It was handwritten, the song on her son’s unmade bed. The lyrics flowed. There were verses, a chorus, and guitar chords.
She googled snippets. No matches. She was amazed and impressed. He was only thirteen.
It began with ‘Save me’ and ended – well, it ended.
She was scared, so scared.
Anmari lives in Sydney. She writes more in her head than makes it onto paper. She is scared of what might come out, but is taking small steps and getting braver every day.
God commanded the dinosaurs to become vegetarians so they could board Noah’s Ark.
“But we love meat,” they said.
God commanded them again, and one T-rex told God to take a hike.
God hurled the Chicxulub asteroid into the Gulf of Mexico, destroying them all. Dinosaurs had really small brains.
Michael Coolen is a composer, pianist, actor, and writer who lives in Corvallis, Oregon.
The teacher briefly leaves the room. Class discussion erupts.
Mark: “You’re so ugly.”
Lucy: “I know.”
Everyone laughs. Feeling humiliated, Lucy quickly smiles, hoping that the sudden twist of her lips will prevent a deluge of tears. Teacher returns. Class once again silent, although Lucy can still hear that laughter.
Linda Nathaniel is a teacher from Sydney, Australia, who has had a play go from page to stage and poems published around the globe.
I never expected this when I left work early.
Two black women’s shoes and a stained blouse create landmarks across a trail of red smears.
“Daddy! I was playing dress up and mommy made chicken’s fingers and I got my own ketchup.”
Smiling, I kiss my daughter’s precious, tomato-covered cheek.
Craig would like to thank the creators of spell check,caffeine,and the English language. He is currently working on a fifty word story that will not use the same word twice.
Trekking through the snow, she makes her way down silent streets toward morning meditation. As her foot breaks through the ice into a puddle of slush, she’s reminded that there’s no such thing as solid ground, only the unforeseen opportunity to peel off her socks and practice in bare feet.
Kalyanii is a counselor and meditation instructor who enjoys wiling away her freetime manifesting her culinary inspirations and reveling amid the magnificence of nature.
The colors swirled before my eyes like a cracked kaleidoscope spilling its contents into a surrealist landscape.
A part of me knew that something was terribly wrong, but that voice was drowned out by the sea of sensations washing over me. And so I just danced while the world ended.
Chris Griglack was born and raised in Massachusetts where he has lived for 24 years. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2012 with a degree in Writing, Rhetoric, and Communications.
It has been over a year since the accident and only now have the aches and pains subsided.
The compensation paid for a new car and more. What it didn’t pay for was the yellow car seat. Sometimes I can still see her smiling when I check the rear-view mirror.
Jonathan is a Creative Writing MA graduate of Northumbria University, England. He is a fan of umbrellas, which is handy because it rains all the time.
Wedding ring for sale! Made of real silver, beautiful inside engraving. Will sell for a starting price of $250.
Hardly worth that, the customers had said all day with a small, disapproving smile. It’s already been used.
What was I to do? He told me to get rid of it.
Anna is a high school student in Louisiana who enjoys dance, acting, and spending time with friends.
The weight of the Winchester lifted, pain like none he had known following in its stead.
It wasn’t his entire life but just a single childhood memory that played him out: sitting on the bench, the nurse disinfecting the needle, saying, “It hurts for just a second.”
A cold comfort.
Dylan S. Gonzalez lives in Toronto. He likes writing.
Under a sliver of moon, three sailors stand watch. The helmsman, the lookout, the conning officer—none of them say a word. Charged with a sacred duty, their eyes scan the horizon. They look for hazards hidden in the night. Belowdecks, the crew sleeps. Even the captain dreams of home.
Gabriel studies English at The Ohio State University.