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Fiction

    Fiction

    When He Was Gone

    I felt I was supposed to pretend I was a little sad he was gone — at least, for the first few days. I told him I missed him, because I did. I’m not a complete monster.

    By Lucie BritschMay 2019
    When He Was Gone
    Fiction

    You Are Our Witness

    Everyone believes the world’s governments worked together to release the sterilization virus called only Z. Isn’t it likely the government sterilized the seeds as well? Who wants this disaster to drag out for decades?

    By Debbie UrbanskiApril 2019
    Fiction

    What Will You Save Today?

    “What are you going to do with it?” Nan whispers. “Do with what?” asks the boy who stole the vial. “I saw you,” Nan says. “I’m going to swallow it,” he says. His eyes are wide and a little disturbing. “Why?” Nan asks. “I want a horse inside of me,” he says.

    By Debbie UrbanskiFebruary 2019
    What Will <em>You</em> Save Today?
    Fiction

    You

    Early on I thought about wiping your memory. I might as well admit this to you now. I thought maybe if you stopped believing you were something else on the inside, then you wouldn’t be sad anymore. And you wouldn’t change. This was before your body really began to transform.

    By Debbie UrbanskiJanuary 2019
    You
    Fiction

    The Making

    We made eyes across the room. We made each other’s acquaintance, whatever that means. I made a move, you made a face. We made out anyway. We made bad pottery, we made bad jokes.

    By Ben HoffmanJanuary 2019
    Fiction

    The Only One She Told

    You had the face of a man who couldn’t help understanding everything — all of it, the whole pathetic, tragic human thing — and that draws people in. To me you were a magnet of kindness.

    By J.E. McCaffertyJanuary 2019
    The Only One She Told
    Fiction

    The Other, Invented Man

    For many years — the majority of my life, in fact — acknowledging death’s inevitability exerted little psychological pressure on me. I had no fear of passing, as they say, from this world into the next, or, assuming no next world exists, simply entering oblivion.

    By Matthew VollmerDecember 2018
    The Other, Invented Man
    Fiction

    On Becoming A Cat

    Please understand: the external metamorphosis comes only at the very end, after a long, sustained effort. There is a lot of inner work you have to do before then. Also there is luck involved.

    By Emily MitchellDecember 2018
    On Becoming A Cat
    Fiction

    That Year

    That year, all our fathers had died or were getting ready to, and they were not taking it well, that is for sure.

    By Meighan L. SharpOctober 2018
    That Year
    Fiction

    The Natural Order Of Hebrew School

    A low-grade, persistent terror plagued me throughout the summer before sixth grade, because in June I’d found out I was to spend the next year in Rabbi Friedberg’s class at my Orthodox Jewish Hebrew school.

    By Ezra ZonanaOctober 2018
    The Natural Order Of Hebrew School

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