The waters of the Mississippi River were higher than the high school version of myself on a Saturday night. I willed my rusted sedan down the winding bends of Lilydale Road, nervously hydroplaning through dirty, cloudy puddles. Lilydale Road didn’t feel the way it used to be, because it simply wasn’t the way it used […]

A gust of bitter cold air smacked Ken in the face as he stepped off the bus and into the cold December air. It had been years since the last time that he was this far north, he had almost forgotten the way that the wind could cut down to your bones if you weren’t […]

Aurelia hopped onto her motorbike, the sky reflecting the same shade of marmalade as her saree. Her thighs ached, but she pushed through the pain; she always pushed past the pain. The bike’s motor roared to life, and she made her way through the small streets of Ayhane. Here, those with paws, fins, hoofs, and […]

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things was to sneak into my father’s study. It was a wonderful place with bookcases from the floor to the ceiling, an old worn carpet, a torn leather armchair and my father’s beat-up desk. It had its own aroma too—a mixture of old paper, leather, […]

“You would have killed me, Cheri. And we both know it.” I was talking to the dead, and shivering uncontrollably. Genuinely worried for my sanity, I fumbled with the Fiero’s heater. I followed the Monte Carlo’s misty taillights with a resolve born of resignation. We drove through the sleeping town. Terry was headed for a […]