CONNELL WAYNE REGNER: After Christmas

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

“Thank God that’s over.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, it’s bloody hard getting the right gifts. No one’s ever satisfied, although I must admit the drinking and the food’s not bad. I think next year I’ll give Christmas a big miss.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“You’re Santa!”

Connell would deny writing this, if it wasn’t for the fact that his name is plastered all over it. His son, six years old, in a deeply reflective moment, said, “You know, everyone’s special.” And Connell, in a less reflective one, replied, “And you know, after Christmas everything’s on special.”

ANOUSHE SEIFF: On Reading

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Crack the spin,
Turn the page,
Make the words dance rhythmic rhymes around you.

Where next?
Escape to a world so bizarre,
Let your imagination start to wonder.

Turn the last page,
Shut the book,
Cease to live,
Let it pull you in,
For you can only escape so long.

Anoushe is from Chicago, IL. She likes to write in her spare time and aspires to be in the FBI. Anoushe is a first year student at Drake University, studying Law/Politics, Psychology, and Arabic. Her hobbies include watching Criminal Minds, playing with her cats, and attending comic conventions and concerts.

ADRIANA VALES: Touch and Go

Artistic, Submissions, ,

She was sitting in his car. He was overspeeding. When a truck suddenly turned up at the junction, he didn’t have time to brake.

“So this is it,” she thought, dazzled by headlights. She felt disappointed and beyond fear.

It’d been touch and go. Now she’d have to live again.

Adriana Vales is a lover of art and nature.

MARIAN BROOKS: Rachel’s Resolutions

Adventure, Submissions

Rachel thought her face must be cracking. She hadn’t smiled for over five months and couldn’t recall what it felt like to grin. Now that Jake and Evelyn were dead, the guilt slid right off her shoulders into the pea soup she was stirring along with her first two resolutions.

Marian Brooks has been writing short fiction for the past two years. Her work can be found in Word Riot, The Linnets Wings, River Poets Journal and others.

NIKKI CARR: Another Year

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

While she watched her clock
tick past the stroke of
midnight and her fearful cat
run under her foot,
she knew she had another
year to find true love
and start anew as
she paused  to hear the
song of cheers of the
new year ring throughout
her tiny town.

Nikki Carr lives and writes in California but New York was where she was exposed to poetry which ultimately helped influence her life and writing style. Nikki’s work was recently published by Prolific Press andEmerge Literary Journal. Nikki’s work shows a true passion for nature, mankind, and everyday experiences.

CK BLACK: Auld Lang Syne

Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, ,

I watched her among the sea of people, a ghost from my past.

In a previous life, I stood in his shoes.

When the ball dropped, they broke into song, their voices carrying “Auld Lang Syne” skyward. I watched them embrace as I walked away; she never looked my way.

C.K. Black resides in the town of Sherman, CT. His work has appeared in The Rusty Nail Magazine, Tales of the Zombie War and a forthcoming Page and Spine magazine. When he’s not working his day job, he can be found writing. He can also be found on twitter @CKBlack21.

COLIN RINNE: Reluctantly Alone

Artistic, Submissions, ,

A streetlight, an escaping soul fuzzed the world behind the dizzying waltz of flakes, but even the gloomy yellow halo and lonely ghost of a breath were not as hazy as my head, as hard as my heart.

I had watched her leave her office for weeks now, alone now.

Colin Rinne is currently enrolled in Wabash College and is an intended English/Spanish Double Major with a minor in fanciful adventures and interesting conversations.

JIM FREEZE: Internal Conflict

Odd, Submissions, , ,

Many had seen awkwardness in him. His antics had raised eyebrows. Was this wayward child simply yearning for love and understanding?

Those in this moment questioned the disturbing, guttural sound deep from within him.

His evil grin seemed to sneak up on the priests as they reentered the satanic room.

Jim Freeze is 69 years old and retired.He has been writing for three years and has completed over 50 stories to date, with seven published.

HARRY DEMAREST: Regrets

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

I didn’t swerve to crush the squirrel in the road.

I didn’t round the block and try again.

I remember vividly: the squirrel, lying on his back in the middle of the road, legs flailing, writhing in pain.

I should have killed him. I left him suffering and cannot forget.

Harry Demarest has retired after careers encompassing scientific research, teaching, Computers, the internet, and politics. He is now writing and spending time with his grandchildren. He has published a dozen fifty word stories, and a couple of longer ones.

JOEY TO: Love Me Tender

Submissions, , ,

Tessie tasered Tyler, then taped Tyler’s trap, then… then she just gave up on the idea of teaching the two-timing piece of trash a lesson right there, left him tightly tied up in the trunk, took his thick wallet, and trotted to the mall for the traditional post-breakup shopping spree.

Joey never received a classical education so he doesn’t know Greek or Latin, but a Greek woman did tell him this once: θάλασσα καὶ πῦρ καὶγυνή, κακὰ τρία. Rough translation: “Fear the sea, fire, and women.”