An Ode to Breakfast, Emma Lassiter We pass each other in our reshall and I ask, immediately, how you’re feeling. You stare, dazed, thinking 3:48 am is the wrong time for…
This Ain’t Belle’s Rose, Adriana Barker Granstan didn’t much like driving on the Trace. Says they’re too many young bucks looking for love on that stretch. After a drink Granstan and…
Behaviorism, Arjun Saatia Zara Envada wasn’t prone to panic or nervousness. Or any kind of fear at all, actually. She didn’t see much point to it. But one who was…
Pink Creek, Louise Rossiter [TW: Depictions of death and suicide] Wren August 4, 1996 I know most people say life is too short, but I think…
Gas Station, Oscar Zenteno “Please choose your payment type,” said the voice from the self-checkout machine. The letters blinked at Fatima. The store, alive with noise a few moments before,…
Catacombes de Paris, Elle Griffiths “It was the summer of 2016,” Alex said, stalwart against the bonfire light. “No one fucking listened to me. I told ’em it was all…
Growth, Liatris Hethcoat Wednesday mornings are steam and oil, cigarette smoke and other unpleasant smells, which is to say that Wednesdays are really no different from Tuesdays or Thursdays or…
2, Julia Broeker I ran over my boyfriend’s parents’ Maltipoo with my Ford 250. It wasn’t intentional. I’m not a psycho-animal-murderer or anything. I had just punched in the four-digit…
Livelihood, Liza Ashley She sniffs his gun because she knows what gunpowder smells like. She likes the smell. Daddy and me used to take her down to the holler when…
Hands, Katherine Rogers There was a spider climbing the wall above my bed. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was one of those nasty Florida spiders that’s so…
Cellular Hierarchies, Effie Jia Dear Mom, My year abroad is off to a good start. It’s a bit chilly, but I’m told that’s normal for this time of year. People…
Junglescape, Meagan Dwyer I was 5 years old when I learned how to pronounce my mother’s name. I’d started to learn enough letter sounds in kindergarten to string a few…
Light and Dark, Grace Long Harold Orwin was well respected in the anarcho-punk community. And understandably so. He wore black denim jackets with anti-government patches, beaten boots with worn cotton laces,…
facetime, Saber Paustian Ever since Cecilia Harrison’s father told her that no one ate cinnamon raisin bagels anymore, she had made it her personal mission to order only cinnamon raisin…
Golgi, Soren Carlson-Donohue “Don’t slouch, Gazelle, you look like an alley cat.” Sister’s chidings are lost on me now as I sit on our steps. Her steps. My steps now.…
Moving Forward, Brittany Lenze The day Summer disappeared, you were at home, feverish and ready for the phone to ring. You’d been waiting for that phone call all morning, hovering moth-like…
On the Edge of the Falls, Sarah Moore Some things I’m afraid of: that the burglars have taken the DVD player but not the VCR, climate change, a library book…
Hands, Katherine Rogers Shannon wipes her hands down the front of her apron. She has nine rooms left on this floor, and she’s supposed to be off work in two hours.…
The Battle of Antietam in Technicolor, Alexandra Moleski Annie smears pink paint onto the apple of my cheek with her index finger, raising it up to my cheekbone and then dragging…
Element of Speech, Bethany Dudek There are 206 bones in the human body. This is a fact. The first time it heard it, my sister Shauna was mocking, “there is…