Scrapbook by Joe Myers
Blair calls to let me know Smilin’ Jackie’s back in town. Her voice is all silk stockings and razorblades, but right now it’s trembling so bad I can hardly tell what she’s saying. Even a razorblade’ll snap if you shake it up enough. She asks if she can stay at my apartment. Of course she […]
T-Bone’s Girl by Edward Vaughn
Dennis hauled himself out of the hole, stabbed the earth with his shovel and lit a cigarette. “Why we diggin’ this hole again?” he said peeling off his sweat soaked t-shirt. “Because T-Bone said so.” “Yeah, but why?” “T-Bone says dig a hole. We dig a hole. You don’t ask questions.” “We?” Dennis said, “I’m […]
Jonas Turley by Liam Sweeny
Jonas Turley spent his last breath in a frayed easy chair, listening to a vacuum that reverberated with the sounds he grew up to. In the early morning hour, the north wing of the Phoenix had exhausted its revelry, hallway empty except for old Barney Ellis, a down-town drunk who squatted every night when the […]
Albatross by R Thomas Brown
The wooden rolling pin and promotional pamphlet, spotted with blood, landed in the trash with a thud. James Smith slipped off the gloves and tossed them in as well. He’d burn them tomorrow. He tossed the clothes into the lower unit of his top and bottom washer/dryer and stepped into the shower. He stood beneath […]
Faggot by Thomas Pluck
In study hall Brandon sat like a little faggot so I said “Hey faggot.” “That’s right, faggot. Don’t look at me. I don’t like faggots looking at me. I don’t want their faggot eyes on me, faggot.” Bell rang and he walked like a faggot and held his books like a faggot so I knocked […]
Neighbors by Kieran Shea
-What do you expect me to say, Brian? That it’s all okay? That your sleeping with my wife doesn’t mean anything? -Jack, no. Jesus. No. Look, things just got out of hand. -Out of hand. -Yeah. We smoked a little pot. It was—what I mean to say is, none of this means anything. I swear, […]
Carly by Matthew C. Funk
Carly never won a damn thing in her short life that she didn’t lose. I wouldn’t call her a loser, though. She was a champ when it came to letting things slide. Won Honor Roll and blew it with truancy. Won a Nerf cannon at the Carver Desire Baptist church raffle and had it broken […]
Red Head by John Kenyon
Gwen fingered the tooth in her pocket as she dropped to her knees and wondered what would bother James more — that his mother was hustling blowjobs behind Tim’s Tap, or that the tooth fairy was. The boy was seven and gave up on Santa long ago, confident his Christmas haul was the same with […]
Priest and Pistol by Chris Deal
When the killers gave Eduard the choice between the machete and the tire, it was sometime after midnight. They had been beating him since nightfall. They broke down the front door and flooded into his home. Seven men, most in gaudy, expensive clothes, brandishing pistols and shotguns and blades coated in tissue and dry blood. […]
Pink Cadillac by Dan O’Shea
She was always on his ass about the volunteer firefighter gig, saying it was about drinking with the guys, just another way to get out of the house. Well fuck, he was married to her, wasn’t he? Of course it was about getting out of the house. But it also meant he had an O2 […]
I Do by John Rector
It was hard getting past the root, but after the third one went in, he got the hang of it. The trick was finding a soft spot between the teeth. Occasionally he’d slip, and Sally would scream, thrashing against the restraints. He’d smile, calmly take another carpet tack from the box (he had plenty), and […]
The Bleu Saloon by Julien Dykes DeVane
All the tables in the Bleu Saloon were full when the black man opened the door. It creaked loudly. For a brief moment, everyone stopped and focused their attention on him. He waved and slowly everyone resumed their normal commotion. In the corner there stood two or three men playing darts. A group in tattered […]
