The Center

Liam wanted to burrow to the center of the Earth, but he didn’t know how. He saw a cheapo old sci-fi movie on cable and there was a big machine with…


Inspiration: Tyson

Breathing heavily but with calm he throws one punch and the next, his eyes steady, not moving in and out, through his eyes to his soul you can see…


#LoveIsHate

“Hey, do you have time for a quick meeting today?” Ralph glanced at the innocuous-looking question in the subject line of the email that Tony, his…


An Ordinary Evening in My Hometown

Scene: the front porch of Claude and Stella Mabrey. Claude, his brother-in-law Jed, and his best friend Arney are sitting on the front porch on…


The Full Pack

“No. Stop. Put it back.” Harry pushed his cigarette back into the pack in the same action with which he’d drawn it out. “You said you were quitting,…


NEET, Part 4

XXXV. Ben woke late the next morning and realized his mom was gone already. He smoked a cigarette and made coffee and talked to himself about the…


My Secret Formula

One day at school, we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Andrew said that I should be a scientist. Scientist wear glasses and I wear…


Born Dead

Pashka woke up heavily and reluctantly. The sparrows chirped, rustled by fallen leaves. Sunny beams, penetrating through the branches of the bushes…


Costa Brava

I was awoken by a loud noise which I thought was the neighbour’s cat at first. I was six years old at the time and we had just finished school for…


Sideburns

We called him "Sideburns." Somehow, in some long-forgotten childhood reasoning, that seemed a good moniker for the guy who prowled alleys and back…