by Amar Benchikha I am sixteen, Leonora seventeen, both of us unmarried. And because we live with our respective families, we meet regularly in an abandoned little shack to share intimate moments. Neither one of us has any real interest … Read more

by Jeff Bond It’s interesting to Dorothy that she saw Bill’s wife get killed. She was at a dress store, Stephanie’s, looking for something to wear to a friend’s wedding, still a few weeks off, but she hadn’t found anything … Read more

by Becky Tuch The first phone call came on a Wednesday evening. The guidance counselor at Michael’s school. Disturbed, he said he was, by some of Michael’s recent in-school behavior. He referred to Michael as your son and then, moments … Read more

by ANNE HOSANSKY “My father jumped out of a window.” Those were the first words I heard from her. We were standing in the schoolyard when she said that. She was a new girl in my class, kind of funny-looking, … Read more

by Bridget Apfeld It was summer, the ugly stretch of August. White days of heat. Every night banks of thunderheads gathered on the Atlantic, and heat lightning split the Carolina pines straight down the center, their bark peeled like a … Read more

by BRANDON CLIPPINGER Evie shifted her feet in the scorched grass, then switched her pocketbook from the crook of one elbow to the other. The complex was so quiet. But then again, who would want to come out and make … Read more

by JASON PECK  “My suggestion was quite simple: Put that needed code in a little capsule, and then implant that capsule next to the heart of a volunteer … if ever the President wanted to fire nuclear weapons, the only … Read more

by BRIAN DRUCKENMILLER Donning his glossy black tights with a purple stripe down each leg, Gill Grimshaw wound electrical tape around his arms to exaggerate his biceps. Through the streaks of the locker room mirror, he couldn’t help but notice … Read more

by KATARINA PALACIOS We swept the desert when my sister came to town. Broken glass, insect husks, casings, cigarettes, small bones…we swept it all away, behind the garage. There wasn’t much we could do about the smoke from the forest … Read more

by B.J. Hollars Fifteen minutes into our first lesson at The Kung Pow School for Martial Arts, my daughter Joan and I struggle through the proper pronunciation of the word “karate.” “Ka-ra-te,” Sensei Doug demonstrates. “Carrot-y,” I parrot back. “No, … Read more