by Antonio Sodré

“She hears stories just like hers. A thousand stories, each one the same and yet entirely different. When the gates lock, the partners are the first to disappear. Those who can't stomach the solitude chase downers and sleep the days away.”

by Cathlin Sullivan

“I didn't remember talking to her that night in the back of the cab, but I probably did because I have a big mouth and a heart that lives to pump, and I think a noodle fell out of my mouth while I looked for something to say.”

by Austin Eichelberger

“Brush your teeth and shower, comb your hair, put on fresh socks and underwear, smile at people like nothing is wrong.”

by Cake Sanchez

“Must be an angel, the boy who stomps on Pringles by the beverage cooler. Raaahhhhhr he yells, raawwararrr as the feathers behind his back lift him above another doomed chip.”

by Rachel Christina McConnell

“She holds the Devil card up to the webcam, his third eye an emerald glittering in the forehead of an ogre. “Someone with green eyes is watching you,” she says, and it feels like she’s talking to you, calling you out as a green-eyed viper…”

by Judy Slitt

“now [my mom’s] on stage, saying “Look, there’s my son!” and pointing to me in the front row. “He’s the reason my pussy is so big that a train could go inside!” This sets her off on a round of “My pussy is so big” jokes.”

by Dane Rook

“It’s a ratty denim overshirt. Chore-scarred and sweat-skunked. His wife outlawed it inside – told him the only place it’s allowed in the house is the fireplace.”

by Miles Efron

“Little cramp. Some pressure. Then, as I wok us a stir fry, it slides out of the cuff of my pants leg. Splat! The baby stares up at me with its water-colored eyes. And as I admire my first-born, I feel a pang of awe.”

by Michael Ranfone

“The woman kneels beside the body. Her dress rides up, gravel biting at her knees. The mermaid’s hair fans into a slick crescent, tangling with a gray Walmart bag and a half-smoked cigarillo…One nipple is scabbed. The mouth slack and sweet, maybe holding the shape of a lie told too well.”

by Elizabeth Sundstrom

“The family photos are gone from the walls. Sylvia’s noisy Yorkie is nowhere to be seen. Nor is the dog’s bed and vast array of squeaky toys normally scattered throughout the room.”

by Alexei Raymond

““He delivers death to legions—whence, he does not know, and why never crosses his mind.”

by Kathryn Kulpa

“‘You should have seen me on the dance floor in this,’ she said, showing me something glittery and poufed. ‘When I twirled everything sparkled.’ Like a human disco ball, I thought, but didn’t say. I liked to keep the peace.”

by Adele Schultz

“It had been around 4 days since the incident. Four days since I had found out my husband, the man I haven’t seen in years , had lost his memory.”

by Mitchell Miller

“The sky bleeds out and we decide to go home. We try turning on the TV, but it fizzles with static. So we let the silence engulf us. Is this how a rock feels?”

by Kelly Murashige

“Sickly light spews out across the top of her jet-black hair. She stares at herself in the mirror, horrified by the mochiko coating her dry, cracked lips. Breaking News! her mental headline reads. Up-and-Coming K-Pop Star Caught in Cocaine Scandal!”

by Michael Hagen

“Mother says: eat your dreams while they are fresh, or they’ll fester and rot. But he hasn’t. His skin, soft beneath my tongue.
I have eaten all my dreams, a good girl—until him.”

by Aster May

“They love human flesh but hate these soft round organs I hold in my hands. The bears weave through the fires on all sides toward the scent of my skin. Mid-roar, they stop dead at the eyes curled in my fists.”

by McKenna Wilds

“Each night, Toad visited his friends in a quiet meadow, always ready with a joke. No matter what he said, they burst into laughter, for the Toad was known by all to be a very funny Toad.”

by Seriah Black

“She looks at me, the first time any adult has really looked at me. It runs through my plasma like poltergeist currents.”

by Garima Chhikara

“They knew my name, but they chose Medusa, the goddess, the untouchable, the stone-eyed killer from their favorite game. I hought they meant it as mockery. But they shouted it in exaltation, like a banner lifted high.”