by Annemarie Neary

“Out there, there will be watchers, waiters, skulkers, seekers. Desperados and lunatics. Ordinary loners. Even now a girl is moving through the Common, spotlit then lost then spotlit again. Each time the girl vanishes, Anna grieves for her…”

by John Power

“Her bright blue eyes matched her bright blue dress and gave her the look of the universal grandmother that Julie never had.”

by Kelly Murashige

“By the time I arrive at the scene of the crime, all of the Cheetos have already been cleaned up. Either that, or there were never any Cheetos in the first place, and the inside of the truck was as hollow as your oversized head.”

by C.C. Russell

“It was this that was finally, fatally wearing us down. This constant waking. These echoes of adrenaline.”

by Spencer Barnes

“Physarum polycephalum are unique in that, unlike most eukaryotic organisms, they are composed of a single cell with multiple nuclei. Polly is essentially brainless.”

by Jacek Blaszkiewicz

“The palm trees flash red and blue. Like the intoxicated driver negotiating with the police, they sway, feigning stability against the night breeze.”

by Rob Dailey

“The flames of her hair flood the floor while yours lap at the ceiling, setting fire to the beams and enveloping the family. You wouldn't know it from her smile.”

by Renee LoBue

“Inside, she saw a tangle of lines — ropy, cable-like bundled cords of some unseen engine, dense and coiled, alive with potential. For an instant, their mind looked like an archive flung open: drawers half-alphabetized, folders spilling in disarray.”

by Madeleine Foster

“I’ll miss you, she scribbled, glancing at his broad, angular frame, the way his legs rested beneath the table, inches from hers. Miss your voice, miss your laughter.”

by Michael Czyzniejewski

“For X, my classroom had a picture of a brontosaurus, which is funny now, as that’s not a real dinosaur anymore, and the word under the picture was eXtinct. Like they couldn’t figure out the name of an animal that started with X…”

by Henrick Karoliszyn

“I was a Care Liaison…We listened, observed, absorbed. We spoke calmly and avoided promises that might later need further explanation.”