“Rose’s Lament” by Mehreen Ahmed

Daddy. Oh’ dad! What am I to do now? Malcolm? No nothing! He is but a baby. No. Oh this! This despair. This unbearable pain. The loneliness of it all. But Malcolm is still small. Who? What am I to do? Quiet. Listen! Listen to the music. It is but the music of silence. For …

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“Mortimer-ified” by M.T. Decker

Mortimer Pendergast hated his name. He hated haunted houses and security guards, but he hated his name more. Mortimer was fairly certain everything he hated could be traced directly to his name. His name had brought him to the attention of an old downhome-boy, who’d challenged him to spend a night in the family’s haunted …

“You Can Fly If You Want To” by Alex Thornber

Our Dad always told us that we were capable of anything, as long as we believed and had confidence in ourselves. You want to be a famous musician? Go for it. You want to travel the world? I won’t stop you. What my sister wanted, more than anything, was to fly like Peter Pan. She …

“The Portrait” by Mehreen Ahmed

On the crossing of Victoria and Harriet Street stood a massive block of a grey apartment building. Up in front of each flat, balconies jutted out like open matchboxes, creating a blind spot for the incoming traffic. It posed an undeniable threat to the traffic on the road. Notwithstanding, the building had much to offer …

“Typhoon” by Kyriakos Chalkopoulos

According to Hesiod, Typhon (or Typhos, or Typhoeus), that colossal titan and antagonist to Zeus, was named thus because, as a natural force, he was behind the moist and powerful winds generating from the sea. The term is still used, in Greek, to refer to this phenomenon. Etymology aside, one should expect the ancient monster, …

“Mediterranean Goth” by Mileva Anastasiadou

They once called me Iphimedeia. I am now a spirit, standing at the gates of the underworld. Yet I once had flesh and blood, like all mortals do. “Come, my dear Odysseus, come hear my story,” I told the tortured passenger. He looked unhappy, yet hopeful, like I was. Unhappiness, once shared, creates strong connections …

“Let them eat cake” by Jostein Wolff

Anna knew about the beautiful princess who despised the peasants. When assured that the peasants didn’t have bread to eat, the historical princess responded: “Let them eat cake”. “Was she truly that monstrous to make fun of the poverty around her?” Anna wondered. When the crisis hit the country, Anna had to adjust. She limited …

“Gasp” by Jack Coey

There was an old woman by the bed, and the doctor said he wouldn’t last the night, and a younger man sitting in a chair in the corner of the room which was mostly dark who seemed to be thinking of something else. The man lying in bed breathed in a labored way, and the …

“Golden Wheels” by Kaitlin Hulsy

They didn't know how she'd lost the use of her legs. Perhaps she had been forced to dance in fiery red shoes for a stepmotherly transgression committed in a previous life. Perhaps, it was a witch at the end of the wood. Regardless of the how, her blood sisters had purchased a dilapidated chair, using …

“The first photograph” by Vivian Boukouvala

Elizabeth Smith was a peculiar child. At the age of nine, she somehow knew that something in her loving family was off. She always dug around the house late at night, finding old photographs and long forgotten relics. Yet not a single photograph of her as a baby in her mother’s arms. It was not …