Fiction

When We Meet Again—Oreoluwa Oladimeji

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 When We Meet Again by Oreoluwa Oladimeji bigail is no stranger to the things one’s hands can do. She slices through a piece of onion with the precision of one who knows the workings of a knife, wielding it with extra firmness, and approaching her task with unnecessary carefulness, forgetting that she isn’t hovering over someone’s head, their brain to be precise, and angling her scalpel in ...

The Gravity of Adrianne Lane—Rhonda Zimlich

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 The Gravity of Adrianne Lane by Rhonda Zimlich drianne needed to feel her body. She used scissors this time, a half pair, separated at its pivot point and missing its twin. Adrianne thought the remaining half looked like the head of a heron with no lower beak, the ring topped with a finger tang like a blue crown of feathers. The edge felt dull on her fingertip as ...

Mrs. Mulvaney—Pat Dotson

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Mrs. Mulvaney by Pat Dotson ong shadows cast from the evening sun spilled through a large picture window. The wall opposite the window was filled with faint images of life beyond the room, beyond the glass window, and beyond the home that harvested those who can no longer function on their own. Gloria mindlessly watched silhouettes of leaves dance to the slow, irregular rhythm of Mrs. Mulvaney’s ...

The Daily News Blues—Phyllisa Deroze

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 The Daily News Blues by Phyllisa Deroze hen her eyes opened, she stretched her right arm across her full bosom toward the midnight-blue nightstand in search of her insulin pump, but it was not there. She pulled gently on the tubing until the device appeared from under the pillow. She gave the power button one short press and “117” lit on the display in green. Her fasting ...

An Experiment in Democracy—Danny M. Hoey Jr.

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 An Experiment in Democracy by Danny M. Hoey Jr. Sleep on your side, they said. Warm fluids. Shape your hands like a cup and beat your back, if you can reach—if not, pray…. A heavy paw sits on your chest…. Look down at your toes—they now have eyes with gold flecks that wink at you—when did my toes grow eyes: COVID toes is what they told ...

One Day You’ll Be Grateful—Danielle Ramaekers

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 One Day You'll Be Grateful by Danielle Ramaekers he silence in the waiting area was stifling. Amy peered down the short hallway to her right then back towards the clinic’s front door on her left, where a shadowy figure had appeared behind the frosted glass. The door opened with a soft swish. A tall, thin man in a blue checked shirt and tan pants walked into the ...

Ode to the Odds—Meg Granger

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Ode to the Odds by Meg Granger wo rows of opposing chairs—we shift, unable to find a width of cushion on wine-colored vinyl. The vinyl itself is all cracked up. Like veins where it is broken. Like thin little white veins. Thoroughly drained, empty. We face forward: mothers, fathers, husbands or ex-husbands, wives, ex-wives, uncles, aunts, grandparents, siblings, sons, daughters, and a baby in a carrier with sweet, black curls. A woman, who ...

The Monster—Sarah Bricault

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 The Monster by Sarah Bricault rule had a monster. No one mentioned it. It is, after all, impolite to talk about monsters. It formed slowly, growing as she did. Her parents did not even think to fret, mistaking it for one of childhood’s transient monsters. But this monster was no small thing that could be safely ignored until the maturity of adulthood washed it away. This monster had been ...

Six Fourteen—Suh Young Choi

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Six Fourteen by Suh Young Choi ix is a special number. He can’t really explain why. It’s not like there are six wonders of the ancient world or six planets in the solar system or six commandments or six angry men or six anything, really. Six geese a-laying, perhaps, but he shudders at the idea of birds. He likes the idea that sextet is six letters, the ...

Fiction Issue #7: Mental Health April 15th, 2021 April 15th, 2021 Fiction Letter from the Fiction Editor: Picking Up the Pieces Six Fourteen | Suh Young Choi An Experiment in Democracy | Danny M. Hoey Jr. Ode to the Odds | Meg Granger One Day You’ll Be Grateful | Danielle Ramaekers The Daily News Blues | Phyllisa Deroze The Monster | Sarah Bricault Mrs. Mulvaney | Pat Dotson