You have been told since you were children that these waters carry riches. For your people, these riches are fish. You’re fishermen.
Suddenly, you’re not. You’re retired without your consent. The riches are no longer in fishes, but in oil.
The land is yours, but now, the money is not.
Adebisi Amori is a creative writer from Ibadan, Nigeria. Read more of her works at https://medium.com/@adebisiamori
His unruly mop of dark sunshine rests gently against my shoulder. My hand trembles a little in his soft squeeze. The fearful words crowd my tongue. He doesn’t know yet. He still doesn’t know. The words push for release. Please. Just one more moment. If only love could stop time.
Charly Chow (she/her) is a London-based poet and storyteller. Dyspraxia and ADHD are part of Charly’s neural make-up, but they don’t define her. Her work appears in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Curio Cabinet Magazine and Duck Duck Mongoose Magazine among others. You can find her on Twitter at @whatcharlywrote.
The story of the week for May 20 to 24 is…
From: Dean Plasmafist
To: Hindsight Girl
We regret to inform you that you were not selected for Enforcer Academy. Your ability to make people reconsider decisions, while amusing, is too mundane a superpower for our prestigious training program.
On second thought, perhaps we were too hasty. Welcome to the Academy!
David Dezell Turner is an astrodynamics PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder. When he isn’t giving directions to real spaceships, he’s writing about fictional ones. Check out more of his work at daviddezellturner.com.
I was standing by his corpse. Sure it was Harry. Although the face was disfigured, I could feel the cinnamon in my nostrils. Only he smelled that way. I couldn’t contain my sorrow and began to bark.
“What are you barking at, Duffy?” Harry said, his shadow approaching me.
Tanay is a freelancer and a business owner from India. He loves to write whenever he finds the time. His latest poetry collection ‘sparrow on the bark’ is out on Amazon, in paperback and on kindle.
Someone’s ‘many greats’ grandmother held the checkout line hostage with a return, a coupon and her checkbook. After a thorough search in her purse of a thousand zippers, she asked for a pen. Dangling her purchase from her walker, she rattled her way out smiling. Yes, it was me. Sorry.
Nicki Nance wrote this story.
I need to know many things. I peer through layers of smoke roiling beneath the glass. I can see forever, but not the end.
As the haze clears, I see myself as I am seen. Reflected in the depths, not my face, but another’s—the one I killed to become.
Jamison Brown has had a rewarding career in technology, a journey that has allowed him to travel extensively. Jamison now takes pleasure in the simple joys of being a homebody. An avid lover of writing and music, Jamison maintains a passionate connection to his tech roots, ensuring that the digital realm continues to hold a special place on his priority list. View more of Jamison’s work at https://jgbrown.me.
Our handbaskets bump in the checkout line. We smile, shift arms right and left to protect our goods. In your nest: caramel puff corn, chocolate lava cakes, gallon of milk. In mine: a party barrel of German pretzels, key lime pie, and chardonnay. Plus and minus, we celebrate both signs.
Maureen Kingston’s poems and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in Blithe Spirit, Frogpond, Friday Flash Fiction, Gyroscope Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, and Unbroken Journal.
I can’t remember when it started, but it was many years ago. In the middle of the night a teenager telephoned and asked a single question before I could even say hello. There was an urgency in his voice that I couldn’t ignore. I’ve been chasing the refrigerator ever since.
Carlton Wells is a retired civil servant and aspiring writer. His preferred genre is Mystery, because it’s a mystery when he’ll finally complete that first draft.
Monday, midnight. Not again.
“Hey, anyone up there?” the man on the street yells.
I open my curtains. The street is wet. The man paces in front of Lenny’s Pizza parlor.
I could use a slice of pizza.
“Go home,” I say. “You’re keeping me up, again.”
“I am home.”
Jennifer Lawson is a former Senior UNIX Systems Engineer with a BA in Motion Picture Technology, an MA in Instructional Design, and an MS in Information Security, as well as a former college radio personality.