The story of the week for October 19 to 23 is…
Good Will Books by M. Elaine Wilkins
ELODIE NEAL: It Betrayed You
You always loved the rain. You claimed it gave you a thrill to see the heavy grey clouds looming overhead, yet all I saw in it was ruined plans. But today it feels like my accomplice, washing the dirt off of my shovel and the crimson off of my hands.
Multiple times a week, Elodie Neal is kept awake by the stories demanding escape from her mind. Once in a while she gives them the courtesy of escaping onto paper.
COLIN RUFFELL: Eau de Passione
She looked across at me like Eva Marie Saint seducing Cary Grant in North by Northwest. My new cologne was working! She sipped her champagne and leaned closer. My heart was pounding. Her lips parted and she whispered, “Don’t you hate it when they wipe down the tables with disinfectant?”
It was a dark and stormy night many years ago in the city of London when Colin set off on his bicycle to ride around the world. He only made it as far as Hong Kong where he found work as a copywriter and is still planning his ride home.
JIMMY MACK: Tasmania
After decades of adding to his bucket list, Gerald started erasing, thinning the herd.
Angkor Wat, Fez Music Festival, Solar de Uyuni. Not likely. Life turned Autumn.
“But you’re still alive, right?” encouraged Sara.
The question hugged Gerald, his soul matched the turning leaves.
He added Tasmania to his list.
Jimmy is a writer from Portland, Oregon. Having worked in the horticultural side of life for over 30 years, he is now working on a book about his backpacking adventures around South Asia in the early 1990’s.
JOHN OLAFSEN: Chance
He stood staring at the train coming to a stop
The voice spoke over the speakers in monotonous drone
He watched the doors slip open before him
He took the coin from his pocket, gazing at it for a long moment
He flipped the coin, looked, and entered the train
John Olafsen is a student aspiring to become a full time author. With one manuscript complete, and more on the way, he is working through learning the publishing scene.
ANGELA CARLTON: Chasing Ghosts
Mother’s in a red nightgown, red’s the color on my tongue, stained from cherry lollipops.
“Take meds!” grandmother begged, but mother tossed them, played piano, melodies rising-rising with dirty hair, a broken mind.
I thought I’d save her, in my princess nightgown, feet slapping around on linoleum, chasing her ghosts.
Angela Carlton’s fiction has been published in Every Writer, Everyday Fiction, 6S, 50 Word Stories, Spillwords Press, and Paragraph Planet. In 2018, her story “The Roommates,” was made into a short film. In 2023, her story “Swallowed,” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. See more at Angela Carlton Stories & Art.
DIVIJA MAITRA: Bottle of Wine
The world will end when I finish this bottle of wine. So I take tiny sips.
My sister may come home, and we will cry into each other’s arms. We will finish the bottle and hold hands as everything collapses.
If not, I will keep sipping until none is left.
Divija Maitra lives with her partner, a cat, and many books in Bushwick, New York. In college, she studied the inner workings of people’s minds and now writes fiction about her dreams and the people in them.
KAREN GRAJALES: The End of a Complicated Relationship
Death failed to help Mom relax. It only stilled her sharp tongue.
Although she lay in the casket, her hands remained fisted, so unpliable the mortician had admitted defeat.
When I kissed her cold cheek, her painted eyes winced, a trick of light.
I reached up and shut the lid.
Karen Grajales lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband Diego, and their cats Abracadabra and Dill. She has an MFA in English from Penn State and has published her fiction in Gargoyle Magazine and other places.
GINNY DRAKE: The Viewing
It had great bones. Is what the realtor told the buyers. She would hate that I sold. It was more than I could keep up with, that Victorian on Main. Yes, it did have great bones. And while it was my time to go, she would be here for perpetuity.
Ginny Drake is a writer and artist from the Kansas City area. She holds degrees in psychology and holistic medicine. Her work has appeared in Instant Noodles, Flash Phantoms, and Aporia. She is currently working on her first novel.
M ELAINE WILKINS: Good Will Books
Rachel bought books from Goodwill stores. Colorful jackets: flowers, buildings, people, animals. On buses, a book in her lap, she traced the cover before opening. Book upright. Turning pages slowly. Ignoring people. No talking.
She died. Secret closets. Inside. Stacks. books. Books. BooKs. BOOKS.
Her brother said, “Rachel couldn’t read.”
M. Elaine Wilkins, Ed.D., is a writer and educator from Memphis, Tennessee. Her work explores family, memory, history, and the Southern experience. Her personal essay, “The Blues Is Hard on Your Feet,” appears in Porchlight: A Journal of Southern Literature, Issue 13 (August 2026), and her flash fiction, “Sitting on China: A Hundred Years of Shards,” was published by 101 Words in August 2026. Her creative nonfiction, “Mr. Billingsley Lives,” is forthcoming from Epistle Literary in October 2026. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Lindenwood University.