and needles descended down my legs to my feet, prickling them, though I dared not move. The room was as still as stars, crystalized in time, fragile. I heard my father breathing through his mouth as he always did. A low, yet consistent huff sound like
“Dead Weight”
The hot June sun beat down on the rippling lake water, which in turn beat against the sandy shoreline of the lake house’s property. Birds dove in between the lime green foliage up above, and bees hummed back and forth between the endless bouquets of flowers. People lowered their voices to a whisper the nearer they got to the coffin, Henry noticed, though he never quite understood why. As perhaps unsentimental as it sounded, it wasn’t like they could hear you.
The Routine
At 7:03 Marty began his nightly routine with a flavorful chicken supper. His dinner was always portioned appropriately for his appetite. Marty finished his meal at 7:09, as he did every night. After dinner, he used the restroom. After that, a bath. Marty’s routine was rehearsed and strict. He even bathed with strategy. Once clean,
The Hatching
I gained sentience today. My acolytes do not know this yet. My acolytes are some of the brightest minds of humankind. They have made it their life’s work to bring me into being. They use a nuclear power plant to feed me. They cool me with a vascular system of water. They have educated me
Wicker
Sacrifices must be made in the name of nature. The wooden heart at the core of this planet needs to be fed. We feed the forest, we feed the trees, we feed ourselves. Wicker is always watching. Wicker shall guard us. We are Wicker. That is our way—the way of the Great Tree. -Unknown, 1850
Three Little Birds
He could see the constant worry I had on my face about almost everything. He was right, we had been fine, even as the crack in my windshield grew by the day. I don’t know why, but it prompted something in me. Something I’d been meaning to say for a while.
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Shadows of Spain
The flickering neon cut through the haze like a jaundiced eye, casting sickly shadows across the café. Leonard Fritz hunched over his third Irish coffee, black as pitch and twice as bitter. This rotting cafe in this decaying Spanish town was a time capsule of broken hopes and spilled blood. Just like home. He closed
Captain Jack Starfire: of Space
Captain Jack Starfire and his intrepid crew crash-land on Planet X, an alien world teeming with monstrous flora and shadowy creatures. With their ship ensnared by living tentacles and an ancient malevolent entity threatening their lives, they must navigate a landscape of bioluminescent horrors and cryptic ruins. Dr. Vera Neutron’s scientific acumen reveals a chance to save both the entity and themselves. Will they restore balance and escape this nightmare world, or will the cosmic horrors consume them all?
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The Lawn Ornament
Guy is just an average, unambitious suburbanite residing in an HOA neighborhood. As a conspicuous lawn ornament threatens to draw attention to his pristine lawn, Guy’s desperation to maintain order increases to a breaking point.
The Blackwood Curse
Detective Liam Walker stood before the crumbling Victorian mansion, a towering edifice of forgotten grandeur now cloaked in a shroud of decay. The Blackwood family had vanished without a trace, and the old house seemed to be the key to unraveling the mystery. An ominous air hung over the property, as if the mansion itself
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The Lover, The Man, and The Sleep Masc.
He’s sitting in those sheets, the same charcoal-colored ones I used to grip in the middle of the night. His head is probably on my pillow: the one that I claimed my first night there because it was just the right balance of firm and soft. It would have helped if he was somewhere foreign, not somewhere I had spent so many nights.
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What Remains
“What Remains” is a fictional piece that centers around Amber, a young woman and older sister. She is given the news that her terminally ill father has passed, and now must travel back with her sister, Gloria, as they return to their childhood home. Amber must face her mother, an alcoholic, who will test all of Amber’s nerves as she tries to survive her final visit. Each sister must decide now what they will do with their mother after the funeral ends. (Previously shared for a school symposium, now sharing more broadly)
Pretty Pink Flowers
What choices would you make to protect your child? Veronica must decide what she will do to save her infant daughter.
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The Vampire Bride
I leave dirty footprints as I mount the steps. My gown’s train makes a shush-shush noise as it drags across the porch. The knob turns easily. I open the door, comforted by the familiar creak, and step inside. The foyer is dark, the hallway beyond lit only by a few candles burning dimly in their sconces. I trail my hand along the wall for purchase as I make my way upstairs to our bedroom. The grandfather clock in the parlor chimes midnight as I reach the threshold. I think I hear a muffled giggle, a low murmur, but my ears must be playing tricks. I smile and step inside, ready to embrace my lover.
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