ANGELA CARLTON: Chasing Ghosts

Artistic, Submissions, ,

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

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

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

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , , ,

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

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

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

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

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.

SARAH FLICK: When childbirth isn’t like a Hollywood movie

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Imagine your premature, newborn daughter is dangerously sick in the hospital. You stand pressed against plexiglass, not allowed to touch her. You watch her all day instead, riveted by every tiny movement and precarious breath, your heart gripped in this fierce new mother-love that death might snatch away before sunset.

Sarah Flick is 7 feet tall. Her hair is pure starshine and her eyes gleam purple whenever she sees the sun set over an ocean. In spite of her challenges, she has published in numerous journals and especially enjoys micro- and flash genres.

STEPHANIE LYE: Taking Flight

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

She told him her dreams, of college, travel, and beyond. But he caught them in his fist, and plucked off the wings. “Your dreams are right here,” he said. “Look.”

They crawled in his palm like little white bugs.

“I see,” she said, then carefully placed them in her pocket.

Stephanie is a writer from Perth, Western Australia who likes to write about life and love in the hopes it might help her understand them better.

DEBORAH TAPPER: Fugitive

Adventure, Submissions, , , , ,

Mist casts ragged nets, ice snapping underfoot. The dog’s still there. Huddled. Shaking. She could drive it away. Instead she props the woodshed door. Brings a blanket, scraps, water.

Shoots every bolt when the police leave.

Haunted by the dog’s empty eyes.

And its collar, crimsoned by a killer’s fingerprints.

Deborah writes at an old desk surrounded by five hundred pet bugs.