Danielle Bradley Patricia was waiting to hear if her kidney stone was large enough to be surgically removed. It was the first thing, the kidney stone being too big to safely pass through her urethra,...
Sharon S.Y. Lee The birthday party has reached its frenzied apex and hurtles towards the cake cutting finale, but Sarah wishes that she could rewind time—before she set the party budget, before she...
Sydney Koeplin “I think we should have claws.” “Pinchers.” “Fangs!” “Fur.” We threw our ingredients into the twenty-gallon plastic tub we’d stolen from the Galliones’ backyard and...
Kelly Murashige The baby has been crying for what feels like three days straight. Mari, for her part, has joined in intermittently. It isn’t just the stress of being a first-time parent. The pain....
Chris Edmonds We went once to see our father in Crawford, that spring he’d been hired to paint the church steeple. We told our mother we were taking a long bike ride around the lake and maybe...
Edward Pretty Content Warning: This story contains depictions of and discusses the following sensitive topics: mentions of non-consensual and consensually ambiguous sex acts. “I’m building a...
Chey Dugan Content Warning: This story contains depictions of and discusses the following sensitive topics: death/dying. In the parking lot of Thrive & Blossom, I scratched the stubble on my neck...
Erika Niemi Content Warning: This story contains depictions of and discusses the following sensitive topics: suicide ideation and descriptions of attempted suicide . “Well, the real trick to being...
Jaime Gill September Well, this was a bloody stupid idea. About two months ago, you said, half-joking I think, that I should hire a therapist. “Don’t be absurd,” I said. “I’m...
Lydia Kim Every few days, a hair pokes up from the glossy surface of the hairline pimple she popped. It had crusted over like a manhole cover, then healed and left a slight, smooth curve. She pulls...
