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A Variety of Vermin by Ana Wesley
By four o’clock, Kris is clean out of fucks to give. It’s the Friday preceding spring break. There’s no aftercare today, no other underpaid employees to push her last few kids off on. The parents either forgot or don’t care. Kris reckons she’s absolved of any obligation to keep them from running wild in the…
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Anything for My Baby by M. C. St. John
After turning the washer dial to the heavy soil setting, she shook her head and spoke to the laundry basket at her feet. “I can’t believe this is still happening. At your age, honestly,” she said. “I know, Mama.” Behind her, a shadow shifted in the hall. She could feel him there without having to…
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The Gold Seal by Kathy Sherwood
Andre de Corcy cursed under his breath as the charcoal split in his hands, smudging the rubbing of the sarcophagus seal. It was his fourth copy, so the mishap was hardly surprising if still inconvenient. He needed a half a dozen in all, some to be sent back to Paris and other learning centers for…
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Hell is a Stage by Jason Frederick Myers
The angry roar of heavy metal screamed from the amplifier at ear-bleeding decibels. Kip Daniels stood nearby, his fingers expertly navigating the fretboard of a blue Ibanez six-string guitar. He paused, letting the last of the grungy notes echo throughout the garage studio, his long blond hair matted to a dark sleeveless t-shirt. “Told ya…
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The Ache by Clay Laplante
Prologue It had started with the funny feeling in her belly. There was a day, not too long ago, when she was just Sheila Goolsby, and her belly didn’t ache, and she weighed not much more than Tad, her husband, who was overweight but not so much overweight as Brady Berg down the street or…
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The Sideshow of the Void by Zak Cowell
From time to time, murmurs and mutterings concerning the carnival spread amongst the houses of town like an unseen plague This signals the carnival’s imminent arrival. The carnival returns to town from the shadows of the backroads in random unknown intervals, except in certain dreams. Always presenting itself under a different name. The whispers are…
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Waxing Chaos by Kevin Hollaway
It wasn’t the time of the call; Blake was used to that, and he was a light sleeper – call it the nature of the job. When the call at 1AM is from your doctor, that raised both eyebrows. Blake wasn’t sick, and his next physical was over six months away, so obviously Dr. Miller…
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Cold Hearted by Wendy Maxon
1. Call from Customer WI5223 to Qualicare Refrigerators Ltd, Des Moines Headquarters, June 23, 2019. Call transcribed December 1, 2019. “This is the Qualicare Refrigerator Customer Service Line. My name is Natalie. How may I help you?” “This is Eileen Mayers. Is this who I call when my fridge acts funny?” “Absolutely, Eileen! Can you…
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A Helping Hand by Taylor Hagood
Panic laced its fingers through Greg Eskew. I’ve got us lost, put us in danger. He looked at his wife, Valerie, his eleven-year-old son Michael, and his eight-year-old daughter Chelsea. All three wore new hiking boots. Relax, we’re not that far from civilization. Just a day hike. We can still get back by dark and…
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If I Were a Blackbird by Kira Córdova
The feathers started as the coarse black hairs that grew out of the mole between my human shoulder blades. If I were a blackbird, I had sung, the Scottish ballad about losing love to long stints at sea, but I didn’t mean it. I’d whistle and sing. I’d follow the ship that my true love…