Fiction
by Mehr-Afarin Kohan.
“Now her praying to the clouds sounded stupid because I was old enough to know that nothing and no one would ever be descending. And old enough to know, something had broken in my mother’s backbone forever.”
by Venita Blackburn.
“Something happens to people that rescue other people, a covenant of sorts… The promise is the same: when I see you, I will keep you safe. I looked at Mariko, the quasar of freckles between her eyes, and that promise was made.”
by Sam Schieren.
“He had been looking at his mother. There was a look on her face he will never forget, like she’d seen through to the other side.”
by Leissa Shahrak.
“The handle of Hamid’s saber curved above his cummerbund. Arun did not like the way Hamid’s betel-stained teeth smiled out from between his oiled, drooping mustache.”
by Midge Raymond.
“These future doctors need to make a personal connection, to take the time to discuss next steps, to listen . . . Expressing the symptoms of pain is one thing—judging people on their performances is another.”
by Midge Raymond.
“For days he came home to find her in the same spot, staring at an empty street. When she turned to him, her eyes looked like thin wet glass, as if the slightest sound could shatter them.”
by Pamela Ryder.
“The room was dark, the father says. Then darker. It happened so quickly, I couldn’t call out. I thought I smelled grain—wheat or oats—what horses eat. A clean, sweet smell.”
by Anne Elliott.
“Caroline listened to the bellows under her bed, drawing and blowing air. The room asserted itself, always, its rhythmic hiss and pop of machinery, the anti-lullaby of metal cocoons, rows of them, each containing a complicated person.”
by Marilyn Abildskov.
“Is this why, when she finally gets out of her car and sets out to walk with the sun shining on her face–a blessing, sunlight like that–that every grievance, petty or perceived, begins to drain away? She breathes in and out, happy to be outside, happy to be breathing.”