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Dark Fate
by Joe Giordano Artist: Jeff Bergen I was drawn to Anouk. Slim, elegant, she entered a room and became the center of attention. When I first appeared, she blanched and strode away, but I couldn’t be shed that easily. I followed her everywhere, even to the Ritz Carlton where she schemed to seduce another friend’s…
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Ne eligat is qui donum accipit
by Andy Betz I sat in the driver’s seat waiting. She sat in the passenger seat watching me suffer. The rain took its cue from her success and began a slow trickle, just enough to make it excusable to remain with her, not enough to justify leaving. I should have departed nonetheless. Her perfume became…
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Time, Down, and Wary
by Moiya Gooden Mona sat on the floor collecting her small stash of freshly washed baby blankets and arranging them into neatly folded, color-coded stacks beside her. She looked at the little black trunk, gifted to her by her grandmother at her baby shower a week earlier, and opened it and placed the stacks inside.…
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A Line Before The Other
by Dina Hendawi Artist: Nisha K. Sethi “When are we going to stop calling these terrorists the fringe and realize that they’re the mainstream.” Everyone around the staff table is uncomfortably quiet. Trent is talking to Allen, but really directing the conversation towards us. It is hard to tell if he is baiting us for…
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Horehound Candy
by Marco Etheridge Artist: Igor Markov Lieutenant Bondar scanned the battle-scarred landscape through a pair of heavy binoculars. He reconnoitered from inside a hidden basement bunker, elbows propped on the sill of a blown-out window. The powerful binoculars compressed the perspective of the broken land before him as if capturing the scene between plates of…
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And…
by Richard Ankers Artist: KC – Khings Collage And… I loved her despite the tales, those fabricated fantasies. There was never a why, not from me. I accepted her as she was, like the clouds accepted the rain, in misery made manifest and melancholy downpours. This was just the way it was. Initially, I drove…
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The Hurtshop
Jonathan Darren Garcia is a San Antonio based writer. He was a featured poet in San Antonio’s Collective Carefest and is a Staff Contributor to PEPPER magazine. He has been published in multiple literary magazines including Royal Rose, From Whispers to Roars, Scum Gentry Alternative Arts, Beyond The Veil
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Cat Eyes
by Logan Rose “Go get the cat,” says Mother. I roll my eyes. “Roll your eyes one more time, young lady,” says Stepfather, who likely let the cat out, in the first place. He raises his hackles from the couch, ready to stand over me and emphasize his authority, as if it’s not already clear…
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Alone
by Lily Tierney Artist: Andrei Orlov Debbie sat alone at a table in an empty restaurant. She ordered a tuna sandwich and a cup of coffee. The waitress was heading in her direction with it. Her order was placed in front of her, and the waitress said enjoy. Debbie thought that was kind of funny…
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Second Hand
by Daniela Esposito Artist: Todd Heisler I was given a new pair of hands because mine were no good. They came in two colours, gold and space grey. I opted for space grey, somehow gold seemed to be setting myself up for failure. They were factory made and pretty decent although the delivery man dropped…