by D Anderson

“‘I'm finally becoming who I was meant to be.’”

by Israel Allen

“For a few seconds, we looked in awe at the work our hands had wrought. Then we laughed and congratulated ourselves and went back to hiking and shooting and insulting one another…I don’t believe we ever spoke of it again.”

by Helen Dong

“Ultimately, good writing is writing that meets the reader exactly where they are…”

by Sumitra Singam

“I felt a strange globus sensation. Like I’d swallowed a fish bone, but not as sharp. It kept travelling up my pharynx until my heart fell out of my eye.”

by Zachary Benak

“While pretending to organize souvenir inventory and season pass paperwork, I watch the male lifeguards rotate chairs every fifteen minutes, memorizing their torsos. “

by Nikki Howard

“I retreat from the window, covering the sun beams with a cat-tattered curtain. I take off the gray tank top with some hesitation, shove it back into the bag. I think, Will I ever outgrow it?”

by James Maskell

“I have no idea what Timmy ended up doing with his life, or whether Purple Marker Girl ever switched to a ballpoint pen…”

by Patrick Johnston

“In a situation where no choices are possible, he has made a choice. We do not know his name.”

by Skye Ayla Mallac

“As I lie on the medical table, with a speculum funneling air into me, we are no longer together, but I know - with chilling certainty - that he has left something behind. Memorabilia, one might say.”

by Trelaine Ito

“I stared at my phone for the next hour. No response. The birds continued to sing, as if lamenting the silence.”

by John RC Potter

“we must find the silver lining behind any dark cloud, and finally, we should count our blessings and be thankful for what remains behind. Life is for the living. Amen!”

by Karla Jynn

“I've confirmed through years of healing that wanting to be wanted is fundamentally human, and there's nothing wrong with it.”

by Leah Mueller

“My best friend Ezra, a huge fan, was flat broke and lived on my couch in Madison. He never offered much monetary help, but he was good in bed.”

by Chase Troxell

“My son Ethan is building a shrine to the god Apollo, and his mom who still calls him by his dead name, Leona, asks him what about Jesus.”

by Sara Etgen-Baker

“I discovered long ago that solitude is necessary for me, for that’s where my creativity dwells.  I can no more live without creativity than I can live without sleep.”

by Tom Wade

“That evening, lamenting the difficulties with the move, my wife said, “If a marriage can withstand this sort of hardship, it’s a good sign.” I didn’t respond.”

by Casey Jo Graham Welmers

“The twin towers still punctuated the skyline in New York City, and I could have easily boarded the plane with a chunky shoe full of prison shanks were I so inclined.”

by Zary Fekete

“My days now begin with the soft clink of cat bowls, the low creak of floorboards. I make coffee, feed the animals, and open the windows. The house still breathes, even if I’m asked to hold mine back.”

by Quinn Dankesreiter

““We open now into the dining area. This piece-of-shit table is an authentic, European an-tea-quew…they cover it in dollar tree cloths.”

by Charles Jacobson

“He put out his hand and landed the good news in a manner energetic and calm: ‘You don’t stay in the tomb. The tomb is a womb that gives birth to new life, a new beginning. It is finished, does not mean game over.’”