Fiction Issue #16: What If? April 30, 2025 Tangerine Strands by Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi he little girl and boy were screaming. Not the bad screaming. Not Mia’s screaming. Lucretia stood in the outer schoolyard, looking through the fence that separated her from the scene of the crime she had committed two months prior. Of all the kids packed into the limited pen designated for kindergarten students, her eyes and ears couldn’t help but track the running, laughing—For now, ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #16: What If? April 30, 2025 Alternative Medicine Inspired by "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by Liz deBeer ust relax.” A man wearing a white coat presses his stethoscope to Milly Ward’s chest. “Take a deep breath, hold it, release.” He nods and pivots toward the door. “A tech will draw your blood. After that, I’ll discuss your MRI results.” When the door clicks shut, Milly exhales, annoyed. Who’s relaxed in a doctor’s ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #16: What If? April 30, 2025 How We Got Here by Latasha DeStouet illow readjusted the blanket around the little boy's face several times before her eyes fixed on the entrance to Thomas Jefferson Hospital where she had given birth twelve days before. A valet dashed between cars, opening and closing doors, taking tips, and retrieving keys to parked cars. She decided that she would leave Warren at the entrance, in his car ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #16: What If? April 30, 2025 Hospital Story by C. Henry Stevens verybody stand clear!” the doctor ordered, raising her hands, backing away from my father, “Administering shock in 3… 2… 1…” Boom! His chest leapt off the bed and slammed back down, jiggling the wires. Sightless eyes, still half open, stared at the ceiling. His neck muscles were convulsing around the side of his throat. Mouth gaping. And then he began to moan. It ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #16: What If? April 30, 2025 Walking Alone by Shanti Chandrasekhar o restrain my emotions before your open casket was hard enough, and your son I just met said, “Mom loved you dearly. Always talked about you.” Then, “Your gift, that scarf from India? Her favorite.” Wrapped around your neck, the blue-and-black silk matched your dress. Ted gave me your email address after I had disclosed yet another diagnosis. “So we’d stop bugging him,” ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24th, 2023 Caramel: An Excerpt by RA DeMarco In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act. ― George Orwell helsea was seventeen years old the morning the news reporter announced Ariana Sutcliffe had disappeared. The woman’s olive-skinned face framed by silky brown hair that fell well past her shoulders flashed on the television screen and caught Chelsea mid-swallow, causing her to spit a mouthful of Cheerios back ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #15: Harmony October 15, 2024 Smoking the DeLorean by Crystal N. Ramos he grand mal seizure was coming. When we made our plans to make fun of the cheesy horror films, Zack had told me he wasn’t going to drive the DeLorean to pick me up. I hadn’t complained. I liked walking and, besides, he always drove and picked me up since my neurologist had yet to return my license to me. That seizure was ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #15: Harmony October 15, 2024 Intrusive Thoughts by Whitney Weisenberg verybody came to your funeral. Alex Yard sat in the third row next to Becky Bruins, who sobbed the entire time like the two of you had been best friends since kindergarten, and I seriously thought about getting up, walking right over to Becky, getting in her face, and saying something dramatic like, just what the hell are you playing at, but I ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #15: Harmony October 15, 2024 The Last Black Woman on Eglinton by Morgan Christie detta’s knife was warm. It had been covered up in the stuffy everything drawer since last year and the day had come to use it. It was her cake knife, the one for special occasions and special occasions only. The matching server got misplaced some years earlier, but Odetta swore someone must have stolen it. She didn’t lose her ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #15: Harmony October 15, 2024 Human Enough by Keir Hudson roll up to the front desk of the local zoo and place my work badge on the counter. “Hi, my name is Mina Forstatter. I’m the therapist who has been assigned to work with…” I try my best to keep a straight face. “I’ve been assigned to work with Queenie the Orangutan. Look, did you guys submit this referral as a joke ...
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