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…

The Door by Susan Beetlestone

I almost ran into it the first time. Almost every morning, about five forty-five, I get up, drag on my running gear and go out into the nearly empty streets. Running so early has two advantages. My resistance to exercise has not built up yet, because I’m hardly awake, and there are not too many…

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…

A Silent Conversation by Maitreyee Telang

We sat across the table, tension gripping hard onto me every second that passed. The air was so brittle, it could snap. They looked at me straight into my eyes and asked, “HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?” —————- On a deeper level, there was another intense questioning going on. Our eyes became a communication system at…

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…

Ghosting by Richard M. Ankers

Not ghosted, but ghosting. There’s a difference, though it’s too subtle for most air-breathers. One may ghost into any room, into which, in retrospect, one would say they ghosted. The ghosted are identifiable by time and place as in seeing the ghost here or there at such or when, whereas one is only ever ghosting…

Secret Admirer by Dawn Pisturino

The first day of May had arrived, and the world seemed bursting with flowers – red, yellow, purple, blue, and pink!  As Amy walked home from her office job, she breathed in the sweet fragrances that wafted all around her, from the blooming gardens bordering the sidewalk to the flower boxes – alive with living…

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…

South to Key West by Edward N. McConnell

A stiff breeze whipped across the snowy field. There was silence . . . then,             “Cold today, isn’t it?” The wife said.             “Yeah, not as bad as last week though. I don’t know why we stay here in the winter. Next year, let’s go south, I’m thinking Key West,” said the husband.            …

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…

Naming Ceremony by Britta Benson

She called this child ‘Dandelion’, after the only thing that would thrive in her dump of a garden. No poppy here, no marigold, not even a daisy. She was done with them and hoped, her youngest daughter would be resilient, like the bright yellow wildfire weed, that spread across the street, ready to conquer the…

The Law of Luck by Bogdan Dragos

the last bar brawl left him without a chunk of his upper lip and a nose busted beyond recognition now his whole face was swollen like he was wearing a cheap rubber mask his opponent used brass knuckles it seemed. Getting shot probably wouldn’t have hurt as much but luckily he kept his teeth Actually…

The Way to Worship the Devil by Bogdan Dragos

the black metal was blasting in the speakers but the painted faces on her wallpapers no longer grinned at her and no longer whispered too bad, the drugs wore off Well, the best part about living with grandpa was that she could simply get out in the middle of the night dressed however she wanted…