It takes Edgar three afternoons to clear the tiny plot behind the condemned school. Overgrown with ivy and blackberry, the ground is a minefield of used needles and condoms sagging under the sad weight of spent sperm. He fills boxes with shards of glass, stuffing mildewed blankets and sleeping bags on top. No one pays attention to the old man loading his truck.… Continue Reading
The two brothers sat idling in the empty parking lot, sipping their beers and peering ahead to where the truck’s lights shone into the blackness.… Continue Reading
Hail pelted the bus. Jasper could feel the bus shift with the wind, and his window rattled against the rubber casing. He was on a bridge over a hundred feet in the air, open to the elements but he felt claustrophobic. The sun had set an hour ago and he could only see a few sets of taillights bleeding out in front of him while the storm raged.… Continue Reading
This is what it felt like to be the first person whose sword is cracked in two by a metal slug, announcing the first hail of gunfire that demeans your fellow conquerors into an Oh-those-poor-bastards of a footnote.… Continue Reading
Rather than someone she’d slept with during orientation, and twice more their first semester, he was now the kid brother she’d give life advice and hand-me-down Looney Tunes sweatshirts to.… Continue Reading
People keep telling you that time heals all wounds and you want to tell them to fuck off. You want to grab them by their faces, squeeze, and scream that it will never get better. But you only nod and walk away.… Continue Reading
He points the camera at her bulbous green nubs, tastes salt on his cheeks for the first time in days, and touches her long, wispy white hair that reminds him of Myna’s. “Hey, I’ve started singing in the shower again,” he tells her, as if, like his late wife, she’ll be proud.… Continue Reading
Near the door, an older woman stops to ground out her cigarette underfoot. She looks me up and down as she twists real hard, like she could put out all the fires in the world. Me in my khakis, flannel shirt, and a borrowed wool coat. I clutch the invitation in my hand. “Hey, I’m here for love,” I want to say. “You got a problem with that?” … Continue Reading
They’re prepping him for surgery now. IVs inserted in matchstick veins, secured with tape, fluids dripping at a hypnotic rate. “You’re going to feel a prick,” the nurse alerts him as she aims yet another needle at him like a dart. I am a prick, he thinks.… Continue Reading
Imagine popping a squat to take your regular morning shit and looking down to discover that some homicidal maniac had committed murder in the water right below your unsuspecting cooter, despite the fact you’re an innocent salad eater who doesn’t even consume bread. Not cool, bro.… Continue Reading