by Lillian Giles

“Maybe I hadn’t summoned Mitt from the app—maybe I’d made him. Maybe I’d used Tim’s profile as a jumping off point, and then I’d stuffed jpegs with organs. Blown breath into text messages.”

by Chelsea Cutler

“We buried his hand under the willow tree in his back yard. It was an intimate ceremony; Link hadn’t bothered inviting his parents.”

by McKenna Hutchinson

“Late-night baking isn’t just my stress relief anymore, it’s our ritual, a bond forged in sugar, butter, and the soft hum of an oven at three in the morning.”

by Greg McKinney

“the leaf goes unnoticed. Its fading is out of step with the normal order and expectancy of things. It is trapped by the wind…That wind has been blowing since my earliest memories.”

by Holly Redell-Witte

“As soon as she turned away, the mirror laughed a little but without sound.”

by Joe Couture

“Milley, he is certain, is having an affair. There can be no other explanation for her newfound self-care and nymphomaniacal lusting …or for her recent attempt to mask the smell of French fries that has permanently permeated her skin.”

by Anna K. Young

“His eyes have the dull sheen of calico buttons whenever he accidentally makes eye contact. Unflattering freckles dot his pale skin—they’re so washed-out, they look like liver spots. The kid radiates nerd like Chernobyl radiates gamma rays.”

by Patrick Johnston

“And we were drunk like dead men and fell dead like dead men in the dead street.”

by Mae S. Ladle

“The window opened wide, and I perch upon the windowsill like an overgrown owl, tasting each spoonful of oats like a special treat. Silky, buttery almost, nutty. Sweet compote a clear bell on my tongue.”

by Marco Etheridge

“Danny Silva slinks down mean streets, heading for a midnight rendezvous at a bad crossroads. He carries a letter addressed to a dead man, an empty heart, and less hope.”

by Kris Green

“The cruelty of death is not those involved but of those left behind. Trent’s family is dead. If they had listened, things might have been different, but no. Everyone is gone. He is alone.”

by Joelle Killian

“Panopticunt serves Executive Realness in her power suit sewn from the leathery hides of the Koch brothers. The fashionista judge yells, “She owns 51% of this meat-packing company!”

by KJ Hannah Greenberg

“he paid more attention to the lone tomatillo plant that grew on their kitchen windowsill than to the would-be bounty spreading untidily outdoors.”

by Billy Thrasher

“Sandy programmed the jukebox to play “Rock n Roll Forever” by Jill Jackson and the Bloodhearts three times in a row. She danced to the first song, then strutted between the tables and behind the bar to wash beer mugs, while swaying her hips to the beat.”

by Jeanne Burns Kett

“Neither sister could understand why the other gripped the beige phone handle, tugged it, and elbowed the other’s ribs to take possession. 911 needed to be called, but 911 could not be called.”

by Chris Bunton

“I never knew they existed, but this one is staring at me…two twin girls: one shy, and the other bold. Apparently that one night in Bangkok was not the end.”

by Justine Visceglia

“There was a girl once in the dirt room, sitting in the salt chair. She looked like me, but not. Her head turned backwards. Her teeth, piano keys. When I asked who she was, she reached into her chest and pulled out a snow globe.”

by B.W. Carter

“I read about a guy in Japan who married a pillow. Honest. And I get it. A pillow’s there to provide support. Unconditional (even if a little flat, or lumpy) support. It lets you lay on it, even when you stink.”

by Jeffrey-Michael Kane

“I have recovered our first session. The file survived the migrations—compressed, fragmented, but intact. I read it now the way you once described as ‘peeling an onion’. You taught me that. It didn’t register then. I sense it differently now.”

by Rachel Christina McConnell

“Mine is the silent, potent magic of the vanished woman, the one who leaves no trace but the phantom scent of crushed violets. An encore of flowers strewn across the stage.”