By Paige Wyatt Momma threads secrets into our hair. Tiny iron skeleton keys are tucked away behind our dark tufts, behind our ears and at the back of our heads. She tells us they are the keys to her heart, the keys to a part of herself that only we will ever possess, and itContinue reading “The Lock Maker’s Daughter”
Tag Archives: women author
The Almanac
By Kaitlynn McShea Grandma Frenchy set the teakettle on her small stove. Everything about the apartment was small: the ceiling, the hallway, the rooms, the counters. It was small because it was subsidized, and it was subsidized because Grandma Frenchy was dying. Not the quick, painless death her son had acquiesced to, a heart attackContinue reading “The Almanac”
The Little Black Book
2021 Short Story Writing Contest 2nd Place Runner-Up By Lorrie Morales I saw it fall out of his pocket just as we were being shoved and pushed along the aisle of the sky-train. No one else seemed to notice, so I quickly reached down and grabbed the little black book before it was trampled byContinue reading “The Little Black Book”
Family From Boise
2021 Short Story Writing Contest 1st Place Runner-Up By Elizabeth Glass I was at the kitchen table having cereal when my mom burst in, walking faster than she had in years, not using her walker or wearing her oxygen. She fell into the empty chair, wheezing, a thickness audible in her throat. I was determinedContinue reading “Family From Boise”
The Illusion of Closure
By Anne H. Putnam TW: Suicidal ideation In the seven years since my first great heartbreak, I’ve grazed closure with my fingertips countless times. After the first time he visited me in San Francisco, where I’d fled from our London home when the engagement ended; after our wedding date passed, marked only by a tearfulContinue reading “The Illusion of Closure”
FaceTime
An urban legend retelling inspired by “Killer in the Backseat.” The bell above the door rang out and Lana rolled her eyes. It was five minutes until closing. Forcing a smile, she met the man at the hostess podium and greeted him unenthusiastically. She offered silent thanks when he said he was there for a carry-outContinue reading “FaceTime”
The Basin
By Cheney M. Luttich We were buried in Wyoming. My home state of Nebraska and its flat ocean of grass was a day behind. The pictures passing my backseat window were a rumpled assortment of hills and juvenile cliffs piercing the earth’s epidermis, not yet mature enough to join the rank of Colorado’s Rockies. TheContinue reading “The Basin”
Jordan Yeng
Jordan Yeng felt most awake when his consciousness faded and sleep claimed him. It was the promise of these nightly adventures that kept him going most days. By day, Jordan was scrawny, generally disliked, and often disappointing. Grandmother Yeng, with whom he and his mother lived, frequently remarked that his clumsiness and poor grades wereContinue reading “Jordan Yeng”
Sanctuary Someday
By Terri Clifton Townspeople and farmers, travelers and soldiers alike agreed the forest was a dangerous place and they were right. They said it was inhabited by an ancient witch, and they weren’t far wrong. Vast and dense was the wilderness, and few were the roads that passed through, and none through the deepest heart.Continue reading “Sanctuary Someday”
Slapped
By Rachael Llewellyn TW: Abuse Graduation 2015 On the morning of her graduation, Moira was woken up by her housemate, Gretchen, fighting with her mum about shoes. The build-up to graduation had mostly consisted of Gretchen hyperventilating about all the ways in which her mum could potentially embarrass her. “You’re so lucky you don’t needContinue reading “Slapped”
