On a walk I saw a dying cicada mating with a fully dead one. It was a silent act. None of the annoying buzz.

With a flickering of one wing, the dying bug ceased all movement. I wondered if it was necrophilia or one last chance to make a mark.

Nathaniel Tower writes fiction, teaches English, and manages the online lit magazine Bartleby Snopes. His short fiction has appeared in over 50 online and print magazines. A story of his, “The Oaten Hands,” was named one of 190 notable stories by storySouth’s Million Writers Award in 2009. His first novel, A Reason To Kill, was released in July 2011. Visit him at www.bartlebysnopes.com/ntower.htm.