Silent Underground by Bogdan Dragos

a guitar with two broken strings and a ragged hat with a few coins and bills and a young girl’s faded photo was all he left behind the metro station was silent now like a page from a book you had to look closely and start reading to hear the noise And they all did…

Nowhere Slow by Bogdan Dragos

Oh God, here she comes again by my window with her dog on a leash and now the noise begins It’s not barking. I wish it was barking but instead it’s crying, making those whimpering sounds children make when they try to hold a cry in The full cry of some creatures is like the…

The whole of existence is but one single being hallucinating by Bogdan Dragos

a robust golden sun and a pale moon, both very friendly and with enormous smiles shook hands right above her painted on the low ceiling She watched them from her bed, lying on her back, thinking that they’ve always been there and she glanced on them since early childhood when she first gained awareness in…

For Courage by Bogdan Dragos

“Getting drunk to write is stupid,” she said, “not to mention utterly pathetic.” And I said, “Yeah, I agree.” “Good. Then why are you drinking now?” “Well…” Shit, she got me. There was nothing I could say. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. There was still so much about existence that I…

Wear Gloves if you have to by Bogdan Dragos

funny thing was that they were still kids yet they loved each other much like grown people did They ran behind the barn and behind a haystack and he had his hands wrapped tightly around her neck and squeezed hard and moved like he tried to unscrew something stuck It left some nasty red marks…

Jar of Bugs by Bogdan Dragos

he rides a rusty bike in the cold night sliding like a fish from alley to alley He’s going up the hill again All he’s got on him besides his clothes and the bike is a thermos filled with coffee he got from the vending machine at the mall coffee bought with money earned from…

The Wraith by Tea Solon

haunts at every tick of the clock with every empty words of chaste love comes and goes at any time in broken shadows on tainted walls of the fragile mind feeds on chills in the marrows of the haunted as sharp snow clothes the environs at baleful winter. To defeat darkness is to accept and…

No Cash, Only Letters by Bogdan Dragos

“Got me a little crowbar and one of them ol’ school ski masks,” she said. “And just before it was about to go down, my pathetic-ass boyfriend punked out of it. I lost all my respect for the guy on that evening. I still love him, yeah. But I no longer respect him. It really…

Glass Shards in the Bloodstream by Bogdan Dragos

she still read random internet articles from time to time and it was in one of them that she found the good news It was below a post titled GOD IS LOVE that she didn’t bother to read the one she did bother to read explained that small shards of glass can enter the body…

Find yourself standing back and questioning your whole existence by Bogdan Dragos

He liked her story Her body not that much, but that mattered so little in comparison with her story She told him that it was a teenage pregnancy that pushed her into prostitution. Definitely not an uncommon case. She had to quit school because her parents would no longer pay for tuition. They disowned her…

Whatsoever things ye ask for when ye pray by Bogdan Dragos

she came out of her house after the heavy rain stopped and walked up to the bridge and leaned forward over the rail and watched the turbid river flowing by, disappearing with infinite length below her feet The rail was wet and she wiped it with a few tissues and then got her notebook out…

Not for the Good, Not for the Wicked, and Not for Those in Between by Bogdan Dragos

it was 01:30 AM but he would never know The last time he had a watch was when he got jumped in the streets for it He didn’t hide it well enough. Wanted to pawn it for liquor money but all he drank that night was his own blood This night however he didn’t have…

Pressure by Bogdan Dragos

she slept with a small, thin Batman plushie between her breasts and often woke up with it soaked in sweat The poor Batman looked diseased, crushed, and suicidal. Clearly he was facing a villain he could not hope to defeat It was the dreams that made her sweat so There was much pressure in her…

A Bouquet of Blood Roses by Bogdan Dragos

even the full moon felt like a spotlight above him It made him sweat in the cold night as he wandered the streets Nothing too out of the ordinary about him. Just an average guy wearing average clothes and carrying a rather thick strand of hair in his breast pocket crimson red and long as…

Bad Blood by Bogdan Dragos

Nine PM caught them sitting on the broken bench by the river banks She removes her jacket and stretches her hands. “See?” she says, “I told you I’m bad blood.” He stares at her, mute and dumb and utterly incapable to find himself in her dark eyes “Huh?” “The mosquitoes,” she says. “They don’t want…

Trash Collector by Bogdan Dragos

I don’t know what was more impressive about him the fact that he collected trash in a bag that was at least three times bigger than himself and carried that bag on his back or the fact that it was winter and he was only in shorts and wasn’t cold That one evening when he…