Dale saw the rat in his bathroom sink drain. It was trying to get out. As he stared, its teeth gnashed, all scissor flash. Dale turned on...

Pooled dew collects along the cave’s corridor. An algae bouquet coats the passageway. Each hollow splash of my step echoes off greystone...

He was so impatient for her attention she couldn’t help but love his anxiety, and pump it full of hope, scraps of anticipation. “I...

I will never be able to forget the sound. We slow down on Highway 19 in Ethel, MS. The speed limit is 45 miles per hour, but tractors...

I’m old enough to remember the razor-sharp cold of blue-white winters, blizzard gales, and frost-webbed windowpanes – but my...

She tells me I eat too many sweets as she digs her hands into my chest. She reminds me I should look after my health; after all, I won’t...

She is too young to understand the sky. The sky does not understand her, either. Although, to be fair, in its vastness, it does not...

They started to arrive three days before the funeral, ferrying into the Grand Canyon in pickups and minivans, although there was at least...

His yellow eyes glow golden as cheap, unpolished citrines or dying leaves in the garden rubbish heap, darting and glittering in the face...

The Imperial Valley is comprised of small towns coated in dust and boredom. These towns are separated by endless crop fields and...

TRAUMA She never learned to sew or embroider. The only time she ever tried, she pricked her finger and fell asleep for one hundred years....

We go to the carnival every year. Ever since we moved to this town, my dad takes me and whoever my friends are at the time, to the fire...

Mom’s advice comes a little harsh. “You’re beautiful,” she’ll reassure you, drying up your tears. She’ll then take a good look at you....

He jumps in the lake, even though he can’t swim. “If you don’t help me, I’m going to drown,” he says, forcing her to follow. She won’t....

I found myself dead. I walked out to the end of the driveway to get the mail, only to find myself already there, dead. Only it couldn’t...

Hemingway once wrote a short story in six words, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Some say this was his best work. Her story: “It...

I’d known exactly what Mum would say when I told her I was going. ‘But why Cuba, of all places? Is it safe?’ God, I hoped not. I’d had...

Night clamps down on Pattaya like a vice — sky so black you forget it was ever blue. The only light is neon, glowing twisted tubes in red...

The sun gave birth to an embryonic luster finding its way between the crevices of my curtains. I woke up to noises of a roaring vacuum....

Every seventeen years, there was an infestation of moustaches. They creatured along sidewalks and crawled up tree trunks, while barefaced...