KRYSTYNA FEDOSEJEVS: Laceration

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

Blade angled, swift, slid through layered membrane like into soft butter.

Awakening life fluid. Forcing it to rupture rivulets, flow blood red on surface skin.

I could have screamed, demanded him to stop, but he had power over me.

“Operation successful,” the doctor said.

I looked down. Foot still there.

Krystyna is a former librarian. She’s now writing and publishing poetry, flash fiction, and short stories. She lives in Edmonton, Canada, and loves to travel the world and share her experiences through writing.

JONATHAN D SMITH: Home Invasion

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

After receiving the phone call, I made sure the front door and ground floor windows were locked. The garage was shut and the cat flap too small. Lastly, I blocked the back door as the wood was thinner.

Satisfied there was no way out, I started to climb the drainpipe.

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.

ROBYN RYLE: Hell’s Masseuse

Amusing, Submissions, ,

They study each body carefully. Everyone’s pain is unique. No MRIs or x-rays, either. Their methods are ancient. Hell’s masseuse runs his hands over every inch of your body asking, “Does this hurt? Is this too much pressure? What about here? Is this tender?”

If you are smart, you lie.

Robyn Ryle started life in one small town and ended up in another just down the river. She teaches sociology to college students when she’s not writing and has stories in Bartleby Snopes, WhiskeyPaper, and Cease, Cows, among others. You can find her on Twitter: @RobynRyle.

DYLAN S GONZALEZ: Please, God

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

Falling.

Richard would have sworn if the rush of the wind wasn’t suffocating him.

Taking that loan was a bad idea, being late on it even worse, and nothing topped getting on their private jet.

He brought his palms together and prayed that he landed on one of their houses.

Dylan S Gonzalez lives in Toronto. He likes writing.

CHRIS GRIGLACK: Double Zero

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

She wasted her life watching her figure.  Slimming down and staying fit were her full time jobs, consuming her because she consumed nothing else.  Nothing but beautiful, empty as the calories she avoided.  A double zero personality in a double zero casket.  Smiling, for in death she only gets thinner.

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.

MICHAEL J MORAN: They’re Just Men

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Jim was attending his first major league baseball game. From his upper level seat he could see them in the dugout: Mickey, Yogi, Whitey.

For a brief moment he was disappointed. They weren’t the mythical electronic figures that had filled his television screen. They were just men in baseball uniforms.

Michael J. Moran is a retired university professor living in Alabama. Leaving behind the drudgery of writing scientific articles and text books, he now writes short stories and flash fiction pieces reflecting the people and culture of the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania where he grew up.

THOMAS SUMMERSON: The Game

Adventure, Submissions, , , ,

I was hanging from the ledge because of a clumsy misstep. It was my last case, and most important. I was retiring after twenty years as a detective and five pursuing this man.

He pulled me up and uttered words that changed me forever.

“The game is all I have.”

Thomas Summerson is a daydreamer and storyteller. He writes everyday, as work and family life allows, of course. He dreams and labors toward the day when he can leave the day job behind and write full time. “Twenty years of schoolin’ and they put ya on the day shift” It’s true Bob, it’s so true.

GREG GUEVARA: Wanted

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

Wanted: Body parts for use in scientific experiment. Must be in good condition and properly conduct electricity. Any parts from all ethnicity and sexes accepted. Compensation will be provided via anonymous envelops. Please deliver to the laboratory at the base of the stormy castle. Kindly address to one Mr. Frankenstein.

Find more of Greg Guevara’s work at inbreak.ca.

JASON HUYNH: Movie Casualty

Amusing, Submissions, ,

An ant scuttled onto the movie set, a chase scene rolling.

The antagonist, in his haste, crushed the innocent bystander, an unintentional victim.

Life flashing before him, the insignificant ant thought of the cruel-humored lie the movie credits might show: “No animals were harmed in the making of this film.”

Jason needs to get on with his homework: explicating poetry. With this submission also missing crucial points in a plot outline, he is glad that programming basic, random computer simulations is much easier. RIP ant.

MICHAEL MORRISON: Stock

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

I finally open it and pull out the letter. Enough’s enough.

I’d waited 392 days. Hadn’t moved, the clock stayed stopped.

You said everything you knew about us, everything you would carry with you to your next love, everything you lost sleep over, was in this letter.

The sheet’s blank.

Michael Morrison is a musician and writer from Edinburgh. His short stories are usually inspired by overheard snippets of conversation, local news headlines, and the day-to-day tales we tell ourselves and others.