Bad Mother-Fracker By Roland Hulme

Ladies, and gentlemen - hello.

My name is Vincent - and I am very excited that you have all joined me tonight to save the world.

I am a representative of the other 99%. The folk who just have to live in it.

You environmentalists? Well, you're the reason you've got sons of bitches like me.

Guest 911 By Martin Hulme

1984, a year of absolutely nothing really. I don’t think you guys remember it… if you’re from my universe. Well anyway, enough with that, 1984 also had two memorable things, more on the second one later. Hexaria was a pretty nice city surrounded by lake and another country. It was known for its luxurious hotels. Well anyway, one day two Guests met. A guest is a VERY popular name in this universe, don’t ask them. So they also have numbers in their names. This was in the Hexaria Official Health and Fitness Center. One of them was super strong and the other wasn’t but was very wealthy. Here’s how the conversation went.

Nature and Detriments By Eileen Ramos

I don’t remember the last time I saw the sky.

I heard it used to be a gentle blue with white puffy cotton clouds strewn here and there.

That the crayon “sky blue” was its actual hue, before they banned it. Maybe it was too sad to hold onto.

Now we have this thick, impenetrable smog crushing above our heads and forcing us to hide beneath gas masks. Yet I never recall a time when we didn’t wear them outside.

The Cherry Tree By Jad Kaado

Listen

She yelled out Edward’s name with conviction as she ran across the newly paved road towards her childhood friend. It was hot outside, which disturbed Edward, as he wanted to spend his summer break sprawled out in his basement with a Nintendo Switch controller in one hand and his newly purchased Android running Discord in his other. He kept his head down, using his cap as a cover from the sunlight, as he watched the heat emanating from the asphalt like snakes dancing to an enchanter’s tune.

Degrees By Christopher Peruzzi

When things were still good with the air, water, soil, and oceans, Cassandra watched the news obsessively. It was bad every day. Little by little, each was another degree worse. Degrees riddled her consciousness. Was yesterday worse than today? Yes, it was. The government’s corruption was a degree slimier today than yesterday... and yesterday was a degree worse than the day before that? And so on, and so on, and so on. It was like snowflakes slowly building to an avalanche.

The Devil in the Pines By Christian Angeles

Part One: The Foreman

I’m tucked away in my bedroom inside my lil’ trailer. Comfy beyond belief. It’s daylight savings and I earned this extra hour of sleep. Especially after a sixteen-hour shift. I don’t wanna get up today. I don’t wanna deal with people no more.

HEAVE by Yulia Kravchina

            A new house did not mean a new home. Settling into the floorboards and turning on the heat, I walked across the new space feeling relieved to be alone for the first time in my adult life. It was empty and cold, however, I saw potential for a cozy space that I could call my own. Nevermind that it was rented and a few strange spots and cracks oozed into your vision as your eyes scanned the room. Nevermind that. It was a place for me to finally escape from people and disappointment.

THE PATH HOME by Nausheen Ahmed

Everyone had finished setting up their tents and were starting to gather by the fire pit.  Sophie came out with a shawl draped around her shoulders.  One would expect it to be warmer in June, but the spring chill seemed to be lingering around longer than usual.  It was only about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and wouldn’t be dark for another few hours, but she spotted several campfires already burning in the distance.  The Khan’s, who had decided to go camping for their annual family reunion this year, had also gathered around their own campfire with plates full of food.  The grills had been churning out hara masala burgers, seekh kabobs, and Mama’s famous chicken tikkas non-stop since they got here.  The sounds of laughter and family gossip kept Sophie distracted for a while, but seeing all the jovial children made it harder and harder to stop thinking of Ali.  Sophie immediately tried to shake the thought from her mind.

IN THE MOUNTAINS UP HIGH by Jad Kaado

Chris and Donny Antoun joined their new friends, Sarah, Laila, and Adel for a camping trip over the weekend.  The brothers were newly arrived in Lebanon and thrilled to go up the mountains for the first time abroad.  They rode with their newly acquired comrades up to a mountain range that sat fifteen hundred meters above sea level. 

I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE by Jason Liebman

You’re gone.

I keep having to remind myself

Of that

Every morning.

HOW MY MOTHER LEFT MY FATHER (OR VICE VERSA) by Pamela Salmon

Blog - GOING HOME - SPRING SEMESTER, 2015 by Hadley Ring, AKA The Seventeen-Year-Old Freshman   

      When I first moved into my dorm room, my RA glued cutout photos of Bet’s and my faces onto paper ducklings and taped them to our door. I remembered seeing a duckling snatched by a crow from its mother. It cried out until it went silent on the branch of an evergreen tree where the crow ate him. Bet’s Dad, Franklin Rhodes, was murdered on his way to work one day. They found him stuffed inside the trunk of his Mercedes. I had a friend in Boston who told me she saw the ghost of Bet’s Dad when she worked in the kitchen at the clubhouse of the Thump Golf Club. She heard the wind blowing, thunder cracked, then the creaking floors grew footsteps; she saw a bright light covering him in the doorway.  “You’re dead!” she tried to yell, but his scent left her gasping.

I WANT YOU TO MEET SAM by Yulia Kravchina

Before you meet Sam, I want you to think.

I know you hate thinking, but wait, don’t you blink.

At school, it’s a bit of a different deal.

But this time around, let’s talk about how you feel.

ME, MY SKIP, AND I by Christian Angeles

The moist air wreaked of rainwater and Skip’s curiously pungent aroma, which left an oddly familiar taste of vinegar on my palate. Not that I should be surprised. Humans have always tasted salty and oily and on rare and refreshing occasions: sweet. Especially in the summer. And most especially after eating ice cream.

THE KIDS MEET A HOMELESS MAN by Jason Liebman

Jimmy was walking home from school with his friends, Peter and Sarah.

They walked past a stranger sitting on the floor outside the convenience store. He was dirty, his clothes were torn, he was holding a cup and begging for money.

Peter turned to Sarah and Jimmy and said, “Hey watch this,” with a mischievous smirk on his face.

THROUGH INNOCENT EYES by The Sir Shaggs

Mia arrived with her son, Jacob, at the bus terminal nearly an hour early. Mia grabbed her phone to call for Phil, their welcoming ride into the heart of New York City, as Jacob stared around in amazement at the people zipping to and fro.

VICTORY RUN by Jad Kaado

Twelve-year-old Vincent Victory packed up his comic books and blanket in his school bag, glancing around his room for the final time.  He dredged up enough courage to leave and cracked open his noisy window to the muffled screams of his parents.  They didn’t notice, of course, as the trend of the past year was a focus on his father’s new political career, the “Victory Campaign.” And ever since he won, things were never the same for the family.