Jogging. Madman followed lady. Knifed her.
I shouted.
He fled.
Rushed to her.
I held her wounds.
Stay with me. Name?
Carole.
Nick.
Sleep.
No! Love you.
Eyes connect.
What?
I love you, Carole. Stay.
Sirens. Who called?
Medics, police.
Carole stayed. My wife of 1,827 days. Debilitated. In wheelchair.
Nick Armbrister wrote this story.
The young one traces the puckered lines on her papa’s face.
“Do they hurt?”
“No, Darlin’.”
“What are they, Poppy?”
“Maps to all the places I’ve been.”
” Can I go?”
“To some, yes. To others, I hope not.”
She kisses the “map” and declares, “I’m gonna start making my map!”
Hillary Nichols only puts down her pen when her duties as a mother to seven, grandmother to three and wife of one compels her to.
A tiny pinch, rushing into purest pleasure. Paradise dripping from the tip of a needle.
Take a deep breath. Tug the tourniquet – tap a vein.
Anticipation rattles her skeleton. Thin lips unsheath a jagged smile.
One last fix. Careful now, not too much.
Euphoria balances on the precipice of damnation.
Donna J. Dotson writes short, intense pieces of fiction and creative non-fiction, but sometimes, the universe hands her pure poetry. Her Jack Russell Terrier loves her work.
The tides are heavy. They threaten to crush me, pull me under, twist me over, spit me out.
My fight is one of silent suffering.
And after I lose control, I dare the call of death by name.
Then I rise up to feel the light beat on my face.
AC Baldwin wrote this story.
I married a person I did not love. It was easy, really.
Everyone is happy. My mother beams, my father stands proud, my wife is joyous, and her family glows in the light of her happiness.
But most important of all, my lover stands silent.
‘Til death do us part.
Mark Hamilton is a writer and communications consultant in Australia.
The story of the week for July 20 to 24 is…
The Call by SD Curran
What a gut-wrenching moment of tragedy. A well written piece.
The dark, silent bleakness of depression crushes me, as it always does, burying me under its massive form. Those who love and cherish me dig and dig and dig, always searching, never giving up, none of them willing to abandon me.
If only I were able to care as much.
Gina Giannetti is a writer-in-training looking to add the ideas swirling around in her head to the world of fantasy fiction. She lives on Long Island and is an administrative assistant by day.
It was my lifetime’s work, but tonight I finally understood the folly of it all.
My invention didn’t work.
Jumping into the river, I realized my error. As I went down for the third and final time, my whole life flashed before my eyes. I had found my time machine.
Steve Coverdale is an Englishman living in Nova Scotia. He is currently writing his first novel about a football player who lives forever.
The devil appeared before an old man who wished back his wasted life. He could be eighteen again and relive his years, but he would die upon reaching his present age.
The deal was struck and he dropped dead that very moment, having ended up in exactly the same place.
James Baxenfield is a writer who was born in England but has lived in Eastern and Central Europe for most of his adult life, predominantly in Estonia. He’s working on a collection of short stories, entitled “The City of Good Thoughts”, which depict the Estonian city of Tartu throughout different eras of its history.
She clamps around me, squeezing me so that my breath comes short. Pulling tighter, she shapes me so that I’m nearly unrecognizable. She holds me upright, willing me to walk with a dignity I don’t feel. She makes me just like every other woman here.
She is my Iron Maiden.
Rebecca Holcomb is a stay-at-home mom by day and a freelance writer by night. She lives with her husband and three daughters in Central Florida.