Short Story
Writing
Your Blue Side
By David Webster“Davidson! That tree is flying! It’s going to crash into your house,” Gary warned me. “You’re right, Mr. Franklin, and here, it’s coming in for a landing,” I replied with calm reserve.
Reminiscence
By Abigail BlickThere once was a man named Ed. Ed had a wife and three kids and worked at a very successful job. His life was perfect. But as time went on, his children grew up and went off on their own to form their own families, but soon Ed became a grandfather. And once again, life was perfect.
The Little Girl from the Pawnshop
By Sam SpeerI felt as big as a mountain with the bolt cutters slung across my shoulders. Three weeks ago, when the summer had reached its solstice I had found them packed deep down in the trunk of my car.
Alien
By Corbin BurrightEvery summer I had to go down to my aunt and uncle’s house in Nebraska. There was never anything to do. They didn’t live near any kids or other people to accompany me. They didn’t feel like they needed cable TV or internet because they were just all-around boring people.
Take My Fear
By Ayah Abdul-RaufDIM… DIM… DIM… DIM… DIM… The soft, high note of the last key on a piano rang through the night repeatedly… and it was keeping someone up.
Losing Lila
By Jessica SutterIt looked a bit like Lila, but it wasn’t Lila. I don’t know why people say that when someone dies they look like they’re sleeping. Her skin was dull grey and colder than ice. Her long body lay limp and heavy on the stainless steel table. Her clothes were dirty and rumpled.
Necromancer: Confession
By Connor RiceRain danced gleefully across the tombstones as if mocking the dead. The now wet moss on older parts of the graveyard made the ground slick. It grew where other forms of life refused for reasons of their own, yet sparingly did the moss do so as if even it respected burial grounds.
The Elemental War
By Kristen ZuchowsiIt began with the fire’s havoc, then rained the wild water. Next came the dancing wind, then the fumbling forming earth. At first everything was peaceful but the elements did not get along well.
The Maple Tree
By Ramya ChilappaMarina Green had always been the epitome of normal. She got good grades, but they were nothing phenomenal. She was pretty enough, but no great beauty. She had friends (did one count?), but was nowhere near a social butterfly.
Death Box Machine: The Cheater
By Andrew ChristieOne vision, that is all it took to know how it all ends. That was the idea behind the product 32F, nicknamed the Death Box. There were 380 of us, we were the test subjects who willingly volunteered for the test. Truthfully, I was just in it for the money.
Dandelion Girl
By Aroog KhaliqThey called her Little, but Little was big. Little was tall, with stooped shoulders and an odd, loping gait. Mostly, though, Little was lonely.
She was like a dandelion in a field of perfectly cut grass—bright and beautiful to some, but ugly and unwanted to others.
Last Dance
By Kaitlyn O’NealThere are only three rules for survival: no contact with meat, dairy, or humans. He’s already broken two of them.
A Snapshot Love Story
By Libby RorhA girl sits at a table in front of a coffee shop, eyeing the charming boy lounging next to her. They observe one another as if their friends don’t exist, his eyes catching hers like a blue wave crashing on the beach. “Well, I’m not ordinary.”
The Girl with the Sunset Eyes
By Allison GlaserThe girl with the sunset eyes and the boy with hands like glass.
He fell in love with her because she was so beautiful when she cried.
He hated to see her in tears, but when she cried, streaks of blue and orange and yellow and pink fell down her cheeks.
Deviled Eggs
By AnonymousThey hold the spirit of Christmas, the Thanksgiving meal, the laughter, the family cheer, and the lost ones that we held near. Every single Christmas, Thanksgiving, and family get together, my grandmother concocted the most delicious deviled eggs.
Marked
By Emma Olinger“People just choose to be pink, everyone is born blue.” “People with pink marks are going straight to hell.”
“There are places to go to get your pink mark made blue again, so why not go?” “These millennials with their pink marks.”
“Blue marks are the superior marks.” “Hello.”
The Mark of Love
By Kaylie MacLaughlinAria pointed at the little flower on her ankle with a short, chubby finger and asked her mother in her unpracticed, fragmented English about what it was. “Pretty,” she said, her ‘r’ little too rounded and her voice broken up by her childish laughter.
Towelhead
By Aroog KhaliqThe night before my first day of sixth grade, I studied the piece of fabric laid out on my bed with uncharacteristic placidity. It was no work of art; plain cotton fabric, dyed black, with a single strip of black lace for adornment.
A Letter to My Mother, Who I Love Very Much and Who I Hope Doesn’t Read This
By Elizabeth JosephWhen I needed a white sheet for Toga day at school, my father immediately gave me his own white cloth. The weave was loose and rough, with a smooth strip of gold running down one side, so large I thought it was a sari.
Flowers Exist on the Moon
By Maggie GolshaniFidgeting my leg against a familiar school desk, the dreadful anticipation always washes over me while listening to roll call on the first day of school.
Just Like My Dad Said it Would
By MJ FergusonOnce I was through the door, I dashed down the stairs to my room, flinging myself onto my bed, sobbing. I felt so stupid, so clutzy, so worthless. Questions flooded my mind. Who am I? Am I really Amy? Or am I someone else? I didn’t know anymore.
Knock-knock-knock.
Gravity
By Katherine EllisI sit on the roof of the building, my legs dangling off the edge. It would be so easy to just lean forward a bit. To finally be free from my life. I consider the idea for a moment, and almost decide to do it and take my freedom, when I hear footsteps behind me.
By Any Other Name
By Breeaunna DowdyNames. Titles given to us at birth by someone with no idea of who we are or what we'll become, they are iron-clad chains bound to our lifetimes by those who want us to be something great. We do not all fit our names and we do not all fit in those boxes; a name is always just a name.
Taylor
By Abigail CottinghamHis taste in music was mayonnaise: bland and unappreciated by most of the population. I guess you could say I love mayonnaise. We attended the same school, but a year separated us so we didn’t have any classes together.
At the End of the Wire...
By Mahnoor CheemaThere are occasions where I zone out, and during this period of deep thought, I find myself staring at a girl. I’ve seen this girl multiple times before.