by Benjamin Goluboff and Mark Luebbers

“But on this overcast day in the last autumn of the century, among riots and the rumors of riots, the future of the Union lurked invisibly, a fish below the surface.”

by Steve Oehmen

“The hollowness begins in the middle of my rib cage. A pulsating vacuum where once my heart resided is now draining any resolve left in my body. I sorely accept my fate and await the end.”

by Kayla Cain

“When no more color remained outside the train window, you watched each tree pass and the mountains approach in shades of gray. You wished for a twinkling river, and realized Kelli almost never bathed anymore.”

by Jack Uppling

“I’ve started writing down my dreams. People always say to do it, they say it’s good for your brain. My brain has been failing me lately and it’s frightening, so I decided to listen to them.”

by Timothy Petkovic

“He read David Foster Wallace and debated cutting his arms with a razor blade and procrasturbated obsessively, cumming eight, nine, ten times a night until his dick was flayed raw or shrivelled into a Greek-statue acorn…”

by Susan Brink O’Flaherty

“Vaginia leaks as she vomits into the street. A gust of hot wind blows whatever is exiting her mouth onto her brand-new, limited-edition Valentino-collab Birkenstocks.”

by Shrutidhora P Mohor

“Their fragrance is stifled as I enter. Injection fluids, antiseptic water bowls, used cotton balls, just washed pillow covers, half-consumed boiled rice with boiled potatoes, a dash of ghee. All of these get the better of the carnations.”

by Guinevere Ngozi Morgen

“There was something wrong with Lola. She thought that it might be her feathers, but her feathers gleamed…Only she could not fly.”

by Randall Perry

“That feeling when you step in a piece of dog shit on your way to work & you move off the sidewalk to the grass to wipe it off but it’s gotten into the treads on the bottom of your shoe & you know you’re going to have to scrape it out with a stick…”

by Tulip Chowdhury

“I wondered what she was ordering; I could see a plate of wanton and a glass of water with ice resting in front of her. Apparently, she was not eating anything.”

by Nicolas Rivera

“The trick is to do the opposite of convention. Lighting, video quality, the flattery of a flirtatious angle are important details, but the key to social media is delivery.”

by Elizabeth Sundstrom

“I cannot imagine Rick alone without Petal or envision her aged parents burying their only child. How will I endure Saturday mornings without Petal’s voice, soft and clear, reaching out across the Atlantic?”

by Maria Pianelli Blair

“I think it’s modern Darwinism — how would we expect our girls to survive, otherwise? A girl needs a little firepower every now and again.”

by Alexander Holcomb

“I crouched under the window, ready to reveal myself to the police. My brother sat beside me. Would they use handcuffs? I hoped not.”

by Eric Angal

“The kid stands there, shadowboxing in the felt earth. He can hear the creek chuckling to his right. The sky is the color of a ripe persimmon.”

by Erin Dawkins

“I looked down at the newly bloomed flowers that grew fully without attention or care. Without water or seed. Plucked before they’re primed, soon to brown at the edges and wilt.“

by Sumitra Singam

“It was never clear who hurled the first stone. The flinty piece of rock hit her on the head, leaving a dark bloom of blood.”

by Reagan Davenport

“For a moment, I saw nothing, heard nothing, but I felt her moving again inside me. For a moment, we were both alive.”

by Mary Grimm

“The ghost president has some spare time and decides to write a bestselling novel. It will, he tells the aide who brings him his Sausage McMuffin accompanied by two Hash Browns, each in their paper envelope, be based on a dream he had last week.”

by Myna Chang

“She shoves my tie aside, taps a button mid-chest with the blade, tap tap tap. Who is this bitch? She’s grinning again, all teeth, and she smells like copper, like old pennies…”