Not One of Us by Rebecca Field
We sit cross-legged on the polished parquet floor, the teachers on red plastic chairs at the ends of our rows. We chat quietly to our neighbours while we wait for…
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ABCs, Now You Read by Abbie Doll
As soon as April had a handle on the alphabet, her parents delegated her education to books. On her fifth birthday, they chucked an unwrapped dictionary at her and instructed,…
Posthumus Susan by Mandira Pattnaik
When I visit my sister in Summer, she says she wants to be the farmer who tills rapeseed, the crow that flies low over him, says she wants to be…
Intersection by Claire Griffiths
Bryan, parting the Perspex fronds of a 7-eleven refrigerator unit, doesn’t see Nora approach. But his bones quiver as he fetches the milk. Plastic strips down a back, straggle-bun, plaid…
55,000 Miles for a Pound of Honey by Rachael Smart
A bee is on the tarmac going slow for sugar. She tells him bees are yawnsome. I mean, look how they surrender after just one sting, she says, and wearing…
Bunnies by Kik Lodge
When Mother died I got together with Shauna and she was everything Mother was but possibly better. She didn’t need face creams, nor a forearm when going down steps, and…
Automata Man by Danny Beusch
The man lifts the sandwich and bites, as he has done every twenty-six seconds since birth. With casual clothes in acrylic hues, dangling legs and nodding head, he represents tranquility,…
Ascension by Olivia Payne
When they came to fetch me, they came with nets dragged behind them. I watched them getting slower and slower as they went, their backs bending and their heads down,…
Hurt Me by Chris Milam
Emily, a divorced high school teacher whose ex-husband gambled away their retirement fund, whacked me in the chest with a baseball bat. “Harder. Like Barry Bonds” “Who?” “Nevermind. Just swing…
The Little Green Dress That Matches Your Eyes by Gary Duncan
Don’t wear the little green dress, the one we bought you for your sixteenth birthday. The one that matches your eyes. The one I joked about. “Nice, but where’s the…
Fact Finding by Sarah Clayville
Erika shaves her head late Sunday evening. Thick black ringlets clog the sink. Dust the floor. Curl against one another like fists. Erika feels neither heavier nor lighter minus the…
After the Funeral by Steven Patchett
He was still waiting, long after the funeral director had left. A shadow of a man sitting at the furthest pew from the altar. Mrs Martin came in late to…