Tag Archives: Loss

Aftermath

Aftermath

FICTION by

When Sarah first started working at McDonald’s as a teenager, she had tried to tell her father what it was really like, how bad, and her father, who was white-haired and bitter even then, after her mother, sick of his misery, had left him, had said, “You think you got it hard? You just look at me. When you got my problems, then you can complain, understand?”more

A Loss of Appetite

A Loss of Appetite

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Scanning my panicked eyes around the area, I finally spot them—two shadows taking complementing footsteps underneath the moonlight. They’re walking along the street and away from the restaurant, away from me. Her fingers cling at his bicep and he stares down at her like she’d vanish if he dared to blink. Every single muscle in my body—including my heart—turns to stone.more

Acoustics of Loss

Acoustics of Loss

CREATIVE NONFICTION by

No whisper goes unheard. Not the apologetic late arrival nor the chattering of children. We fidget in creaks. We remove and replace hymnals in scrapes and thunks. We stumble down pews with muttered condolences.more

Birthday Boy

Birthday Boy

FICTION by

…And a channel opened between her and me, but shit I mean to tell you I was like holding my breath as I’m cutting and she’s telling me about her and Brian and if I hadn’t been cutting her hair I would have been crying so hard, but I knew if I let it out I wouldn’t be able to finish and the channel would close…more

Say; Do

Say; Do

FICTION by

Clifford wakes and smells it, sickly sweet and wettish, and wonders how come he can’t go to the bathroom and can’t go to the bathroom and then he’s shit his britches. He shifts between the sheets, feels around and takes a peek, discovers he’s okay. But the house reeks. He rolls to the edge ofmore

Fly Away Home

Fly Away Home

FICTION by

There was purity and punishment to fighting and a release valve at the end of his fists.

OR…

Sometimes birds lose their way or have an accident.
Sometimes they become victims of predators.more