by Robert John Miller

“I always showed up as my friend Brian who worked at the Center for Diabetic Cats and then pretended like I was Brian as a blind jazz musician who had never lost a childhood pet. I had to learn the piano and even started releasing albums of Ray Charles cover songs, but I never actually went blind.”

by Patrick Johnston

“Daisy Bennet dropped her house keys in the 7-11. In a panic she accidentally kicked them under the shelving. They would play no further part in this story.“

by Janna Miller

“Music on the radio sometimes breaks through. Deep beneath the static, guitar chords sync and people hold hands, looking over not to see if everyone is dancing, but if people who want to dance are allowed to.”

by Robert John Miller

“I was honored to drive the family RV as our addition to the Drive Across America Road Trip Festival. It helped that Dad was still in prison and Mom was rum-drunk and I had just officially passed driver’s ed, but it was still an honor.”

by X.C. Atkins

“I’d dump them into the lake just out of town, as usual. I sawed them into manageable pieces, listening to the Cocteau Twins.”

by Melissa Llanes Brownlee

“and we dance the hula and we dance the hula and we don’t tell our stories not the ones you want to know…”

by Amy Allen

“he’s shirtless, barefoot, strolling the shoulder of I-95, callused feet impervious to Florida’s heat, his leathery skin akin to Juliana’s, the emotional support bearded dragon perched atop his head…”

by Christie Chapman

“They were all at the fireworks show when we raided the community garden.”

by Robert John Miller

“…sometimes too the animals would play tricks, and one year a wild coyote had only pretended to be taxidermized and he ate Bill, founder of Wild Bill’s Wild Taxidermized Coyotes, Ltd.”

by Renuka Raghavan

“On Thursdays, Chandra rents herself out as a shadow…She learns their outlines quickly. A man with a chipped tooth wants his shadow longer than his body. A woman who smells of bleach wants no arms. They pay in coins warmed by pockets.”

by Frances Gapper

“watching baby starling that great fluffy lump of entitlement plumped on the feeder’s crossbar waiting to have seedy mush inserted in its beak shoved down its throat hurry up mummy-daddy…”

by Tanuja Viswanath

“By the time our oldest siblings were married off, Amma’s hold on us had loosened…We scrounged, learned to boil rice and peel onions without crying, but the days of fresh murukku were gone.”

by Tracie Adams

“When I spotted the paper dolls among a display of children’s picture books, I felt my body shrink into itself. Suddenly, I was eight again, pulled to the carpeted floor in a crossed-leg position by images of girls in white underwear.”

by Elridge Thomas III

“I have wondered since whether he wept from hunger, pleasure, or the chore of living.”

by Oliver Land

“The dog ran into traffic and was hit by a car. The man rushed into the road, and held it in his arms, screaming. There was a lot of blood on the road.”

by Christie Chapman

“We started calling him “Mr. Hollywood.” The brothers he beat up as kids now joked that they wanted to be part of his entourage.”

by AP Ritchey

“The elevator took the long way down—it always did—and in that rattling, humming descent I caught myself thinking about Henry…”

by Andrea Damic

“You call us Locust. We are many. We eat the remains of what we find, scavenging trash cans, to feed our young. Some of us survive on blood, while others feast on their prey, unable to suppress their predatory nature.”

by Foxx Hart

“Contrary to what most people believe, Death cares. It has to. If it didn’t care, it would just be…cruel.”

by Brendan Todt

“Sarah still writes poems on the Sabbath, but she does not allow herself to write poems about snow, autumn, hair, poems, tulips, leaves, city pools, private pools, freshly dug graves, or giraffes (don’t ask).”