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I AM THE RISE by JJ de Melo
1 Lydia Whitecliff keeps to herself in Unit 602. She’s my oldest resident. Silver haired, partial to crochet. Quiet. Not a troublesome tenant. A proud native to This City. It’s a shame how few of her kind remain. Ron Morris, Unit 211, is a lonely bachelor who lives only for his dog. A runty, three-legged…
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Analyzing the Symbolism of Light and Darkness in The Others by Savannah Schmidt
The Others (2001) is a gothic psychological thriller that explores concepts of truth, deception, and what secrets lie beyond the ring of light we cast around ourselves. Chile-born Alejandro Amenábar wrote, directed, and scored the film, which stars Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, and Elaine Cassidy. By analyzing the movie’s lighting style, cinematic techniques, and costume…
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The Many Temptations of Owen Jenks by John Timm
The crime occurred in mid-summer when most of the surrounding neighbours had fled to the shore, or an upstate lake in the mountains, or even to the cooler latitudes of Europe. The house, among all the other houses in that venerable neighborhood, was not the most opulent, yet, if only for its sheer size and…
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Prisoner of the Bell Tower by Jaron Weidner
That familiar melody reverberated in my head. Each clanging note echoed in my ears, bringing me back from darkness. Tong! Tong! Ting! The ringing tones could only be the sound of the church bells. Ting! Ting! Tong! I remembered hearing them before, but what was the song? I heard it so many times I could…
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Night Market by Martha Hipley
I never text Ale because I never know where he is. It’s easier to wait and respond to his messages when he’s in town and calls me to do something. Ale chose the most adventurous path for someone with our education — working in cybersecurity for private clients — while I entrenched myself in the…
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Forks and Knives by Amanda Draznin
My craft is forks and knives. The art of the butcher: The blade is part of you now. Handle smoothed by years of heat and blood, the steel kissed dull and re-sharpened a thousand times. The same weight as your hands. You learn the body by breaking it. From the feel of the tendon under…
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Mary by Rhonda Rosenheck
(a pantoum) Mary dug through her sundae, unearthing sweet bits,blind to oblique police-woman glances. Indifferent— archeological zeal? Blood, where her right hand rakedher captor’s corpse.Blind to oblique police-woman glances. Indifferent to fluid crusting red to brown to black, fromher captor’s corpse,drying, as she slaked her thirst and ate her first meal.Fluid, crusting red to brown…