After a while, the hunger began to buzz in her ears like flies. She would sit in the back of the shop, looking out toward the wide, bright window, listening to her own death rattle come slithering closer. From somewhere beyond the bright windowpane, the scent of fresh-baked bread and caramelized sugar wafted. Traffic noise … Continue reading Mama and Mrs. Cho
flash fiction
Spending Days and Accruing Months
She told him a million times, "Honey if you don't ask, some other guy will." And he knew it was true. It just didn't seem this-minute-true. He thought maybe if someone else did ask that would solve his problems, and maybe if someone didn't, she would stick around. That's what loyal girls do. Stick around. … Continue reading Spending Days and Accruing Months
Privileged Person Free
All Jaden wanted was a coffee. Black. No sugar. Straight caffeine-jacked, high-octane java. Jaden was one of those people. The talk to me before coffee, and I'll knock your teeth out, people. Jaden was also one of those people. The I have my favorite coffee shop, and it's everyone else's favorite coffee shop, but I … Continue reading Privileged Person Free
My Friend, David
Looking in at the window, David can see his friend Emily standing on a stool pulled up next to her grandmother's kitchen counter. David is supposed to be on his way home with the soda and chips his step-mom demanded he retrieve for her. If he didn't get back in the time she thought he … Continue reading My Friend, David
When She Wasn’t Looking
Maria knew she wasn't supposed to wander the neighborhood, but one bright and sunny spring day, while she was playing in the playhouse in her backyard, she heard a tiny "meow" mewl from the back alleyway. She thrust her head through the open playhouse window to look. On the other side of the chain link … Continue reading When She Wasn’t Looking
The Looking Glass
A look of distraction passes over my friend’s face in the middle of our girls’ date at a local chain restaurant. Her brows pinch together, and her whole expression slips into distress. Alarmed, I glance over my shoulder, but see only a black clad waiter carrying a wheat-colored, napkin-covered basket of breadsticks. My friend and … Continue reading The Looking Glass
The Crash of Flight
Her spirit would rail against him at times, as if his comforting arms had become shackles. She couldn’t understand where her philosophy and his diverged. Sitting across from him at the cafe table— any cafe table, it’s no matter— a thought or fancy would flit into her mind like a little bird. She would soar … Continue reading The Crash of Flight
The Note on the Counter
He left the note sitting on the island counter top where, by the time she woke up, it had gathered a small pool of sunlight to itself from the window above the sink. The sight of it took her breath away in a sickening whoosh when she stumbled from her bedroom. Dear Cass, it read, … Continue reading The Note on the Counter
Conversation in a Bathroom
The bathroom is cold, the stalls cramped together. Heather hears the door bang open just as she finishes, and the walls to the stall shake as the newcomer slams herself into the toilet beside Heather’s. Heather frowns as she exits and moves toward the sink. Sniffles echo from the stall that the newcomer has taken. … Continue reading Conversation in a Bathroom
Cold Kindness
Mateson stands at the gas pump debating. The early morning cold is enough to tingle the mucus in his nose as it freezes. When he left his house this morning, he had only enough money to fill his gas tank and perhaps buy lunch. The gas tank would get him to work for the rest … Continue reading Cold Kindness
Seeking Prose 